<p>Look forward:
Dread: 1</p>
<p>And age?</p>
<p>Neutral.</p>
<p>I'm 15.</p>
<p>Look forward:
Dread: 2</p>
<p>17 (18 in dec)</p>
<p>I'm not one for trivial societal niceties, and feel awkward in my delivery to others (i.e. how to accept a gift, a congratulations, a compliment). Therefore I always dread both the praise I get (for nothing, it's just a day) and how I'm to be forced to respond to said praise. </p>
<p>Not to mention gift receiving and all that birthday song nonsense.</p>
<p>LOOK FORWARD: 1 (I am turning 18 in 19 days!!!! :))</p>
<p>Look Forward: 1
Dread: 3</p>
<p>It means I'm older...</p>
<p>Having a birthday means you survived to a certain age. Maybe this is a subconcious reason why people compliment/congratulate each other on their birthdays; these are, for cultural reasons the time when people reflect on their age the most. But this begs the question: Why do people notice age at all?</p>
<p>A gene or set of genes that promoted age identification and eventually selectivity based on age would have been favored in the population because people could choose fertility in their mates. Age ~ fertility in most cases, and thus this gene or set of genes would have flourished - even to this day.</p>
<p>So, it seems to me its good that people compliment each other on their birthdays; because if they couldn't tell such things we might not be here right now. And also, it seems people are subconciously taking notice of your survival skills (why do they do this?). What do you guys think?</p>
<p>look forward!
i turn 15 in 20 days.</p>
<p>I dread people making a big deal of it.</p>
<p>Interesting theory, Longdaysahead. </p>
<p>Yeah, you hit upon a couple of very good points. First of all, that fertility is correlated with age (aka it hits a peak in, say, the late teens to lower twenties), but back when mortality rates were higher (especially for children), it meant something to the individual who would survive that long. But also since most people feared dying from infectious disease, not old age, so they wouldn't have to worry about growing older as much.</p>
<p>And second of all, the thing about old age. Traditionally, we tended to respect the eldery (they were said to have wisdom that they could pass down generations). Clearly though, the elders are not respected as much now (since they are slow to pick up new technology and that "wisdom" from past generations may no longer apply to new generations). Which results in an age divide, and little good people get from growing older.</p>
<p>I'm neutral.
I'll be 17.
We don't really celebrate birthdays in my family so it's weird to me when people make a big deal out of it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It means I'm older...</p>
<p>Having a birthday means you survived to a certain age. Maybe this is a subconcious reason why people compliment/congratulate each other on their birthdays; these are, for cultural reasons the time when people reflect on their age the most. But this begs the question: Why do people notice age at all?</p>
<p>A gene or set of genes that promoted age identification and eventually selectivity based on age would have been favored in the population because people could choose fertility in their mates. Age ~ fertility in most cases, and thus this gene or set of genes would have flourished - even to this day.</p>
<p>So, it seems to me its good that people compliment each other on their birthdays; because if they couldn't tell such things we might not be here right now. And also, it seems people are subconciously taking notice of your survival skills (why do they do this?). What do you guys think?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You're IK in disguise. Come on, admit it.</p>
<p>Look forward: 2
Dread: 5</p>
<p>turning 17 in december</p>
<p>I don't dread my birthdays but my last one (my 20th birthday) felt really weird. I felt like I was really old and haven't accomplished anything with my life. My next birthday I'll probably be too wasted to care.</p>
<p>I'm 14. I don't care about birthdays, except for my 18th one, and my 21st one.</p>
<p>So, another neutral.</p>
<p>dread (17 few months)</p>
<p>too much controversy over whom to invite :/</p>
<p>Look forward. 18 is my next one!!!!</p>
<p>I guess I look forward to it. I'm 21, and will turn 22 in 4 months.</p>
<p>Turned 21 this summer, got nothing to look forward to:/</p>
<p>Eh...I don't ever really look forward to my birthdays. It's not like I dread them or anything, but since mine's in June, pretty much all of my friends as a kid were already gone to camps and vacations when it came around...so I never really got to do anything fun for them. </p>
<p>My next one is 20, though. Nothing exciting happens at 20 :/</p>
<p>Neither. B-days are gay.</p>
<p>^ One must have a gender before one can have a gender preference.</p>