Yesterday, on August 27 2010, I celebrated my milestone 18^th birthday. Provided here is a rough breakdown of the day for those of you interested in such things.

The program

Family birthday wishes

After waking up way too early, I spent some time listening to an episode of the “Linux Outlaws” podcast. At about 6:15, my family came in to my bedroom to wish me a happy birthday. For all you materialistic consumers out there, my gifts were a DVD of Pink Floyd The Wall, an 8GB USB stick, and some money.

School

After some gentle reminders most of my friends at Marcellin College acknowledged my birthday. Overall the school day was pretty ordinary, but I did get a lovely rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” sung by my Maths teacher of 3 years!

Relaxing at home

After school I had some time to check RSS feeds and emails and play some games before it was time to prepare for going out.

Dinner at Nonna’s

We ate dinner at my Nonna’s (grandmother’s) house, where I met up with one of my uncles as well. Once we had finished eating, Nonna, my sister and her friend went to the ballet. Mum, Dad and me waited around a bit, watching “Dirty Jobs” on TV until it was time for us too to leave.

The Whitlams

Now for the main event: seeing The Whitlams live at the Corner Hotel. We arrived at Richmond much too early, so Mum stopped for a coffee to kill some time. After what seemed like a long time we were finally able to enter the Corner Hotel. As it’s an over-18 venue, I must have been the youngest one there – Mum got real kicks out of the bouncer asking to see my ID. The support acts were good, but there was no disputing that The Whitlams were the main entertainers there. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the performance, and the set list was fantastic!

Tim Freedman had a little trouble with a broken stool and had to do a few songs standing (like “No Aphrodisiac”), but this didn’t seem to faze him much at all. Since this was the first “pub band” that I’d seen, I was shocked by how loud it was (my ears are still ringing now). When the band first walked off the stage, I was left thinking “wow, what a great show”. However, the first encore really was the icing on the cake, “Oh! You pretty Things” going down brilliantly for me as a Bowie fan.

Conclusion

The day was great. I had the chance to see both my family and friends, and the live music exceeded my expectations. Thanks to Mum, Dad and everyone else my 18^th birthday will be a memorable one.