The Anniversary of My Glorious Birth

I celebrated by twenty-fifth birthday last week. I wish I could say that the partying was kept to a minimum, but I figure I only live once and I do not exactly have a lot of time left before the big three zero, so I had better take advantage of my ability to recover from hangovers in record time. I spent Friday, my actual birthday, in Burbank with my closest Ninja friends. Just dinner and a few drinks; nothing huge. Saturday, however, was much more college-esque.

We started the Adam Joseph Amazing Super Fun Pub Crawl of Doom at 4:30 sharp Saturday afternoon and did not finish until well after midnight. The AJASFPCoD consisted of riding the Los Angeles Metro to downtown and drinking our way back to North Hollywood. While I have ridden on a subway before, I have not had the privilege of riding the rails of this fine city. Three bucks is all it cost to hitch a ride to whatever destination our hearts desired; a deal that cannot be matched with conventional automotive traveling.

We stopped at several bars, none of which I know the name or location, but rest assured, they were awesome and no one was stabbed while walking from the train station to each bar. There were two parts of the trip that stand out:

1. Our second stop dropped us right in the middle of downtown Los Angeles; skyscrapers, grid system, and all. I have been in large cities surrounded by tall buildings before, but something about this downtown was mesmerizing. I quickly decided that I want to live in a city like New York; one where I can live in the so-called "urban jungle." I am tired of suburban life. The San Fernando valley is nice, but frankly I find it to be incredibly underwhelming with its 345 square miles of never ending streets lined with houses that look exactly the same. Just once in my life, I would like to live in a real city, not some boring clump of ticky tacky.

2. The second (or third, not really sure) bar we went to was some hole in the wall, regulars only type establishment. We kicked the doors in turned the place upside down, something I do not think the locals appreciated, but since there were 15 of us, I do not think it much mattered. The memorable part of this stop was the birthday cake and song I received from the bar staff. I was completely surprised; I do not know why, since it was my birthday, but I did not think anyone would really go out of their way to do something that nice. I appreciate all the drinks my friends bought for me, but the cake was really nice. So, thanks to the bar staff at that bar for the awesome birthday party; I really appreciate it.

I did not think that any birthday could trump my twenty-fourth, but my new friends came through in ways I could only imagine. Four times now has my birthday been preceded by a tragic event - this year was the Virginia Tech shooting, and four times have I never been happier that I got to celebrate another birthday. In no way am I upset that someone decided to "ruin" my birthday by murdering innocent Americans; rather, these events help me see my own mortality and be grateful for the things I have. My birthdays have become less about celebrating my birth, but a day I can be thankful for having the opportunity to make the most of my time here.

It may not mean much, but I would rather think about the students at Virginia Tech, the employees at the federal building in Oklahoma City, the students at Columbine, and the families of the folks in Waco rather than myself.