For the past five years, I had been waiting (not so patiently) for the moment that I turn twenty-one. I thought of it as the time when I would no longer have to worry about getting into trouble, sneaking into bars, or finding someone to buy booze for me. November second was my twenty-first birthday, and since then I have been thinking of all of the things that I can now do as a twenty-one-year-old. I may not have felt the need to do all of these things before, but now that I am legally allowed, I am so happy to be able to do them all.

1. Clearly, buying alcohol is the most obvious activity that you’re now legally able to take part in. Enjoy!

2. Whether you’re into drinking or not, you can have the thrill of just getting into the bar legally. No more friends sneaking you in, using a fake ID, or sitting at home trying to convince yourself that you’re having more fun than your older friends.

3. You can gamble in every state in America. Depending on the state, the legal age can be eighteen or twenty-one. Either way, you’re good to go.

4. This may sound ridiculous, but you can go to Dave and Buster’s after dark without someone over twenty-five to chaperone you. (Yes, that actually happened this summer. Yes, I watched little children with their parents walking in and out of the door while I stood outside for someone over twenty-five to bring me in).

5. You can attend a concert without having to get giant permanent marker X’s across both of your hands. I’m so glad I don’t have to scrub them off for days after a concert, anymore.

6. You don’t have to worry when you go to a restaurant like Miller’s Ale House after dark, anymore. Not only do you not have to scrub the X’s off of your hands after going there, but you also don’t have to have the security guards watching you from all sides of the room as your friends have some beers besides you as you sit with your water.

7. You can rent a hotel room at any hotel. Some hotels have a restriction of being twenty-one in order to rent the room, especially if they’re high-scale.