Birthdays and Deathdays: 2020 Edition

 

From the show Metalocalypse

It has become my tradition on this blog to write a post on my birthday. This tradition began in 2015, when I wrote a post called "Birthdays and Deathdays." I wrote something of a sequel in 2019 with "Birthdays, Deathdays, Climate Change, and Humanity."

I'm still thinking of a lot of those same issues here in 2020. But the pandemic also makes everything weird-but-not-in-a-good-way, not to mention continuing racial injustice and an impending, increasingly terrifying election here in the US.

On top of all that, I also recently learned of the death of an old friend, and several of my friends have lost loved ones recently. 

I had only intermittently kept in touch with my friend in recent years, but the idea that he's not out there somewhere being the intense, unique person he was makes the world feel hollower and less interesting. He also introduced me to a lot of great metal music, so I'll also remember him for that. I'll miss him.

I also recently commemorated the 20th anniversary of my mom's death.

And of course also the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

So life is not easy right now. Everybody seems to be at least a little demoralized and depressed these days. I know I am. Who's in the mood for a birthday?

My spouse makes fun of me for milking my birthday for a week's worth of plans every year. Is she right? Yes! But as I've always maintained, celebrating birthdays is important precisely because life is so difficult. Life will be over before you know it, so you might as well enjoy it now and then. I know it probably seems silly, but this is why I like to wish people happy birthday on Facebook.

But this year it's hard to feel much like celebrating. My favorite brewpub is open for some reason, but I don't really want to go there during a pandemic or encourage friends to go there. I might pick up a growler and Zoom with people later. I got a cake from the grocery store.

Last week my pop culture and philosophy class covered Camus and Lovecraft on absurdity. I observed that Lovecraftian absurdity is the perfect genre of philosophy and horror for our times.

Celebrating birthdays is part of my quiet, Sisyphean revolt against absurdity. Or to mix metaphors a bit (given my love of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series), it’s one way to push back against uncreation, revolting against the todash darkness…. Oh, Discordia!

Like many other celebrations right now, my birthday will be a lower-key affair than usual. But that's okay. I'll keep pushing against uncreation while I can. And besides, did I mention there's cake?

Coda 1

Here's a video of the song "Birthday Dethday" from the show Metalocalypse (my friend who is no longer with us would love that I posted this).

Coda 2

It would not be my birthday without my favorite birthday song, "Happy Birthday" by Weird Al. This song from Al's 1983 debut album captures much of my sentiments about birthdays. Thanks, Weird Al!