The vibes in my circles are pretty weird right now. Everybody’s either in a bad mood because Kamala lost the election or they’re not allowed to look like they’re in a good mood because they voted for Trump.
Examples of the weird:
- For the first time in 10 years, my husband’s usually tight-knit family didn’t want to talk politics at Thanksgiving. This made for dry conversation over very moist turkey.
- Lots of people (and – presumably – hordes of bots) are shifting their accounts away from Twitter and restarting parts of their digital lives over to BlueSky. I’m one of them.
- And progress on our new house has been painfully, painfully slow.
That last part isn’t related to politics, it’s just one more annoyance on top of everything else.
To contribute to the weird vibes in a positive way, I decided to celebrate my birthday this year! That’s not something that I typically do because I am a young-looking old man and spilling the beans on my government age ruins the illusion of youth. But because a lot of people needed something to celebrate and because I didn’t see any reason why that something couldn’t be me – I chose to share my birthday with the public this year.
Fun fact: my last big birthday party was held just before I was scheduled to turn 30 and it was a protest. It was called Occupy 29 and we continue to occupy 29 to this day! My best photographed birthday party was in 2011. A photo from that party is the featured image of this post.
A nice week
My friends and family are located all over the world so I gave myself a week to spread the good word on social media. I made some mentions in my Instagram story, placed casual reminders on a few people’s calendars, and started sharing short clips of me spoiling myself with some small birthday treats. It was cute and fun and I thought that it might brighten things up for a few people.
But clearly I underestimated the mood because the enthusiasm for a simple digital celebration far outstripped my expectations! Phone calls, text messages, thirst traps in my DMs, wine, beer, gift cards… and the list goes on. It felt like I threw a surprise party where the guests suddenly learn that they’ve got someone to celebrate and – as an added bonus – there’s nitrous oxide in the air. It was a weird thing for me to do but it was also celebratory and I loved it!
And yes, I know that dissociation isn’t a good strategy for your long term mental health and that distracting people from the issues ahead isn’t always the right thing to do – but people were absolutely ready to think about anything other than Trump’s next term. There were lots of laughs, lots of smiles, and it was a reminder that there’s still lots of love in the world. The people needed that reminder.
Grumpy old man
Even though times are interesting, I’m grateful for all of the time that I’ve gotten to spend with friends over these many, many years. And I think that it could be fun to celebrate with friends in person next year. Even if it means that I have to acknowledge getting older.
And as for making the times that we’re living through less… interesting. I am inspired by the cantankerous old coots of the past who advocated for a better world for the people coming up behind them. So who knows! Maybe leaning into being a geriatric homosexual will help make the world a better place.
But until we get some clarity on that I’ll be slathering my face with potions to keep the young-looking illusion going, rushing along the contractors to get the new house move-in ready, and turning out some new Bottomless Coffee productions that you’ll all watch and love.
✌🏾 – Jerome
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