Smells like lutefisk in here!

Definitely not impressed.

 
Today I shall celebrate my birthday by giving a final exam to a student who shares my birthday and grading a final paper by another student whose birthday is also today, and along the way I'll give a shout-out to a colleague whose birthday is also--you guessed it--today.
 
According to every freshperson's favorite reliable source (Wikipedia), today is also Anna's Day, the appropriate day to begin preparing lutefisk. I'm afraid lutefisk-preparation does not fit into today's schedule, unless I can do it in the classroom while my students write their exams. Today is apparently also Independence Day in Tanzania, National Heroes' Day in Antigua, and International Anti-Corruption Day. (I'll remind my students of the importance of independent thinking and ask them to be academic heroes by avoiding corruption on the final.)

Also celebrating birthdays today: gymnast McKayla Maroney (who is, presumably, not impressed), singer Imogen Heap, and Masako, the Crown Princess of Japan, who, when her husband ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne, will become Empress Consort. 


Also John Malkovich, Senator Tom Daschle, Dick Butkus, Beau Bridges, and Judi Dench. Redd Foxx! Put Judi Dench and Redd Foxx in a room--that's a conversation I'd like to hear. Kirk Douglas. Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West!). Emmett Kelly, the famous clown to whose son I once curtsied (here). Hermione Gingold. Joel Chandler Harris. And let us not forget John Milton. (Sing, heav'nly Muse!)

Not to mention Donny Osmond. I have written previously about my youthful infatuation with my co-birthday-mate (here), but Donny shares one important characteristic with almost everyone born on this date: whatever else he may accomplish, he will never be Empress Consort to the Chrysanthemum Throne. 

And neither will I, but that's okay. I'm happy to be me, because today I get to give a final exam that will knock my students' socks off--a joy Masako may never know. (But still McKayla is not impressed.)