I just got a wonderful inspiration for today's entry; but before I got started, Karen and Brian got on their way to Wichita. Then I had to make another pot of coffee. Then I sat down and did all of the preparatory things that need to be done, copying the files, renaming the files, etc... and now I don't remember what I was so inspired about in the first place. Sometimes I get these really great ideas and I'll get started and then I'll think, "Boy, this is really stupid!" and then I'll quit and go on to something else. Or even worse, I'll just blithely continue on with my stupid idea (The evidence is widely strewn about in these pages). But I've never before had a wonderful idea and just have it disappear!
Maybe my subconscious mind just made a decision on its' own...
Well, yes, I do appreciate my subconscious mind. But I wonder if it's just senility instead. There are a couple of journal-keepers who are about to turn 40... they don't know what's in store for them, do they? I do hope that they get the chance to find out, though...
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I wasn't keeping a journal as I turned 50, so you folks have been spared. And me, too. I managed to pass that without much in the way of reflection. As it was, I just said "Hey! How 'bout that! I'm fifty!" and that was the end of it. Actually, Karen did a surprise party for me, and I did take a lot of good-natured ribbing about it. It didn't bother me at all, though. However, now that I'm thinking about it...
Middle-aged. Mathematically, I'm (probably) long past that. According to the actuarial tables, I'll live to be 70 if I don't and have never: smoked, drank, or had any fun. So that would put middle-aged at 35. That was a long time ago. And since I don't really qualify for the extensions to reach 70 (smoked, drank, had fun) a more likely number is, oh, 51. Which means that I was middle-aged before I had my oldest son, who was born on my 29 and 1/2 birthday. Which also means that this journal may be short-lived, less than a year to go. Maybe I should rename it "countdown to the big 000" since "countdown to OLD AGE" is probably already taken, and "countdown to death" is pretty gruesome, and Timothy Leary already did that, bless his heart. Incidentally, the significance of the non-number "000" is the same as "666"/0 and "666"-2*333. And yes, I can too divide "666" by 0 'cause I'm not a mathematician and "666" is a character set anyway. OK, so it's apples and oranges, did I make my point or not?
Anyway, if I'm mathematically middle-aged, I'm going to live to be a hunnert years old! That would really be something, wouldn't it? I can see me, 100 years old, drooling, sitting in a wheelchair in a brightly-lit old folks home... reporters shoving microphones into my face, photographers taking pictures... my beard covering my knees... several young beautiful nurses hovering around me answering my every whim (while on-camera, anyway)...
"Mr Franklin, how did you get to be a hunnert years old?"
OK, a more serious note on the same subject. I know that you hate it when I do this...
Knock, Knock...
Courtesy of JD... a clean funny joke, seldom seen in these pages...
And besides that, I don't feel like being serious today, I like to save all of that up for a rant or maybe just a really depressing journal entry. Let the levity continue... Yes, folks, the levity will go on. I repeat, the levity will go on!
A fellow journal-keeper recently asked for some jokes, and I couldn't think of any, and now I feel guilty keeping that one for myself! But I just heard that one last night after JD got here, so I couldn't have given it to her anyway.
I received an email from Lisa, JD's girlfriend in Huntsville. She called me Mr Franklin, said that she agreed with all my rants and that she loved my son. I had to tell her that anyone who loved one of my kids didn't have to call me Mr Franklin, and that I had serious doubts about letting anyone who agreed with all of my rants be in love with one of my children. I'm looking forward to meeting her soon...
JD's still asleep, I'm debating on whether to wake him up or go back to bed myself. I got up before the sun today, even after being up late last night, about 01:30. Of course, the long nap I had yesterday evening might have something to do with that...
Maybe more later... check back! And...
JD is still asleep, I guess I'll go waken him now... 14 hours of sleep is enough for a growing boy, in my opinion. I never did take a nap...yet...
'Hey, he's had an idea!'
(Turning it over, examining it thoroughly)
'Damn! How extravagantly stupid!'
'yes, one of the most stupid'
'So, what'll we do?'
'Distract him, maybe he won't notice that it's gone?'
'Excellent! But wait! He's copying that file over now!'
'Try harder! Try harder! We can't let him look like a fool....again!'
'OK, OK, I think we got it done!'
'Whew! That was close! I wonder if he appreciates us....'
"Well, sonny, the secret to long life is... is... well, it's..."
"Mr Franklin, did you plan on living this long?"
"Well, sonny, I planned to live to be thirty, but I messed up and...."
"Thank you, Mr. Franklin. Such a congenial old gent, too bad he smells so terrible...."
Who's there?
The interrupting cow.
The interup...MoooooOOOO!...
I really liked the calender idea for keeping track of entries, so I ripped off a calender and studied it and spent several hours re-doing it so I liked it... and I'm still not sure that I like it. It might be more trouble than it's worth, in which case it'll disappear.