This morning, I finished listening to Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation. While this book was meant to be humorous, it was also educational. The most important thing I learned is that, at least according to Joe Queenan, I am not a boomer. Unlike sociologists who stretch the baby boom until my year of birth or even a year or two later, he draws the line at 1960, safely excluding me. I’m relieved. I don’t want to be part of a generation that’s gotten such bad press, some of it deserved. I never felt like I had a lot in common with people who came of age in the 1960’s; when they were having the Summer of Love, I was basking in the glow of successfully completing my studies at Cary Country Preschool and readying myself for kindergarten. I missed the boomer heyday. Sure, I hung out with my mom when she worked on the McGovern campaign and wore crocheted granny square vests to junior high, but I don’t think that counts.

Yet I do have some of the traits that are often associated with boomers (and yes, I know these are generalizations and all boomers are not like this, but if I don’t go with the generalizations, I’ve got no entry and that would be a sad thing on the second day of Holidailies). I’m certainly self-absorbed, as evidenced by the fact that I’m writing this for a website that’s all about me and the stuff I do and the stuff I think and the stuff I like and the stuff I took pictures of. I’m pretty much refusing to grow old gracefully, as evidenced by my drawer full of Eeyore-emblazoned clothing, which I wear in public in a non-ironic way on a regular basis. I also do not think of myself as middle-aged even though I’m 41 and tool around most days in a boy racer Mustang GT.

So maybe I am a boomer. I sure don’t feel like a baby buster, part of Generation X. Yes, I can program my own VCR, but I didn’t grow up with one. I need my own generation. (There’s that self-absorption again.) The Mainframe Moderns, maybe, because my generation had to interact with computers via punchcards in our youth. I don’t know; I can’t think about it now, I have some interfacing and prioritizing to do.

A year ago, I did a goal check-in.