Some thoughts on turning 23
So today is my birthday, and I wanted to write down a few things before that was no longer true. My original plan was to find some particularly interesting news item or article, and then link it to me in some way. For instance: "Today it seems that the island of Malta was purchased by Conhugeco, and the Knights of Malta are now corporate assassins. This reminds me of when I was a boy." I've had no luck finding such a story, though. Someday I should share the essay I wrote that combined painful personal experiences with the Epimenides paradox. It was not so cohesive as I had hoped it would be.
Well, I guess the Rosenbergs were executed today. That's something. I mean, not today, but on this date fifty years ago. And Blaise Pascal was born today (in the same sense). So was Salman Rushdie. I skipped over the Pascal section in my medieval philosophy textbook, though, and have never read anything by Rushdie. But wait! I have stumbled onto some sort of topic!
According to the History Channel, here are a few things which happened an exact number of years ago:
Intel bought some of CNET. Uh, who cares? Thanks for nothing, History Channel. And according to my clock, it is June 20th already anyway. Well, this being the History Channel, surely something interesting happened to the Luftwaffe today. No? What a letdown.
So forget that.
Hey, wait, it seems that the Statue of Liberty arrived in the United States on June 19, 1885. That's kind of interesting. I am both tired and poor.
Nope, nothing. One thing I did want to mention was that I really hate it when people try to just barge in on existing conversations with things that apply only to them. Like, if you and I were talking, and somebody sitting near us just started relating some event that occured to them that had no connection to our subject. For instance, we might be discussing the chart-topping song for June 19, 1973 ("My Love," Wings) and this other person would just blurt out "Hey, it's my birthday!" But if we cared, we would already know. Anyway, I successfully went all day without blurting that out, though I really wanted to, because I am emotionally needy. An example: I am at the hip burger joint in Yakima. "I would like a large chocolate milkshake, please." (32 ounces of milkshake. Probably a bit too much.) "Ok," says the lady. "It's my birthday is why," I successfully did not say. "No one else is buying me a milkshake, you'll notice. In fact I am in town all alone. It's my birthday." A victory for me.
Totally unrelated: Some birthday resolutions, and progress made on each so far:
1.) Get a job. Job applied for. Test to see if I can spell and work my fingers: Tomorrow. Well, today, now.
2.) Write for one hour each day. Failed.
3.) Get a giant chocolate milkshake. Completed. WITH INTEREST.
So today is my birthday, and I wanted to write down a few things before that was no longer true. My original plan was to find some particularly interesting news item or article, and then link it to me in some way. For instance: "Today it seems that the island of Malta was purchased by Conhugeco, and the Knights of Malta are now corporate assassins. This reminds me of when I was a boy." I've had no luck finding such a story, though. Someday I should share the essay I wrote that combined painful personal experiences with the Epimenides paradox. It was not so cohesive as I had hoped it would be.
Well, I guess the Rosenbergs were executed today. That's something. I mean, not today, but on this date fifty years ago. And Blaise Pascal was born today (in the same sense). So was Salman Rushdie. I skipped over the Pascal section in my medieval philosophy textbook, though, and have never read anything by Rushdie. But wait! I have stumbled onto some sort of topic!
According to the History Channel, here are a few things which happened an exact number of years ago:
Intel bought some of CNET. Uh, who cares? Thanks for nothing, History Channel. And according to my clock, it is June 20th already anyway. Well, this being the History Channel, surely something interesting happened to the Luftwaffe today. No? What a letdown.
So forget that.
Hey, wait, it seems that the Statue of Liberty arrived in the United States on June 19, 1885. That's kind of interesting. I am both tired and poor.
Nope, nothing. One thing I did want to mention was that I really hate it when people try to just barge in on existing conversations with things that apply only to them. Like, if you and I were talking, and somebody sitting near us just started relating some event that occured to them that had no connection to our subject. For instance, we might be discussing the chart-topping song for June 19, 1973 ("My Love," Wings) and this other person would just blurt out "Hey, it's my birthday!" But if we cared, we would already know. Anyway, I successfully went all day without blurting that out, though I really wanted to, because I am emotionally needy. An example: I am at the hip burger joint in Yakima. "I would like a large chocolate milkshake, please." (32 ounces of milkshake. Probably a bit too much.) "Ok," says the lady. "It's my birthday is why," I successfully did not say. "No one else is buying me a milkshake, you'll notice. In fact I am in town all alone. It's my birthday." A victory for me.
Totally unrelated: Some birthday resolutions, and progress made on each so far:
1.) Get a job. Job applied for. Test to see if I can spell and work my fingers: Tomorrow. Well, today, now.
2.) Write for one hour each day. Failed.
3.) Get a giant chocolate milkshake. Completed. WITH INTEREST.
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