h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are good anniversaries, and there are what I call yuck anniversaries.

We're all familiar with the good kind. These include birthdays (the anniversary of one's birth), wedding anniversaries, school reunions (anniversaries of graduating from high school or college), and anniversaries of a country's founding. Even the Millenium celebrations can be viewed as an anniversary, though an anniversary of what is a little unclear. Time itself, perhaps?

Normal anniversaries provide a convenient way for us to remember the things that are important to us, whether they are our marriage, our education, our country, or life itself. If we are smart, we will remember that anniversaries are not really about presents, or fireworks, or dances. They are about appreciating whatever it is the anniversary is about.

Yuck anniversaries commemorate the things we might like to forget. An example might be the anniversary of a car accident where you were permanently injured, the anniversary of a war's start, or even the anniversary of the day you were fired from your cozy job. I had a yuck anniversary yesterday, as it was the anniversary of my father's death.

Yuck anniversaries are impossible to ignore. We would like to, but we can't. They nag at us until we observe them with tears, regrets, or wishful dreams of how things might have gone differently. In the end, yuck anniversaries make us stronger. We learn from them if we are paying any attention. For instance, I have learned that life is far more precious than I understood it to be. Perhaps in some small way these lessons make our yuck anniversaries worthwhile.

In honor of my yuck anniversary, I will be leaving the picture of my family on my personal page for another two weeks. My father is the one in the middle, of course, and yes he always smiled like that. Although this goes against my vow to change photos every couple of week in an attempt to be a good example of reduced anonymity on h2g2, please understand that my commitment stands.

I will be going on a vacation to Florida to visit my mother from October 2nd through the 10th. My photo updates will resume after I get back. In the meanwhile, please leave me stories about any yuck anniversaries you have experienced.

I generally tend to think of birthdays in this light. Yay, the earth went around the sun another time since I was squeezed out naked and screaming and soaked in blood, into this merciless, random universe.

I generally spend my birthdays alone.

I understand the pangs of loss you are laying claim to. I've lost count of how many family members I've seen go into the earth, including granparents, stepparents, uncles, siblings, blah blah blah. I think it does focus one rather sharply on one's mortality and how much time (if any) we might have left. It seems so strange to grapple with the notion that this ongoing "movie of life" might wind to a conclusion, and if you're really astute, it makes you wonder just what the hell is up with this whole 'being alive and thinking about things' thing.

It's one reason I only own about five outfits and change them every two or three days. I don't want to be bothered spending any more of my finite allotment of life thinking about something so ridiculously meaningless than I absolutely have to in order to function in society.

I haven't done dishes in about a month either. Yuck.

Contact me on my email sometime. Mars needs pen-pals.

*mental note: Stay out of TG's kitchen.*

I'm never sure what to think about birthdays. If life is a gift, we should certainly celebrate. But is it? In the end, I find it is easier to humour the people around me and have a good time.

I'll email you when I get back from vacation. I managed to pop into h2g2 today, but I can't really do the email thing until I get back.

Talk to you then!