Technology and aging is, I think, at the crux of my post. How is turning 30 different for me than it was for my mother? Pills, biotech ... Interested in how it's different for people of all ages.

Heck who cares about technology and aging? Let's talk about the surreal conspiracy that resulted in so many goddamn geek leos having birthdays this week! you! Me! Jason de Filippo! Chris Pirillo! Macki from Rotten! Karen Marcelo from SRL! Holy crap!

Don't forget David Pescovitz, two days from now. It is really strange. I have at least four more friends with birthdays in the next few weeks.

Hmmmm.... http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/releases/02news/ameriwomen.htm says nothing about "medical technology that now lets you have kids safely later" only that women are having their first child later, at 25. There's an implication that "you can now have children at a later age" that many people draw, seemingly from vague news reports about 50-year-olds "having" babies. If you dig into the details I believe you'll find that there is no medical technology that allows later "safe" childbirth. If you're over 35 your doctor will get very worried, and around here you get sent to the geneticist to hear about the statistics of birth defects for "older" women having babies. If you're past 40 you're told that you're pushing your luck. If you're fifty and filthy rich you might be able to pay for something to help things along, like somebody else's womb or eggs. My reading suggests that infant mortality figures have improved a lot but that you cannot have children any later than your mother's generation did. When you hit your early 30s you have to decide if you will have (more) children or not because you're nearly out of time.

Also celebrating birthdays in these same two weeks: Carla Sinclair and Lisa Palac!

For that matter, the whole human race will celebrate its birthdays within the next fifty-two weeks. How unlikely is that?

I'm turning 22 this wednesday. I'm dreading it. Not because of the number per se, but because of where I am, and where every other 22 year old is, and it seems that each year is just a bad re-run of an old show. But perhaps that's just now, perhaps this 22nd birthday will usher in a new period. I only hope it will.

Happy Birthday to Jenn S. and to all the other Leos this last week and the upcoming one.

As for women, aging and fertility... Does anyone ever get the feeling that all the articles are yet another way for women to be constrained? Better go to college, better get a career, make sure you have your own apartment and life before you get married. Oh shit, you better get married, you better breed now before it is too late... What is there this small time period between 25-27 that all women must trundle off down the aisle? What about the guys?

In the last year, I have had 4 friends who are over 37 and under 45 who have had marvelous, healthy little people with no fertility treatments and no medical intervention. Hysteria be damned.

I think you're old.

Thanks, Piratemonkey! ;)

I definitely feel that women get made to feel bad no matter what they do. Wait to have a child, you're selfish and putting everyone at risk. Have one too soon, you've blown your chance to have a fulfilled life. None of it's fucking true. I definitely feel pressure, but am doing my best not to capitulate.

At 22, I worried about where I was. Looking back, I didn't really have to worry.

who the hell knows where they are at any stage in their life? I'm 31 and not a woman (though I don't think that automatically invalidates my opinion) and I have a one-and-a-half year old son. Every day I wish I was younger so I could run around after him faster and deal better with sleep deprivation. Every day I wish I was older and wiser and had gone to China and Uzbekistan when I had the chance.

Enjoy yourself. Be selfish. If anyone gives you grief directly, tell them to sort their own life out before criticising yours. If you just feel a generalised pressure from society, imagine them all sitting on the toilet wagging fingers at you and see if you can't just grin right back at them. Have kids when, and only when, you feel good and ready.

Happy Birthday, Jenn! Seems like only yesterday when you were, yes, 22. Hmm, guess I must be getting older too.

We were just discussing things you should never do once you pass 30. Esquire has a list in the August issue. (Paper only.)

Among the prohibitions: Do not smoke pot out of an apple or other fruit. Do not call in sick due to hangover. To which we have added: No more tequila shots.

Cosmopolitans are still OK. So drink up! Cheers.

Congrats on the birthday... For me, I turned thirty a couple of years ago, spending my birthday camping deep in the backcountry in Zion Nat'l Park. It was a nice way to turn thirty and not feel anything too frightful.

And I still don't feel old, despite buying a house, getting married and pursuing useless effluvia of a middle class existence. What does bother me is how nostalgia and caution have both increased exponentially, despite all of my frantic efforts to avoid either of those useless feelings.

Edited by author 08-15-2003 12:05 AM
Firstly, happy birthday to Jenn! Thanks for posting this topic. Friends who are 30 say that there is a sort of peace or wisdom that comes with being 30 that makes you feel good about being 30. Some friends woulnd't trade being 30 with being 25! any comments? and any words of wisdom for someone who, in her mid-20s does not have a clue what she is doing with her life? is this a cause for worry?!

(the reason that this was brought up was because i had concerns going back to school with 18 and 19 year olds. I am now 24 and am planning to go back to school in a few years, meaning that i would graduate when i am 30/31/32.)

Hi, Jenn - You're welcome.

Actually, I didn't feel too bad about turning 30 and thought your dramatic announcement was really funny. Now when I turned 40--that was really an adjustment! During my 40s I had to cope with and come to terms with all the changes in my body (as in the teen years). Now,in my 50s, I am very content with me and what I look like. I don't miss all the truck drivers honking or construction workers whistling at me as I walked by....

Happy Birthday!

Having stumbled upon this site and your post, fate compels me to say something! Happy 30th, Jenn!

IM TURNING 30 IN OCTOBER AND IM FREEKING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE SERIOUSLY FREEKING OUT!!! No one thinks im older than 23, most think I can't possibly be 21, Last year for crying out loud, I was getting ID'd at the Movie Theatures, and they wouldn't let me in without an adult, hello???? This 30 thing, caught up with me to fast, I swear, Im the most hyper, still acting silly, so young, clubbing, going out, even on the weekdays, no kids, not married Freekin out to say 30 year old!! OMG< I can't believe I just said that!!! It seems the few friends I have that are 30 act sooo dayum old!! Tired on the weekdays, can't go out anymore, unless its scheduled, has kids, or married, or just plain boring!! THis is my last year in my 20'SSSS!! I can't tell you how hard this is for me, or maybe I just did, LOL!! Help!!
Signed: Freeking out about being 30!!!

I'll be 30 on friday! Don't freak out! Read the following:
http://etherlabs.net/m.werneburg/words/questions/30.php

I will be turning 30 Oct16th. I've been absolutly a WRECK!!! I've been crying every day for over a week. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that I've been sick with a headcold and feel all weird in the head, but I feel like my life is coming to an end. Maybe, in a way, it is ... the old life is gone and the new will begin???? I've been making major changes in my life lately. MAJOR! It's like I want the OLD me to be gone and the NEW me to begin. I'm upset because I have so many regrets. I want to turn those regrets into lessons and move on.

I can not express how much I've cried lately. I'm CONSTANTLY on the verge of tears ... is anyone else this crazy and depressed?????????????????

i will also be turning 30 in exactly 9 days and im counting, dont want to leave my 20s,or the grey hair starting and all that`my son is 12 and makes me feel so old at 29 , so what chance do i stand at 30 :(

I will be turning 30 tomorrow. Everything I've read here applies to me too... I am traumatized. I can't believe it. And 30 isn't exactly an age I can really complain about to co-workers or family because I'm still the youngest one. Ick. I'm not old enough to be 30. Can this really be happening???

well 3 days to go :(

i turned 30 last month and i was a little nervous but it has been the best year so far. i finially got my nerve up to enroll in school and pursue my ed. degree. i have been merried for 10 years so we're out of the drama stages of marriage, i have 3 girls, 6, 5 & 3, who are old enough to go potty and entertain each other. my husband and i are very involved in our local town and frankly i am enjoying the maturity and respect that comes with age, or at least the age i have under my belt thus far.

I am turning 30 next week and I think I have noticed more hair loss in the shower and elsewhere. Is it normal to lose more hair in your brush and such when you turn thirty?

I'll be 30 at the end of April. I've been married for just over a year. We had spent the last year saying that we'd be great aunt and uncle but didn't want to have our own. Then why all of a sudden is my biological clock stomping around in my head??? Is this normal?

I can't believe that I'm turning 30. Other people do that, not me. Where did the time go. It seems that it was just yesterday when I was a bright, bubbly 17 year old cheerleading on the football field. The days of perky breast and all nighters are gone. I feel so old. I'm not married. I just feel like my life is over. I don't know what to do.

I turned 29 today -- my last year in the twenties!

hi,
this is my first posting to this group. As i was surfing through net looking out for topic about turning 30, i hit upon this website and find it quite interesting. I will be turning 30 next month and am already feeling all mellowed down. There are few more butterflies fluttering in my tummy as if appearing through my 1st board exams. Hey tell me how to approach this new chapter in my life.