Jack Bower's got nothing on me

Ah, so it's the big 24 for Daris today. The thing about birthdays is that when you're young, birthdays are simply and excuse to get money and presents from family members and if you're lucky, the mother's of your playground friends will buy a gift and let their son or daughter present it to you as if it were their own selection. As we get older the value of a birthday doesn't exactly decline, but it definitely shifts. In our 20s we have a pass to feel young and act young while receiving most of the benefits of maturity (some of us). This is the time when you are simply shifting to a different stage of 'The 20s' and never really getting any older than you were the year before. However, this year feels a little different for me. Going through school at Chico State, I always placed a separation marker on 24 year olds. In college, the 'kids' who were 24 and still there were always losers in my eyes, not because they were 24, but because a lot of my clients in the paper writing business were 24 and older and it seemed to enstill upon me the lack of direction and motivation that came with hitting 24. So, as a resolution, I have decided to make 24 my most productive age. No matter what it may be, a business venture, a leap into doing something I may not be comfortable with but know I will excel at, or just doing everything a little bit more efficiently and confidently. This is the time to prove to myself that 24 does not have to be the wash out crap shoot age I had always envisioned it to be. So jump on the train, embrace your age, and go do something you'll feel good about.

Come 25, I obviously give myself a free pass to eat an entire box of donuts while watching Jerry Springer reruns in my underwear at my neighbor's house...but that's 25.