![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Only 12 hours and 10 minutes left...
May. 22nd, 2002 09:48 am...until I really turn 21. (I was born at 9:58pm.) Not that I'm counting or anything. >_<
I was remembering this morning, while talking to Angelica, what happened on my birthday two years ago, when I turned 19. We went to Angelica's bank to make a deposit and I like to fill out the deposit slip for her, so I took it and started to fill it out, but paused at one blank, looked over at her and said, in complete seriousness, "What's today's date?" She stared at me like I was a moron. Her look made me remember, oh yeah, today's my birthday.... I should have remembered. Silly me. That's the only time that's every happened, and I found it to be hysterical -- that I could forget the date on my own birthday! Angelica still thinks I'm a moron.
In elementary school, birthdays were big 'cause you got to have a party (or go to one) and have fun with your friends outside of school, and get lotsa cool presents! But the day I turned 13, I had an epiphany about birthdays -- I realized that I didn't feel any different than the day before, when I was 12. I realized, what do birthdays matter, anyway? Sometimes you feel different than the day before, or the week before, but that hardly ever falls exactly on your birthday. Of course, I still liked the presents; there can never be too many excuses to give/receive presents. But the specialness of the "birthday" disappeared for me. And I dislike doing something particularly special in celebration of it. I feel like it's a lie, and so I rebel against what's commonly done. Of course, when it comes to other people's birthdays, I don't mind either celebrating or not... I give gifts (because it's fun, and I expect to receive some in return, of course ^_~), but the way of celebrating (or not) the person's birthday is entirely up to them. I don't think that just because I think that celebrating one's birthday overmuch is hypocritical, that others feel the same way. Nor do I think people who celebrate their birthdays are hypocritical because it either means something to them, or they've never thought about it. No big deal. I just think if I made a big deal out of my birthday, then I'd be a hypocrite because it doesn't mean that much to me (except as a way of counting the years that go by) and if there's one think I hate more than anything else, it's hypocrisy.
I was remembering this morning, while talking to Angelica, what happened on my birthday two years ago, when I turned 19. We went to Angelica's bank to make a deposit and I like to fill out the deposit slip for her, so I took it and started to fill it out, but paused at one blank, looked over at her and said, in complete seriousness, "What's today's date?" She stared at me like I was a moron. Her look made me remember, oh yeah, today's my birthday.... I should have remembered. Silly me. That's the only time that's every happened, and I found it to be hysterical -- that I could forget the date on my own birthday! Angelica still thinks I'm a moron.
In elementary school, birthdays were big 'cause you got to have a party (or go to one) and have fun with your friends outside of school, and get lotsa cool presents! But the day I turned 13, I had an epiphany about birthdays -- I realized that I didn't feel any different than the day before, when I was 12. I realized, what do birthdays matter, anyway? Sometimes you feel different than the day before, or the week before, but that hardly ever falls exactly on your birthday. Of course, I still liked the presents; there can never be too many excuses to give/receive presents. But the specialness of the "birthday" disappeared for me. And I dislike doing something particularly special in celebration of it. I feel like it's a lie, and so I rebel against what's commonly done. Of course, when it comes to other people's birthdays, I don't mind either celebrating or not... I give gifts (because it's fun, and I expect to receive some in return, of course ^_~), but the way of celebrating (or not) the person's birthday is entirely up to them. I don't think that just because I think that celebrating one's birthday overmuch is hypocritical, that others feel the same way. Nor do I think people who celebrate their birthdays are hypocritical because it either means something to them, or they've never thought about it. No big deal. I just think if I made a big deal out of my birthday, then I'd be a hypocrite because it doesn't mean that much to me (except as a way of counting the years that go by) and if there's one think I hate more than anything else, it's hypocrisy.
