I'm Way Overdue and Don't Know Which to Write About 1st!!

My goal has always been to post at least twice a month (unlike velvetsaje who is doing some kinda blogging every day competition....but his life is SO much more eventful than mine!) and I find that we are quickly running upon December so this will be a multi-topic posting:

Birthday Party and Surprise: The party I threw from myself on 11/3/06 was memorable for many reasons including having friends and family members that have been close to me there, watching those same friends and family members sing the Happy Birthday song while doing their best Marilyn Monroes (that's a hoot to watch and I highly encourage it for those of you who detest the typical Happy Birthday song being sung to you) and enjoying the best Italian Cream cake in town (Central Market). The best part though was having my long time friend Kevin (who appeared under a pseudonym in an earlier post) surprise me by flying in from Los Angeles unannounced. He was here all weekend and we got well caught up. It was wonderful as was the love and support of everyone there. Now, on to the next 45 years!

Elections: It was a rewarding experience on Tuesday, 11/7/06 to watch the early returns come in with the Congressional races on the east coast. It was evident early on that a tidal change was under way and that one party rule would soon end in this country. I had a sense of personal satisfaction as I'd spent a few hours making phone calls to potential voters in some of the close races via the moveon.org website. As Iraq continues the meltdown into civil war (I'm sure the Iraqi people are so very appreciative of us liberating them and bringing "peace" and "democracy" to them...and killing 30,000 in the process.....thanks Neocons!), there is some small glimmer of hope that we can get our troops the hell outta there sometime in 2007. Maybe there will only be another 500-1000 US military lives lost in the interim. Additionally, maybe, just maybe, the Dems will remember the other reason the R's got booted and will make some serious ethics reforms. If they don't actively work on these two issues, they don't deserve to be in power 2 years from now.

Edumacation: I am now enrolled to get my tush back in school come January. After much searching and assessing, it seems that I'm really good at and interested in helping people and in physical fitness and health. Consequently, I am embarking on a Kinesiology degree with an emphasis on health promotion. I'm gonna see how well I do working 40 hours a week and taking 9 semester hours. One of the more humbling experiences in attempting this was taking a math assessment. It seems there was a reason I got all my history, government and sociology classes out of the way: I suck at college math(algebra)....or, as Madea said, "I don't know nothing about that Al Jurreau." So one of the classes I will take will be something equivalent to a high school algebra refresher.

Love: I've been dating quite a bit this year and have had some great times. One of my dearest friends came from being willing to date starting this past January (ok, not a husband but a wonderful, funny, dependable friend......I'll take it!). I've has some interest from guys that I never in my wildest dreams would've figured would ever be interested. But they are. That's a nice boost for self confidence. What's really nice is knowing that if I remain single, that's OK; I'd rather be single and blessed with calmness and serenity rather than be in a relationship that brings with it chaos and drama.

The Christmas holidays are now bearing down and I'll be doing all that I can to enjoy the good and avoid that negative. This was always a bad part of the year in terms of me being sober; indeed I'd have been planning for a couple of weeks by now just to see how much xanax and morphine I could have on hand to be sufficiently numbed to make it through to December 26th. I'll avoid toxic relatives and acquaintances, my gift buying will be limited to about 2 people, I'll donate some time and/or money to insure that some economically disadvantaged persons have things that I take for granted and I'll try not to get caught up in the frenetic, commercial nonsense that comes with this time of year.

OK, my shift at work is done in 10 minutes, so I'm done here!

Sakes Alive I'm 45!

I remember when I was about 20 thinking that anyone in their 30's was kinda over the hill, someone 40 was probably in need of assistance walking and that someone 45 or older was just old and death must surely be imminent. Plain old old. Youthful perspective tends to skew one's viewpoint in that way.

But here I find myself today having achieved that number. I'm 45. There, I said it. Doesn't sound old. To me. Now. Doesn't feel old either. To me. Now. Except of course for the first 30 minutes of the day while I wait for the ibuprofen to kick in (I've told my doctor I think of ibuprofen as a maintenance drug usually required after about 40. He's only 35 so he doesn't quite agree. I'm willing to allow for his inexperience and give him time. He'll come around).

I consider myself lucky as I'm blessed with good genetics, I exercise and I eat right. So compared to many of my 45ish contemporaries, I'm running around looking and acting a few years younger than that. But that doesn't take the sting out of the comment, "Wow, you look really good for 45." Ouch! How does that translate? More like, "You don't look like one of those worn out, half dead, dehydrated, overweight, saggy guys who are your age." How about just a heart felt, "You look really good." Period. There's no need to go to the"......for 45" part......it really is possible to look good regardless of the chronological number of your years even without surgery or botox.

There are things I'm really liking about this age. I'm a lot more patient than I was a few years ago. I take a lot more time in making decisions and I'm more thoughtful as to the ramifications of the decisions I make. I'm calmer. I'm not as rushed. I'm taking better care of myself physically and spiritually. I find that I have excitement about the possibilities in what I hope will be another 45 years with the knowledge that comes from already having 45 years of experience. under my belt. It's a good place and time.

The best thing about being 45? I'm only 5 years away from AARP discounts!