I know this is kind of late by a few months, but I recently turned 23. It occured to me today that there are multiple popular rock songs that allude to the age of 23, none of them in a particularly positive light. The first I noticed was Incubus’ “Pardon Me” which laments that “I never thought I would be, at twenty-three, on the verge of spontaneous combustion. Woe is me.”

The other popular song that mentions the age of 23 is Blink-182’s “What’s My Age Again?” which contends that “Nobody likes you when you’re twenty-three”.

I definitely can I identify with both these songs. It seems to be a very stressful age, one where you’re trying to find a place in the world and stop being the immature college kid you once were.

I guess it’s kind of nice to know that there are other people (rock musicians) that are having the same issues as me, but I have to wonder if it’s ever going to get better. I mean, once I turn 24, will I no longer have an excuse to be stressed out or immature? It seems like at 23, you’re at the point in your life where you have to actually go do something with your life, and “set aside childish ways”… but what if I don’t want to?

Growing up is hard sometimes.