OT: Being 40 sucks

Yea I got that problem too. I love to sit out on my porch on Friday nights after work and down a six pack of a good microbrew while smoking a nice cigar. Which doesn't help your motivation on Saturday morning rides, does it? Oh well......balance! :)

Replace the cigar with a joint and you'll not only be physically motivated, you discover all kinds of new shit during your ride. :0)
 
Excellent thoughts my fine sister. A major part of the awakening in knowing how fine you are.

I've also come to terms with death .. not just my own, but the loss of the people I've loved and cared for.

Nature is the most powerful force humans will ever know.

actually, the force is the most powerful force we will ever know. I saw this one dude dressed like Johnny Cash in a cape choke a guy to death through a monitor using the force. True story.
 
Lol... yeah, though I have been good lately to restrict myself to Saturday nights so that I get the Sat morning swim and ride in. Sundays are normally my vball days... which involves some beverage consumption... but since we play 5-7 hours I think a few on Sunday won't hurt. That said, football is coming up and that is where my couch potato status hits... I am an addict to football. It could be the two worst teams and I would find some excuse to watch it.
Footballs not much of a problem for me. I watch my Buckeyes on Saturday and since we don't appear to have profesional football in Ohio......
 
actually, the force is the most powerful force we will ever know. I saw this one dude dressed like Johnny Cash in a cape choke a guy to death through a monitor using the force. True story.

:0) I'm not connected to that force ..but I bet it pales in comparison to a tornado.
 
Excellent thoughts my fine sister. A major part of the awakening is knowing how fine you are.

I've also come to terms with death .. not just my own, but the loss of the people I've loved and cared for.

Nature is the most powerful force humans will ever know.
I'm coming to terms with that. It sucks.
 
I'm coming to terms with that. It sucks.

It does .. and the older you get, the more loved ones you lose .. but then again, you were blessed to know them and them to know you.

Take a moment of your time today to call someone you love and tell them that you do.

After I came back from being dead, the most striking thing I discovered is how important memories are. It is your memory that makes you unique from all the billions of people who have ever lived. No one else who has ever lived has your memory.

Live life .. make memories.
 
I'm coming to terms with that. It sucks.

I love this Dylan Thomas poem, I used it at my father's funeral a while back.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 
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Was talking to my eye doc. who is pushing 75. Asked him why he doesn't retire? He said he was afraid because he's seen his patients retire and become alcoholics, loose their money at the casino, read the books they've been meaning to read forever then get bored and die. He asked me what I intend to do to stay alive since I've just retired and I told him that since I was in my 20's I just wanted a few yrs to do nothing but art. Marriage, kids, mortgages, new cars, vacations, getting kids thru school and college kinda put a damper on the starving artist thing. I had a good career as a graphic and fine artist, my kids are grown and doing great and my xwife isn't around to drag me down mentally anymore. And in the few months that I've been retired I've filled my wonderful girlfriend's walls with paintings, portraits and landscapes. Do I miss production meetings, press runs, deadlines, dealing with customers, shit-head bosses, the constant strain of trying to come up with something new, cubicles, traffic, office politics, phones and on and on? Hell No! This is why I worked everyday for 45 yrs, I'm gonna enjoy it as long as my body allows me, which should be a few more yrs according to my doc.

Things I've noticed about getting old...

Girls in their 20's get prettier and prettier. The mind makes promises that the body can't fulfill. Doctors want to put tubes up holes that are 'one way only' and they are going the wrong way. It's much darker at nite. It takes longer to recuperate after a day at the lake or late nite poker game. 1/3 the alcohol makes me 2x as drunk(get Dixie on it). You become more brittle. New music sucks, hard. Arthritis has made it hard to play my guitars so I bought a mandolin. Politics is generational, meaning it takes time for positive change to take place and the battle against the backsliding fascists is never ending.

Grandpa Simpson said it best...
I used to be with it but you keep changing what 'it' is. Now what I'm with isn't 'it', and what's 'it' seems weird and scary. It'll happen to you....
 
I love this Dylan Thomas poem, I used it at my father's funeral a while back.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Nice poem Tom.
 


Was talking to my eye doc. who is pushing 75. Asked him why he doesn't retire? He said he was afraid because he's seen his patients retire and become alcoholics, loose their money at the casino, read the books they've been meaning to read forever then get bored and die. He asked me what I intend to do to stay alive since I've just retired and I told him that since I was in my 20's I just wanted a few yrs to do nothing but art. Marriage, kids, mortgages, new cars, vacations, getting kids thru school and college kinda put a damper on the starving artist thing. I had a good career as a graphic and fine artist, my kids are grown and doing great and my xwife isn't around to drag me down mentally anymore. And in the few months that I've been retired I've filled my wonderful girlfriend's walls with paintings, portraits and landscapes. Do I miss production meetings, press runs, deadlines, dealing with customers, shit-head bosses, the constant strain of trying to come up with something new, cubicles, traffic, office politics, phones and on and on? Hell No! This is why I worked everyday for 45 yrs, I'm gonna enjoy it as long as my body allows me, which should be a few more yrs according to my doc.

Things I've noticed about getting old...

Girls in their 20's get prettier and prettier. The mind makes promises that the body can't fulfill. Doctors want to put tubes up holes that are 'one way only' and they are going the wrong way. It's much darker at nite. It takes longer to recuperate after a day at the lake or late nite poker game. 1/3 the alcohol makes me 2x as drunk(get Dixie on it). You become more brittle. New music sucks, hard. Arthritis has made it hard to play my guitars so I bought a mandolin. Politics is generational, meaning it takes time for positive change to take place and the battle against the backsliding fascists is never ending.

Grandpa Simpson said it best...
I used to be with it but you keep changing what 'it' is. Now what I'm with isn't 'it', and what's 'it' seems weird and scary. It'll happen to you....
I hear you man. Guess it pays to plan out your retirement so that you're doing something that keeps you busy, is productive and adds meaning to your life. I'm thinking that since I like cycling so much I'll open a small bike shop. I'll go to garage sales and flea markets and pick up old bikes, fix them up and sell them but mostly fix department store bikes at a reasonable price for parents. I know a guy who's been doing that with his retirement. He retired at 65 from GM. Lives on his pension and SS and generates enough revenue from the bike shop that it pays for itself and allows him to take trips and buy presents for his grandkids of which he's put a significant amount of money away for his grandkids college education and he's only really working about 6 hours a day. He opens at 10 am, goes to lunch at noon, comes back at two and works till six. The man is also an institution where he lives. All the kids know him as the bike man. :)
 
It does .. and the older you get, the more loved ones you lose .. but then again, you were blessed to know them and them to know you.

Take a moment of your time today to call someone you love and tell them that you do.

After I came back from being dead, the most striking thing I discovered is how important memories are. It is your memory that makes you unique from all the billions of people who have ever lived. No one else who has ever lived has your memory.

Live life .. make memories.

Great sentiment and a great idea. The connections we have with the important people in our lives are too often neglected.
 
I can put up with a bad knee that protests hiking down steep hills. I can tolerate getting up more during the night. I know I don't recover like I used to.

But what annoys me most of all about aging is those damned reading glasses. WTF?? But if I could just hold the book just a few inches farther out, I think I could read it. Seriously, it pains me to have to make sure I have the right equipment to READ.
 
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