Not what you expected.

I imagine you all want to hear about my trip to New York right? Well, that would be what this post is supposed to be about but as I'm still not done writing my New York post due to a variety of factors, the main one being vacation-induced laziness, you'll just have to deal with the topic of my age instead.

By the time you read this (unless you are weird and read my blog half an hour before midnight) I will be considered an adult by our culture. Weird!

Hooray? It's kind of a let-down really. I think it'd be kinda neat if our society still did some sort of "rite-of-passage." When I say "rite-of-passage" I don't mean what is today often passed off as the key to manhood. (sex, drinking, breaking the law, owning a car, abusing said car, etc)  No, I mean like battling a woodland creature with a sharp stick and a slingshot. Or, less violently, having to solve some tricky riddle that would impart some small gem of knowledge to help in the transition to adulthood. I'm certain there are some rites out there that would fit the bill for what I think should be the new way to "become a man."

The only problem with rites-of-passage is they are (at least in contemporary times) invariably stupid. They often involve needlessly dangerous or insane tasks. I don't have a problem with an element of danger, (as you will see in my future post on urban spelunking), but risk-assessment isn't being a coward, it's being smart.

Before I go and head to my last night of childhood dreams I want you all to know that I don't think a rite is nessesary to become a man, but that it would just be kind of neat. A way to break up the pattern of the typical birthday.

So I, the childhood of Spencer, bids you all goodnight. If our culture is right about the timing, I die tonight and adult Spencer is born. Goodbye 17 year old me.