Ding 40!

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Aug 24, 2011

Filed under: Landmarks 178 comments

So today, I turn 40. Where do I go to get my mount?

This has been an interesting journey. I was born at about the same time as the personal computer, although I wouldn’t be aware of them for almost a decade. Here at 40, I’m writing [approximately] every day to tens of thousands of people all over the world, using a computer that is more powerful than the combined processing of every computer that existed before 1971. I could name a lot of other everyday technologies that would have stunned the people of 1971, but they’re all a bit modest in comparison to the one-two-punch of personal computer + internet. I got to see it happen, which was kind of special. I suppose my great-grandparents have me beat, seeing the rise of sanitation, ubiquitous electricity, indoor plumbing, modern medicine, and the automobile. But this internet thing is a close second.

Anyway. Birthday. For the next week or so I’m going to be doing something different. I’m going to write about my life. It will be a sort of an abridged autobiography, in the form of a series of blog posts.

At one point my father taught a creative writing course at Slippery Rock University. On the first day, he went around the room and had each person say why they wanted to take this class, or what they were hoping to write. At one point a young man said he planned to write his autobiography.

My dad looked down at this twenty-year old kid and said, “Okay, but who is going to give a shit?”

That’s my father. We’ll talk more about him later.

In the meantime, I don’t really have a good answer to his question. I don’t know that anyone is interested in reading my story. It’s not particularly exotic, heartwarming, insightful, or gut-wrenching. It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened to one human being, just like everyone else’s story.

My father was also a poet. His work was short and mostly free-form verse. He had a dear friend, Greg, who wrote these epic poems that went on for pages and pages. Dad used to tell him, “If it’s more than half a page, it’s not poetry. It’s therapy.” There’s some truth in that, and I’m sure it applies to a lot of art. Any serious expression of emotion is likely the artist working through or trying to understand something in their own experience.

I will not be offended if you skip these autobiographical posts. I might even be relieved. I’m writing them for my own benefit, and if you get anything out of them, then understand it is an unintended side-effect of my grappling with my own past, trying to set it all in order before it’s forgotten. Life is short, and (statistically speaking) mine is more than halfway over.

So now that we have that out of the way….

Happy Birthday to me! Wheeee!

shamus_1981_birthday.jpg

Here I am, turning 10. It would be a quarter century before anyone would look at this cake and think to make a joke about it being a lie. So I had that going for me. On the other hand, that wallpaper! Ugh.

 


From The Archives:
 

178 thoughts on “Ding 40!

  1. Ian says:

    Happy birthday from someone who’s only a couple of months away from turning 40 himself!

    1. Funny Money Guy says:

      How is the cake of the 10 year old a lie?

      1. Mom says:

        That is an anglefood cake.

  2. theorbtwo says:

    Reading this makes me recall http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=764 , which I very much enjoyed reading. If these are half as good, they will be very interesting.

    1. Paul Spooner says:

      Indeed! I quite enjoyed those posts. They really did teach a valuable lesson about confidence, making plans, and pursuing what you want. I feel like I learned a valuable lesson.
      Shamus, your life is like a pithy 80’s children’s cartoon!

    2. random_physicist says:

      I don’t know if I had read that post before. It was an especially good read because I was just at Seven Springs for a conference, so I could picture how everything went down.

  3. Vipermagi says:

    In that case: Happy birthday Shamus :)

  4. Eruanno says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus!

    (And happy birthday to me as well, I turn 21 today. Yay. Send gifts!)

  5. Eddie says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus! I’m sure you’ll enjoy knowing that you’re now twice as old as me.

  6. Ahluka says:

    Happy birthday! =)

    I enjoy reading pretty much everything you write, so I look forward to the next week or so ^.^

    You better be putting off the Deus Ex posts — I want a chance to play it myself =P
    Besides, reading about it before it unlocks is just TORTURE. Stupid UK.

  7. Happy birthday!

    Congratulations on being twice as old as I am. Twice. As. OOOOOOOOld.

    That’s at least five times as old as Rutskarn!

  8. Reet says:

    Happy Birthday!

  9. Dovius says:

    Happy birthday Shamus, let’s hope there’s many more healthy years to come!

  10. SougoXIII says:

    Happy 40th birthday Shamus! I’m looking towards your autobiography posts next week.

  11. Gravebound says:

    Good tidings to you, sir, on the celebration of the day of your birth.

  12. Vlad says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus! I’d like to read your autobiography.

  13. Mumbles says:

    Happy Birthday, dude. I know the big 4-0 is scary, but you’re leveling up like a pro.

    1. Rutskarn says:

      Yeah, Happy Birthday, Shamus. I got you not a pun. The best kinds of gift are the ones that can be shared with everyone.

      1. bit says:

        I’ve been staring at this for the past five minutes, trying to find a pun slipped in there, somewhere, somehow.

        1. Raygereio says:

          Slowly driving someone mad by not doing something? It seems Rutskarn has graduated from Josh’ school of advanced trolling for the lazy.

    2. Alexander The 1st says:

      In 2 years, he’ll be old enough to match Kevin Macleod!

      Well, presuming Macleod doesn’t level up for a while.

  14. Matthias says:

    Happy Birthday, and thanks for making me feel young (no pun intended ;-))

  15. Thom Mollinga says:

    The happiest of birthdays to you!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSwzWItnJZg

  16. noahpocalypse says:

    Happy birfday!

    I’m interested in reading your autobiography because

    a. You’re a good writer and
    b. I like reading.

    P.S. So jealous! I’d love to have seen computers evolve. That would be so awesome.

    1. Kacky Snorgle says:

      Live forty years, and you’ll see better things than that….

  17. Lalaland says:

    Happy Birthday! I’ve noticed the years seems to be getting shorter since I passed 30, I take it this doesn’t improve? ;-)

    1. Destrustor says:

      I noticed that around 15. I’m doomed.

  18. Studoku says:

    When nobody was looking, Shamus was Forty years old. That’s as many as Four Tens. That’s wonderful- Happy Birthday!

  19. Kana says:

    Happy Birthday!
    Thanks for all the great posts you given us in the past Shamus, and all the great ones to come. :3
    It’s always a blast here!

  20. MDCore says:

    Your tenth birthday looks like it happened in a brown shooter. I bet you even played cover-based hide-and-seek. And quicktime-event musical chairs.

    1. Paul Spooner says:

      Hah! Zing! Perhaps all those brown shooters are sepia-tone throwbacks to the designers youth.

  21. Strangeite says:

    Congrats on making it this far. I hope the next 40 are as blessed as your first 40.

    May you grow in wisdom and grace, and strengthen the trust in your goodness all the days of your life.

  22. tengokujin says:

    Joyeux anniversaire.
    誕生日おめでとう。
    생일축하.
    Ok, I’m done being hipster :p

    1. Deadpool says:

      Feliz Aniversà¡rio…

      1. Qed says:

        Felicem natalem diem, tibi optat.

        Also, me too… but I only turn 21 today >.>

        1. Lalaland says:

          Là¡ breithe sona duit!

      2. Catiff says:

        ¡Feliz cumpleaà±os!

  23. Factoid says:

    So what is the terminology for blogging your autobiography? Is it a blogobiography? Autoblogography? Internet, we need a word for this, STAT! Happy birthday Shamus!

    1. rofltehcat says:

      Auto-bio-graphy
      so
      Auto-bio-blog

      or
      Autobioblogy or Autobioblogatory or Autobioblography.

      1. ccesarano says:

        Why not just Autoblography?

        1. Shamus says:

          Yes!

          Thanks. That’s exactly what I was looking for.

    2. Shamus says:

      Crazy. Was was just working on THAT VERY THING. I titled the first few “Blogography”, but that makes it sound like a collection of blogs.

      Hmmmmmm…..

      1. Ambience 327 says:

        No no, these are all too long and difficult to say. To fit in with the theme of “blog”, “vlog”, etc, it must be:

        “autobiblography”

        (Because, you know, that is sooooo much simpler!)

        1. rofltehcat says:

          Remembered a “new” one.

          Auto-bio-graphy basically just means self-life-writing piece (or self-life-study O.o). Technically, a blog is still a writing piece but to distinct it correctly we need another suffix like “electro” or “internet” or whatever.

          So how about:
          Autobioelectrography
          or
          Autobiointernetography

          1. acronix says:

            Autobioelectrography makes me think of some putting electrodes to himself and then making a graph with the resulting lighting.

        2. Alexander The 1st says:

          “alog”?

    3. burningdragoon says:

      Autobilography? Not as clear a mash up but flows the same as the normal word

    4. Joe says:

      “Autobiography” is only colloquially associated to being in a book. The word itself doesn’t have any etymological ties to books, just “an account” (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=biography). I just saved you two years of coming up with a catchy name.

      1. MichaelG says:

        Seems like the “graph” portion of that word refers to print. So instead of autobiography it should be autobiobloggery or something.

  24. X2-Eliah says:

    Happy B-day :)

    Eh. In some ways I kind of envy your generation for being able to see first-hand the evolution of the internet and the personal computer..

    I mean, heck, what do we have? Maybe we’ll see the transition to completely cloud-based operating systems, or the univifcation of everything into a single Cloud that uses any device as a terminal.. But that somehow doesn’t seem a) likely, and b) as interesting. :(

    1. Mari says:

      Maybe we'll see the transition back to completely cloud-based operating systems

      *Fixed. And yes, I’m old. For the young and curious, google “dumb terminal” and marvel.

    2. Strangeite says:

      Be careful what you wish for. I am not saying that the future is dark and foreboding but at the current trajectory the monumental changes in technology over the next 40 years will make the past 40 look like ant hills.

      I have 3 kids and when I think of the future in which they will live, I have but one humble wish. That I will be able to set the clock on the future equivalent of the VCR. I am not positive that the Nerd Rapture that is the Singularity will happen, but I am positive that technological progress is going to advance so swiftly that nobody will be able to keep up and understand it all, but rather the best skill set will be being able to ride the wave.

  25. Packie says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus! :D

    My dad looked down at this twenty-year old kid and said, “Okay, but who is going to give a shit?”

    I think I just found out where Shamus got his snarkiness…

  26. burningdragoon says:

    Cool beans. Happy birthday Shamus

  27. Rob Lundeen says:

    Happy birthday Shamus! :)

  28. ccesarano says:

    If I remember the core rulebook correctly (which I’m sure I don’t), you’ve still got a couple decades before you start getting a -1 to things like strength and constitution. But hey, you get a +1 to Wisdom!

    I think all you gotta do now is roll a will save vs. mid-life crisis.

    As for the autobiography, I think in your case you have the advantage of people already liking what you write about. Now that they like how you think, it is inevitable that they will enjoy knowing more about your personal life.

    I tend to enjoy such posts myself, but that’s partly because the memories you choose to post always seem happy (except for when you worked at…Taco Bell?). It’s nice, considering some of the first memories I “clearly” recall are angry or sad ones, followed later by happy ones.

  29. SolkaTruesilver says:

    Shamus is a Virgo?

    Eh, it doesn’t really surprise me, in retrospect…

    Happy Birthday!

  30. Mari says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus! I for one am curious about your autobiobloggery because I’ve caught some hints here and there about what young Shamus was like and I’m getting some picture of what mature Shamus is like and I really, really want to know how you got from point A to point B.

    Also: Wow. That wallpaper is even more hideous than I imagined. Kudos for not being scarred for life by it.

    1. Destrustor says:

      That’s why he hates brown shooters: they bring back repressed memories of that wallpaper… brrrrr…

  31. Kevin says:

    Happy Birthday!

    Thanks for all the work you do on this site. I find it very interesting and entertaining. I look forward to the autobiography blog posts. It will be cool to find out how you got to where you are. I’m almost 32, and I am still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.

    Have a good one!

    Oh, and by the looks of that picture, when you were 10, the world was brown.

  32. JT says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus – may you have many, many more to come!

  33. somebodys_kid says:

    Happy Birthday! I look forward to reading these posts.

  34. Adam says:

    Lie cake? What?

    Also Happy Birthday, I hit a quarter century shortly.

  35. LB says:

    Hey, Happy Birthday, Shamus. Have a good one, and here’s to the next forty.

    (…Also is this the first post to contain a swear word on the blog outside of Spoiler Warning?)

  36. Eldiran says:

    Not gonna lie, my instant reaction to you saying you’d write a series of biographical blog posts was “Sweet!” Although to be honest I think that’s my default reaction to you saying you’re going to write blog posts, regardless of topic.

    Also, if your least favorite thing about your childhood photos is the wallpapers, that’s a pretty good place to be.

    Happy birthday!

  37. RichVR says:

    Happy Birthday, dude. Fear not the “big” 40. You are a young fella compared to us that have seen 50.

  38. Jacob says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus! Thanks for all the great reads!

  39. Patrick the Obsiquious says:

    You can’t be 40…that would mean that I’m….oh crap. Oh well. I’ve known you longer than most of these……fans?…of yours. You managed to turn out OK. I suppose. I still feel I somehow failed to teach you the cultural signifigance of football. But at least I got you to buy a Cypress Hill CD once….

  40. Pearly says:

    No, they changed it. Now you get your mount at sixteen.

  41. arron says:

    Did the 40th thing myself last November. Have a Happy 40th Birthday! :D

  42. Joerg Mosthaf says:

    Happy Birthday. My turn to ding 40 is next year :)

  43. Ross says:

    Happy Birthday!

  44. Ubernostrum says:

    Happy birthday!

    THE CAKE IS….DELICIOUS!

    Seriously, angel food cake is the best cake.

    1. MOM says:

      I’m sure his grandma made this. It was the type cake she made because she was diabetic and it is very low in clories and sugar. I didn’t have an angel food cake pan- although I have hers now.

  45. Dovius says:

    Seeing as nobody has done it yet, and since I love crappy, over-used gags.
    TAKE CANNIBALISM!

    1. Mumbles says:

      cana-canabl-cananblbisssmskladadsl;ksj

    2. acronix says:

      You mean canniblogism!

      1. Paul Spooner says:

        Does that make this thread a caniblogasm?

  46. Wtrmute says:

    Congratulations, sir. It’s a big milestone, but don’t let it get to your head; you still have a mid-life crisis to plan ahead! These things don’t happen by themselves, you know!

    As for long, epic poems, I think they’re more poetry than that short, constructivist Modern/Postmodern crap we’ve been fed for the past eighty years or so. But this theory that what makes poetry is the formal constraints imposed on it would sound very odd to the self-absorbed crowd which passes for poets nowadays (excuse the rampant crankiness, it is a pet peeve).

  47. Mathias says:

    And so the 16 (almost 17)-year old part of my brain laughs at you for being twice as old as me.

    …And the part of my brain that thinks smart adults are awesome makes me very, very ashamed that I even brought it up.

    Happy birthday, Shamus.

    1. Audacity says:

      Careful pal, I started reading Twentysided when I was your age and Shamus had just turned 36. Now whenever he announces his birthday it makes ME feel old.

      Happy Birthday, Shamus. Thanks for four years of great laughs. God bless.

  48. Rick says:

    Happy birthday Shamus

  49. Eärlindor says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus!

    I was going to make a snide comment about getting my mount at 35, but Pearly beat me to it.

    No, they changed it. Now you get your mount at sixteen

    Blew me out of the water too.

    Anyway, looking forward to your posts!

    1. Pearly says:

      Don’t you know, in American realms, the minimum level for the American-faction vehicle mount is sixteen? You can get it at fifteen if you rep-grind, but it takes so much effort, you might as well wait.

  50. Rick Tacular says:

    Welcome to the club. No, go make those doctor appointments before your wife does it for you (believe me, you want to make those appointments yourself) ;-)

  51. Zukhramm says:

    Brown cake, brown walls, brown shirt. I guess those games are more realistic than we thought.

    Happy Birthday!

    1. nawyria says:

      You, sir, are a genius XD.

  52. Fede says:

    Happy birthday Shamus!

  53. Jethro says:

    1971 was a good year, my friend. Welcome to the club.

  54. Burek says:

    Happy birthday and all that!

    Which got me thinking. When we reach 60 do we get epic mounts in form of walking sticks?

  55. Chris Headley says:

    Happy Birthday and I say that we have not seen flying cars but we do have a phone that dwarfs the star trek communicator. Everything is about enjoying the ride and I would like to say the upcoming blog posts will be as interesting as your other posts. Happy birthday once again.

  56. krellen says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus. Thanks for collecting a group of like-aged folks so I don’t always feel so ancient on the internet.

  57. Jason says:

    Someone forgot to ice your cake for your 10th birthday. I hope you have a great birthday.

  58. Meredith says:

    Happy birthday! :)

  59. Nikos Saripoulos says:

    Thank for all your posts… if you’re so awesome right know think what you’ll become in the following years… looking forward to your auto-bio-shock-blog-coverbased-graphy… i would like to take example and learn from your path in life

    Happy birthday

  60. Jack DeCoeur says:

    Hey Shamus, this is actually the first comment I’ve ever left on your site, but you’ve been keeping me entertained for years, so figured I’d stop lurking and wish you a very Happy Birthday and many good ones to come!

  61. Boison says:

    Shamus, you have truly done your part to enrich the world during your time here. At least the few years I have witnessed. I would definitely be interested in your Autobioblogography.

    Are you gonna go all mid-life crisis and buy a Ferrari, and then spend all your time on Spoiler Warning talking about your new car? ’cause that would be aweso- no, wait, awful.

    Happy Birthday, Shamus.

  62. Deadpool says:

    Everyone’s life story is exotic, heartwarming, insightful and gut-wrenching… It’s all a matter of how you look at it.

  63. ZapperDude says:

    Happy birthday mr. Young!

  64. Zombie Pete says:

    40 is the new 30, although you will now notice the incredible acceleration of time. So, keep writing.

    And that cake? That cake is the TRUTH!

    Happy Birthday, Shamus. And thank you for all that you do.

  65. DrKultra says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus, hope you spend it with your family and have fun with them.

  66. Ian says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus!

  67. StranaMente says:

    Happy birthday Shamus! Best wishes of a thousand of days like this!

  68. Gothmog says:

    Gratz, Shamus! I’ll be getting my lvl 40 next year.

  69. Ninjariffic says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus. Be sure to have a party (even if it’s just immediate family), make yourself sick on cake, and stay up way past your bedtime.

  70. Andrew says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus –
    Hope it’s a good one

  71. Greg says:

    Happy Birthday!

  72. Narida says:

    Happy birthday!

    I guess something messed up because “Autoblography Part 3: …” landed in my feed reader xD

    1. BaCoN says:

      I got this, too. WE CAN SEE INTO THE FUTURE. Or, wait, the past. I was wondering why Shamus’ life apparently started in kindergarten.

      1. Shamus says:

        Yeah, I was mucking about with the posts, and accidentally hit “publish” instead of “preview”. Took it down right away, but the feed, it remembers!

  73. Slothful says:

    Everyone’s got interesting stories to tell, Shamus. I had fun reading my grandfather’s “unauthorized autobiography” and hearing his tales about mucking about in the army, accidentally getting sent to the top-secret Radar school instead of radio school, fooling with bootleggers, and dealing with the introduction of cars.

  74. Tse says:

    Happy Birthday!

  75. Dev Null says:

    The wallpaper? That shirt!

    Happy birthday man. As someone whos actually a bit older than you – unlike all these 20-something whippersnappers who need to GET OFF MY LAWN – I’ve got to agree: having been here for essentially the entire lifespan of the computer is a weird and wonderful thing. Some people wonder what their great-grandparents would have thought of the world today; I can’t even work out what the me of 30 years ago would have thought of the world today (probably “needs more Star Wars figures”, and “Where’s my jetpack”.)

    If I’m ever in danger of losing my perspective though, I think of my grandmother. 106 and still ticking, she’s seen everything I have, AND the invention of the model T…

  76. Mich says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus! Just keep on being an awesome person :)

  77. Epopisces says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus. If you look really closely through all the comments, you will realize the entire readership is in reality singing the birthday song to you.

    “And many moooooore–until you’re a hundred and forty-four!”

  78. The_Unforgiven says:

    Happy birfday, Shamus! I hope that you enjoy it, and have many more to come!

  79. El Quia says:

    ¡Feliz cumpleaà±os, Shamus!

  80. Harry says:

    Happy birthday!

  81. TheAngryMongoose says:

    Happy Birthday and all that

    Either that’s some good camera work, or that’s a fucking huge cake.

    Talking about not knowing about computers until you were ten makes me, who owned an LCII (and owned at Myst and Spectre) before my earliest memories, feel really young.

  82. Alan says:

    Hey Shamus,

    Happy birthday. If the cake that you get for this year scales proportionately from when you were 10, I think you may need a new house…

    Even then, that was one big cake.

    There is only one downside to you writing your autobiography; I will be forced to read it. Hope there are many returns to come.

    Thanks for everything that you have done. Now, where do we send the presents?

  83. velkito says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus! Wishing you a portal gun :P

  84. Zlan says:

    Happy Birthday!

  85. Sean says:

    Damn you! You traveled back in time 38 years before my daughter was born and stole her birthday! As a fetus!

    How dare you, sir. How dare you.

  86. BenD says:

    ANGEL FOOD

    Also: Happy Birthday!

  87. Jansolo says:

    Congratulations!

    I’m 38 from the past 12th

  88. Matt says:

    Happy birthday Shamus! Remember, 40 is the new 30.

  89. RTBones says:

    Froehlich Geburtstag! Congratulations on turning the odometer over one more time.

    Yes, there is water under the bridge now, but the road goes ever on and on. It goes under cloud and under star. Odd that though wandering you may have gone, you at last turn to home afar. At 40 you look where life has gone, long from the place where it began. But the road continues on and on, and you’ll follow if you can. You’ll pursue it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And what then? No one can say – because the point of the journey is not to arrive, and anything can happen. Around the corner there may wait some new road or a secret gate. You may pass them by today, but tomorrow is another day – and you might yet take the paths that run to the west of the Moon and east of the Sun.

    40 is a cherished feat, a road you’ve trod with weary feet. So today, look towards the lighted inn and take some rest, for now it begins.

    I wish you a very happy and healthy 40th, mon ami de l’internet.

  90. Samrobb says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus!

  91. James says:

    Hey Shamus! Happy Birthday! I’ve been reading your site for a long time but I don’t usually comment. The reason I do so is that my birthday is tomorrow. Coincidentally my full name is James Young, and I am told by my parents that by my Irish roots I would be called Seamus Young. Just thought I would Twilight Zone your day up a little bit. On the off chance that Shamus is just a pseudonym then……well……have a good birthday anyways!

    1. Shamus says:

      Wow. Strange.

      Spoiler: Tomorrow, there is a post named after you. Yes I am serious.

      1. Cuthalion says:

        “Shamus… I am your father!” -James

        D:

        Also, happy 40th.

  92. Kasper says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus! I will probably enjoy reading you story, since I enjoy most of what you write. I think it’s your right to write whatever you want here so even if I don’t enjoy reading it, still good for you for writing it.

  93. Justin says:

    Happy 40th, Shamus. Apparently you have the same birthday as creepers.

  94. rrgg says:

    Odd, my birthday was just the other day. . .

    Nope, too strange to be a coincidence, you must be mistaken.

  95. Ander the Halfling Rogue says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus.

  96. Lord_Bryon says:

    Have a most happy birthday Shamus, and I look fowards to reading these auto-blogy-inter-thingys

  97. chabuhi says:

    Happy Birthday! Let me know if in a couple of years you come to the same conclusion that humans weren’t really meant to live much beyond 40 :(

  98. Whither Arcadia says:

    Happy birthday Shamus. My birthday is tomorrow, so that’s pretty neat. I can’t wait to read your autoblography, your personal posts are some of my favorites on the site.

  99. Davie says:

    Happy birthday! This blog has brought nothing but excellence to my strange little table in the three years I’ve been following it, and I’m interested in whatever you post here, although admittedly I don’t have time to watch Spoiler Warning. HOWEVER! I am curious; please continue.

  100. Happy birthday, Shamus! As someone who has read every post you’ve ever made, I’d like to thank you for all the awesome stuff you’ve done and continue to do.

    No other site I’ve ever found has had such a perfect blend of humor and intelligence, something that can always make you think and laugh at the same time. I admire you as both a writer and a person, and I thank you for everything you’ve shared with us over the years.

    Here’s to another forty!

  101. SoldierHawk says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus. You’ve provided me with so much entertainment since I discovered this site–what, like three years ago now? You’ve also given me a not-insignificant amount of inspiration, for which I will be forever grateful. (Also, I got to read this really kick ass book thanks to your site, too.)

    I’m not sure exactly how I’ll feel about the autobio blog posts, as I’m usually not a big fan of that sort of thing. But you’re a good writer, and I certainly haven’t minded any of the other Personal tagged posts on the site. I eagerly look forward to reading these, and to another fantastic year of following you and your work!

    Also, I do this to all my friends, and it just wouldn’t be a birthday if I didn’t give you this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F21ULk-fAp4

    Happy birthday man!

  102. therandombear says:

    Let’s be a bit more international :p

    Gratulerer Med Dagen! :D

    1. albval says:

      All right, let’s go Fennoscandian!

      Hyvää syntymäpäivää, Shamus!

  103. Mersadeon says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus! I hope you blog for the next forty years, too.

    I’m 19 right now, so I didn’t grow up to see the rise of the computer – or the birth of the internet. I just hope I will be able to see something that awesome in my life.

    Also, one of the reasons why I read each and every post of your blog is that you have this very different perspective on everything – you have seen gaming from its beginning, and you have seen it change. I can’t fully comprehend how that feels, but I just love to get a little glimpse of it when I read your thoughts on something.
    That’s why I will read your Autoblography (I think I like this new word.) with pleasure – because it gives me this window into a world I missed.

  104. Lionday says:

    I’m looking forward to this.

  105. Lee Evans says:

    Holy crap! I just turned 30 two days ago! Freaky.

  106. asterismW says:

    Are you kidding? Reading about your life will be fascinating! And even if it's not particularly exotic, heartwarming, insightful, or gut-wrenching, it will still be an interesting and hilarious read. I look forward to it. Oh, and Happy Birthday!

  107. Museli says:

    Happy birthday sir!

    For some reason, Part 3 of your autoblography has already come through on my RSS reader, and well written it was too. I look forward to reading the rest.

    1. SoldierHawk says:

      Heh, same thing happened to me. I avoided reading it though, purely because it makes me twitch to start watching or reading anything from anywhere other than the beginning. ;-) I’m glad it’s good though! I can’t wait!

  108. Halfling says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus! And many happy returns of the day.

    I need you to continue producing excellent content and joy for years to come. :P

  109. Nostromo says:

    A Happy Birthday to you, and I am looking forward to watch the biopic Hollywood will surely make out of this autobiography of yours!

  110. Avpix says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus! You definitely need to do an Ask Me Anything on Reddit some time.

  111. Even says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus, have a good one!

  112. Fenix says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus!

  113. Drexer says:

    Happy birthday Shamus, and my apologies already because I should have reminded myself sooner it was your birthday today. You know, because it was my birthday today as well and I learned that last year on your similar blog post… :P

    Has it been an year already? God you’re making me feel like time has just zipped by and I’ve only turned 21. I wonder how that’s going for you?

    PS: You have a surprisingly high ratio of 24/08 to everyone else birthdays in here.

  114. Ahhhh yes, the wallpaper of my youth. My first ten years were spent living in houses like that. But onto the real topic at hand:

    THAT was your 10 yr b-day cake!? That thing’s a foot tall! You are one privileged sunuva bitch! All my life I’ve never known anyone to get a cake big enough to FIT THEIR ENTIRE HEAD IN! To be fair, it don’t look have no frosting on it, so my condolences there, but still…

    …also Happy Birthday.

  115. Destrustor says:

    Don’t worry about that not-being-interesting thing, Shamus, I KNOW you’ll make it interesting. You always do.

    Happy birthday!!! May you live another hundred and enjoy them fully!
    Thank you for creating this wonderful blog full of masterwork awesome and fun. This bastion of wit and humor, drawing nice, bright and polite people from all over the internet, is an accomplishment and a monument to your genius. Keep at it!!!
    That is all.

  116. Dourhands says:

    Happy Birthday to Shamus. Who is indisputably the most important person in Vault 101: He who shelters us from the harshness of the atomic wasteland, and to whom we owe everything we have, including our lives.

    all joking aside as a birthday present to you id like to offer you a free stay in my hotel. (not joking)

  117. Ateius says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus, and many more, until you grow old and weary and beg for it to end, but Josh – made immortal through dark and forbidden technology – only laughs, your frail husk cerebrally shackled to the virtu-web as he haphazardly stumbles through “Mass Effect 17: The Reapers Are Really Almost Here This Time, Honest”.

    And then Rutskarn makes a terrible pun.

  118. Maldeus says:

    Happy Birthday! For your mount, find and click on a flashing 1,000,000th visitor banner ads until you find one that really will send you a new car. With all those banner ads still floating around the internet, one of them has got to be legitimate, right?

  119. Steve C says:

    So today, I turn 40. Where do I go to get my mount?

    Your trainer. (Aka wife)

    1. Dev Null says:

      Traditionally, I believe it is bright candy-apple red, and the top goes down…

  120. Happy Birthday, and may there be many more happy ones to come!

    Also, congrats on your epic mount! In another 20 levels, you get a flying mount (hopefully).

  121. MintSkittle says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus! And enjoy the portal cake.

    http://rec-roomninja.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d14a0zi

  122. General Karthos says:

    We had (I think) the same wallpaper in this house when we first moved in. We tore it off the walls as quickly as we could, even though it took us about a year to get around to painting the bare wall.

    But honestly, the bare wall was MUCH better than the wallpaper. Eurgh.

  123. Ziggywolf5 says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus. Hope you had a good one.

  124. Irridium says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus.

    That past two years of reading this blog have been an absolute joy, from start to… well now.

    Look forward to reading more as time goes on.

  125. Dante says:

    Happy birthday to one of the most awesome online personalities I know.

  126. Have fun writing you autobiography or memoirs or whatever you want to call it, Shamus. The nice thing about blogging is that you can write for your own purposes and other people can read it if it suits their purposes, and you don’t have to worry about it too much either way.

    Part of developing real self-esteem is realizing that some things that do (and should) matter to you don’t (and shouldn’t) matter to other people. When we’re young we expect and demand that other people pay attention to us and we get our feelings hurt when we are informed that we’re not the center of the universe.

    As we get older, we realize that people may not be interested in our Issues, but they do like to hear about our Thoughts and Actions, especially if we can talk about them in an interesting way.

  127. Ramsus says:

    As I say to everyone else, congrats on not having died yet. =)

  128. Jarenth says:

    Well, because pretty much everything sweet and/or insightful has already been said, I’ll go with:

    Happy birthday, Shamus. Thanks for writing.

  129. Veloxyll says:

    Happy Birthday And stuff!

  130. Zaxares says:

    Happy Birthday, Shamus! :) I’m only a few days away from turning 31 myself. As sobering as it is for me to realise that I can well and truly no longer consider myself a “young man” anymore, I can at least take some comfort in the knowledge that there will be others grappling with bigger numbers that I don’t need to worry about for a while yet. XD

  131. Bryan says:

    Happy Birthday from a 50-year-old. That’s right, someone older than you reads these :)

  132. Pete Simpson says:

    Well Shamus, I’ll give you a mount….

    Sorry, that was a little out of line. I find that I have a problem with expressing adoration a little over-sexually.

  133. FellowVirgo says:

    You know, I’d never realised that we share the same birthday before (if a different year) and I’ve been reading your stuff for probably five years and more. Happy birthday for three weeks’ time! :)

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