People aren’t very original. Just ask anyone with a funny name. They’ve probably heard the same joke about their name a thousand times.

The same goes for my birthday. I was born on this day, Feb. 29, 20 years ago. But I’ve only had five birthdays. It’s Leap Day, meaning it only comes up every four years.

This is because our year isn’t a perfect 365 days, and there’s actually an extra few hours each year. Over time these hours add up, so adding a Leap Day helps keep our seasons from migrating away from their normal months.

Spending all this time at once gives everyone an extra day and gives anyone born on this day the unique title of “Leap Day Baby” or “Leapling.”

I love my birthday. For the most part it’s just like being born on any other day, but people tend to make a big deal out of it that straddles the line between entertaining and annoying. For those of you who might be having a kid today, or any Leap Day, here are a few things that kid can expect out of life:

Learning how much people suck at math.

Math is one of those things that’s culturally acceptable to be bad at it. But even so, I’m astonished when people get my birthday-age wrong. They know my physical age, all they have to do is divide by four. They’re rarely just blurting things out either, they will sit and think about this problem and still get it wrong most of the time. This is second-grade arithmetic, maybe fourth, since you’re often dealing with a fraction. I kind of hoped they’d have that figured out by now.

Getting asked how old they’ll be when they can drive.

The same goes for drinking age or retirement age. Normally I think the person could make the obvious distinction between physical age and the arbitrariness of a birthday. But since most of these people are getting the above math wrong, I really can’t be too sure.

Rarely getting picked for jury duty or driver’s tests.

Getting randomly selected for these things are based on birth date. Leaplings are rare, as such the government often doesn’t pick Feb. 29 because they get far fewer people. Most people view jury duty and extra tests to be a hassle, so this can be beneficial.

Growing up with these sorts of things has shown me that as much as we like to pretend we’re all individual snowflakes, deep down people think the same about a lot of things.

The possible exception to this is a recent episode of the show “30 Rock.” Main character Liz Lemmon (Tina Fey) discovers the rest of the world makes a big deal about Leap Day, though she has been unaware of it. Their Leap Day involves wearing holiday colors, a Santa Claus allegory and giving candy to children.

In this pseudo-reality, people are encouraged to let go of their inhibitions on Feb. 29. It’s considered a free day, where a person’s actions don’t count to the rest of their life.

I recommend you do something similar. Do something impulsive, try something new, at least be grateful that there’s an extra day between you and some assignment.

I’ve known my whole life that Leap Day is an important and special day; it wouldn’t hurt for the rest of the world to do so.

Seth Schroeder is a sophomore journalism major.

He can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.