10,001?

So yesterday was my 10,000th birthday. That is, as of Wednesday, March 7, 2007, I have been alive on this planet for 10,000 days. I first discovered the date when, a couple years ago, I put my birthday into an online date calculator thingie, and it told me that on 3/7/07 I would be 10,000. And I thought, "Wow. That's awesome! I think 10,000 days is so much more meaningful than, say, 27 years." So I told everyone I was going to have a big party on my 10,000th. Of course, this inevitably led to quizzical looks, and an explanation of what I meant when I said I was turning 10,000. Thing is, no one was quite as excited about it as me. The first thing they wanted to know was how I figured it out, and could I show them the web site so they could find out their date? But that was it. It was just a novelty to them, and lately when I've told people I'm almost 10,000 days old, the typical reaction has been less wide-eyed enthusiasm, and more rolled eyes and telling me I'm weird.

The party didn't happen, mostly because I'm currently in a state of flux, not really having a permanent home (or job to speak of), and with all my friends being scattered around the globe. OK, maybe I am a little "weird" for wanting to celebrate 10,000 days, but it's only weird in that it's atypical. Our society celebrates birthdays yearly -- probably because it's the easiest to track -- and it seems my attempt at emphasizing the Ten Thousandth Day has been mostly unsuccessful. That said, I'm not the first person to come up with the idea of a 10K Day Party! A quick Google search shows a few other likeminded 20-somethings -- though the phenomenon is mostly localized in the UK. I've always fancied their way of looking at the world.