It’s my birthday! I don’t often use exclamation marks, but in this case I’m attempting to make myself feel better about being another year older. It’s already lost its audacity though, as my birthday was yesterday. It turns out yesterday was an optimum day for birthdays, not new posts.
I’m from the North of Ireland, Belfast born. I’m proud of my heritage and cherish my visits back to the abundance of family and friends I am lucky enough to have left over there.
Searching for a little inspiration to adorn my facebook page on the morn’ of my birth day, I came across a quote by a fellow Irishman, Brendan Behan. It goes like this:
I’m a drinker with a writing problem.” ~ Brendan Behan
Now, I have no way of really knowing why, but I promptly lost two followers; almost as fast I uploaded, they checked out.
Brendan and I are trying not to take it personally, but we have to be honest, it stung just a little, especially for me, it being my special day n’ all.
I could jump to many conclusions about why they deserted me, but we all know what assuming does. It’s not flattering. I’m just going to accept their departure gracefully and adopt the attitude that perhaps I have done you all a disservice in not making clear (which, by the way, is the opposite of hazy) what you can expect from me. I accept responsibility. I am eager to rectify:
1. I do not praise alcoholism, but I will promote someone who was able to achieve substantial success and become “one of the most important Irish literary figures of the 20th century” in his forty-one short years here on earth.
2. I don’t pick and choose. Holding back is not my forte.
3. I fib. I pick, I choose, I do hold back. I don’t depict autobiographical events without blending them into almost unrecognizable abstract.
4. I’m British, I write and I drink. Unlike Mr. Behan, I don’t see any of these as a problem, but for your reading pleasure, I try not to mix the three.
5. I secretly like being another year older. I just needed an excuse to use an exclamation mark.
Hazy Shades of Me 