This past Friday was my 25th birthday—I’m now a quarter of the way through life! Actually, that’s not entirely true. The former is a convenient but inaccurate representation of the average human lifespan. Instead, I declare that I’m, 25% of the way to 100.
Life’s different now. Neuroscience studies indicate that people don’t reach full maturity until 25, and I can certainly attest to that. I woke Friday morning with a cocktail of adult-lesson neurons swishing around my skull. I feel newfound perspective sprouting from the crevices of my frontal lobe and mixing with my everyday behaviors. I’m developing tastes for IPAs and C-SPAN (usually at the same time). I end text messages with periods and send thumbs-up emojis instead of typing “Yes,” even though it’s slower.
It doesn’t end there. Yesterday, I found people sharing their college woes on Twitter, and I shed a tear, whispering under my breath, “Ah, but to be a wee rapscallion caught in the throes of academia,” while sipping vanilla-chamomile tea in bed. More impressively, when I wake at 4am, I cannot go back to sleep. Adulthood has separated my conscious and unconscious minds like oil and water, and I end up making banal excuses for my insomnia like “I just can’t do it! When I’m up, I’m up.” The thought of spending hours at a hardware store now intrigues me, and I have also considered registering for virtual chair yoga.
Before I know it, these telltale quirks of time’s relentless passage will explode into full-fledged eccentricities that I will pretend to struggle against but ultimately settle into, so for now, I will enjoy their saccharine novelty like a glass of Barefoot Moscato. While I deal with that, I figured I’d keep the rest of this post quick.
I wanted to visit a rose garden to celebrate my birthday, but because the global pandemic recruited a bunch of wildfires to keep Californians shut inside, we instead spent an afternoon (or ~1 hour of it) painting. (Take that, dangerous forces of nature!) Here’s what we made:
Dad’s Painting
As a man who falls asleep while watching painting tutorials on YouTube, my dad delivered hours worth of groggily absorbed artistic knowledge. Typically, he’s a profoundly non-abstract man, spending much of his time following instructions, doing yard work, and telling us the same stories over and over again, so all things considered, I was genuinely impressed by this abstract work. Good stuff, Dad!
In His Words:
Abstract art that includes colors of the Indian and American flags. Also has an Hindi Om symbol created using straight lines.
Mom’s Painting
My mom is not the visual-artistic type. As a casual painter herself, she preferred to lay it all out on a simple piece of paper rather than commit to a whole canvas, and I can’t blame her, seeing as finished in half the time as us. This was also because she left early to cook paneer makhani for dinner, so she essentially rendered two pieces of art in the same time that we made one. The lack of sun is a little disturbing (how did the palm trees grow…???), but I like the trees’ feathery leaves. Good job, Amma!
In Her Words
Two palm trees on an island with water colors on paper. Three of us spending time painting was a wonderful way to celebrate Chuckry’s birthday!
My Painting
This sorbet-flavored landscape came not as divine inspiration as it may appear but from an online tutorial. As a chronic nonsense-painter (and nonsense-person), I felt it was time to step up my game and learn from professionals such as YouTuber AhmadArt. I don’t know if I quite learned much besides how much I like that melon-y pink/orange color, but maybe that’s just enough. Proud of you, Quarter-Life Chuckry!
In My Words
Mine’s also abstract. Is it the moon or a huge snowball? Nobody knows.
Other Things of Note
I got nothing for ya this week. This world’s full of content screaming for attention, and drowning in it is all too easy. Just look at me. I’ve had 16 tabs open on Google Chrome for the last 2 weeks, which I just minimize and avoid indefinitely. So no links this week. Consider it a birthday gift from me to you. (Also because I haven’t read or done anything cool.)
Only Child is a weekly newsletter about making boring, everyday occurrences more exciting. Wanna show me some love? Click the heart icon to “like” this post, leave a comment, or hit me up on Instagram and Twitter @churrthing. And if you like what you’re reading, do me a solid and toss a link to this in your favorite group chat.
—Chuckry Vengadam (@churrthing)
Your painting looks great!! Also major kudos to your Mom for producing two pieces of art — where’s our paneer makhani pic?!
Happy birthday, Chuckry 🎉💥❤️ *spongebob narrator voice*: 25 years later! Hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy amidst the apocalyptic California skies!
Happy belated birthday Chuckry! This post is so sweet and made me smile as always.