I’m 23 years old, woo! Sort of a nondescript birthday, really. I feel old in some social circles, young in others, and I still can’t get a rental car without paying special insurance. Not to mention I’ve been so excited about the magazine article and the book, the whole “Earth returning to the same position around the Sun” thing isn’t as exciting in comparison.
And honestly, I’m a little apprehensive. The last time my birthday fell on election day was when I turned 17. That was in 2004. You know, when George W. Bush got reelected.
Worst. Birthday gift. Ever.
So the fact that Republicans are aiming for a massive victory and too many of those are crazy Teabaggers… Well, I’m nervous. If there’s one thing I’m superstitious about, it’s that Fate exists and he takes sick pleasure in electing crazy people on my birthday.
American readers: For my birthday present, I want you to go vote, preferably for the lesser of the two evils.
And for everyone else… I dunno, leave me amusing comments so I can have a pick me up after the inevitable depressing election results tonight. Or tell a friend about any female atheist bloggers you like – after my last post, that would really make my day!
53 comments
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Inthane
November 2, 2010 at 7:04 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
What.Well, happy birthday to you! We share a birthday; I’m now 39 and not
Inthane
November 2, 2010 at 7:07 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ugh, me and my big fat mouse button. I share your dismay over the election, and did what I could to fix it, which is to say I voted, made loud noises, and otherwise not a whole lot of anything actually useful. Illegitimi non carbonundrum; get out there and enjoy the day.
thefremen
November 2, 2010 at 7:10 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
CONGRATULATIONS ON NOT DYING YET! I already voted by mail, and made sure it was only for those with D next to their name. Hoping Meg doesn’t win….(in california….)
Grant Gordon
November 2, 2010 at 7:12 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday :) Hope you have a fantastic day, and may I suggest avoiding the election results until tomorrow? Much more likely to have a good day. I’ll have a beer for you this side of the world (Any excuse to drink :P)
Quester
November 2, 2010 at 7:21 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday! I hope the election provides you with some additional reasons to celebrate.
Jen
November 2, 2010 at 7:22 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday to you too!
Fiona
November 2, 2010 at 7:27 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday!!! where’s the amazon wishlist for gift pimping, hey ;)
mcbender
November 2, 2010 at 7:27 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday. Let’s hope the election results don’t turn out too dismally… but I’m not holding my breath.
Benevolent Menticide
November 2, 2010 at 7:28 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday! I find it weird that you’re only a month older than me, what with the whole “I’m both famous AND almost a doctor” thing. Still – always good to find another 1987 baby…truly, the greatest generation :p
The Artful Nudger
November 2, 2010 at 7:28 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday – though it doesn’t directly affect those of us in the Great White North, the example of G-dub was enough to convince our own irrational Right to come out in droves, and that gave us Harper.So vote rational, people!And have cake, Jen and Inthane.
Jen
November 2, 2010 at 7:31 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
If you truly want to waste your money on me, there’s a donate button in the upper left. But well wishes are nice enough :)
Stoopidtallkid
November 2, 2010 at 7:32 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
‘Lesser of 2 evils’ sums up my feelings on this election perfectly. Democracy now seems to be about choosing how you’ll be screwed.
Pia (Stockholm)
November 2, 2010 at 7:37 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthdays to us!
Hipopotamo
November 2, 2010 at 7:48 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hippo Birdie Two ewes! Well, I obviously cannot vote, but will use my psychic powers to influence the outcome <tongue <br=”" cheek)=”" firmly=”" in=”">Anyway, your birthday happens to be on the Day of the Dead, so, another thing to ponder…Best wishes from the Hippopotamus</tongue>
Ana Navarrete
November 2, 2010 at 8:07 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Wish you the very best today! Something good enough to make you forget the elections! Uhmmmm… what would be the best, though? I KNOW! What about crossing Alan Rickman on the street? I wish you that!!!! If you manage, I want photos!
Ola Rozenfeld
November 2, 2010 at 9:11 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, Jen! I wish you to spend it with the people you love, and have an amazing time!
Twain1263
November 2, 2010 at 9:56 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
happy birthday, and i hope sanity prevails
JT the Girl
November 2, 2010 at 10:02 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday and I hope that, if nothing else, here in WA, we can buy our liquor in grocery stores (read: Costco) to drown our sorrows if necessary.
Heather
November 2, 2010 at 10:06 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy 23rd Birthday!
ag
November 2, 2010 at 10:31 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, Jen! –ag****PS: From Indiana ..
ag
November 2, 2010 at 10:32 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
** Continuing … Indiana, where I am told voters will likely pass a referendum to constitutionalize a property tax cap. No we never learn any lessons from California or elsewhere. Sigh. Hope this does not ruin your birthday! I am hoping that measure will fail but the one to restore school funding in our county will succeed (though dishonest bastards are calling it a tax increase and/or suddenly asking for accountability to **restore** funding to pre-Mitch-Daniels’ levels.
bob42
November 2, 2010 at 10:55 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday. You’re as old as my younger daughter. I hope that makes you feel young, cuz it makes me feel old. ;)The pubbies and the tea baggers are going to have a good day, especially here in Texas, but I’ll get over it. Fortunately, not all of the fruitcake candidates will prevail.
A-M
November 2, 2010 at 11:28 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
My best friend and I spent our whole 23rd year singing ‘nobody likes you cos you’re 23′ at each other. Does that make you feel better or worse?
Mike Brownstein
November 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The Tea Baggers are going to win a few seats, but don’t worry, they’ll be gone in 2 years (at least the ones in the House)
James F. McGrath
November 2, 2010 at 12:23 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday!
BeamStalk
November 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday!Oklahoma is going for craziest state this year with the elections here. I think we will pull it off!
Noelley B
November 2, 2010 at 12:37 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday! I got you a ballot mailed last week, a modest paypal donation, and a link from my facebook!I love Washington’s mail-in ballot system. I was looking at three different voters’ guides as I filled out my ballot while sitting on the couch.
Livingonsteak
November 2, 2010 at 12:37 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
There is never a lesser of two evils. And I still don’t get why people hate Bush so much, he’s just a politician and therefore no different from any/every other politician. He just talks funnier, which makes him amusing to watch.My birthday gift to is, I will not aid in the continued failures of a broken government system!
Noelley B
November 2, 2010 at 12:42 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Try being OLDER than this wonder-woman!
LouisDoench
November 2, 2010 at 1:16 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday! Wow… 23… i vaguely remember being 23.
AP
November 2, 2010 at 1:53 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday!!
Lucas
November 2, 2010 at 1:55 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday! You are a fine point of reference for measuring the positions of the Earth and Sun.
Eremon
November 2, 2010 at 2:08 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday! As a gift, you may now return to your regularly scheduled medicare and erectile dysfunction ads for a few months until the 2012 campaign begins in ernest. More seriously: you rock! Everybody gets born… not many do as much with it, as quickly. Thanks!
Timastrop
November 2, 2010 at 2:10 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy burfday!
Casey
November 2, 2010 at 2:31 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Mine also! Happy birthday to all of us.
Casey
November 2, 2010 at 2:33 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, Jen! It’s my birthday too, and I am right there with you on the 2004 election. I was also terribly sick with a sinus infection, and all I wanted for my birthday was a new President, goddammit. I got a turtleneck sweater instead, and I don’t wear turtlenecks. Ha-fucking-ha, Fate.Can’t wait to see what today brings. But hey, cake!
theinsomniakid
November 2, 2010 at 2:43 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Anniversary of Womb Evacuation! I just turned 23 two days ago. 1987 babies are the best. I’ll be voting today after class. I’ll do everything I can to make your birthday not suck. :) (as much as I can in Nebraska anyway. *sigh*)
reilly
November 2, 2010 at 3:24 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Obviously Nov. 2 is the day awesomeness was spawned. Happy birthday to us!
James Walker
November 2, 2010 at 3:31 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday Jen!
Ian
November 2, 2010 at 3:38 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday! Remember, there’s always Canada (although we do have Bush light still in office).
Chabneruk
November 2, 2010 at 3:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday to you (or as a less-known German song goes: “Viel Glück und viel Segen auf all deinen Wegen” (Lots of luck and blessings on all your ways!)
Pedro Alexandre Timóteo
November 2, 2010 at 3:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday, Jen. I thought you were a bit older, from the way you write. :)
Owen Marshall
November 2, 2010 at 4:12 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
23 is not non-descript. It is the tenth anniversary of your thirteenth birthday! OK, so maybe I am the only one who makes up silly reasons to celebrate every birthday. But it works for me! :)Either way, I hope that your birthday will be fantastic.
Isaac
November 2, 2010 at 4:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday! Hope election day goes well for you, maybe being in a new city will change things? It least locally.
Georgia Sam
November 2, 2010 at 5:03 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
> American readers: For my birthday present, I want you to go vote, preferably for the lesser of the two evils.You got it! Happy birthday and many happy returns!
JM
November 2, 2010 at 5:51 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Me, too. I was pregnant with someone currently going gray-haired! And things have changed a little. I voted for a Green candidate today! I’ve never gotten to do that before. And gay marriage is an issue, abortion is legal, women don’t have to take their husband’s names by law, there’s no more prayer in public schools, etc. Don’t give up; all these things have happened since I came of age. Better yet, my mom’s 88 and she’s cool with all of it!
Carrie Looney
November 2, 2010 at 8:23 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday! I hope we have something better for you this year. I did my part.I was directed to this blog from a PZ Myers link. I currently live in California, but I was in Seattle from ’99 to ’06 – I did my graduate work in Immunology at the UW, and worked in a neuro lab there for a while. I miss it greatly; I hope you’re enjoying it!
thx1183
November 2, 2010 at 9:41 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday!And a word of advice from someone whose seen a few more elections than you (my first vote was for Dukakis in 1988) – don’t watch the coverage on election night. Wait until the next morning to read the news. Despite what the press (and the people paying for advertising time) would like you to think, there is no need to know the results ZOMG! right this instant. Legally, they have a few weeks to tabulate the results.One of the things that bugged me about the 2000 recount situation was the sense that if we didn’t know the results right away, something was WRONG. That is complete bullshit. These people’s terms don’t start until January. There is no urgency and no reason to rush things. And if people stop paying attention to election night coverage based on exit polls, maybe the exit pollsters would go out of business.
Clare
November 2, 2010 at 9:53 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy Birthday from across the pond :)
K.W. Ramsey
November 2, 2010 at 10:57 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, We’re all related to monkeys, and some of us look like them too!!!!Happy birthday and may you have many more in your future!
Casey
November 3, 2010 at 3:16 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Well, Jen–it looks like we got screwed again for our birthday. I’m about to quit counting birthdays that are on Election Day. What say you? It’ll also have the virtue of making our ages lower.
Ian Andreas Miller
November 3, 2010 at 8:10 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Felicem Natalem tibi, Guenevera!
Rollingforest
November 4, 2010 at 12:06 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
There’s always a silver lining. The Tea Party scared voters enough in Colorado, Delaware, and Nevada enough to elect Democrats, those allowing the Dems to keep the Senate. Also a Republican house will make Democrats much more motivated to vote in 2012 to stop them from doing what they will try to do in the next 2 years. This could help Obama win reelection.