Anno Ammoni 18

So, today was great. I have to say, there's a lot of pressure to have a happy birthday, and i think i pulled through this year. Birthday's can be a sad time sometimes if no one really knows about it, because it really high lights how lonely you are (my birthday in Cambridge was pretty lame, it came and went without consequence. I'm glad i make friends faster than i did then) I think facebook has done a lot for making people's birthdays happy. Before if you wanted people to know it was your birthday you had to subtlety work it into the conversation weeks before hand, but now everyone gets a little reminder about it. Even so, it came in a few conversations, which had something to do with going on a mission (so when are you turning 19? Today! bam). I got a few phone calls, from melissa and my mom and logan and the bishop. Our bishop is way cool, i was worried that i was going to have to give a talk in sacrament meeting, but nay. That actually marked the third time today when i got weird unexpected messages from the bishopric, the first was to have me join the mission prep class, taught by the bishops son, who seems like a cool guy. The second was in the middle of sacrament meeting, Brother Olsen passed me a note. And it's not like i was sitting next to him, i was conveniently on the second row, so after he finished announcements he held out a note to me so i had to get up and get it. Apparently i turned really red, it was weird. But that was just to play music while the elders quorum passed out roses to all the girls, and that was good. My roommates gave me some presents (a t-shirt and The Office season 1) which was really thoughtful, and my roommate told me that when he buys a new snow board he'll give me the old one. So great news there. That pretty much sold it for me, i'm going to survive living with this set up. If i could get him to stop smoking it would be glorious, but free snowboard more than compensates for that.

Lets see, there was also a fireside today. The speaker was great, and he reminded me a lot of President Monson, who is generally my favorite speaker in conference, and then i came back up and had a little peanut-butter and jelly party by my RA. So overall, a pretty awesome day. Definitely one of my better birthdays.

So on to what's happened in the past year. Well, one year, one day, and about 6 hours ago i was being interviewed to get my Eagle Scout. Since my last birthday i graduated high school, went to college, gained a lot of independence (much like America did, only without the war...or the tyranny), have again changed my mind about what i want to be when i 'grow up', have gotten dangerously close to being grown up, became an elder, said fare well to a great bunch of friends, said salut to a great bunch of new ones, become 2.6 times the uncle i was before, and all sorts of other adventures that made being 18 a pretty good year.

As Logan quoted from my favorite Jerry:
"Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing."

For the most part this is true, i am basically the same person i was 1 year ago, i am about as passive, sarcastic, procrastinating, shy, neurotic, and removed as ever, but i'd like to think i've gotten a bit more mature, more responsible, a little smarter, and am starting to get over my crippling self doubt, that's a big plus. I've also made a conscious effort to be a little more sensitive. Between too much masked sarcasm and generally thoughtlessness, i've insulted a few more people than i would have wanted to. It's not that i don't care about other people, i just have a tendency not to think much about the fact that they might not see things as i do, and calling someone a heathen just won't fly with some people. Hm, this is one of the more honest self evaluations you'll find on this blog, generally i do stuff like this in my real journal, but i'm betting by now anyone who doesn't already know me pretty well will have stopped reading, and will have no idea, although i guess i'd better end it in a way that doesn't suggest the earlier comments...

So that's how i learned that altoids are not a suitable replacement for prescription pain medication. Sorry about that Spencer.

But yeah, all in all, good year, great birthday, and i look forward to what mambo number 19 will bring.