Today is my birthday. I am 27 years old.

Nine years ago, I became an adult by the usual reckoning. I wonder when I will start feeling like an adult. Maybe I do already. I wonder too about what my 18 year old self would feel about me, about where I am, what I've done in the past nine years. I don't think I would have expected the difference between 18 and 27 to be so much smaller than the difference from 9 to 18. Still, places were seen, friends were made, diplomas were gotten, romances were had; and I guess that's enough. I realized a while ago that I had three markers that I would summarize my life by: the year of school, the place I was living (in the years since 18: parents, dorm, house with Kate and Ben, the slanty shanty, house in the backyard with Claudia, parents again, africa, grandmothers, current apartment), and the girlfriend of the time (Brianna, Sylvie, Sierra, Claudia, Ruchi, Dolly). These are my eras. What I've realized too is that through all that my friends have been remarkably constant, and consistently wonderful. I guess the after school movie cliches were true.

What else do people mark time with? Maybe some can say--"That was my goth period" or "those were my preppy years"--marks of music or fashion respectively. Maybe some have years of drug abuse or depression or general loss they use as a marker against times of happiness. Marriage, Kids, Jobs, too. Maybe those will be my markers later when I get around to them.

At the moment, however, I am feeling very hung over. That has something to do with the amount of alcohol I consumed last night, I suspect. I also suspect that my 18 year old self would be very disappointed in the alcohol consumed/severity of hang over ratio.