A Few Words on My Birthday
by Jeremy Pinson

Today is my 27th birthday, let's begin with a joke:

Three women are in a locker room dressing to play raquetball when a man runs through wearing nothing but a bag over his head. The first woman looks at his penis and says "well it's not my husband." The second says, "no it isn't," the third days, "he's not even a member of this club."

:) Smile, you know you're laughing. So I guess it's clear I am in a good mood today. Exactly 27 years ago my 27 year-old mother brought me into this world. She left my allegedly abusive father soon after my birth and I never saw him again. I hear I was a cute baby who never cried. The silence before the storm maybe? Ah, but I say it in jest. My life has been a portrait of turmoil. But in the last few years I've grown calmer, more contemplative, less materialistic and despite my emotional hardships more content with myself. I no longer worry what others think of me. I love myself for who I am. My opinions, my beliefs, my sexuality, are all my own and I am happy with them.

My 26th year of life brought me this blog, minor repairs to my relationship with my mother, legal victories and defeats, a man who for a time I thought I loved but who now may be a friend for life, new insight on the world and the actions of those inhabit it. Like Zen Buddhists I believe the last year a satori has come to me, that's enlightenment for those of you unfamiliar with philosophy. Speaking of philosophy here are two philosophy jokes:

1. Define Existentialism? "You haven't lived until you think about death all the time."

2. A sadist is a masochist who follows the Golden Rule.

:) Too stuffy? Can't help myself, my 26th year was also spent reading the works of plato (The Republic), Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics), Machiavelli (The Prince), Descartes, Pascal, Kant, Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus. Is it any wonder I am crazy?

This year had its bad moments but that is life. We live, we love and we learn. Behind every tragedy is a cause. In front of it is inevitable joy. What seems hopeless today will seem trivial tomorrow. Now let's toast to the next 27 for me and for us all.

Jeremy Pinson
2/6/2013