v. intr.
the habit of taking stock of your life on the occasion of your birthday—letting it serve as a kind of internal referendum on all your goals and qualities and relationships and accomplishments so far—which makes you want to dress just a little nicer that day, as if you’re standing before a parole board that convenes once a year to adjudicate your release from childhood.
From candling, a method of egg inspection in which an egg is backlit with a candle flame to reveal how the chick is growing, or if it's there at all.