Life Begins At... (Birthday Greetings)

Member Name: susan1967

Product:	Birthday Greetings
Date:	25/01/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Still alive!

Disadvantages: Getting older but not neccessarily wiser

Recently I had a birthday. I have one every year. My most memorable one was the 40th Birthday! I was distraught when I was told I was entering my fifth decade until it was explained that meant 40 and nobody believed I was 50. Obviously my counting skills have declined with age. I'm not keen on this being forty odd lark and have tried to ignore it, which was pretty difficult with the vast array of birthday cards proclaiming my age and also the many posters covering the staffroom walls at work with the dreaded four oh number plastered on them. Anyway to make me feel better about the dreaded four oh, my husband took me to London for a weekend of standing in queues and bad customer service. Normally that wouldn't bother me but I presume getting irritated by the majority of other peoples inadequacies is one of the joys of my advancing age.
************************************************* ******************
To celebrate (or commiserate) my birthday I decided to find out what was, or is, important or significant about my birthdate - September 23rd, and how each thing relates to me.

************************************************* *******************
September 23rd is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). There are 99 days remaining. Yippee not long to Chrimbo. Bugger, I've got no money, maybe the kids will like a colouring book each and a set of felt-tips to share like I've been promising them every year. I think I'm kidding myself, it's Xbox 360's and laptops nowadays.

September 23rd is the autumn equinox. I used to be dead excited about reading that fact in diaries cos I thought it must mean something special and I'd get extra pressies. I was wrong, it usually means soggy leaves on the ground and the dark nights cutting in.

September 23rd is usually the first day of the zodiac sign Libra, though most horoscopes say it is the next day. I've always taken that to mean I can have characteristics from both Virgo and Libra, great it means I can be a tidy slob. Seemingly I was born on the cusp of Libra, but that doesn't mean more presents either. One of the Librans most prominent traits is their indecisiveness which just isn't me...or maybe I can be a little...no I don't think I am... but then again...
************************************************* ****************
Events on September 23rd

1846 - Neptune was discovered.
I'm glad my parents didn't name me after it. Neptunia or something like it. According to tinternet Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the fourth largest (by diameter). Its classed as a gas planet and is very windy, bit like me then!

1941 - The first gas murder experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
I have always been both fascinated and horrified in the Holocaust since reading The Diary of Anne Frank as a little girl and feel quite saddened to share a birthday with this horrible fact.

1974 - In Britain, the BBC launches the world's first Ceefax teletext service.
I used to love ceefax when I was a stay at home mum. I used to pride myself on knowing which numbers gave which page. I lead a sad life. My friends, who were as sad as me, used to test me on what page the weather was on or how to find the regional news. I was rarely wrong. Luckily I have lost that skill now and just pride myself on only just knowing my own telephone number (but can't remember my mobile)

1980 - Bob Marley's last concert.
This was in the eighties when I was a teenager so I don't remember it, I can't remember most news from my teenage years, I was too busy suffering from teen traumas like spots, exams and lust for anything male.

1999 - Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only received minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history to date.
Wasn't there something in Rainman where it was stated that Qantas was the safest airline, or am I imagining it? Anyway I always associate Qantas with koalas and I like koalas so I hope none were on that plane.

************************************************* ****************
Births

480 BC - Euripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
I like Greece.

63 BC - Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
We used to have a bit of the Roman wall in our back yard when I was little. It was excavated and is now Segedunum (I don't live there anymore, just as well, as I wouldn't like to put up with the tourists, apart from the fact the house was knocked down and I would be living on a piece of rock)

1215 - Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
There's a poem about him which mentions Xanadu, I used to like that song by Olivia Newton John. Probably shouldn't have mentioned that, you'll all think I have dubious musical tastes now. I do.

1865 - Emmuska Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
I work in a library and have never seen her book the Scarlet Pimpernel there. I wonder if pimpernel is the real name for a pimp, could've been a totally different book.

1869 - Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, first carrier of typhoid.
I had a typhoid inoculation to go to Corfu(!) on my doctors recommendation when I was 18. God, it hurt, I'm sure he was a sadist. I've never heard of anyone else having to have it to go to Corfu.

1943 - Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer.
Do you not think calling him a singer is a bit misleading? He was a guest on pop idol last year murdering a song. Mind my singing skills are non existent (I've been banned at home) so I suppose I can relate to him.

1949 - Bruce Springsteen, US-American singer and songwriter
My brother used to be a huge fan in the 80's and I used to hate him (Brucie, not my brother - well not all the time), but I did like his Philadelphia one - and the cheese is quite nice too.

1968 - Yvette Fielding, English television presenter.
Ooh she's a year younger than me. She used to be on Blue Peter and progressed onto screaming her head off on Most Haunted. I once went onto one of those ghost walk things in Edinburgh but was so pissed I didn't get scared, unlike my husband who nearly wet himself with fright (I shouldn't have crept up behind him and breathed on his neck - it's a wonder we're still married).

************************************************* *************
Deaths
1939 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856).
My family say I'm mental.
************************************************* ***************

Well there you have it, interesting (to me anyway) facts about September 23rd. Maybe you'd like to share your birthday with us. Go on I dare you!

Summary: Birthday facts