Guess Who is Having a Birthday Today?

By Shamus Posted Friday Aug 24, 2007

Filed under: Landmarks 67 comments

shamus_dork.jpg
Orson Scott Card turns fifty-six today.

But more importantly, I turn thirty-six today. This is not the worst thing to happen to me this year, but clocking another birthday is not among my favorite events. I know I’m smiling in the picture on the left, but that’s only because stress and angst don’t make for good portraits. Birthdays make me want to go coffin shopping.

Two days ago I mentioned to my 9-year-old daughter Rachel that despite her dark hair, the hair on the back of her neck was blond. (I forget how THAT came up. Parents say the darndest things.) She looked at me a moment, then pointed to my forehead, “Look daddy, you have blond hairs too!” Sigh. No kid, those hairs… those are grey.

One year ago my wife got me copy of Comic Book Creator for my birthday. This gift led to the creation of DM of the Rings. I won’t be posting a strip today, but I will have a little screenshot fun at poor Denethor’s expense. This will be the last time I do this. After today, strips will appear uninterrupted until the end.

And while we’re on the subject of birthdays: Twenty Sided will be two years old on September 1st. DMotR will be a year old – and will also end – on September 7th.

 


From The Archives:
 

67 thoughts on “Guess Who is Having a Birthday Today?

  1. Ferrari says:

    Feliz cumpleaà±os! And thanks so much for the gift you keep giving us with the strip!

  2. TJIC says:

    I turned 36 a few weeks ago.

    It’s not quite the hell I was expecting.

    Pretty much like 35, except – so far, on average – there’s more daylight each day.

  3. clodia says:

    Happy Birthday! My 23rd was last Thursday – I hope your day goes better than mine did.

  4. Nilus says:

    I’d kill for some grey hair. At 29 years old I still have the face of a high school student. I had to grow a beard just so I didn’t get suspicious looks when I ordered a drink at a bar. But I have hope, I here kids will give you grey hair and we are expecting are first one in January. So maybe grey hair isn’t that far off.

  5. Browncoat says:

    My 36th is less than two weeks away. I’m expecting more backache, less hair, and a solemn week wherein we say goodbye to King Stoner and his merry folk.

    Clearly, the diffinitive work actioned in Middle Earth.

  6. Browncoat says:

    Oh, and happy birthday to you and Orson.

  7. Heather says:

    YEAH!! Happy birthday.

    And just FYI–you only have a few grey hairs and I cut most of them off yesterday. :)

  8. Shandrunn says:

    Congrats Shamus!

  9. BlueFaeMoon says:

    Happy Belly Button Day! Coffin shopping already? Wait until you turn 40. That’s when you swear you see vultures circling everywhere you go.

    I must be the old fogy in the crowd – I turned 40 this year. I love my gray hairs! Though it irritates me that they don’t grow where I want them to. I’m trying to get that Bride of Frankenstein stripe going.

  10. Jazmin says:

    Happy Birthday!

  11. Falafel says:

    Fijne verjaardag!

  12. Skeeve the Impossible says:

    SO thats what the famed creator of DMotR looks like.
    Neat! Now I know

  13. Avaz says:

    Happy birthday Shamus :)

    I turned 29 last month, and already have begun to see little strands of grey popping up. Grr.

  14. Sarah says:

    Geez, Shamus…the end of the comic, how depressing. I’ll be sad to see it go.

    Now I want to go coffin shopping. Know any good sales?

  15. Takkelmaggot says:

    Alles Gute zum Geburtstag. For what it’s worth, I’ve read more of D20 than I have of Mr. Card recently. You may make your own judgments on whether this is something to be happy about.

  16. Carra says:

    You remind me:
    I got to wrap up this gift, it’s my sisters birthday too!

  17. Michael says:

    Happy birthday Shamus!

  18. Happy Birthday Shamus! My own BDay was just Tuesday, my friends and I’ll be headed out tonight to celebrate, we’ll raise a pint to you while we’re at it.

  19. Mark says:

    Happy Birthday Shamus!

  20. Chosen One says:

    Feliz Aniversà¡rio, Shamus!*
    And thank you for spend your spare time giving us such a fun as DMotR! And don’t be angry with grey hair. At least you still have hair!
    * “Happy Birthday, Shamus!” – from Brazil :)

  21. Ben Finkel says:

    Happy birthday Shamus! It’s been a good year of fun and thought reading this blog. I look forward to this upcoming one!

    Ben

  22. roxysteve says:

    Whoa! Many Happy Returns of the Day!

    I dunno, no sooner do I give you kudos for keeping the schedule on DMotR tight, you go and miss one on the flimsy excuse of a “birthday”. Tsk. Youth of today etc etc.

    Congratulations, Shamus. I hope you can find a way to make your next comic a moneyspinner. It’s fun to create for its own sake, but it’s even funner to get paid good money for stuff you enjoy doing and are good at, as you already know from your programming gigs.

    May you have many more celebrations like this one.

    Steve.

    PS You do seem to have a few “blonde” hairs up at the front there…

  23. Samrobb says:

    Happpy birthday to you, happy birthday to you… and the grey hair is “distinguished”. At least, that’s *my* story, and I’m sticking to it :-)

  24. Rob says:

    Happy Birthday! I don’t know why, but I always pictured you as an old man with a long beard…. Maybe it’s your sage wisdom! In that light you should feel awefully young! :)

  25. AngiePen says:

    Hey, happy birthday! [wave] I just turned forty-four three weeks ago so you’re still doing fine. ;)

    Angie

  26. Elisa says:

    Happy Birthday!

  27. empty_other says:

    Gratulerer med dagen, Shamus! :)

  28. Alan Post says:

    happy birthday! looking good!

  29. Morgue says:

    Happy Birthday!

    I can’t believe the volume of quality comedy you’ve churned out in the past year (and that’s just DMotR). Well done and thanks for a ton of laughs.

    Looking forward to your next project.

  30. Nogard says:

    WoOT… Happy b-day man!

  31. Ian says:

    Happy birthday, Shamus!

  32. Browncoat says:

    BTW, 36 is not old. Wait until you turn eleventy-one or twelvety-two! Then you’re old!

  33. Bogan the Mighty says:

    Aw man its your birthday and I won’t be around? Actually I found out I might still show up tonight due to some problems with my other plans. But yeah happy birthday if I don’t get the chance.

  34. Marc says:

    I am exactly one year older than you.

    As long as Kenny Baker is still around, I think we’re good.

  35. Phil says:

    Happy 36th dude. Thanks for all the good stuff! You are a King among men.

  36. Amanda says:

    Congrats! Just think, when you turn 40, you can have a really cool birthday. I had a space walk. It was also special birthday because I am a leap year baby so I was also turning 10. My mother asked me what I wanted for my b’day and I said a space walk. She secretly called the husband and boy friends of my friends and they came out birthday morning and set it up in the back yard.

    Remarkably, no one got hurt.

  37. Rich says:

    I’m 48. Stop bitching.

    Oh, and Happy Birthday.;)

  38. Marmot says:

    Happy birthday!

    I might be biased because I’m 19 but really, man! There’s no need for such fatalism. I hope that’s just a phase and not a plunge in personality *wink* :)

  39. corwin says:

    Happy birthday!

    Be happy your daughter thinks it’s blond. My own, as soon as my brown hair started greying at the temples, declared my overall hair color to be GREY [emphasis hers] :)

  40. Aaron says:

    Many happy returns Shamus! I said Happy B-day on the comic, but reading this answered my question. I wouldn’t worry about the grey stuff. My wife keeps finding little strips of it on my head, then nagging me because I have it. I don’t think she realizes that she might be part of the cause >

  41. MOM says:

    Happy Birthday Anniversary. It WAS a a great day, wasn’t it? Remember how my doctor couldn’t deliver you because he was in the hospital with kidney stones? And how Hot it was in North Carolina in August? O, and remember the look on the nurses face when she was filling out the birth certificate and I told her your name? Shamus?! Telemachus?!!! Ah, good times.

  42. Madjack says:

    Happy birthday to you! However, it is also LN The Great’s birthday, and she might be mad at you if she finds you are trying to steal the spotlight. Keep your head down and stay in the middle of the party.

  43. Dan says:

    Congrats. I turn that age in 3 months. You may outlive me yet.

  44. Leni says:

    Happy birthday!

  45. Mmrnmhrm says:

    happy birthday from Peru!
    i hurt myself several times yesterday viciously laughing my way through the archives.

    also: i’m 25 with half a head of grey hair. feel better?

  46. Baby McBathwater says:

    Ooh, yeah, forty is barreling down on you like a runaway train, man.

  47. Kajen says:

    + X X * X X * X X * X X * * X X * X X * X X * X X +
    X X
    X 0 0 X
    X | | X
    X ____|___|____ X
    X 0 |~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~| 0 X
    X | | | | X
    X ___|__|___________|___|__ X
    X |/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/| X
    X 0 | H a p p y | 0 X
    X | |/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/| | X
    X __|___|_______________________|___|__ X
    X |/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/| X
    X | | X
    X | B i r t h d a y! ! ! | X
    X | ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | X
    X |___________________________________| X
    X X
    + X X * X X * X X * X X * * X X * X X * X X * X X +

    Yep. Nothing more to say.

  48. Kajen says:

    oookay – the last one *should* have been an ascii-cake.
    Well… maybe if you use your imagination?

  49. xbolt says:

    Quchjaj qoSlIj! :D

  50. Mari says:

    *points and giggles at the old man*

    Yes, I just made fun of your age. But only in self-defense. Because in just a few short years, I’ll be old too. So I prefer to get my licks in while I can.

    Happy birthday, Shamus! I hope this day manages to bring you as much joy as your blogs and comic bring me. And if, at some point today, you find yourself laughing so hard that you fear you might wet yourself or die of asphyxiation, you’ll know that my birthday wish for you has come true.

    PS I’ll be sorry to see DMotR go, but no matter what you have in store next, I eagerly anticipate it. With your sense of humour, it can’t go wrong.

  51. Duncan says:

    Many happy returns, Shamus!

  52. Mr. Blue says:

    Happy birthday and thanks.

    Hey, does anyone else here think Shamus looks like Wash from ‘Firefly’?

  53. Grey hair is better than bald. So take comfort in this: If by your mid 30’s your hair hasn’t started to thin, then it is never going to. A barber told me that when I was your age, and she was right.

  54. SteveDJ says:

    Wow – September 7th. Twenty-sided’s birthday, and more importantly DMotR’s birthday :) . Yet, at the same time, it feels like it is going to be DMotR’s death-day :(

    :) – :( – :) – :( – … I just feel so torn right now.

    Well, I guess I can be happy that the DMotR archives will live on forever, so that pushes me over the edge. I’m HAPPY for you all. Thanks for the ride! It has been wonderful! :)

  55. lplimac says:

    36? Still a young whippersnapper…. Stay off my lawn!

  56. Myxx says:

    And to top it all off, you share a birthday with the Big Mac! It celebrated it’s 40th today… Not sure why that came to mind, I don’t even eat burgers. But happy birthday!

  57. Marijana says:

    Srecan rodjendan!!! I wish you all the best and lots of fun in all the years to come!

    P.S. I want a shirt like that

    P.P.S. Regarding DM of the Rings: All good things in life have an end

  58. duefiori says:

    My next will be 44, and i still update every day on the day to see if your bloody comic has turned up. Incidentally, even Order of the Stick’s Rich Burlew is recently undergoing health issues. Maybe being funny consumes health. Hope not.

  59. Malachite says:

    Bon anniversaire!

  60. Harvey says:

    “This will be the last time I do this.”

    Yeah, yeah… you can quit ANY time you want, right? :-D

    Happy Birthday.

  61. Dave says:

    Ha.. try 42 on for size.. you’ve just started the downward slide.. wait til it starts picking up speed… Have a Fabulous Birth Day.. and Thanks Mom for naming him Shamus.. DM of the Rings by Fred just wouldn’t be right.

  62. Kristin says:

    Oh, good, I wasn’t the only one to see his picture, think “now who does he look like?”, and realize he looks like Wash. IIRC on the “Which Firefly character are you” he came out as Wash.

    Shamus, is there something you want to tell us?

  63. Shamus says:

    Shamus, is there something you want to tell us?

    Um….

    I’m a leaf on the wind?

  64. LadyDyani says:

    Thirty-six. That’s like officially being a grown-up. (The official number used to be thirty, until I turned thirty last month.)

    Well, I’m two days late, but happy birthday anyway.

  65. fren says:

    Bah, I’m 27 and have quite a bit of grey. Hells, I’ve even got a bit of grey in the beard.

    Embrace it, it will make things easier in the long run.

  66. NeedsToHeal says:

    I like your shirt. Where did you get it?

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