57 degrees this morning. 55:02 minute walk. Three earthquakes within 60 miles (2.6 3.3 and 3.8). After my comment yesterday that I thought earthquakes were slowing down, I am not going to comment on earthquakes anymore!
Sometimes something hits you and makes you realize how old you are, or at least how old you may appear to other people. My granddaughter asked me how old I was, and I had to pause to think how old I was. Then it hit me how ancient this must appear to 14 and 12 year olds! Although , I have to admit, they didn’t comment on it and probably naturally think it is in the natural order of events and they are right about that.
That reminded me of key points in my life. One was when I was in the Air Force and I was advised basically to “start living” since “i had probably already lived 25 % of my life” (Actually I think the actual % was 33%, but at my age now, I prefer to remember it as 25%!
Another point was in my early 40’s. I had been given a button when I was 40 that “40 isn’t old when you’re a tree” (I think I still have it. I was originally going to return it to the person who gave it to me when he turned 40, but I didn’t. I don’t know if the button did it, or other circumstances, but I decided then I was going to quit living for “someday” and live “in the moment”, if that makes any sense. Not in the sense that I had to enjoy every moment, but I was going to experience every moment and truly realize life, including the painful or hard parts (if it was necessary that I go through it).
I think this attitude certainly helps me when I have to go the dentist, had an operation for skin cancer and other difficult parts of life. Not that I enjoyed it, but I considered it part of my life experience.
Another event was when I was close to 50 and I had a minor physical problem and was reminded that “I was close to 50” and I could expect physical problems to happen. Although I was already firmly into exercise, that reinforced my commitment to healthy living (although my eating habits fell a few times after that).
A lot of these thoughts came about because of he head cold I have, which is very early for me to get one. I was thinking (as I always do when I get a cold etc.) how bad it would be if I was going to feel this way for the rest of my life and would never feel better. This thought, together with the question from my granddaughter on my age, led to the other thoughts.
Actually my head cold is going away, although it can’t go too fast for me. My only real relief (that really words) is Sudafed (sp) and I feel like a minor criminal whenever I buy it! Although I can understand and support the restrictions, I hope they don’t go overboard and require prescriptions for it. Although if they did, it may be eligible for health insurance then! I”m not sure why it works, but it works like a charm almost every time. I still feel “under the weather” and kind of like I”m in outer space (or under water), but at least I’m not sneezing.
As part of my job, I need to get a “dedicated” cell phone, so I reactivated an old 3GS iPhone. I decided I wanted a case for it that I could also keep cards etc, so I found one on Amazon for $5. (including shipping). I should have known better and thrown the $5.00 into a charity collection or something. The original price was touted as around $50, and since the 3GS iPhone is about 4 generations old, I thought it was a legit sale. Of course, it was just another piece of junk that I have found Amazon to have. It obviously was not designed well.
I had the same experience (with Amazon) a few years ago on a pair of headphones at an deep discount “sale price”.
I have to keep reminding myself that “you get what you pay for”. I recently heard the Amazon cell phone was designed “primarily to buy the junk (another word was used) that Amazon sells” and I have to agree.
Since moving, I have become very careful on buying anything that I will have to deal with on the long-term. I try to use the “toothbrush test” and also think what I will do with the item in a year.
That’s it for now, Sunday, September 14, 2014.
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