I may be getting older but I refuse to grow up
Today is my birthday. I know this because my mother called me at work this morning and sang to me in her slightly off key,
Having a quarter life crisis is all the rage these days, but I haven't been able to muster the grandiose sentiment that would be neccesary for this kind of self examination. I'm supposed to be thinking about settling down, having kids, and moving to the suburbs. Aren't I? Am I allowed to have a quarter life crisis about not having a quarter life crisis? Should I be more concerned that I'm not married with 2.5 children and living in
I'm a 29 year old man/boy that lives in a house with three roommates. I still drink a little too much. I can still sit for hours at a time killing zombies in front of the HD. There was a keg at our Festivus party. I'm basically a college kid with more money, a marginally better understanding of life, and a less ego-centric world view (not much less, but every bit counts).
My Dad took me out to lunch today. He mentioned that when he was 29, I had just been born. He didn't say it in an accusatory manner. It was in no way an indictment of me or the way I'm choosing to live my life. It was an observation. When he was 29 he had started his family. I'm 29 and I'm going to go to the Velvet Lounge tonight and drink Schlitz from a can. I don't have the same responsibilities that he had at my age. I'm cool with that. Sometimes I am a grown up. Scratch that. Sometimes I'm an adult. A grown up is someone that doesn't see the intrinsic value of a water balloon launcher.
As I was saying, sometimes I'm an adult. I have somehow managed to fall back asswards into a great career, despite the fact that I didn't finish college. I take night classes because I know that I'm going to need that piece of paper somewhere down the line. I pay my taxes and invest in my 401(k). I almost never show up for work with a hangover.
OK, so maybe I did have a little introspection in me today. To sum up my self-analysis.
DC Viking = case of arrested development
DC Viking also = Adult
Groovy. Now if you will excuse me I have to decide what I'm going to wear the bar tonight.
Labels: shoegazing
posted by DC Viking at 3:23 PM
3 Comments:
That's my boy. Happy Birthday Kid. I know the feeling all to well, as I turned 29 in October I have been in a semi permanent state of self reflection based on the infamous quarter life crisis. I chose to get married those four years ago. I am still happy with that decision, even after all the good and bad that came with it. I love my Daughters, both of them, living and dead. I am not happy about what I have become or failed to become professionaly. The sum result of what's my fault and what isn't is what burdens me the worst. I got the four year degree...(side note, I remember distinctly trying to bribe the sites author to class one chilly minnesota morning with a chocolate chip cookie. NOT suprisingly the lazy bastard didn't go for it...) I even went to law school. graduated took the bar exam, failed by one point and now I await to retake it. I have a so so contract job with a huge company. I have friends who have houses and nicer newer cars than than my crappy 97 chevy cavalier. And yet I wonder when I will get to a point that I feel like I actually got some where. Maybe that is what Nostalgia is...in a way, that feeling of wanting to go back to a time in your life when, even if it was a crappy situation, was still okay. Why? because it's not today and all the fears off the unkown that come with tomorrow when you are unsure of where you are in the grand scheme of things. I mean come on, teaching pumpkins how to fly across the street to the Mormon church parking lot from the room served no noble purpose, but it was a lot of fun. I guess maybe that I am just staggering under the load of all this adult responsibility that I took on, whether I wanted it or not. But then again all that shoulder stooping disappears when I play picnic with my daughter.
My dear old friend, I wish you a wonderful and happy 29th birthday if only a few days late. Talk to you soon. Fulls
replace the word room with roof....
The nostalgia, and sadness comes from having less of the canvas to paint on, as well as what you've got so far affecting what gets added next. I, for one, also miss my youth when my future was only affected by the strength of my imagination. Now, it is affected by my mortgage.
Cheers!
~Nato
PS Fuller, call me so I can wish you happy New Years and whatnot.
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