Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts, and The Five-Minute Birthday Party

WARNING!! Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts, and five-minute birthday parties are unrelated topics that I’m putting into the same blog post.

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Charles Schulz and I share the same birthday, November 26, and for years I’ve been meaning to share my favorite Peanuts comic strip on Dysfunctional Literacy, but I keep forgetting.  Today, I remembered and posted it below in four parts. The Peanuts Treasury (cover posted above) has a bunch of classic Peanuts strips from the 1960s (I think) and 1970s.

Later on today, I’ll have my five-minute birthday party with dozens of people, loud music, and maybe a few dancers.  And then after a few minutes, I’ll get tired of everybody and tell them to leave.  And then I’ll read a book and watch a movie.  Maybe I’ll even read a Peanuts book.  It’ll be great!

If people stay late during a five-minute birthday party, that’s okay, but when I tried the one-hour birthday party a few years ago, the lingerers got on my nerves, so I said never again.  When it comes to crowds and music and dancers, five-minutes is about all I can take before I need my quiet again.

Another benefit of the five-minute birthday party is that it’s not long enough for any drama to take place.  When I was younger, I thought a party wasn’t any good unless there was a fight, a girl started crying, or someone threw up.  Now that I’m older, I don’t want any of those things happening at my five-minute birthday party, especially if it’s at my place.  I don’t mind if the drama happens at somebody else’s party, though.

At any rate, if you’re borderline antisocial but still have friends/acquaintances that you don’t want to ignore, you might want to consider the five-minute party.   

Haha! I related to this strip a lot when I was a kid. Anyway, Charles Schulz was an introvert (I think).  He might have approved of the five-minute birthday party. 

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A grammar-obsessed English teacher falls in ‘luuuvvv’ but discovers how chaotic and dangerous ‘luuuvvv’ can be.

Or you can buy a copy here on Amazon!

Not sure? Read a sample chapter of The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy.