31 (in Earth Years)

On January 23, 2003, the last, very weak, signal from the Pioneer 10 space probe was received. Having been launched on March 3, 1972, the spacecraft was on track for almost 31 years. It was the first spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid belt, and the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter.

I am a fan of science fiction as well as real science and I actually get a kick out of looking up on a starry sky, wondering what might be out there for us to discover. And Pioneer 10 is one of the highlights so far.

Quite impressive, and yet – I have beaten one of those statistics. Contrary to one of the most fantastic pieces of space faring hardware ever built, I managed to celebrate my 31st birthday.
Turning 30 last year was a big deal. Psychologically, it is one of those moments where your life starts to change. Or at least, so everyone expects.
In my case, I can look back at several changes during my 30th year. I got married. I got a new job. Pretty big stuff, you could say. But I have so far avoided growing up or even showing hints of eventually growing up.

Birthdays are funny in the way that they are perceived as actual occasions. I love them, don’t get me wrong, but they are an odd construction, aren’t they? I mean, if the Earth had been any faster or slower in its rotation around the Sun by even a third of a percent, the year could have been 364 or 367 days long, and suddenly, birthdays would follow that rhythm instead.
And seasons aside, very few things really follow the cycles around the Sun. I change only slowly as part of the growing up that I deny takes place, or through sudden events, like when I first met my wife. It rarely follows a 365 day pattern with an additional day almost every four years.

For the first time ever, I celebrated the day with my wife (the first of my birthdays since the wedding). Breakfast from the local bakery gave a nice start to the day. And it also ended rather well, with dinner and a movie. At my request, we had sushi. I mention this only because everyone who knows me has asked if it was my idea, since they know me as a picky eater. But yes, sushi is one of those things I had learned to love over time. Hopefully, that is not a part of growing up?
After dinner, we saw the last instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean-franchise. Seeing a film about pirates helped me keep up the illusion that getting older doesn’t mean getting wiser or more grown up.

Me, Version 30.0!

It is official: my twenties are now to be referred to in the past tense.

In the weeks leading up to this, I hardly felt it to be a big deal at all. I admit, it could be because my head is wrapped around wedding planning and several other things. But 30 is really just a big thing because we decided to use the decimal system. Imagine if we had chosen hex. Then I would just be turning "1E", not the momentous "30".

But now I am ready to party and have fun. Okay, so it is a big deal. I'm in my thirties. That is supposed to be the time when you settle down, lay the foundation to become a pillar of the community, talk about things like "pension plans", "career paths" and "gas mileage".

I am settling down. I am just not settling.

If everyone aims at being a pillar of the "community", community itself will look a bit like an ancient greek temple: lots of columns, but no doors, windows or roofs.

And it's too early to start talking about gas mileage when we don't even own a car.

I think I'll enjoy being in my thirties: old enough to be taken more serious, but not too old to still be a kid. I'll go play some Sims and enjoy that work is closed to day.