Ahh Birthdays…

Today is mine.

I have received some hilarious birthday cards & emails. Got a package from home with some regional delicacies.

Was in Palm Springs yesterday, saw some friends & had a nice meal. Other than that today is pretty much normal. In all, life is alright.

My custom for celebrating my birthday as an adult has to more often than not be alone and somewhat contemplative. I look at the previous year and recall what I liked, what I didn’t, and try to learn from the experiences.

When I was  younger I’d get maudlin about the whole affair because I’d be comparing my whole life against some crazy ideal. Fuck that! 

The ideals that I was raised with aren’t really achievable in this world anymore. How many of us are fortunate enough to be able to work to the same company let alone in the same career for all of our working lives?

I’d be really depressed if I was still making that “this is my life” comparison. 

Change with the times Man! My career is a mess, I see three choices in that regard. Change careers, retire early (way too early), or follow the jobs that are in my field out of state.

Option 2 is right out… Leaving Option 1 or Option 3. Which option is best for me? Dude, I have no fucking clue.

What I do know is that dwelling on it and beating my head against the wall isn’t cutting it for me. So I’m not doing it.

What’s been good in this past year? The trip out to Colorado.( I really do like road trips.) I’ve achieved some of the goals around the house. Haven’t spent too much money but probably will in the next couple of months. (Hey we’re talking Birthday to Birthday here not tax years…) I’ve tried things that I hadn’t ever tried before. Some successful and others complete failures, yet even the failures were worth the time I spent.

The bad… stuff like wasting my time trying to meet people via social media sites. I have learned that people prefer to maintain the anonymity of the internet and more power to them. I’m going to physically hang out in places where there are people that are into things that I’m interested in. Then hopefully, I can make some new friends.

It takes zero effort to “like” someone on Facebook and you can easily be guilted into that. It takes effort and work to actually be a friend. I’m far more interested in having friends and being a friend.

I’ve been disappointed in a couple of things. I’d wanted to finish my first book by now, but I haven’t. There is nothing and no-one to blame except myself. So I will be redoubling my efforts on that front. Even if the book never sells a large number of copies… at least I’ll have accomplished the goal. Who knows, perhaps the book will catapult me into a viable Option 1.

I’m another year older. My body reminds me that I’m not as young as I used to be but thankfully It’s mostly gentle reminders. I do wish I didn’t have quite as many aches as I do.

I can easily remember jumping out of bed feeling great. Well… Jumping out of bed today would probably end with me in a heap on the floor and the dogs wondering, “what the hell has he done NOW?”

Aging does have some perks.

The best of these is I just don’t give a damn as much as I did.

You don’t like me? My politics? My Sex life?

So what, Get lost and I won’t shed a single tear.

I used to live for people liking me. Now it’s nice if they do but not world ending if they don’t.

There have been a couple of people who’ve left comments on this blog that frankly were unbelievable. I welcome comments but there is a line. To those folks I’ve said “Thank you for your opinion, I’m not likely to change and you’re probably better off reading another blog.”

That’s a freedom that I didn’t have when I was younger and I’m learning to enjoy it.

To all the rest of the people that share this Birthday.

Happy Birthday!

Remember, we were probably conceived during our Fathers getting one of their Christmas presents. 

If my Dad was still around, I’d probably send him a condom and a card that said “If Only“… He’d laugh his ass off.

Here’s to Fathers everywhere and their Christmas presents.

I hope everyone has as good a day as I’m having.