Saturday, October 23, 2010

Whoops, There Goes Another Year, Whoops There Goes Another Pint Of Beer

Birthday Playlist:

"greetings to the new brunette" - billy bragg
"bean bag chair"- yo la tengo
"shasta" Vienna Teng
"this is the road" you were spiralling
"long gone" bill morrissey
"Are you happy now" richard shindell
October" eric whitacre
"i won't be found" tallest man on earth
"up the wolves" the mountain goats
"sparkplug Minuet" mark Mothersbaugh
"queen of hearts" Romantica
"let it blow" richard thompson
"yip/jump music" clem snide

birthday present to myself: damn the grammar!

Do those of us born in fall think more deeply about the passage of time? if your birthdays in spring, is it all about new beginings?  for me its all swirling leaves and sweaters, maybe a denim jacket. boots and cider. browns. its all browns and greys and blacks for me though, isn't it?
    people are always asking what im doing for my birthday; i've been thrown some lovely parties by wonderful friends, but most years i spend the day with family. which is about how i like it. i'll  be spending this years birthday at the festival. in my tights. it makes sense. i have invested fully in this venture. it's as much Lucio's day as my own, much of my current happiness rests on his (yes, my own) narrow shoulders. also, its a pretty good opportunity to get good and drunk.
    I realized recently that i have stopped being terrified of my future. ENTIRELY. im not scared about direction, or goals, or growing up, or getting by. good god, im happy with my current path, you know? i'm reminded of my pirate ship analogy: i was for a few years trailing behind my friends with their damn grown up jobs, now i'm waving to them on the shore from the deck of my pirate ship. this is a birthday i face with my head held completely high. i just crested the wave of my twenties, but who cares? i got time. the trees are always dying on my birthday, the weather getting colder and the nights shorter. usually it gets me, y'know, here. but i got a whole big world i've recently discovered is much easier to get along with than i'd thought, and i have everything to look forward to. the day for me has always been dark beer and scarves, and now i'm replacing the furrowed brow and contemplation with deep laughter and crows feet. bring 'em, i say. i recently realized: i was wrong about my face. i don't have nearly enough laugh lines.

2 comments:

  1. I have a spring birthday, but never gave it much thought until I passed a milestone of my own and began looking for those lines and telltale signs that I have lived, I have been, and I am beginning to know. They aren't there. Not really. I've always considered the lines to be chapter markers; indicators of a story waiting to be told and experience to be shared. I have lived parts of my life out loud, and parts of them meek and mild, and I find I prefer the out loud parts. These days, medication makes sure I don't get too loud, but I'll never be as meek, either. Enjoy your birthday. Waes Hael from your Apple Pie creators in MN!

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  2. Laugh lines are healthy. Mine is a spring birthday and my deepest thoughts tend to be what more I can consume in another day, and that life is good...so you just might be right! ..and you know they say if you are doing what you enjoy, it is never work and you will be a very, very, extremely "happy person" with no regrets. ..and meeting people and your life is fantastico!

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