Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220527 
Tanuki Scroll LVII: 百人一首 
Today is the anniversary of the 百人一首「ひゃくにんいっしゅ」(also known as 小倉百人一首「おぐらひゃくにんいっしゅ」) a collection of 100 poems by 100 poets (specifically waka poems). So I read a bit about it, and also read a few of the poems.
You can find all 100 poems here: 小倉百人一首の全首を見る
It also gives a little information about the poets and other info too.
Japanese found in the tall grass
Learnthings
代表的「だいひょうてき」ー Exemplary; typical model (of something)
屏風「びょうぶ」ー Folding screen
書き写す「かきうつす」ー To transcribe/copy
二枚貝「にまいがい」ー Bivalve (molluscs)
馴染み「なじみ」ー intimacy; familiarity; friendship
New Usages
首 is used as a counter for songs and poems, uses the しゅ reading
Replies
Have a nice holiday/break!
(I couldn’t really find a direct quote, so I just quoted you saying birthday a few times 
)
I would like to celebrate more, but I don’t really know anyone, so nothing ends up happening 
And that no one was really that interested either, I used to have really cool parties as a kid though, I’ve always wanted to have a similar party as an adult but no one ever seems interested, even more older kid-stuff like going go-karting or something cool like axe throwing, just something fun were you don’t have to worry about life for a bit. After 21 people only seemed to want to have “drink - pub - drink - club - drink - being sick on the pavement at 3am - drink - pain” parties… which I had zero interest in doing, then after 25 everyone is suddenly married with children and then it’s impossible to coax them out of their schedule.
Perhaps this year I should hire out one of those play centres for my birthday like I used to have as a kid, and fill it with human-sized beanbags to represent friends and slowly go insane as they develop their own personalities. 
Mostly, birthdays now are just an excuse to make a chocolate cake with 200% chocolate and not feel guilty about it until the morning after. 
