The Non-Birthday
Today is supposed to be my mom's birthday. Only it isn't. There's a funny story about that.
See, when she came over to Singapore while she was still a little kid, her father had to fill out her personal information on the application for citizenship. China didn't really give out birth certificates then, and no one really used the Gregorian calendar. Her birthdate was on the 12th day of the first lunar month, and he didn't know how to convert that into the Gregorian equivalent (well, this was back in the days without the internet). So for some strange reason he decided to just randomly add 6 to her birth month - hence making her birthday on all official documentation July 12th.
So what is her real birthday? She'd checked it out many years ago, but has since forgotten it. Enter me and my trusty Google. Turns out that her birthday is on February 21st, which is pretty fucking far off from July 12th.
So today will be the last time we're celebrating her non-birthday. Next year on, we'll do it in February, which is actually cooler because now her birthday and my dad's are 6 days apart. Plus it's during the Lunar New Year period, which means my brother and I will be able to spend more on them without really feeling the pinch (yay ang pows).
This whole thing makes me wonder, though: How many people from their generation or older are running around with random birthdates on their identity cards? Do they even care? Probably not. And why should they? When you get to that age, you earn the right to say, "I don't give a fuck" and not have anyone bug you about it.
See, when she came over to Singapore while she was still a little kid, her father had to fill out her personal information on the application for citizenship. China didn't really give out birth certificates then, and no one really used the Gregorian calendar. Her birthdate was on the 12th day of the first lunar month, and he didn't know how to convert that into the Gregorian equivalent (well, this was back in the days without the internet). So for some strange reason he decided to just randomly add 6 to her birth month - hence making her birthday on all official documentation July 12th.
So what is her real birthday? She'd checked it out many years ago, but has since forgotten it. Enter me and my trusty Google. Turns out that her birthday is on February 21st, which is pretty fucking far off from July 12th.
So today will be the last time we're celebrating her non-birthday. Next year on, we'll do it in February, which is actually cooler because now her birthday and my dad's are 6 days apart. Plus it's during the Lunar New Year period, which means my brother and I will be able to spend more on them without really feeling the pinch (yay ang pows).
This whole thing makes me wonder, though: How many people from their generation or older are running around with random birthdates on their identity cards? Do they even care? Probably not. And why should they? When you get to that age, you earn the right to say, "I don't give a fuck" and not have anyone bug you about it.
posted by cinewhore @ 4:42 AM
2 mindfucks
2 Comments:
my parents too don't know their real birthdays. my dad claims he was born on New Year's Day. we all go "riiiiiight!"
ya... my granny as well.... so on her death cert shows the "fake" one, but the marble tablet states her real lunar birthdate... hmm....
-ww
gimme some mindfuckery
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