I turned 23 today. Or I will, at 6:36, to be precise. Yes, it's the 23rd anniversary of May 13th, 1981, Anno Domini...the 2nd year under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, 2734 years since the founding of Rome...I could go on...
The day is off to a good start. Here at work, noone knows it's my birthday. It's like I'm carrying this happy secret around. Or, it's like a funny little inside joke and noone gets it but me.
My birthday makes the whole month of May good. It makes gives the whole month this freshness. Today, my own special day, for me, is the source of all that goodness.
For some reason, this day seems to be bad luck for other people. One year my brother broke his arm on my birthday. On the day I was born, the pope was shot. Those are just two examples. Still, it always seems to be a good day for me. Even when it falls on a Friday.
Since my birthday is on the 13th, occasionally my birthday will fall on a Friday the 13th. Actually, I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. I did the math and figured out a would a few years before it actually happened, and I was so excited. I love to tell people even now that I turned 13 on Friday the 13th but noone ever seems as excited as I am...what's wrong people, get with it!!!
Turning the year that corresponds with your date of birth is sometimes referred to as your "golden year". E.g., 25 if you're born on the 25th, or 8 on the 8th. I don't remember 13 as a particularly golden year in my life. I'm sure I've had better, actually. Aren't your golden years supposed to be your senior years? No month gets up into the 60s. Maybe that tradition is really old, back when life expectancy only 30-35.
Anyway, my birthday seems to be bad luck for others. Every year I wonder if anything really bad will happen. Watching the news about a month ago, I noticed April 20th also seems to be a day that unfortunate events seem to be drawn to. The Columbine shootings, for instance. Those born on that day get to share a birthday with Adolf Hitler, and also all marijuana smoker's national holiday. I guess if it is your birthday and you're into that kind of thing you'd have a pretty wild party, but if you're not like most people your birthday just has a bit of gloom thrown on it, with that and all else. Actually, I do know someone with that birthday, and while I'm thinking of it now, I forgot to wish her a happy birthday, so if it's not too late (thought it likely is) Happy Belated Birthday!!!
Of all the ages I turned, I think turning 17 was the biggest deal, because then I got to be admitted into rated R movies, something I actually used. Since the law changed in CT, I wasn't able to get my license at 16, so that wasn't a big deal. I don't drink, so turning 21 wasn't a big deal, either. Since I was at the time having a little trouble with an army recruitment officer who was hot on recruiting me, when I turned 18 my birthday card from my mom simply said "Happy Birthday...don't sign ANYTHING!".
There's a statistical problem, where you can calculate the probability of two students in a class of a given size have the same birthday. As "n", the number of students in the class, increases, naturally, the probability of two students in the class having the same birthday increases. The next step is to figure out at what point "n" makes it 50/50. Then, if you know what "n" is in your own class, you can make a bet whether or not there are two (or more) students with the same birthday, depending on what the odds are for either side. I forget what the value of "n" is that makes it 50/50, having solved the problem about three years ago, but I think it's fairly high, and this problem was geared towards a lecture class setting. Now, my senior year English class of high school, in a class of about twenty, there were three of us with birthdays on the same day: me, Mike, and Scott. That was some coincidence, I have no clue what the odds are of that! It makes for a random, off the wall talking point, though.
This is the first year of breaking my rule of always wearing shorts on my birthday (it's a little tougher in Connecticut!). I can't get away with that at work, but I'll change as soon as I get home.
I never expected much from my birthday outside of stuffed shrimp (my traditional birthday dinner) and a Carvel ice cream cake. I had to give those traditions up, too, however, when I went to college and missed being home for the first year. Not a big deal. This year I'm going to try and snag an ice cream cake when I go home for memorial day.
And yes, I'm 23 now. I once used to think 23 was old, but I'm pushing that back to about 30 or 35 now. Now I'm truly deep into my 20s. I don't know how this happened. People in there 50s would probably be telling me to shutup right now. Anyway, it's true, I'm a twenty-something.
Last year was a pretty good birthday. I will be happy with this year as well. Unfortunately unlike last year I'm stuck at work I already got a voice mail from my brother who called at midnight last night, which was nice, and an e-mail and call from Becca. Tonight Becca is taking me to Old Glory in Georgetown, which is supposed to be really great food. It's supposed to be one of those places you to need to go to while you're living in DC at least once. Good American food.
Anyway, it will and always will every year be a good day regardless of what happens, if for no other reason than that it's my birthday.
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