Saying Goodbye to 2005
I was trying to think of a way to sum up this year, but I couldn't come up with anything significant. I couldn't even think of anything significant that happened in 2005. Then I remembered that I graduated in 2005, and I wrote up this whole thing about how 2005 could mean the end of my non-grown up years, as I would now have to find a real job with benefits and all that jazz in 2006. I cut that, though.
I could have been cynical and written about the pressure of finding a job (trust me, it's there) but I changed my mind. A year ago, my friend Andy told me that I was very cynical. If you know Andy, you know that this means I'm VERY cynical. And just yesterday, my friend Aaron told me that I was very cynical. If you know Aaron, you knwo this means I'm VERY VERY VERY cynical. I accept that and all, but there's also a part of me that must not be cynical, because when I think about 2005, if I'm honest, I really don't think about graduation and stress and all that. I really think about my bithday.
First of all, I love my birthday. It's in the middle of July, and for some reason, I've always thought the date was really nice. I thought it was perfect to have my birthday on the 21st, because 21 is such a lucky number. When I was a kid, it used to always trouble me, though, that on the 21st, I would try to make it FEEL like my birthday, and I rarely got that feeling, that I was really taking advantage of it being my birthday.
This year, I was still deciding what to do about my birthday when I talked to my friend Stef. She told me to just decide and do what I wanted and that would be it. We planned my entire birthday on the fifth floor of Warren, waiting for an elevator. Seriously.
I gave up my fear of the evite and sent one. (The evite fear is legitimate, because it allows everyone on the invite list to view everyone else and then see how many people have responded yes or no, thus seeing if the person having the party is indeed having a party of simply a loser convention). I decided to have a Red Sox-themed party, so we'd watch the game at a local bar. I even included a cheesy joke on the evite and sent it out.
For the next few weeks, I tracked that thing like a freak. I had made a joke in the evite, saying, "Dress to impress in your Red Sox best," but as people responded, they also asked me which t-shirt they should get. (You know, I'm still not over this. The Sox store should really have given me some sort of cut on the profit they made that week. I'm positive there was a spike in at least Varitek and Nixon shirts. Okay, so there's the cynicism. Whatever.) Anyway, every time someone talked about the party, about going to buy a shirt, I was really, well, touched. It sounds cheesy and stupid, but it's true.
And on my birthday, when they brought out the cake, I did take a second and I turned all the way around, and there it was: 360 degrees of Red Sox shirts singing happy birthday. That's it. That's my favorite moment of 2005, and trust me, there's not any cynicism in there. In that moment, and really, throughout the party, I realized that I had that: it FELT like my birthday, it really did.
I really do hope that everyone gets to have a favorite moment of the year like mine.
Okay, well, maybe everyone except the morons.
So, like, 25 people. Thirty, tops.
Anyway, here's hoping next year's got some more good coming.
I could have been cynical and written about the pressure of finding a job (trust me, it's there) but I changed my mind. A year ago, my friend Andy told me that I was very cynical. If you know Andy, you know that this means I'm VERY cynical. And just yesterday, my friend Aaron told me that I was very cynical. If you know Aaron, you knwo this means I'm VERY VERY VERY cynical. I accept that and all, but there's also a part of me that must not be cynical, because when I think about 2005, if I'm honest, I really don't think about graduation and stress and all that. I really think about my bithday.
First of all, I love my birthday. It's in the middle of July, and for some reason, I've always thought the date was really nice. I thought it was perfect to have my birthday on the 21st, because 21 is such a lucky number. When I was a kid, it used to always trouble me, though, that on the 21st, I would try to make it FEEL like my birthday, and I rarely got that feeling, that I was really taking advantage of it being my birthday.
This year, I was still deciding what to do about my birthday when I talked to my friend Stef. She told me to just decide and do what I wanted and that would be it. We planned my entire birthday on the fifth floor of Warren, waiting for an elevator. Seriously.
I gave up my fear of the evite and sent one. (The evite fear is legitimate, because it allows everyone on the invite list to view everyone else and then see how many people have responded yes or no, thus seeing if the person having the party is indeed having a party of simply a loser convention). I decided to have a Red Sox-themed party, so we'd watch the game at a local bar. I even included a cheesy joke on the evite and sent it out.
For the next few weeks, I tracked that thing like a freak. I had made a joke in the evite, saying, "Dress to impress in your Red Sox best," but as people responded, they also asked me which t-shirt they should get. (You know, I'm still not over this. The Sox store should really have given me some sort of cut on the profit they made that week. I'm positive there was a spike in at least Varitek and Nixon shirts. Okay, so there's the cynicism. Whatever.) Anyway, every time someone talked about the party, about going to buy a shirt, I was really, well, touched. It sounds cheesy and stupid, but it's true.
And on my birthday, when they brought out the cake, I did take a second and I turned all the way around, and there it was: 360 degrees of Red Sox shirts singing happy birthday. That's it. That's my favorite moment of 2005, and trust me, there's not any cynicism in there. In that moment, and really, throughout the party, I realized that I had that: it FELT like my birthday, it really did.
I really do hope that everyone gets to have a favorite moment of the year like mine.
Okay, well, maybe everyone except the morons.
So, like, 25 people. Thirty, tops.
Anyway, here's hoping next year's got some more good coming.
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