Fighting Off Death For 30 Years
In Dungeons & Dragons, there's a spell called deathwatch that assesses the condition of people around you and determines their status in relation to death. The only categories are: dead, fragile (alive and wounded), fighting off death (more alive but still possibly wounded), undead, or neither alive nor dead (such as a construct). I love that. Even at a person's healthiest, they are still just "fighting off death." Its a tad nihilistic, perhaps, but I find it charming.Seems like only yesterday
We would sit and talk of dreams all night
Dreams of youth
And simple truths
Now wer're all so involved
So involved with life
I jumped forward through time today, and I'm pensive about it. I just turned 30, you see. I'm pretty quiet about birthdays (mine and most others), but try as I may to downplay the significance of humanity's counting system and the coincidental landmarks of time, I'm still retrospective on this occassion. Well, why not?
"Take that, decades!" Josh said.
"In your face, multiples of ten!" I added.
But I do feel okay about it. I'm content where I'm at and what I've done by this stage of my life.
But even when I am grey
I'll still be grey my way
Yeah
posted by Jeff LaSala at 4:20 PM
10 Comments:
Happy birthday. May you fight off death for many more!
I just got home from holiday travels and found my monograph waiting. Excitement! :)
I measure 33 as the big birthday. That's when you can compare what you've done in your lifetime to what Jesus did in his. :P
Happy Birthday!!!!!!
Thanks, all. :)
And thank you, Darren, for that sobering remark. But the truth is, I've often thought of that myself! And I inevitably think of Bono's lyrics that go with it:
They want you to be Jesus
To go down on one knee
But they want their money back
If you're alive at thirty-three
Wow, that's funny -- on a number of occasions, I've told people that 33 is a huge number (the Jesus thing never entered my head). Simply, that's the age at which I finally had my shit together. Sure, we often think we had our shit together in our twenties, but 33 was the real thing, at least for me. Something to look forward to, I hope! Happy Birthday!
--Ken (old man at 46)
Happy Birthday, you old fart. :-) Just kidding. And always remember, if the age thing is getting to you, just tell yourself that many people can say they has a novel accepted before they turned 30.
Paul (31)
Hah! Thanks, Paul. This age thing sure doesn't actually have me down or anything. I'm spry enough, still!
Happy birthday to you, sir. Hope you had a good one with your family and friends.
Myself, I've felt like I was 25 since I was, oh, 14 ... and I blew past that milestone a couple of years ago. Keep waiting for the "wow, I'm feeling older" feeling to catch up with me, but it hasn't.
Yet. :)
That was of course meant to read "not" many people can say.
And as I learned watching the collected Spaced DVD last year, 40 is the new 30 anyway, so we've got another ten years of acting like big kids.
Glad to have you on the planet, Jeff.
//H
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