Thanks everyone! (and Happy Birthday Randkev07!)
Over the years I've come to care about only one thing when it comes to my birthday - an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. The first time I ever got one was somewhere around my 15th or 16th birthday and that took a massive amount of persistence on my part to convince my mother. After that year I was told that I was somehow "too old" for birthday cakes. So since that point I've always had to buy my own cake - because I refuse to settle for just some plain ol' cake.
There has only been ONE year since that point where I didn't have to buy my own and deal with the awkward reactions from the ones working the counter when they find out it's being bought on my birthday, by myself - for myself. That year was 2009. And that year not only did my girlfriend-of-that-time buy me a generic ice cream cake from a local Sobeys, but back home an ex (who was in the hospital at the time) also got me one - as a surprise - from Dairy Queen.
BUT despite that, this year has topped that. Yes, I still bought my own ice cream cake from Dairy Queen (and I even somewhat broke tradition by buying it two days early), BUT this time I actually wasn't alone while I bought it - my girlfriend was with me and for once I didn't have to deal with the awkwardness of explaining the circumstances of having to buy my own cake on my own birthday. Yup, she's a keeper.
Oh, and we also split on eating the very first Brown Naglah pod I've grown, a couple nights ago. That hurt like hell. lol