My Birthday


Today is my 25th birthday. It didn't quite go the way I had expected but it turned out pretty well. I went to work today and my first hour class was not very agreeable. But then again we are studying Puritan literature. I'm not going to lie. If I was 16, I'd be bored as fuck as well. We're studying Jonathan Edwards. The students absolutely HATE it, and they probably aren't too fond of me for assigning it. I promised them that we would do a reflective paper on music this week. I'll probably lose more cool points when they find out I like John Coltrane more than Mike Jones. I just don't understand modern music. All that noise and no cohesion. It sounds like a lot of nothingness. You can't even reflect on it because you can't hear yourself think. I do like Mos Def and Talib Kweli though. They rock.
My parents probably tried to call me this morning, but my cell phone decided not to charge. My cell phone is pretty much on dialysis. Once I get my first paycheck I will be able to free myself from the shackles of primal technology. Damn you Sprint!!! I'm sure once I solve the riddle of the Sphinx and get the thing to charge I will be met with the wondrous outcries of , "Happy birthday boy! Get that damn phone fixed!"
I let the secret slip that today was actually my birthday to one of my classes. One kid asked how old I was. I told him and he was like, "I thought you were in your 30s." I was like, "Son of a bitch!" There is nothing wrong with being 30 but when you hear you look 30 when you are 25 you feel like you have leprosy or something. When I was home my mother pretty much told me that after 21 birthdays don't have any validity. She has a point. I remember being so excited about turning 18 and moving to Champaign, IL for college. Then 19 was awesome because it was the age in which you could legally enter U of I bars. 20 was fun because you were one year away from 21 and you could pretty much get away with the same things. 21 was the mecca because you can drink legally. But here is what you don't know about turning 21. If you spend your collegiate career exposed to the bar scene and drink when you want, turning 21 is not that big deal. You finally have legal permission to do something you've been doing for the past 4 years anyway. What's the point? To tell the truth, every year after 21 has been a blur. Life after college has been a blur. People move, friendships evaporate into chance encounters, and past relationships become distant haunting memories. I've tried to sustain the relationships I formed in my undergraduate life, but it just is tough. Life has a way of changing things and people. Its both remarkable and sad. I have a high value for friendship and don't have many true friends, so its kind of tough to let them go and move on.
I got a few cards and a few e-mails. I suppose that is enough. I also saw "The 40 year old virgin" which is pretty damn funny. All in all, it was a good day. The people I wanted to hear from gave their congratulations and that was fulfilling in a way that I did not expect. The days of drinking excessively just out of a whim just don't appeal to me anymore. I have a job now and I guess I'd rather just know that there are a few people out there who give a damn about me rather than marvel in my own magnificence and render my liver futile. I don't like the idea of being an adult and maturing, but I suppose growing up is better than the alternative.