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Friday, February 28, 2003
It's not how old you are on parchment, it's how you feel in the humors.
This morning at roughly 5:20 AM I turned 30. Happy Birthday to me. Somehow I thought it would feel different, like my body would start falling apart overnight or something. The only real change is that things seem...well, quieter. I mean, it's, like, really quiet now. Hold on a second - I can't hear a thing. Oh my God, I'VE GONE DEAF!
Ha ha! Just kidding, folks. See, I still have my sense of humor! I'm not old, right? Right?
Crap. I guess it's going to take more than lousy jokes to regain my youth. I knew I should have taken "Advanced Time Machine Building" instead of "Intro to Comedy Writing". Damn that high school guidance counselor!
I guess for me the issue isn't the fact that I'm now in my Thirties; the real problem is that I'm no longer in my Twenties. That first digit makes a big difference. My Twenties was the time (oh God, past tense!) when everything was new. I finished college, I got my own apartment, I got a real job, I started finding my place in the world. I'm nothing spectacular, but I more or less did OK, and any modest accomplishments I may have picked up along the way, like, say, owning a house, were extra credit. It didn't matter that I wasn't yet a prodigy because I was still young. I still had time.
The Thirties seem altogether different. Being thirty means being an adult, so what used to be extra credit is now average. There seems to be this added pressure, but it isn't about what I have - it's about what I don't have: wife, kids, grown-up wardrobe, my own company, sense of direction, dining room furniture, etc. And that clock is ticking, man, because the Forties are bearing down fast, and they are not kidding around.
My biggest fear is that February 28, 2013 is going to roll around and I'll be in exactly the same situation I'm in now. Sure, I'll have a flying rocket car and a personal robot servant and a Tivo Series 8 embedded directly in my brain, but I'll still be spending my money on computers instead of saving, and I'll still be eating dinner at the coffee table, and I still won't have a door on my laundry room. To me, being thirty means having a Post-It note in my brain with two words written on it: GET BUSY. (Also, possibly "Buy Milk". There's kind of a smudge at the bottom I can't read.)
So. I am turning over a new leaf. As of today I am committing myself to setting Goals, having a Plan, and Following Through. The time for childishness and fooling around is over. I am resolved.
Now that we have that out of the way, I can move on to my next topic: when in the hell are the new iPods going to come out?
I'm seriously obsessed. I know they're ready to release new ones any day now. They're just waiting for me to break down and buy one. I check the Apple web site 20 times a day, just waiting for the announcement. It's like that "Seinfeld" episode in which Kramer gets hooked on Kenny Rogers Roasters. That's me, sitting in the window for hours at a time and muttering "iPod....iPod..." Well, I'm not giving in. I'll hold out all year if I have to!
Sigh. The next decade is shaping up to be a lot like the last one. At least I have that flying car to look forward to.
This morning at roughly 5:20 AM I turned 30. Happy Birthday to me. Somehow I thought it would feel different, like my body would start falling apart overnight or something. The only real change is that things seem...well, quieter. I mean, it's, like, really quiet now. Hold on a second - I can't hear a thing. Oh my God, I'VE GONE DEAF!
Ha ha! Just kidding, folks. See, I still have my sense of humor! I'm not old, right? Right?
Crap. I guess it's going to take more than lousy jokes to regain my youth. I knew I should have taken "Advanced Time Machine Building" instead of "Intro to Comedy Writing". Damn that high school guidance counselor!
I guess for me the issue isn't the fact that I'm now in my Thirties; the real problem is that I'm no longer in my Twenties. That first digit makes a big difference. My Twenties was the time (oh God, past tense!) when everything was new. I finished college, I got my own apartment, I got a real job, I started finding my place in the world. I'm nothing spectacular, but I more or less did OK, and any modest accomplishments I may have picked up along the way, like, say, owning a house, were extra credit. It didn't matter that I wasn't yet a prodigy because I was still young. I still had time.
The Thirties seem altogether different. Being thirty means being an adult, so what used to be extra credit is now average. There seems to be this added pressure, but it isn't about what I have - it's about what I don't have: wife, kids, grown-up wardrobe, my own company, sense of direction, dining room furniture, etc. And that clock is ticking, man, because the Forties are bearing down fast, and they are not kidding around.
My biggest fear is that February 28, 2013 is going to roll around and I'll be in exactly the same situation I'm in now. Sure, I'll have a flying rocket car and a personal robot servant and a Tivo Series 8 embedded directly in my brain, but I'll still be spending my money on computers instead of saving, and I'll still be eating dinner at the coffee table, and I still won't have a door on my laundry room. To me, being thirty means having a Post-It note in my brain with two words written on it: GET BUSY. (Also, possibly "Buy Milk". There's kind of a smudge at the bottom I can't read.)
So. I am turning over a new leaf. As of today I am committing myself to setting Goals, having a Plan, and Following Through. The time for childishness and fooling around is over. I am resolved.
Now that we have that out of the way, I can move on to my next topic: when in the hell are the new iPods going to come out?
I'm seriously obsessed. I know they're ready to release new ones any day now. They're just waiting for me to break down and buy one. I check the Apple web site 20 times a day, just waiting for the announcement. It's like that "Seinfeld" episode in which Kramer gets hooked on Kenny Rogers Roasters. That's me, sitting in the window for hours at a time and muttering "iPod....iPod..." Well, I'm not giving in. I'll hold out all year if I have to!
Sigh. The next decade is shaping up to be a lot like the last one. At least I have that flying car to look forward to.
Thursday, February 27, 2003
The Stockstock web site is up! It was actually up yesterday, but I completely forgot to post about it here until I read feng's entry. My memory is jumping the gun. It's not allowed to fail until I turn 30, and I've still got a good 12 hours left before that happens.
www.stockstock.org
As a side note, I think feng did an excellent job on the design. It looks all cool and wacky and retro, which is the essence of Stockstock. I should also mention that he completed the site while battling the Black Plague or scurvy or some other horrible illness that made him sound on the phone like he was operating with less than the usual number of lungs. For a while I was worried that we were going to have to enlist another graphic designer to work on feng's tombstone. Luckily, it worked out fine and no graves were required. Now it's on me to finish the ecommerce part by Monday. Stay tuned and see if I make it.
www.stockstock.org
As a side note, I think feng did an excellent job on the design. It looks all cool and wacky and retro, which is the essence of Stockstock. I should also mention that he completed the site while battling the Black Plague or scurvy or some other horrible illness that made him sound on the phone like he was operating with less than the usual number of lungs. For a while I was worried that we were going to have to enlist another graphic designer to work on feng's tombstone. Luckily, it worked out fine and no graves were required. Now it's on me to finish the ecommerce part by Monday. Stay tuned and see if I make it.