Go shorty, it's your birthday..

Well, today is my birthday. Woop de freakin doo.

I'm 24. My thought on birthdays is that once you hit 21, it's all downhill from there. When you get old enough to get your learner's permit, or your license, or turn 18 and can buy porn and tobacco and lottery tickets and vote, or 21 and can drink legally, and buy beer wherever you want instead of from shady liquor stores with the words "cut rate" in the name, it's cool. It's a milestone. You are finally part of something that dramatically changes your life. As a 17-year old (in my case as someone who grew up in NJ) you get your license, and you get freedom. As a 21 year old, you can drink legally, which opens up your social life a bit. But after that, you're just getting older.

I guess the other part is that your milestones start to become independant of your age - the day you started your job, the day you got accepted to grad school, ect. The dates that matter become important because of something you did, not just because of socially decided rules for when you can drink or drive or vote. I guess part of growing up is moving from important dates being birthdays to being days where you accomplished something.