Getting Older

OK, this is just a random pic from the Web, it's not me! But I *am* 48 years old now...wow! I've now lived longer than most people in history!

As I get older, I'm noticing a trend. When I go to Bertucci's pizza, I almost always order the Marengo pizza. After having tried many different pizzas there at first over a period of several months, I tried the Marengo pizza, adding caramelized onions. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

If I were to go back to Bertucci's often, I'm sure I would try many different dishes there. However, I only go once every few months and so I always have the same thing now, perhaps with a salad on the side. Why? I know I will love it, that's why. I found something I like and I stick with it.

That's the quandary of getting older. When I was young, I was ready to try everything, thinking myself quite immortal. Now that I realize my days are numbered, instinctively I want to use every moment to the utmost and that means sometimes not trying something different and new on the off chance I'll be disappointed. Rather, I'll stick with something I know I'll like to make the most of that moment.

This is not always a good thing. It's old-man syndrome. It's "when I was young, I could buy a Mars bar for a nickel." It's "what is it with these young people and their strange music?" However, if the old man is happy, what of it? If he's not, then maybe it requires a change in attitude.

A classic example is music. Everyone thinks that their generation's music is the best. Those of a generation younger than they listen to "strange" music, not like the music in the good old days. Suddenly we find ourselves listening to the oldies station, which of course only plays the best songs from every year of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and maybe even the 80s! However, this I do try to resist. I actually listen to the Top 40 pop station a lot and I love a lot of the new music. My current craze is Duffy and her song Mercy. OK, so it sounds as if it could have been made in the 60s, but still! I also love Natasha Bedingfield, Panic in the Disco, State of Shock and others. Those who would pine for the good old days of the songs of the 60s would do well to listen to them carefully and realize how many of their lyrics were silly, with all their "yeah-yeah-yeahs". Funny but true.

One place that getting older is not always fun is watching movies and realizing I had already seen the same story in an earlier movie. The kids think it's fresh and new. I know better! Shucks.