I'm not opening any of the birthday packages I've received until it is my birthday

I want to open them now. Now! But I can wait a few more days.

I'm no longer looking at proofs--Terminal Humming is going to print right now, and I should have copies in hand soon, soon. In time for my reading in LA at the Poetic Research Bureau on June 27 at 4pm (more details later).

I'm debating what kind of a birthday cake to make this year. I love carrot cake. I have a recipe for a weird but interesting cake made from buckwheat. I'm drowning in berries, so perhaps I should make something involving those.

I can't bake anything that requires a nonstick pan (the fumes from nonstick coating asphyxiate birds, and they're probably not good for people, either)--but does anyone have cake suggestions?