Twenty-One Years

by danielkempster

Today is my twenty-first birthday. As somebody who's not a huge fan of birthdays, my twenty-first is quite possibly my most perplexing one yet. A lot of people have told me that it's an age which marks the true transition from adolescence into adulthood, but I'm convinced I already made that change a few years ago. I'm frequently told I'm twenty-going-on-forty, and I'm happy to admit that withi...

Today is my twenty-first birthday.

As somebody who's not a huge fan of birthdays, my twenty-first is quite possibly my most perplexing one yet. A lot of people have told me that it's an age which marks the true transition from adolescence into adulthood, but I'm convinced I already made that change a few years ago. I'm frequently told I'm twenty-going-on-forty, and I'm happy to admit that within my young skull is the brain of a grumpy old man. Seeing the people around me celebrating their own twenty-first birthdays by drinking to excess and behaving like senseless morons only serves to further dispel this notion - acting like a child doesn't seem like a very appropriate way to take the first tentative steps into the adult world.

There are no unlocks for this promotion I don't think it helps that twenty-one seems like such an arbitrary milestone. I can at least see some logic in outlandish celebrations at sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. Those ages bring various perks to the table - opportunities to leave school, to drive a car, to walk into one's local pub and order one's favourite tipple without being given marching orders. Here in the UK, twenty-one brings no such perks. Sure, twenty-one used to be important, but a lot of privileges that used to come with it have since been pushed onto eighteen-year-olds - the right to vote being the big one. I genuinely spent some time last week looking into turning twenty one, and the only privilege I managed to find was that I can now drive various types of vehicles I would never even consider driving. To draw a comparison with video games, turning twenty-one is the real-life equivalent of spending ages trying to level up in online multiplayer, only to discover that you haven't unlocked anything for your efforts.

Maybe today doesn't feel like a big deal because I already spent most of the weekend celebrating my birthday. I was lucky enough to get the weekend off work, so my girlfriend and I went back to my hometown to visit my family and friends. Friday night was spent catching up with friends over a few drinks at my local pub. It was great to see so many familiar faces, to hear their stories and find out what I've missed in my absence. Saturday was a family day - I went shopping with my mother and sisters in the morning, visited my grandparents in the afternoon and went out for a meal with my whole family in the evening. I met up with one last friend on Sunday morning before sitting down with my family for a roast beef lunch. Just before heading back to Essex, my entire family surprised me with an assortment of birthday cards, gifts and money. It was an amazing weekend, and the perfect way for me to celebrate my twenty-first birthday - in a place that matters, in the company of people that matter, and doing things that matter.

One of these could be in my very near future Today has been pretty uneventful by comparison, but no less enjoyable or special to me. I had a 9am lecture (which between my lecturer's outrageously-coloured jumper and her tendency to ridicule her academic peers, was pretty entertaining), and spent most of the day working on the two assignments I'm desperately struggling to finish. My girlfriend is treating me to a Chinese take-away this evening, which we'll most likely follow up with a slice of tiramisu and an hour or so of Dead Space 2. That's the way I'd most like to spend my twenty-first birthday - as if it were any other day. With the birthday money I received, I'm thinking of investing in a PlayStation 3 so I can finally play all the Sony exclusives I've been missing out on. I almost impulse-purchased one last night, after seeing Amazon listing the 160GB Slim model for just £196. Unfortunately I missed the boat and the price has since been bumped back up, so I'm keeping a close eye on the price for the next few weeks and will be sure to pounce if it dips again. There are also quite a few music albums I'm interested in sitting in the Saved For Later section of my Amazon basket, so I may treat myself to two of three of those with my birthday funds.

I don't mean to seem presumptuous, but I'd like to thank all of you in advance for any birthday messages you send my way in the comments below. I've been replying to everybody individually on Facebook all day and after twenty similar messages of thanks it all seems to have lost any sense of sincerity. I also thank you for reading this semi-cynical, semi-appreciative blog of mine, and hope it finds you all fairly well. Peace out, fellow Giant Bombers. I'm sure I'll see you around.

Dan

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Currently playing - Dead Space 2 (X360)