The thing about birthdays

Today is someone's birthday. Facebook and myspace both haven't alerted me that it's a friend's birthday, but it's bound to be someone's, right?

The thing about birthdays is that you age. You get one year older every year. When you're 5 you can't wait to be 6. That's one year closer to a double-digit birthday, which makes you really mature and responsible. By the age of 10, you probably stopped wetting your bed, had your first playground kiss, and have felt old enough to stop ordering from the kid's menu (at least I did. But then again, I was an obese child whose appetite couldn't be satiated by a dinky kid-friendly serving of chicken tenders. Come to think of it, I order kid's menu meals more now, as a 23-year old, than when I was 10).

So, aging is exciting when you're still in your single-digits. Actually, even in the double-digits (at least early on), aging is great. Even when you're 10, you still have your teens to look forward to. As a teen, you start fantasizing about how old you're going to be when you marry your then-boyfriend. At least, teenaged girls do. At least, teenaged girls on Long Island who have nothing better to do, do. So, as a teen, you look forward to 24, which is the precise age you want to get married to your then-boyfriend. when you're a bored teen on Long Island. Oh, but before 24, there's the oh-so-important, magical age of 21.

To be honest, I didn't really look forward to turning 21. At least, not to the extent of many of my fellow dorm-buddies. Perhaps it was the fake ID + the cashiers at all the campus beer-huts willing to overlook my obvious under-21-ness. Perhaps it was the shamefully low tolerance I had for alcohol. Perhaps it was my perpetually empty wallet. I was perfectly content throwing back a $3 bottle of Boone's Farms, bought around the corner at the shady-mart with my fake ID, instead of glamming up for a night on the town.

Anyway, birthdays. At what point do you just start wanting to turn a year younger, rather than older? Is there nothing to look forward to after 25? Is it too early for me to start thinking that? Can you still want to be 22 next year while wishing you were ready for more responsibilities (like adopting a pet? like buying a home?)?

Am I having a quarter-life crisis?

Yes.