[matt cardin]

Among all of the various tribulations and tragedies that comprise "the trouble with being born," I think none is more troubling or tragic than the fact that so few of these births give us -- or rather, only a single birth has ever given us -- a Thomas Ligotti. I think I wish you didn't exist for your own sake, Tom, but for the rest of us, I thank the Great Chemists that you do. Which is all, of course, a roundabout way of wishing you a most blessed birthday.