12 is the new 50

What?

Oh, nothing. It's just Opus again. :) One of my favorite cartoons (click to enlarge.) These two especially. I don't think they need any explanation, do you?

Although.. I will elaborate to some extent below. Don't I always? ;)

































And the second one - ha - I'm going the other direction. Imagine, me, sending $25 to Obama's campaign. Yikes! Must be a mid-life crisis. ;)

So... if I can take a risk on a liberal... bungee jumping here we come!



Well, maybe not...



Saw a preview for a new movie coming out with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, called "The Bucket List." These two old guys are in the hospital recovering from serious surgeries, and decide that when they get out they need to work on their bucket lists. Those are the lists of things they each want to do before they kick the bucket. :)

D and I talked about that idea after seeing the preview and compared our lists. Hers was enormous! So much to do, so little time, you know?

Mine? I couldn't think of one thing. Not one. She had to suggest one. And I agreed - yes, okay, there are a few spots in the world I'd still like to see. New Zealand, Switzerland/Austria, Patagonia, Jerusalem. That's about it. A little recreational travel. I need to see more mountain lakes! :)

Really, as I thought about it, I have done pretty much everything I've set out to do in life, plus a whole bunch more that had never occurred to me to do, and I couldn't have imagined, but which have been wonderful! I honestly feel like I could be "done" now, and it would have been a full life, with few regrets and lots of good things. I guess I feel ready .. to go .. anytime. :) I'm all set.

But until that day comes.. I wonder.. could I still learn to swim? I hate water. But after all, I learned this year how to run 2 miles without stopping (and I hate running), and do 45 consecutive pushups before smashing my nose in the carpet. Why not swimming?

Hmmm.. let's think longer term. Get my Masters, of course, and change careers to teaching at 55. Spend my time scraping the mush out of those young minds like the root canal guy did to me yesterday. ;)

What else? Could I.. grow my own grapes for wine? Get good enough on the piano to take over for Grandma C at family gatherings, when she passes?

Ooooh.. corrupt a few grandchildren! You know, fill their heads with crazy ideas having just enough truth to confuse them for years? I still have some of those ideas left over from my goofy brother who did it to me.. (or better yet, since I don't have any grandchildren yet - do it to someone else's!)

I am sooo looking forward to being an eccentric old codger. :) It's why I practice now! I think I have the eccentric part down already. ;) Oh, um.. no comments necessary from you about the old and codger parts.