Post 2601 - A Post 50 Years In The Making!

It is nearly 8pm. I am leaning back in my good-for-nothing chair with a laptop on a plastic device that prevents the laptop from overheating and which keeps my thighs nice and comfortable. I will be watching another episode of "House of Cards" as soon as I finish this blog post.

I drove back to the city mid-afternoon. Patricia made me a birthday dinner of salmon and rice, which was excellent. For dessert, we munched on some of the dark chocolate and pomegranates my sister gave me.

Yes. I am now 50 years old. It is difficult to type these words. I figured that as long as I was in my forties, I could talk to a 30 year old person and think, "Well, he's only one decade and change behind me." Now, he's 2 decades behind me.  When I interview a radio broadcaster who's in her 20's, I am robbing the cradle. Would I be arrested for  that? Hard to say.

I have had about 100 happy birthday messages on Facebook today. Some people find that stuff creepy. I love it. I enjoy how 1 out of 8 of my Facebook "friends" have taken the time to write me a birthday wish. I appreciate it.

At the half century mark, a fella is supposed to look back on what he has accomplished so far and then look forward to what is to come. I did not have a brother to blaze a path for me when I was growing up, and my father was always workin', so I was pretty much left to my own devices when it came to going through life.

If I have learned anything, it is that I try to treat people the way I want to be treated. Good manners do not go out of style. If I put out my hand and the other person doesn't want to shake it, then that is his problem, not mine. If I say good morning to someone and receive only a snarl in return, then that is not my hang up. It's his.

I have tolerated many fools for a long time. I have walked away from arguments not because I was conceding the other person's points, but because I had more important things to do than argue a point with someone whose intransigence had no hope of wavering. If they want to think they won, then that is fine. Doesn't cost me anything. Doesn't change the car I drive, or make me smell any worse.

I believe that part of the price of living in a democracy is paying one's taxes, so I do so willingly, but not gladly. I also am of the opinion that part of the price of holding down a job is to put up with a degree of BS and to endure a modicum of inconvenience. But if those things become the majority of my perception of my job, then it is time to look around for something else. Which I have done a couple of times in my life.

It is my belief, my conceit even, that I should try to leave he world, or my piece of it, in at least as good a shape as how it was when I entered it. I do not litter. I do not drink and drive. I try to conduct myself in a way that is consistent with how I was brought up, and in a way that would not bring embarrassment or chagrin to my family.

I continue to believe that I can do better, in every aspect of my life. I am not perfect. I make lots of mistakes. But I am aware of them and try to make sure they don't happen over and over again.

Sometime during this decade of my life, I expect to retire from the job I hold now, and go on to do something else. I do not know what that something else will be. I just know that I will tackle it with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. If I find afterward that I don't like it, or don't want to do it, I will go do something else. I will have earned the right to do that.

In other, unrelated news, I have it on good authority that there will be a very interesting announcement on Live 105 first thing Monday morning. I have a good idea of what half of it will be. The other half, I can only speculate about. I have been asked not to spill the beans until the morning, so I just urge you to tune in and find out along with the rest of the world. It may be history in the making!

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy