Winds of Change

I am 43 years old now. I feel no different today than I have any other day in my life. In other words, count me out of the camp of people who think they are getting "old". To a point, I view age as relative to your lifespan--and, at least until a person becomes terminally ill, none of us knows what our lifespan will be. If I am to die within the next few years, then I am old now. Get it? It's why cliches like "live in the moment" make sense. You never know what the next will bring.

Things are changing, though. A friend of mine has cancer, and while that's not necessarily an age-specific issue, it's the first time a "non-elder" has ever said "I have cancer" to me. Also, icons are dying--icons from my youth, more specifically.

It struck me pretty hard to hear that MCA from the Beasties died. I'm not unique in saying this, but I LOVE the Beastie Boys. I first heard them in Ron Kwentus' mom's VW van, I suppose in 1986, the year Licensed to Ill was released. Safe to say that I and my friends did our best Beastie Boys imitations every day for the next five years, and I still do a fair imitation to this day. If you listen to Paul's Boutique, which is one of the coolest albums ever, there is an insert of a Paul's Boutique promo--"The best in men's clothing, Paul's Boutique . . ." It goes on to give the phone number. I called that number and said, "Is this Paul's Boutique?" The guy on the other end said, "Fuck you."

In their beginning, to us outsiders the Beasties were the "cool kids" from New York, who along with the Bunkers, James Buchanan High, John Gotti, the planes from LaGuardia over Shea, The Boss and Yankee Stadium, and Ron Duguay's hair were New York.

Now, a Beastie is gone; the Bunker clan morphed into a bunch of Friends; and Epstein, Gotti, Shea, The Boss, and Yankee stadium are dust. At least we still have Duguay's hair.

Rest in peace Adam Yauch a.k.a. MCA. You and the Beasties Boys as we know them will be missed.

One thing I've noticed over the past few years is that there are things that I used to really enjoy, well, kind of suck now. Thankfully, riding my bike like an idiot isn't one of them. Part of growing up, evolving and growing, is losing some interests and replacing them. Also, my conclusion based on 43 years of observation is that this world kind of sucks. That doesn't mean life sucks, but what it means is it's really easy to get overwhelmed by all the crap and garbage all of us have to put up with, directly or indirectly, no matter who we are or what we do. Some people, certainly, are dealt a harsher hand, and I have no complaints about my life. However, the world as a whole kind of sucks. It is a power-tripping battle day in and out. Good luck.

So I like being older. I worry about plenty, but the big picture for me is that not a lot really matters. Be honest, productive, and caring, and the rest will take care of itself--and even if it doesn't, you can rest easy at night, and when you rest easy at night, every thing else goes a little bit smoother. So here's to earning a bit of wisdom with each day.

Times are changing, and the next 12 months or thereabout will have plenty of change for me. I do not know what all of them will be, but I have some ideas. Stay tuned for details as they unfold.