30...

So, I recently turned 30. This happened to be on the same day as the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, so it was a pretty big deal in Berlin. I tried to go and participate the festivities, but it was quite ridiculously crowded and I couldn't get really anywhere close. Plus it was rainy. To illustrate, here is a photo of the festivities from the newspaper.

And here is a photo of the real experience, from our point of view.

Patience ran out quickly under such conditions. We ended up deciding to just leave and go to a tamer area with an unseasonably-early Christmas market instead.

30 doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal. I only turned one year older than 29. And really I was only one day older than the previous day. But, one apparent difference is the round number. I've read some about this before, and Americans, in particular, tend to emphasize round numbers, even a little more than other cultures. 100 yards rushing for a running back in a football game seems much better than 99, for instance, and 30 seems a lot older than 29.

Also, another difference is in the way we categorize ages. I received a survey from the Mizzou alumni association, the day after my birthday. Here was the first page.

For reference, my cursor hovers over what I wanted to put, and the checkmark designates the answer I had to honestly put. And, um...can I also say...30-45!?!??!?! Ridiculous. I am in an age group with 45-year-olds as of one week ago. That is different. This is all I have to say about this for now... :)