As my readers know, I had a birthday in the past week. If there's anyone who sent me a birthday wish that I didn't acknowledge, I'm thanking you now. I'm glad you had me on your mind on the day I turned 30. The question on everyone's mind now, I'm sure, is "did you have a good birthday?" I'm just going to be honest and say that my birthday wasn't anything special.
March 1 is a national holiday in Korea, so I didn't have to teach any classes. However, March 1 also marks the beginning of the new school year in Korea, so there was a special orientation for the small kids entering kindergarten. We foreign teachers were expected to come in at 3:00 just so that the parents could see us and we could briefly introduce ourselves. Since there was no need to wake up early though, I stayed up a little late the night before.
My decision to forgo my usual attempted bedtime sent me to my slumber with some sad news: Davy Jones was dead. Davy Jones! More than 45 years after they were put together, one of the Monkees had finally left this earth! I suppose it's more a testament to the band's good fortune than a tragedy, but still! This guy was a member of one of my all-time favorite music groups, and there's no reason he couldn't have given us many more good years! Though the odds of it ever happening were slim, the possibility of me ever meeting him were now zero. It's just a shame. The time has officially passed when all four Monkees are capable of appearing together. All the more reason we should reflect on the joy they gave us. Davy's talent and cheerful spirit will never be forgotten as long as we, his fans, are around to remember it.
On an interesting note, I had been watching some Monkee videos on YouTube just a few days earlier and had almost left a comment about how great it was that all four Monkees were still alive. That would've ended up as one of the most ill-timed comments in the history of the popular website.
Though this isn't related to my birthday, it's along the same lines as Davy Jones' death: In the middle of February I found out that Jani Lane, the lead singer of Warrant, had died in August. I'd missed the news completely, since I hadn't really been keeping up with his career in the last several years. I wasn't completely shocked, as I knew he'd battled drug and alcohol problems, but there's always a part of you that hopes the person's getting his life cleaned up, since you can't personally attest to it. I read a few retrospectives about notable people who'd died in the year 2011, and none of them mentioned Jani Lane. Anyone who knows his work well though (that is, beyond familiarity with the singles), knows he was an immensely talented singer and songwriter, and the only reason he never gets his due among the rock 'n roll "establishment" is because he's seen as some disposable '80s hair band guy. I don't know if he ever knew that his music touched people born a generation too late to be his target audience, but the fact remains that a kid like me, whose age wasn't yet in double digits when his fame peaked, was an admirer of his work. I even played one of his songs on the jukebox at the bowling alley the day before my brother's wedding.
I guess what I'm saying is, it's sad to learn that two of your musical heroes are dead within a month's time.
Anyway, back to my birthday. After we foreign teachers had introduced ourselves at the orientation, we were free to go. Because the next day's schedule hadn't been determined yet though, I felt a sense of duty to my job to stay and see if Mrs. Kim could tell me what I'd be teaching the next day. I ended up staying until the evening, and the schedule didn't get completely determined, but even so, I didn't feel bitter. Even though I was at the office, I didn't have to teach any classes, which is the hardest part of the job. I was able to get a little bit of work done too, so it wasn't a total loss.
Another downer for my birthday was that MLB officially announced that it was expanding the playoffs to 10 teams this year (as opposed to next year). I figured it would happen this year, since MLB is desperate to push through any changes as quickly as possible (shades of Obamacare), but as I've opposed playoff expansion from the beginning, it wasn't exactly something I wanted to think about.
Lest you think otherwise, the idea had entered my mind of doing something special for my birthday. I had mentioned to a girl I knew that my birthday was on March 1, and I was looking for people who might want to do something to celebrate. She didn't seem especially interested, and she said there was a possibility that she might be busy, so I didn't pursue it any further. So much for that plan. It might have been for the best anyway, as I had a slight cold last week, and the rest was probably good for me. I did treat myself to some chicken though.
After writing all this it must sound like I had a disappointing birthday. Don't worry about it. I wasn't really that disappointed. While it might've been fun to do something a little more recreational, I've grown accustomed to being alone, and it would've felt truly odd to spend some quality time with another person at my own initiation. There's always the future, and hopefully then I won't miss out on opportunities to enjoy myself with others.
It's still hard to believe I'm 30. I feel like I'm slowly losing the right to be considered a young person. I think back on how I've changed over the years, and how some of the changes I envisioned in my younger days haven't come to pass. While past versions of myself were vastly different in some ways, I suspect there are as many similarities as there are differences. After 30 years, I guess it's inevitable that I have some sense of who I am, and what qualities I possess that are all but set in stone. I'd like to think that every day I'm getting a little better at living life as myself.
