Wednesday, June 6, 2001
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Wednesday, June 6, 2001 |
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Happy Birthday to Me
By MICHAEL BOYLAN I turned 26 years old yesterday. That's 312 months or 9,490 days old. There have definitely been more good days than bad days, at least as far back as I can remember. Lots of great things happened on June 5 in history. June 5, 1783, two men demonstrated the powers of their hot air balloon with a 10-minute flight over Annonay, France. June 5 was also the day that Bill Moyers was born and his books and television programs are fantastic. I also share my birthday with actor Mark Wahlberg and P-Nut from the band 311, which I think is very cool. Unfortunately, Kenny G was also born June 5. I worked at a music store one Christmas and we had to listen to his Christmas album over and over again. I will never forgive that man for that album, nor will I forgive that manager, who most likely couldn't figure out how to take CDs out of the CD player. June 5 wasn't always such a great day in history. In 1967, war erupted in the Middle East and a year later Robert Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan. Things did seem to brighten up the day I was born, though. In fact, the Suez Canal re-opened June 5, 1975, as tensions in the Middle East decreased, at least for a little while. There hasn't been anything amazing to happen on my birthday since Mel Torme, a.k.a The Velvet Fog, passed away June 5, 1999. Some channel needs to show a Mel Torme on Night Court marathon to honor the man. I get more reflective with each birthday. Last year I kept thinking, "I'm a quarter of a century old," and this year the nagging thought is "I'm closer to 30 than 20." I realize that it's nothing to get upset over and that 26 really isn't all that old, but a lot has changed in my 26 years. For instance, when I was born, computers took up entire rooms, phones had rotary dials and there was a gas crisis. Now, computers can be held in your palm, I haven't seen a rotary phone since I was in that jail cell in Tijuana (just kidding, Mom) and, well, I guess we may be heading into another gas crisis. The best thing about my birthday is that I spread out the fun to make it last all week long, while I have a good time with my friends and family. Cards and gifts can be sent to me here at the paper. I like chocolate cake and I could really use a Playstation 2.
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