One of my favorite songs from my childhood is, unironically, “Tuesday” by ILOVEMAKONNEN, which, like its title, talks about going out on a Tuesday as the artist is busy with work on the weekend and thus can’t go out in a traditional style. Additionally, because of the mention of clubbing and alcohol, it’s easy to assume the artist is talking about going out as an adult over the age of 21. Although it’s a really simple and silly song in hindsight, I was always excited about getting to have nights like this as an adult.
Turns out, the universe also thought this idea was hilarious, and I ended up having my 21st birthday on a Tuesday in the middle of the week. So as the song goes, “Got the club going up, on a Tuesday,” except I had to be an actual student beforehand. Unlike some students, all my classes have mandatory attendance, some through a simple check-in and others through question check-ins throughout the lecture period. However, I’m also very lucky to have my classes start at 12:30 p.m. most days, meaning I have a whole morning to waste most days.
Knowing that I was going to get home the next week and really celebrate my birthday, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go full out for my birthday ILOVEMAKONNEN style; however, I still wanted to get as close to the club as possible. And so, my day started off with a rain show, because with typical weather in Berkeley, California, it started to rain hard all of a sudden after not raining for months. However, the beauty in the rain is that it made breakfast at a mom-and-pop restaurant all the more scenic. And so my birthday began with pancakes and Diet Pepsi.
Although I had to go to class and office hours, ILOVEMAKONNEN blasting in my AirPods throughout the day made up for it. It also helped that others were giving me well-wishes, and I got to eat carrot cake for lunch! However, the day hadn’t ended yet, as I still hadn’t gone to the club. Spoiler alert: there was no club visited on this day. Being one of the first people to turn 21 in my friend group, many of us hadn’t been able to legally purchase alcohol. And so with my “adult” friends, I finally got to buy my first alcoholic beverage at a traditional corner liquor store! Despite taking one sip of it and then forgetting about it in my fridge, the moment of showing my ID to the cashier and them telling me I’ve finally peaked is what made it so memorable. To end my night, I got to procrastinate a project due the very next day.
In general, it was a perfect Tuesday, even if it wasn’t in the club going up. One may argue it was a bit sour with the rain and work I needed to get done, but isn’t that the point of “Tuesday,” to have fun in the middle of a hectic schedule?