Impending DOOM - Age 30.

I don't think I really believe that. But it's kind of hard not to, seeing as how everywhere you turn, society is telling humanity (yes, they are two different entitites) that to be over a certain age is to be, well, defunct.

My 30th birthday is in several months. It's a bit of an understatement to say that my life doesn't look how I thought it would at 30. I'm coming around to where it actually looks quite a bit better, but...there will always be that "but." We grow up thinking we control our destinies. Call it a Supreme Being, call it fate, call it whatever - we don't control jack crap. I think that's what turning 30 is all about - finally realizing that to some extent, life is not so much about driving the car but about being along for the ride.

That's a tough pill to swallow, pardon the overused cliche. It's especially hard for the "me" generation, of which I am arguably a member (depends on who is doing the birth year lumping. I'm either generation Y or generation "me." Either works. Generation "Y Me.")

With so much internal reckoning going on, it's hard to be on the precipice of not really mattering any more. Nielson ratings are primarily measured for the benefit of advertisers. When we hear about a #1 new show, it's not necessarily that it's the best show - it's that the highest number of 18-34 year olds tuned in. Since when did we pass of the torch of taste-making to 18-34 year olds? This age group is responsible for popularizing miniskirts (which look good on almost no one), the Beatles (purely a statistical accident), flappers (lampshade, anyone?), piercings (WHY?!), and gangsta rap (it's just weird when white suburban males blast that from their parents' cars).

I had "The X-Factor" on the other night. In all fairness, I was watching it onDemand and they x-ed out the fast-forward-through-commercials option, so the show lasted all of 15 minutes on my television. I watched it long enough to see that the acts were divided into 4 categories - Boys, Girls, Group acts, and Over 30.

OVER 30?!?! What is with this? Soon we'll be so stuck in our desperate attempt to stave off aging that we'll be assigning our likes and dislikes to those who haven't even hit puberty yet.

There's a part of me that really, REALLY wants someone over 30 to win "The X-Factor" and stick it to a society that is ready to write people off before their lives have even really begun. But I won't be tuning in to see, because even though I'm still in the coveted age bracket of 18-34, I don't really like the show. It's not about growth - it's about rewarding what's already there. And if there has to be a separate category for those over 30, then it's obvious what the judges are looking for is "Not much."