Tuesday, November 06, 2007
SOME THOUGHTS ON TURNING 50
I turned 50 last Friday.
Given my medical history in the last 10 years, I'm happy to be here.
I haven't achieved everything I thought I'd have achieved by now, but come to think of it, I never had any idea what I wanted to achieve by now. Whatever it is, I don't know that I have it yet.
I was born at the right time.
I'm old enough to remember every moment of the Beatles phenomenon, from pre-Ed Sullivan to their breakup.
I'm old enough to have seen Frank Zappa five times. I can't tell you how many of the Zappa fans I correspond with envy my age, because they never got to see Frank at all -- he stopped touring in 1988 and died in 1993.
I was old enough to see the Cubs of the 60s, the Brewers of the 70s and the Diamondbacks of the 00s.
I met Gayle Sayers when he was a Rookie; Brian Piccolo, too. Actually interviewed Ernie Banks when I was eight! I've also met Bobby Hull, Bob Uecker, Rollie Fingers, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Bo Diddley (eight times), and scores more.
I not only got to meet baseball great Eddie Mathews, but I got to go to school with his daughter. This gave us something to talk about when I met him.
I have learned that the combined smell of Saturday breakfast cooking with the odor of unfltered Camel cigarettes is enough to turn you off of smoking for your whole life. I can still smell that in my head, and my dad quit smoking when I was 12.
I learned that it's time to stop being a Cub Scout when your Troop Leader tells you you're not a very good scout because you only sold one Christmas wreath.
I am old enough to have grown up with toys that could have KILLED me. That they didn't just goes to show that maybe they weren't so bad after all. You kids today don't know what you missed.
I was young enough to think the series "Batman" was serious. And old enough a few years later when, in syndication, I was able to get the jokes.
I grew up in an age where if you asked your parents what beer tasted like at a party, they let you taste it. Nobody got arrested. (Once, as a toddler, I pulled this trick on a bunch of folks at a party my parents were having, and after enough "little sips" I was dancing and singing in the back yard. A quick admonishment from my mother ("QUIT GIVING TOMMY BEER!") was all that was needed to remedy the situation. I slept it off. (For the record, I waited nine whole days after I was legal to buy booze. So my early imbibement didn't corrupt me for life.)
I married the right person the first time and only time. Fortunately, it appears that most of my married friends were able to accomplish the same thing.
I am definitely less introverted than I was growing up. I intend to keep going in that direction.
Aside from "make more money" and "lose some weight," there are things in my life that I have yet to master:
I still can't talk to pretty women who I don't know well without looking like a doofus. How my wife saw around this when we met, I have no idea. I'm convinced the women in my wife's dance troupe think I'm incapable of having a conversation. I really have no idea what to say. It's one of the reasons I was never big on topless bars. The girls want to dance in your lap and say stuff like, "How's it goin, hon?" And I always screw up and say something like, "That wart on your back looks like Alan Greenspan," or "I hate cell phones!"
I need to figure out how to write songs faster. I average about two songs a year.
I need to be less hypochondriac. To that end, I need to stop diagnosing myself on the internet.
I need to PLAY MORE GIGS.
I need to play more places. If I could figure out how to make it work financially, I bet I could fill a room in Seattle. I know that many people there.
I need to massage more people. Take a number.
I need to get more massages. Take a number.
I need to figure out how not to be the designated driver all the time so that EVERY SO OFTEN, I can have more than one beer when we go to a party.
I need to soak more. In MY spa. Or hot springs.
I have definitely not grown up yet.
And finally, now that I'm 50, I need to live another 50 years or so. Hang around with me and let's see if we all can do it.
------
Last Tuesday I played a comedians-only open mic in East Bumfuck (Chandler) called Bongo's. It's a bar and grill with the BIGGEST MENU I HAVE EVER SEEN. The comedians range from very experienced and funny to just getting their feet wet, and the always-interesting "experienced-but-trying-out-new-material." This can be scary.
Anyway, I played and got big laughs. Even got a guy from a radio station interested in my stuff! So all in all, a good night.
------
THIS Saturday, I'm at Into the Bean, 1710 W. Southern next to Cheba Hut Sandwich Shop. I'll be there from 7:30 - 9:30 and I'd appreciate it if you were there, too!
TT
I turned 50 last Friday.
Given my medical history in the last 10 years, I'm happy to be here.
I haven't achieved everything I thought I'd have achieved by now, but come to think of it, I never had any idea what I wanted to achieve by now. Whatever it is, I don't know that I have it yet.
I was born at the right time.
I'm old enough to remember every moment of the Beatles phenomenon, from pre-Ed Sullivan to their breakup.
I'm old enough to have seen Frank Zappa five times. I can't tell you how many of the Zappa fans I correspond with envy my age, because they never got to see Frank at all -- he stopped touring in 1988 and died in 1993.
I was old enough to see the Cubs of the 60s, the Brewers of the 70s and the Diamondbacks of the 00s.
I met Gayle Sayers when he was a Rookie; Brian Piccolo, too. Actually interviewed Ernie Banks when I was eight! I've also met Bobby Hull, Bob Uecker, Rollie Fingers, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Bo Diddley (eight times), and scores more.
I not only got to meet baseball great Eddie Mathews, but I got to go to school with his daughter. This gave us something to talk about when I met him.
I have learned that the combined smell of Saturday breakfast cooking with the odor of unfltered Camel cigarettes is enough to turn you off of smoking for your whole life. I can still smell that in my head, and my dad quit smoking when I was 12.
I learned that it's time to stop being a Cub Scout when your Troop Leader tells you you're not a very good scout because you only sold one Christmas wreath.
I am old enough to have grown up with toys that could have KILLED me. That they didn't just goes to show that maybe they weren't so bad after all. You kids today don't know what you missed.
I was young enough to think the series "Batman" was serious. And old enough a few years later when, in syndication, I was able to get the jokes.
I grew up in an age where if you asked your parents what beer tasted like at a party, they let you taste it. Nobody got arrested. (Once, as a toddler, I pulled this trick on a bunch of folks at a party my parents were having, and after enough "little sips" I was dancing and singing in the back yard. A quick admonishment from my mother ("QUIT GIVING TOMMY BEER!") was all that was needed to remedy the situation. I slept it off. (For the record, I waited nine whole days after I was legal to buy booze. So my early imbibement didn't corrupt me for life.)
I married the right person the first time and only time. Fortunately, it appears that most of my married friends were able to accomplish the same thing.
I am definitely less introverted than I was growing up. I intend to keep going in that direction.
Aside from "make more money" and "lose some weight," there are things in my life that I have yet to master:
I still can't talk to pretty women who I don't know well without looking like a doofus. How my wife saw around this when we met, I have no idea. I'm convinced the women in my wife's dance troupe think I'm incapable of having a conversation. I really have no idea what to say. It's one of the reasons I was never big on topless bars. The girls want to dance in your lap and say stuff like, "How's it goin, hon?" And I always screw up and say something like, "That wart on your back looks like Alan Greenspan," or "I hate cell phones!"
I need to figure out how to write songs faster. I average about two songs a year.
I need to be less hypochondriac. To that end, I need to stop diagnosing myself on the internet.
I need to PLAY MORE GIGS.
I need to play more places. If I could figure out how to make it work financially, I bet I could fill a room in Seattle. I know that many people there.
I need to massage more people. Take a number.
I need to get more massages. Take a number.
I need to figure out how not to be the designated driver all the time so that EVERY SO OFTEN, I can have more than one beer when we go to a party.
I need to soak more. In MY spa. Or hot springs.
I have definitely not grown up yet.
And finally, now that I'm 50, I need to live another 50 years or so. Hang around with me and let's see if we all can do it.
------
Last Tuesday I played a comedians-only open mic in East Bumfuck (Chandler) called Bongo's. It's a bar and grill with the BIGGEST MENU I HAVE EVER SEEN. The comedians range from very experienced and funny to just getting their feet wet, and the always-interesting "experienced-but-trying-out-new-material." This can be scary.
Anyway, I played and got big laughs. Even got a guy from a radio station interested in my stuff! So all in all, a good night.
------
THIS Saturday, I'm at Into the Bean, 1710 W. Southern next to Cheba Hut Sandwich Shop. I'll be there from 7:30 - 9:30 and I'd appreciate it if you were there, too!
TT
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