Years.  They can be a funny thing sometimes.  Even though only a day has passed since yesterday, today I am now qualified to say that I am an entire year older.  It really doesn't make much sense when you really look at the math but then again, few things really do make sense when it comes to math.  Going along with the tradition I started last year -- you can debate whether it's really a tradition if it's only happened once somewhere else -- I like to take time out during this day to sit and reflect on what's occurred over the last year, both the good and bad, and to just to analyze where I am at in life.  Most lesser men would take a day of rest but not me.  I have words to write and if I don't, who will?  You?  Don't make me laugh.

To be honest, I really dislike birthdays.  It's not so much the idea that everyone thinks that they need to be nice to you and buy you things, though I'll admit that to being a minor part of it.  No, it has more to do with me not being much of a self-promoter and the idea of having an entire day devoted to just me is a little unnerving.  I'm also more of a giver than a taker, so the fact that this is one day where all kinds of people buy you things and go out of their way to be overly nice always seems to put me on the defensive.  Ok, so I am odd but I suspect that you already knew that.

Age is also a funny thing.  People always say that you need to act your age and frankly, I don't even know what that means.  Did someone go around and write guidelines for what you can and cannot do at a certain age?  If they did, I never read it.  When I was younger, the idea of being 27 seemed like a pipe dream and visions of Tom Selleck as Magnum P.I. dancing in my head.  Of course, Tom was probably a lot older than 27 when he was doing that show but that just kind of epitomizes a vision of an older guy for me.  Well, now I am 27 and I don't think I'm anything like Tom Selleck.  Kind of a letdown if you ask me.  That was all metaphor mind you, but I was using it prove my point.  When you're younger, you look five years ahead and it seems so far away.  I'll never be like THAT guy when I am five years older.  Despite it all, I suppose that in some ways I am and in a lot of ways I am not.

How did I picture myself, Tom Selleck aside, at 27?  That's a hard question to answer.  I guess I never really thought about it.  I have been fortunate in life thus far.  I've never had a game plan.  I was never the kind of person who knew exactly what I wanted to do or be when I got older.  I could never focus on one thing and say that's exactly what I want to do.  It sounds too final, too limiting.  I admire the people that set goals for themselves, that woke up one day and decided that they wanted to be a teacher.  Bonus points if you actually made that dream come true.  I never had a dream, never could decide what exactly I wanted to be.  I'm alive and living a good life, which is just about the only goal I ever set for myself, and that'something.  In the end, it's all about having fun because that's really the only thing that you can take with you.

So, what does it all really mean?  Hell if I know.  I checked my philosophy hat at the door and traded it in for a quick attempt at juvenile humor writing.  I'm not really sure if that has panned out yet.  So, did I ever become the Tom Selleck I envisioned?  God, I hope not.  Age doesn't matter if you keep having fun and keep doing what makes you happy.  Happiness is definitely a subjective term but I threw it out there in hopes that people could relate.  Maybe some day I will grow a mustache, retire to Hawaii, and bring Higgins along for the ride... but not likely.  Maybe when I am 37 Tom, maybe.