I’m going to be a little egotistical, but happy birthday to me! Yay!!

Come! Cheer with me!!

…

Okay, fine. If not for me, then maybe one of these fine folks who were kind enough to share this birthday with me:

• Bea Arthur — Star of Maude & Golden Girls — Sic Semper Bea Arthur!!
• Dennis Rodman — if you don’t know who he is by now…
• Darius Rucker — lead singer of Hootie & The Blowfish, one of my favorites
• Harvey Keitel — one of the finest actors of our time IMHO
• Joe Louis — boxing legend
• Peter Gabriel — Musician (remember that goofy “Sledgehammer” video?)
• Stevie Wonder — ’nuff said
• Ritchie Valens — the original, not Lou Diamond Phillips
• Jim Jones — Cult Leader (the man with the fatal Kool-Aid… admittedly, not a popular fellow, but it is his birthday too)

and some slightly less well-known figures:

• Daphne DuMaurier — author of Rebecca & the story that became the movie “The Birds”
• Roger Zelazny — Award-winning SF author (I’ve probably read some of his stuff, but I can’t remember)
• Franklin Ajaye — Jazz singer/Actor (mostly known in the early to mid-80s)
• Sir Ronald Ross — Pathologist & Nobel laureate
• Sir Arthur Sullivan — of Gilbert & Sullivan fame)

and last but not least:

• Popes Innocent XIII & Pius IX, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria & King Joao of Portugal!!

Not too shabby a crowd, if I do say so myself. Except for Jim Jones, of course, a fine group to be associated with.

This is the eve of my 30th birthday. I’m honestly not sure how to feel at this point. Younger people say you’re old, older people say you’re young. The only honest part is that I haven’t hit middle age yet.

It’s a very ambiguous line there. When you’re in your 20s, they say you are a young adult. At 40, you reach middle age. Where does that leave you in your 30s? Because –

a) You’re still part of the ideal TV demographic (18-34), but past that insurance milestone of 25.

b) You may be married, have a house with a kid & 2.5 pets.

or c) You could be like me, living in a shoebox-like apartment with no life or someone to come home to, not even a plant. (WHY?!!)

And the odds are good that you:

- Never grew up in a house without some form of mass media, most likely television

- Can’t remember the Iran hostage crisis, despite having lived during it (I sure can’t, but I was only 5 when it started)

- will be the last generation that knows how to use a physical card catalog at your local library, if they still have one (the card catalog, that is)

- might remember that Alanis Morissette got her start in Canada on “You Can’t Do That On Television!”, the Canadian version of the Mickey Mouse Club

- might remember actually seeing “You Can’t Do That On Television!” even before Alanis was a cast member (great, great show)

- Can completely relate to Kevin Smith’s movies (great writer/director)

- Can in no way relate to Kevin Smith’s movies (still a great writer/director)

- may have no idea who Kevin Smith is

In the end, I’m no longer a child, a teenager, or a young adult. I guess I’m simply… an adult. A regular citizen. Not “senior” yet.

Has my maturity increased because of this? Yes… although not as much as some would like.