39 Forever!

When I was younger, I thought no one "good" was born on my birthday. Every week before my birthday, I would look in the Sunday paper to see whose birthday was coming up and maybe, with a little bit of luck, they may mention someone on Nov. 29. I only remember Howie Mandel being mentioned and in the '80s, he was more of an embarrassment than anything else. Oh, why couldn't I be born on the 25th like John-John, or the 27th like Bruce Lee or Caroline Kennedy. sigh. Athough, I was aware there were several "good" people who died on my birthday... Natalie Wood, Cary Grant. I found this out while listening to radio as I was getting ready for school.

So, I decided to Wikipedia my birth date to see if I recognized anyone worthwhile.

Hey!, November 29th is the 333rd day of the year. It feels like I'm off to a good start. It appears that November 29 has equally "good" live people as dead. Wiki tells me that on November 29 that Louisa May Alcott (1888) and her dad, Amos Bronson Alcott (1799) were born. Irish writer, CS Lewis (1898)..that's good, I guess. Several athletes I've never heard of, though I'm sure my dad may...he's a sports buff. Politicians I've heard of are Paul Simon (1928), Jacques Chirac (1932) and Janet Napolitano (1957)...two good Democrats and a questionable socialist. Theater and movie types like Diane Ladd (1932), Gary Shandling (1949), Joel Coehn!! cool (1954), Kim Delaney (1959), Cathy Moriarty (1960), Andrew "Pretty In Pink" McCarthy (1963), Don Cheadle, awesome! (1964), Ana Farris, luv her (1976)..1976, okay we can stop here.

Now, for those who died...Puccini (1924), Dorothy Day (1980), Natalie Wood (1981), Cary Grant (1986), George Harrison (2001) and John Drew Barrymore (2004). Whew! I thought it was a lot more than that.

Not bad. If I had to guess on any shared characteristics of my birthday compadres, it looks like we are all hams. Some, more than others.