A smattering of thoughts

In case some of you didn't know, my birthday is now officially less than 24 hours away. What's more is that I'm about to turn 27. Is there any real significance to this age? Yeah, it's the age at which Cobain "canonized" himself, but I'm looking for something a little more universal. Is there anything else that I'm missing in which the age of 27 is significant? Anyhow, for some reason, turning this age is kind of fucking my shit up. Nothing major. I'm not getting all maudlin or lachrymose (props if you didn't have to look up either of those, but they're some of my favorite words), but for some reason, twenty-seven seems suddenly "old." Perhaps I should say "Old." Either way, I think in my odd little mind, it has something to do with the fact that 27 is the last number divisible by three before you hit thirty. Now I can't say that I'm not happy with the state of my life at the moment, but there are some things that I'd definitely alter.

So, as I stand on the cusp of becoming legitimately "old," what has changed? Let's see; I think I'll map some of the significant changes since I was 25. It's a fairly limited span, but a considerable gap nonetheless. Okay, so first - EVERYONE is either married or getting married. I don't know if the bus has passed me by, or if I'm sitting at a decommissioned bus stop or something, but I swear, I blinked and the next thing I knew I was getting measured for tuxes left and right. I'm about to wind up on a first-name basis with some of my local clothiers. I can only imagine I'll be making this same statement when I'm thirty, except for "marriage" we're going to be swapping in "having babies." Now I'm not saying fates aren't going to change. I'm not going to say that I won't be married. Hell, I won't even say that I won't be a father-to-be, but at least the latter is HIGHLY doubtful.

Which brings me to point number two: my dating record has gone waaaaay down. When I turned 25, I'd brought in a pretty respectable average. I'd had solid relationships, I'd gotten a few of those flukey "everyone goes through that once or twice" relationships, and was ready to find someone good and make good things happen. Some two years later, that someone has not appeared on the radar. And the few times I thought they might be off on the horizon, it turns out I was not on theirs. As I always say, I'm not bitter, and I still assert that I'm not especially bitter, but one can only remain "the bachelor friend" for so long.

This can easily be connected to "part the third": the weight thing. Yes, I could stand to lose about 1/3 of my body mass. Hell, I would like to, even. However there are one or two issues. I have little time in my day-to-day life. I have school work, thesis prep work, work work, non-work editing work, various forms of musical expression, and, of course, drinking. Yes, I realize that the last item in that list pretty much directly contradicts and designs I have at shedding that nasty poundage one calls "the spare tire", but to be honest, I'd rather be a few pounds overweight and happily at the bar in my free time than trim and svelte in a gym every free moment I get.

There are, of course, many improvements over time as well. The band continues to roll, I am blessed with a wonderful group of friends who provide me with countless hours of entertainment and fodder for my musings, and I still have some manner of income creeping in. I'm moving along the track for my Master's right as scheduled, and I just so happen to love every day of it, not to mention all the great people I get to interact with on a day-to-day basis as a result of being in the program. I keep sort of flip-flopping my stance on whether or not I will ever take a stab at trying to write something worth publishing, but in the meantime, I have you, dear reader, to keep me going. That and coffee, of course.

Finally, as I look forward to chalking up another year in my life, I can look forward to one simple fact: that by the time I'm losing sleep over turning twenty-eight, there will be someone else in office at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.