Which birthday - of you or someone else - do you especially remember, and why?

my sister¡¯s birthday is tomorrow, thanks for the reminder!
posted by HearHere at 1:02 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

A bunch of September birthdays for family and friends here, which only tells me that those Januarys of the same year may have been mighty cold. Plus, Enkutatash (the Ethiopian/Eritrean New Year) was last week. (Full disclosure: I'm not Ethiopian; just a fan of a good celebration.)

Also, three passings to remember and commemorate. Candles for many reasons.
posted by datawrangler at 2:51 AM on September 15 [5 favorites]

Today is also the thirtieth birthday of the most accurate computer film ever, Hackers.
posted by autopilot at 3:17 AM on September 15 [9 favorites]

My mom's birthday is at at the end of the month. I light a candle every year in remembrance and toast with a shot of her favorite Irish whiskey.

I'm a bit sad after a family wedding this weekend. All of her siblings attended and seeing them gathering for a group photograph without her made everything a bit raw all over again, after almost a decade of acceptance.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 3:35 AM on September 15 [12 favorites]

My niece's birthday is on Saturday and I need to get something out to her....

Two memorable birthdays here:

* My 50th birthday was the same day as Mardi Gras for that year. And really, when your 50th birthday is on Mardi Gras your party has planned itself. I went to New Orleans, and a couple I'm friends with who moved to Colorado met me there (her birthday is two days before mine, so it was a celebration for her too). For both our birthdays we dined out somewhere fancy - somewhere on Canal for her, Court of Three Sisters for me - and I also joined a walking Krewe the day of, sporting a dollar bill on my shirt. I did indeed get more money pinned to my shirt, but other people in the parade also gave me oddball gifts (a handmade brooch, a horse show 3rd place ribbon, and some dude who spotted me just after picking up a couple hot dogs at a vendor did a take when he saw my dollar bills and handed me one of his hot dogs). At some point in the parade, someone with a boom box started blasting Lizzo's "Good as Hell" and I started dancing in the street to it along with a woman dressed as a pink fairy and 3 guys in day-glo wigs.

* My 16th birthday...I didn't actually have anything planned. I don't know why; I was just going to go to my then-student job (cleaning the local library for an hour on Saturdays) and then take it easy. But apparently my two BFFs felt this Could Not Stand. They turned up at my house about an hour before I was going to the library, both dressed up, and they sang me "Happy birthday" and announced they were taking me to brunch. Mom called the library while I got dressed up, and then they blindfolded me - the place the were talking me was a surprise, they said. One of their moms was the driver (I was the first in our crowd to turn 16), and they led me to her car and got me settled. At first I tried tracking the route ("okay, that's a left, we're on Rt. 14, heading towards town...") but the driver took a few switchbacks to confuse me. So I had no idea where we were when we got dropped off. My friends lead me into the restaurant and then pulled of the blindfold.

The first thing I saw was about a dozen other friends from school standing around us; and the second thing I saw was that we were in McDonald's. So the McDonald's part was a bit of a prank, but it was an affectionate one, because they'd roped the entire gang to join in on the party. One of my BFFs had also brought a change of clothes for me in case I wanted to dress back down, but I insisted on staying dressed up. We all ate at the McDonald's and then walked 10 blocks across town to the local Multiplex for a group celebratory matinee of Pretty In Pink (the group of us were pretty much the only audience, and at some point some of the guys got into the balloons my friends had brought for me and started a volleyball game with them in the back of the theater). Everyone else's folks came to fetch them after the movie, and my friends brought me home, leaving me there with big hugs, a bag of balloons and a couple other gifts. My mother met me at the door when they were leaving, and I turned to her, burst into tears and started wailing "I have the best friends ever!!!!!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:06 AM on September 15 [14 favorites]

October 16th is Angela Lansbury's birthday and also the anniversary of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.

January 6th is the birthday for my dad and one of my very best friends. It's also Epiphany/the 12th day of Christmas, so our family always leaves the tree up through that date. I refuse to acknowledge any other significance to the date related to recent unpleasantness from this decade.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:26 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

Nice topic. My bff's birthday was Friday so we went to an omakase place today and it was one of the best meals I've ever had. My other bff's birthday is Thursday and we are going out tomorrow for fried chicken and beers and that will also be wonderful in a totally different way, and I noticed it was an old former colleague's birthday last week who I hadn't spoken to in a few years but now we will meet this Friday to reconnect. So yay birthdays!
posted by Literaryhero at 5:08 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

I share a birthday (12/18) with Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg, Ray Liotta, Billie Eilish, Christina Aguilera, Keith Richards, Betty Grable, and a couple of not nice people: Ty Cobb and Joseph Stalin. I'm not that big on birthdays myself, don't have any especially memorable ones.
posted by Grumpy old geek at 5:13 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

Mount St. Helens erupted on my birthday in 1980, so that was a pretty memorable birthday. Otherwise, I'm aware of two other people who share my birthday: Rick Wakeman of Yes and Pope John Paul II.
posted by tommasz at 5:51 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

A friend thought a kiddie pool for Jello wrestling would be fun on his bday. But it was the pudding, chocolate and butterscotch, that was on sale.

Yes it was as gross as you can imagine
posted by Didymus at 6:08 AM on September 15 [6 favorites]

There's a TikTok trend going around where people try to kiss their best friends to see what happens.

Worked out great for us, twenty years in, got a feeling it's going to work out, y'all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:10 AM on September 15 [11 favorites]

After a spell of having birthday campout parties on the beach along various parts of Southern and Central California through my 40s, I eventually stripped away the invitees until it became a solo overnighter on the same tiny beach campground in Ventura County. It's the one tradition I look forward to every year: getting a psilocybin chocolate bar from my guy in LA, making a birthday playlist for the road trip to the campsite, stopping at the same firewood place in Canoga Park to load up my trunk, cruising in a few hours before sunset, setting up just in time for a barefoot stroll on the beach as the tide comes in, building a modest fire during last light, and spending the rest of the night high as balls, reflecting on the past year and visioning what I want the next year of my life to look like. I wake up on my birthday to the sound of the ocean, watch the sky change color with daybreak, drive into Ventura for a hot chai latte at the cafe with an amazing playlist, and take the rest of the day off from work. It's a little more challenging now that I live in Texas, but I book a flight and rent a car to keep it going, because it's that important to me on a soul level. Next year will be my 50th, and people have already started asking if I have any commemorative plans, but with any luck, I'll be doing the same quiet thing. The world gets to have me the rest of the year, but my birthday ritual is mine.
posted by mykescipark at 6:27 AM on September 15 [16 favorites]

I'm a person who shies away from focused attention and I don't like receiving gifts, so the fact that I'm old enough that nobody cares about my birthday anymore is a relief. It is somewhat entertaining when my coworkers decorate my cubicle for milestone birthdays, though.

Between May 30th and June 29th, all five members of our blended family have birthdays; when the kids were young, we'd just have one big birthday party for the extended family, to make things easier and also not put the burden of attending three grandkids' birthdays within a matter of weeks. On each kid's birthday, though, we tried to do something special for them -- and the biggest consistent tradition was we had root beer floats on the birthday day (again, more convenient than three cakes in the aforementioned timeframe).

Now that the kids are grown, and we're down from four great-grandparents and four grandparents down to just two grandparents, birthdays are usually just dinner at a nice restaurant with whoever's available. That's nice too.

Film student update: Did a recording session with the narrator of my Advanced Studio Projects project, which went well, although had a few technical hiccups, but this is for class so that sort of stuff is part of the learning experience. I also went and wandered some local parks with my microphone and recorder to try to get nature sounds for the same project. My main observations were: if you're in town, it doesn't matter how deep you are into the trees, there will always be car sounds, that dull constant drone of tires on pavement. The park near downtown was interrupted by train noises; the one further out of town, airport noises. It's amazing just how much noise there is outside when you've got a highly-directional microphone piped directly to headphones. I know fall is here and migratory birds probably started leaving when we had a cold snap a couple weeks ago, but there were disappointingly few birds. Probably the best recording I got was standing in a parking lot, pointing the microphone at trees about 100 feet away.

In my "I'm running out of projects" attitude: a friend put out a call for actors and crew; I fit both bills. I randomly ran into him and his director last Tuesday, and they said they could use either grip or sound help, and I enthusiastically offered my assistance. Then, the local community theater announced that their 10-Minute Play competition got hundreds of scripts submitted and they need readers -- boom, signed up. Then the local LGBT film festival, which starts in two weeks, put out a call for volunteers, again, hey, let me know what you need. Which reminds me: I need to start watching the submissions for the other film festival I volunteer at. I don't know why I feel so busy.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:28 AM on September 15 [6 favorites]

Ooh, shared birthdays - I share(d) a birthday with George Harrison.* For most of my childhood this meant that every year, if it was a school day on my birthday and we were listening to the radio while getting ready for school, at some point they would play "Here Comes The Sun" in celebration; so that is now A Birthday Song in my head. A high school friend once made me a killer George Harrison mixtape for me as a birthday gift - and he was really, really good at it, and I have made a point of recreating it over the years as I move to different music tech (the current incarnation is a Spotify playlist).

* So apparently, when George was well into his 40s, they discovered that his birthday was actually the day before; his father had always remembered him as being born a few minutes after midnight on a given day, but he was actually born a few minutes before midnight on the previous day. George kept celebrating it on the day he always had done because fuck it. His widow Olivia has said if you wished him happy birthday on the proper day he¡¯d tell you it was tomorrow, and if you did so on the following ay he¡¯d tell you it was yesterday and you just missed it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:46 AM on September 15 [6 favorites]

I literally just want to blow out some candles and have cake and ice cream. ? That has happened less than a handful of times in the last 20 years ¡ª and one of those times was in 2021 while I was living by myself so I did it for myself. Fuck birthdays is what I'm saying. (lolsob)

Naturally, and as usual, my deepest sympathies to hearts that grieve and best wishes to those who struggle with THE WEIGHT.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:49 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

Oh, and I just remembered something about birth date confusion and those friends who joined me in New Orleans...

There was a three-year stretch when the guy in the couple sent me a "Hey, happy birthday" text four days before my actual birthday. I'd text him back a confused "thanks, but....you're 4 days early."

Finally after a few years of this, I asked him "Hey, for the past 3 years you've been wishing me a happy birthday 4 days too early. What's up with that?"

"But (girlfriend's) birthday is 2 days after yours, isn't it?"

"....Nah, I'm 2 days after HER."

"....Oh yeah."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:50 AM on September 15 [4 favorites]

I went in for outpatient surgery. They ask your date of birth with every encounter, from admission through wheeling one in. The person taking me back from the waiting room commented that the person just before me had the exact same birthday as me; even down to the year. I wish I'd been able to meet whoever it is. I've one good friend who's birthdate is one day younger than me. But I've never met anyone with MY date.

If I believed in omens about two of us going in for surgery consecutively, I don't know if it would be a good or bad omen.
posted by mightshould at 6:58 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

I share my birthday with Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee; on that date, I exclaim, "Look who's still alive out of the three of us, bitches!"

Other than that, perfect weekend! Current Me did Future Me a solid by doing all my chores on Saturday morning, so that I could be delightfully stoned whilst attending the last downtown street fair of the season. I bought a iced London lavender latte, talked to some local artists, preened a bit when a Gen Z gothy punkette told me my whole look was fantastic. Shepherd had gone on an overnight trip to his parents, so I just cranked my serotonin playlist Saturday night, checked on this year's weed plants (two will be ready to harvest within the coming week), and read a book.

I went with friends to the Kingston Fall Fair on Sunday: we looked at the 4H prizes (appreciate that one of the kids in the children's competition grew a gigantic flippin' beet that totally deserved first prize), tried our hand at some carnival games, and of course, I got to eat my annual funnel cake. We didn't go on any of the rides because of the lines, but a good time was had by all.

I work in healthcare and often schedule my "summer" vacations for autumn, so my vacation season kicks off this week. I am off to see Sparks on Wednesday, then my bestie and my sister are coming up from the States for our 3rd Annual PickleFest. (Yo, TO Mefites, if you are going, HMU in my Memail.) This is what Shepherd likes to call my sister's Feminism Topup as she lives in the South with--to her, annoyingly--a mostly Trumper social circle. We reinforce that her views aren't weird, those of her social circle are.
posted by Kitteh at 7:01 AM on September 15 [8 favorites]

speaking of hospital confusion, a colleague had been taking her husband into the cancer clinic over a period of years and he was near his end, just as his twin brother was starting treatments for a different type of cancer. The twin brothers happened to have appointments at the clinic at nearly the same time, same date, and the momentary confusion with the staff was something to behold apparently. Amidst the heavy feeling of the day, I gather they all quite enjoyed this final Twins moment together.
posted by Didymus at 7:02 AM on September 15 [5 favorites]

There are many pictures of my sister and I in tall paper birthday crowns. Very homemade anb delightful. We made one for my father when he turned 70. I think I'll revive this tradition.
posted by brookeb at 7:21 AM on September 15 [4 favorites]

Got my birthday dinner planned later this week for the eiffel tower (madame Brassiere) should have an amazing view while I eat. Had my first french class at the Alliance Francaise here in Paris. Glad I'm doing the semi-intensive class because by the third hour my brain was empty and I had no idea what happened in the last dialogue. I would not be able to handle the intensive one. Had a migraine yesterday and got one this afternoon, so haven't been able to try the restaurants everyone suggested yet. Hopefully tomorrow!
posted by Art_Pot at 7:41 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

Mount St. Helens erupted on my birthday in 1980, so that was a pretty memorable birthday.

Ian Curtis of Joy Division committed suicide on that same day just in case you wanted that birthday to be even more fun.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:43 AM on September 15 [6 favorites]

Hi everyone happy free thread, yesterday I saw a lizard with a dick for a butt. Hope you are having a wonderful day.
posted by phunniemee at 8:00 AM on September 15 [8 favorites]

My birthday buddies: I share an exact birthday with Malcolm in the Middle actor Frankie Muniz. ¡À just a few days and my close birthday buddies are Janelle Monae, Amanda Seyfried, Raven-Symone, and my friend Sopheia from elementary school with whom I had joint birthday parties for years.

When I was in second grade one of our projects was to write a nonfiction book. (First grade was fiction, if you're curious.) I did mine about things that happened on my birthday through history. Here are a few selections.
posted by phunniemee at 8:15 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

I share a birthday - and birth year - with Morrissey. Also the same day as George Best (Google him if you don't know who he is), Naomi Campbell, Novak Djokovic, Laurence Olivier, Bernie Taupin and the Unabomber.

I'm still in hospital, recovering from my fourth surgery since 1 July, this one much more invasive than the previous two, which were clean-ups of the wound from the amputation. The large 5" deep cavity that had formed has now been stitched up by plastic surgeons, working from the bottom up. They are magicians.

This is a long haul, I'm desperate to go home, but can't unless it's safe for me to do so. Because I'm bed-bound, with two drains, and can't sit, that's likely to be a few more weeks away.

I'm occupying myself (The Girlfriend on Prime is soooo good), and I'm in good spirits. I've had cards, MeMails, letters (you know who you are who sent me that wonderful typed letter that made me cry. I hope you got my email about the Grand Canyon...) from MeFites from all over the world. What amazing people you are.

Someone sent me a joke card with TFG on it. When it was opened, it had a voice that sounded like his yakking a (long) message to me. I had it propped up (closed) by the window, which I leave open to its max of about 4 inches. One night, about 3am, the wind blew it over and I woke up to the sound of Trump. It was like being in the worst kind of fever dream. I rang the call bell and when the nurse came in he said "what the hell is that?!" and I had to point to the card that had blown onto the floor. It's now back in its envelope. Worst fucking nightmare ever, being woken up by Trump's voice in my ear.
posted by essexjan at 8:22 AM on September 15 [13 favorites]

Superman's birthday is February 29th.
posted by SPrintF at 8:45 AM on September 15

This is only adjacent but yall, I had my third baby! She is amazing and perfect and we are so happy!

About 30 seconds before she was born, I was overcome with an intense wave of magical happy hormones. Like most people about to have a kid, I had spent part of pregnancy worried that I was doing the right thing. But I¡¯m not exaggerating when I say that right before birth, I felt as though any doubts about a third kid physically left my body, floating up through my shoulders, leaving only certainty and relief and joy. And then I pushed her out, and she was here, and all that remained was to get to know (and feed! And help!) this new person who I felt 100000% certain was going to make my life even better.

How fucking lucky am I!?
posted by samthemander at 8:46 AM on September 15 [20 favorites]

My 21st birthday was spent doing something called "the Bambi Walk" where you have at least one drink at every bar on a popular strip in town. I woke up on the roof of a McDonald's. This was in August, mind you, so I was attached to the tar roof by the time I woke.
posted by hairless ape at 9:02 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

my birthday is a holiday, but not one of the super big ones (which I gather can suck) but big enough that everyone is pretty festive about it: St Patrick's Day!! so yeah, everyone tends to wear green on my bday, and act a fool.

I have long known that I share this bday with Rob Lowe, but learned quite recently that William Gibson:

1) is also born on March 17th!!
2) is 6'6"!! I had no idea he was so tall. he is a long skinny man.
posted by supermedusa at 9:14 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

yesterday I saw a lizard with a dick for a butt. Hope you are having a wonderful day

permission to use this for dick pic
posted by Didymus at 9:22 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

My most memorable birthday was my son's 18th:

After a typical scheduled haircut one day in my 20s, I decided to start letting it grow out just for the hell of it, see how long it would get. As it happens that decision unrelatedly occurred a couple months before my son was born. Years later I decided I was ready to get rid of the ponytail, but because of the relative coincidence of my previous haircut and my son's birth, I elected to wait a few months until his 18th birthday and have him help me cut it off. I thought it could serve as some sort of "rite of passage" for both of us (I know it sounds silly, that's kinda why I decided to go with it). Sure enough he helped me shave ALL my hair off in one go, leaving the still-tied ponytail intact (I donated it to Locks of Love). I then shaved my entire head perfectly smooth, leaving only a goatee. My coworkers were certainly surprised the next day! (I quickly decided that amount of shaving wasn't sustainable, so I let my hair and beard grow but I've kept it all pretty short since then.)

For my birthday this weekend I bought myself a cheesecake and a very nice bottle of scotch, and enjoyed a judicious amount of each that evening - that's pretty much the extent of my "celebration" of getting older these days.

In other news, I've settled on the composition of my next airbrush project and this weekend I cut out frisket templates for the few bits of it that require sharp edges.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:37 AM on September 15 [5 favorites]

Two stick out--my 30th and 50th (this year).
30th--The Late Mr. Nerd made me a banner, and a dear friend flew West to spend the day with me, and we saw Blue Oyster Cult the next day. Great food, fun company.

50th--a dear friend flew West to visit. We got a room, played with synthesizers, and chilled. I also had a nice lunch with him, my folks, and a cousin. I capped it off with dance class that night, where I gave out trinkets to my classmates.

Work: Informing the warehouse guys about their rights regarding pay, as the accounting person is historically late paying them.
posted by luckynerd at 9:46 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

I like to go on a long bike ride for my birthday, but this year didn¡¯t work out quite so well as I¡¯d had some unexplained pain earlier in the week and wanted to baby my knee for a bit. Last year¡¯s was very nice, though.

My favorite fact about my birthday is that the first time I met someone who shared my birthday was in probability class, during a class demonstration of the birthday paradox. The professor had us stating our birthdays one after another and instructed us to raise a hand if ours was said by someone else; I was the first to raise a hand.
posted by eirias at 10:10 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

As a family we're terrible about celebrating. We've never really done birthdays and my wife and I have to look up when our wedding anniversary is.

But it was my threescore-years-and-ten last week, and for once we did it properly with all three offspring and partners. Middle Son and wife came over from the US, we rented a place in the country for three nights, and it was wonderful.

And as Mrs.43rd is 70 next year, we're planning to do it again.

(BTW if anyone in the UK wants somewhere to stay for 8-10 people in Dorset, I have a firm recommendation!)
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 10:36 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

I always remember the people I knew with Halloween and 4th of July birthdays. I've only met one person with the same day and year as mine, and of course it was in a math class. I was once on a team of 7 and we had two pairs of matching birthdays.
September is always busy and now October is getting busy, too, with meetings and medical appointments. One meeting might be extended to 3 days, but I have a ticket for a staged reading of "Love on a Stick" on the second night. It is the only night it runs and I won't miss that. I voted for two days, but we'll see.
I just found out Oh Mary! was extended again and so I don't feel like I have to see it before December, now. They've also added more weekday matinees, and so I might be able to fly in and out on the same day. I am going to 4 plays in Chicago at the end of the month so everything else gets pushed to before I leave.
posted by soelo at 10:37 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

I have the same birthday as Rick Springfield. I was rather aghast when I found out his birth year on Wikipedia just now.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 10:47 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

Dang! September already and I forgot my oldest granddaughter's birthday September 1st. Guess I better get out the belated meme and text her. Fortunately, I can claim senility.

This the granddaughter that, after I had my stroke, expressed her horror to her mother that I would become one of those doddering demented old grannies that would take her hand and keep patting it. Mom thought it was hilarious and told me, embarrassing her. I immediately took her hand, patted it, and said, "Fuck you, dearie." On occasion I still do it, which cracks her up every time.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:26 AM on September 15 [7 favorites]

I share a birthday with Fred Astaire, Bono, Donovan, and Sid Vicious, among others.

And an "exact" birthday with Young MC (who might wish to change their name, if my mirror isn't lying to me).
posted by maxwelton at 12:33 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

I share my birthday with...anyone who wants to come over and watch a weird movie. :)
posted by chromecow at 1:42 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Also, I share my birthday with a fraternal twin, which lead to some interesting incidents growing up as our mom definitely favored him over me. At some point I adjusted my expectations to ¡°ask for nothing and expect less¡± and basically maintained that for a very long time until spouse. One of the reasons spouse is awesome is because he makes a point of finding a way to make my birthday special, even if it is something small.

I also want to stress that I hold no ill-will towards my twin. I adore him, he is an awesome human being who acknowledges that we had different experiences with mom and frankly his sucked in other ways, so we are even.

Familial love is complicated. Parents screw up with each kid in such interesting ways.

chromecow what kind of weird? Are we talking scary weird or ¡°WTF just happened?¡± weird? Is mockery of the weirdness permitted?
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 2:17 PM on September 15 [4 favorites]

And it appears that I share a birthday with a bunch of living people that are not very decent humans. Bummer.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 2:21 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

theBigRedKittyPurrs Great question! It's a very loose definition. Generally means non-mainstream-Hollywood, lots of international films. There are certainly a lot of weird movies in the horror genre, but there are lots of weird movies that aren't horror.

If a movie is is the so-bad-it's good category, mockery is encouraged. Sometimes movies are just so banana-pants crazy (but also awesome!) that there tends to be a lot of...good natured wtf? (Looking at you, Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway)

Otherwise, I hope I know my movie watching partners well enough to provide a quality viewing experience (that's part of the fun). But, nobody is policing reactions. Sometimes it's film nerd weird, but I try to save that for viewings with other film nerds.

Example are probably easier:

- The Saragossa Manuscript
- Prospect
- High Rise
- Repo Man
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- A Girls Walks Home Alone in the Dark
- Annihilation
- The Love Witch

On my up next: The Devil's Bride, a 1970s Lithuanian Rock Opera

Does that provide any clarity? Lol.
posted by chromecow at 3:07 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

I do not see "Visitor Q" listed above, is the edit window still open?
posted by Didymus at 3:10 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

We had friends over for what turned into a birthday party in a nice low-key way, there was a cake but also A LOT of delicious aged cheese and some interesting salads. Sharing some of the produce from the garden, getting the sadness and fear about (all this) out of the way with the first/second bottles, and catching up. For once I'm glad the weather has turned a bit warmer this week, the pepper plants are loaded and have new blossoms so we might get another harvest before the first frost.
posted by winesong at 3:25 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

I get Tyra Banks, Jay-Z, Marisa Tomei, Jeff Bridges and ... eeeewwwwww... ESR

faaahhhkkk yeah i'm just feel bad about that
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:30 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Didymus Haha. That list is is not exhaustivelist, and Visitor Q is in fact on my Jellyfin server, though I haven't got to it yet.

I'm sure I've plugged this in other comments, but I highly recommend the All The Haunts Be Ours box sets (volume 1 and 2) from the distributor Severin. They are expensive, but a tremendous value for the dollar (about $7.50 a movie), a great collection of Folk Horror from all around the world (which has a large intersection with my weird-film niche).

It was published after the success of the fantastic documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, which is included in the first box set.
posted by chromecow at 3:30 PM on September 15 [2 favorites]

winesong, deeker posted this on the 13th, and if you missed it, well.. I think it's apropos
posted by Didymus at 3:31 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Oh yes, I share a birthday with Terry Hall and Ricky Wilson.
posted by luckynerd at 3:33 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

I am a late-August birthday, and have many August-September friends. And my college boyfriend's birthday was September 16, which I guess is tomorrow.

Best birthdays I've had:

21st: yep, going out to the college bars at last. I bought a new dress and everything, a sexy sheath and went out with my roommate and favorite gay male friend. It was very fun, and it was right before classes started, and we danced the night away while drinking, of course. The three of us repeated these bar nights many, many times in the next 2 years.

23rd: NYC near Gramercy Park, a guy driving a limo who had just dropped off his fare asked us if we wanted a ride to anywhere for $20 (we were dressed up and obviously going out) which was illegal for him to do, but of course we said yes. Then we unknowingly crashed a dance club's private event after dinner. We couldn't figure out why they didn't charge us cover at the door and why all the drinks were free (open bar). Best we could figure, they let us in because we were cute.

30th: caught a matinee of "The Producers" with two very good friends in NYC, though I was just visiting that year. The three of us had so much fun, laughed so hard that even the woman sitting in front of us commented on our hearty laughter.

42nd: drove up to Ft Bragg and had dinner at a nice place in Mendo. Little did we know that I dropped the car key fob on the way into the restaurant. A little tipsy on the way out, bemusement turned to panic as we realized neither of us had the car key. We were a very long cab ride away from our hotel in Ft Bragg. I found an old hippie dude sitting on the curb playing with my key fob, showing it to me saying, "I don't know what this thing is!" as he swiveled the key part out of the fob. I've never been more relieved in my life.

most recent: Maui, 'nuff said.

Wow, I've had a lot of great birthdays!
posted by honey badger at 3:48 PM on September 15 [5 favorites]

My husband shares a birthday with my cousin, and my father and brother-in-law share a birthday.

Not a birthday sharing, but me and my grandmother share the same wedding anniversary date, which is also the death date of my great grandmother. Every year my grandmother sends me and my husband a card and money, and then I panic order flowers for her because I¡¯m the one that forgets every year. This year, though, we have a lunch date - mostly because I work in her town now and she knows she can save the stamp (I say that with admiration of her practicality and not snark). So since I don¡¯t visit her enough I¡¯m bringing lunch for us. I still have one of the cards she sent me, it would have been just a month or two after my grandfather died. She wrote something like ¡°It goes by too quickly.¡± I can¡¯t read it without crying. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever throw it away.
posted by eekernohan at 4:27 PM on September 15 [2 favorites]

My 18th birthday. I'm an August baby. I had just graduated from high school in June; my best friend just got married and moved to Utah from New Jersey with her Army husband. My boyfriend of two years told me he'd take care of inviting members of a social organization we were members of while I handled the food/decorations.

I got platters of food; plenty of different types of sodas; bags of ice; cake. I even carved a watermelon to look like a basket and added more fruit to it.

And no one came.

My own boyfriend was an hour and a half late.

I don't think I've ever gotten over that hurt. I had a much better time days later with family who took me to a great restaurant, but that day really, really hurt.
posted by annieb at 5:09 PM on September 15 [8 favorites]

AnnieB: of course that hurt. I¡¯m so sorry that happened! This is just pretend, and silly, but let¡¯s just do a little imaginary role play that I was able to make it that day:

happy 18th birthday! Thank you for the food and decorations. That watermelon must have taken you forever, I wouldn¡¯t have the finesse. I¡¯m glad it was just us for a while there- it was lovely chatting with you. Also I didn¡¯t want to start sharing any of the food with your bf, because between you and me, he¡¯s kind of a dope. But that¡¯s ok, he¡¯s here to celebrate you in the end. Happy birthday. ?
posted by samthemander at 9:46 PM on September 15 [6 favorites]

My worst birthday was the last year my (now ex) husband and I were together. He forgot my birthday. He thought it was the next day, which was his first wife's birthday. He genuinely didn't understand why I was upset. After all, he'd remembered it was some wife's birthday, he just picked the wrong wife, what's the big deal...

Last year I went to a Moth storytelling event in Brooklyn and in the interval we were invited to write down anecdotes that fit the theme - and this one did. It was the last thing the host - a woman comedian - read out at the end of the night, and it brought the house down. So at least I ended up getting a laugh out of it.
posted by essexjan at 2:01 AM on September 16 [8 favorites]

I share a birthdate with Canadian former Prime Minister Joe Clark, Whitfield Diffie, and Laurie Anderson, so that's pretty neat.

My two most memorable birthdays were i) My 30th... a houseload of my friends moved to a different house, so I helped them pack up and truck all their stuff over to the new place. I got home at 5:00am, fell into bed, and then woke up to hear the news that the Tiananmen Square Massacre had just taken place. ii) My 42nd... we attended my older brother's funeral in the morning, and then came back to the house for birthday cake.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:43 AM on September 16 [3 favorites]

Multicellular Exothermic I am so sorry for those birthdays. I really hope all your other ones were/will be full of joy and love.

samthemander Thanks for coming! It was so great to spend one on one time chatting with you!!

In the theme of people you share birthdays with: I had a best friend who was born on the same day in the same hospital as me. We "met" in kindergarten, and he and I were inseperable. We attended the same schools until 5th grade, when his parents sent him to Catholic school. But we kept in touch. Through high school, community college, jobs, relationships (I re-introduced him to the woman who became his wife; he attended both of mine, the second one he was my photographer).

He was a fabulous friend: he never let me down; we listened to each other when we were struggling and needed to talk; we had the same dark sense of humor. He was just an awesome guy.

Two years ago he passed from cancer. He didn't tell anyone he had it; he wanted to do things on his own terms. From his hospital room, the same hospital we were born in, you could see the last school we had attended together. I got him to laugh one last time. I last saw him just hours before he passed, and though he might not have known I was there, I reminised over all our years together. My twin brother from another mother.

This is not meant to be sad. I cherish our birthday, because he was the most true friend I ever had, and a part of my soul. I miss you Chris.
posted by annieb at 5:56 AM on September 16 [11 favorites]

RIP, Robert Redford.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:11 AM on September 16 [3 favorites]

My birthday happens to be in a few days, so this is a really timely thread for me! It is also Talk Like a Pirate Day, which I kind of love: I was in Kansas City as a high school freshman taking biology through the height of the intelligent design brouhaha, so I have a deep soft spot for the Pastafarians, and it means that I often get fun internet piratical easter eggs for my birthday every year. Plus September is a great month for a birthday, if I may say so myself; you get to come in at the end of the sadly holiday-sparse summer and kick off all the holidays that start in fall with a little celebration of your own. Great choice of times to be born.
posted by sciatrix at 7:20 AM on September 16 [5 favorites]

chromecow, yes it does! I'm down as long as it is not horror. Or City of Lost Children (an awful ex ruined the one for me).
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 8:19 AM on September 16 [1 favorite]

If anyone has any positive mind atoms they can direct my way, I'd appreciate it. Sales is a weird gig where you can be doing really well, then have one thing cancel and two fall through, and suddenly, you're an unforgivable bum. If one or both of those latter things don't come through, my year is looking really rough at a point where my boss is already sick of me.

I'm supposed to have my five year anniversary at this job next week, but I may get fired instead.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:33 AM on September 16 [11 favorites]

DOT: Sympathies and positive mind atoms. I'm still out of work myself and we're at the point where i've just posted on social media that we're gonna need help with October rent, and i hate it.
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:10 PM on September 16 [2 favorites]

positive ion beams heading your way, you two
posted by Didymus at 2:42 PM on September 16 [2 favorites]

Many many positive mind atoms (and molecules) directed right to you, DirtyOldTown.
posted by kristi at 9:30 PM on September 16 [1 favorite]

I don't want to hijack the party, but I could use some positive rays too. I've been holding out hope for a miracle of sorts, but the reality is I'm going to have to sell this house, I think, and that will end the house-owning chapter of my life. (Sad thing is I have a lot of equity in this place, but cannot access it. In WA you have to be 62 to get a reverse mortgage, which would solve my problem, but I'm not 62 and won't be for a few years. You have to have income to get a heloc, and I have none to speak of. Ah, well. We'll find out how it ends, I guess.)
posted by maxwelton at 11:59 PM on September 16 [7 favorites]

Spouse is on his way to the ER again. He has not shaken whatever ick he developed several weeks ago. He has seen his GP, who ordered more tests. He is exhausted and cranky.

Then he woke up yesterday with a badly swollen hand and no discernible cause.

I really need good vibes too, I'm really scared.

Rays of sunshine and cool breezes to DOT and maxwelton as well.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 3:11 AM on September 17 [5 favorites]

I am directing positive vibes to DirtyOldTown, adrienneleigh, maxwelton, theBigRedKittyPurrs, and everyone else who is struggling, searching, or grieving. I could use some positive vibes, too. Money is an issue these days.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:23 AM on September 17 [7 favorites]

DOT, adrienneleigh, max w. and big red kitty - I'm beaming you 50 million kw of good energy straight to the heart like cannonball as the man said - that's about half* of what I received quite undeservedly in the last week or so from 2 of my impossibly difficult but spectacularly wonderful adult children. We live in different countries, they have full on lives and I tend not to ask for time or attention and I do not think of myself as someone who might be missed. Well, they taught me to rethink this. What a flood of appreciation, good words, kind deeds and open expressions of love and positive wishes for the future just because I showed up out of the blue. Phew. What an lemon I can be, what an utter charlie. But I yam what I yam and I don't give a damn today. Counting my blessings today - you bet I am.

* If you think I'm being mean, I'm keeping back 25 million kw for my wife who will be in town with us tonight and Goddam my greed but having 25 million kw for my miserable undeserving self! Just because I can!!!!
posted by dutchrick at 6:28 AM on September 17 [5 favorites]

Wishing luck to those needing it at the moment, and sharing a tale that hopefully will at least cheer some people up:

So today's commute sucked on toast. It's usually pretty smooth - I take one subway that's usually uncrowded to its end, then switch onto another subway for 3 stops. I'm usually able to get a seat on the first train, and get to the second one early enough that I can let a couple go if they look too crowded for me to sit (and if I still don't get a seat, no worries). I've started knitting as my subway-entertainment, but can't do it when I'm standing.

Today the first train was a few minutes late to my stop, and then got even later as we went on - at one point we sat in a station for about two minutes, and no one told us why. And so it was packed as more and more people tried to crowd onto the train they thought was about to leave any second now. It was hot, people were cranky, I couldn't sit down, bleh. At least I was able to get a seat on the second train and was still going to get in to work on time.

And that's where the fun bit happened....so, about 3 weeks ago I went through a phase of seeing other knitters on the trains. We'd usually strike up a brief chat to compare projects and talk shop before one of us got to our stops. And this morning, as I was on the second train quietly fuming about my ride....I looked a little further down the train and saw one of the same knitters I ran into 3 weeks ago. She recognized me too, and we got to have a little catchup on our progress.

It's not that unlikely to run into the same people on your commute, but it was still a fun surprise.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:41 AM on September 17 [10 favorites]

Ooops. Didn't see you there - Multicellular Exothermic - love the super catchy name! - being as how it's you, I'll go halves on my share - that's a cool 13.5 million kws blasting thru cyberspace to you!
posted by dutchrick at 6:48 AM on September 17 [3 favorites]

Ach that should be 12.5 million - losing my ability to count in my euphoria!
posted by dutchrick at 7:09 AM on September 17 [3 favorites]

On a good news point, a friend told me she's cancer-free! I sent her an "I'd rather be in my fairy garden" magnet as a gift, along with congratulatory stickers on the envelope.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:31 AM on September 17 [12 favorites]

I'm a big fan of stickers, especially on envelopes.

I put some stickers on the enve|ope of my young niece's birthday card and when I got a card from my sister for my own birthday, it was positively covered in stickers; my sister told me my niece insisted on it. I think we get each other.
posted by demi-octopus at 1:02 PM on September 17 [7 favorites]

I got my updated Covid shot, after a few false starts. I think we should honor RFK Junior¡¯s bravery by inviting him to be the first guy on Mars. No need to hurry back!

My best to theBigRedKittyPurrs and everyone else facing really hard stuff this week.
posted by eirias at 3:29 PM on September 17 [4 favorites]

That's really rough, annieb. I hope you're in a better environment these days.
posted by chromecow at 3:53 PM on September 17 [1 favorite]

That first sip of bean juice with cow squeezin's and bee spit in the morning - ahhhhhhhh...
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:44 AM on September 18 [2 favorites]

So the NY Film festival opened its individual ticket sales up to the public at noon today. I was waiting for this because shelling out $300 for a festival pass just ain't happening. I logged on at noon, waited in an online queue for an hour and a half, and then finally got in to make my choices....

....the individual tickets were $53 per ticket for each movie.

Yeah, no.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:52 AM on September 18 [5 favorites]

YIKES. I hope the Chicago international Film festival tickets are better priced when they go on sale individually next week.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:07 AM on September 19 [1 favorite]

Thank you for the vibes. They helped!

The swelling in spouse¡¯s hand is subsiding. We still don¡¯t know why it happened. Spouse had an IV the day before as part of administering contrast for testing, but it was in the opposite hand. He thinks it was a reaction to Benadryl, but did not have any other symptoms of an allergic reaction and once again, opposite hand.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 2:56 PM on September 19 [1 favorite]

Maybe for once the right hand knew what the left hand was doing...
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:21 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

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