So, my age now equals the number of letters in the alphabet and I pretty much feel the same as ever. I'd probably celebrate by, er, studying. And writing a lot.
As I've mentioned in previous years, my birthdays tend to be somewhat depressing days. Something ominous, school-wise, always lurks around this date and no one (other than my family) seem to realize that I even have a birthday. While everyone else stops work on their special day to gorge on cakes decorated by their friends and taken out to restaurants, I slink around not saying anything today because I have to make my own damn cake if I even feel up to it. And no, I don't remind people about it because then they'll feel bad and I'll figure, what's the bother if they've never asked me in the first place?
Yeah, yeah. Never mind me--I'm just being a stupid brat. Go outside and have a nice weekend. I'll just stay in and kill some more characters in my Nano novel.
Ur spoilt. Birthdays are a stupid and obsolete notion from ancient times. What should be celebrated are actual personal achievements. If anything birthdays could be celebrated by the parents - coz you could be seen as their achievement, but that`s a bout it.
Todays world should orient itself on new paradigms such as mental progress and educational careers, the cornerstones of modern society. You should celebrate your graduation annually and actually every other grand achivment for you and indirectly for society. Strip yourself of those stupid obsolete traditions. Birthdays were interesting at times where education was inaccessible to pretty much everyone, and a sole individual couldn`t make a difference because of the lack of modern mass communication.
Hey, I haven't commented in a long, long time. But, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Yes, go out and do something you enjoy. Buy some books :).
On a side note, I had to mention I've been taking Book Publishing classes at NYU. I've learned a whole lot from this one text book that you might be interested in, Bookmaking 3rd Edition by Marshall Lee. It's very indepth on the entire book publishing process, but doesn't read like a technical manual.
Ohh and something you may or may not already know. I found out that the first step an author has to do to get published is to find a Literary Agent. They actually do most of the editing and polishing with you before representing you to Publishing Houses. I found out that Publishing House editors rarely have time to look at and develop manuscripts. So, they rely on Literary Agents to find the cream of the crop. Hope this helps :).
Arcane Gazebo: You know, I never even thought about that. I thought all those triple elevens were behind me after I turned eleven.
Second anonymous: I agree with you about birthdays being an outdated notion. After all, it's merely by the accident of our birth. And maybe I am spoiled--but no more than other people. I mean, sure, my parents wish me a happy birthday, but I've never gotten any actual presents. I've never had a party (of any type) thrown in my honor either--which is probably just as well. Needless ego-inflating is bad.
Armand: I'll check up on that book. I'm sort of ambivalent on literary agents. I don't need one right now because all I'm sending out at the moment are short stories. And I've heard that literary agents prefer that you've had some success with a book first before signing you on. Which is sort of a catch-22 if you think about it because editors usually don't want to look at unagented books...
