Boomer Randomness

I am a lucky man.   I have great friends, two in particular, both good-looking women; both visited me this summer.   Visiting, of course, implies that they don’t live where I live, which is the case.   One visit happened last month, the other ended this morning. So right now I am happy and a little blue at the same time.   I’ve got a nice emotional buzz going as I replay details of the most recent visit.   We shared many things that mean something to me … music, people, unique adventures, conversation, laughter, wine. Visits always end, however.   It’s a ‘seeya later’ end, not a ‘goodbye’ end, but it is still the end of a few days of good times and that always leave me a little sad.   That is probably a normal reaction.   I know it will happen in advance but it still surprises me a little when I feel it.   These two women are two of my closest friends.   I’ve known one for most of my life and the other for four years. ...

I like this.  Wish I had written it myself ...

I am not religious but I am spiritual.  One source of wisdom and truth that I usually find inspiring comes from Native American cultures.  This might or might not be an actual quote from a native tribe, but I believe it to be wise anyway.

I’m busy and lazy at the same time tonight.   Had a pretty good workout at the gym followed by a healthy meal and now I’m settling in for the night.   I want to write but my brain got a serious workout today too (ten hours at work, most of it filled with brain-challenging stuff) so I don’t have much thinking power left. So here is just a little of this and a little of that. The second of my two awesome friend visitations is happening this week.   A cool friend from North Carolina will spend a few days hanging out in my new life.   She is a major Dave Matthews fan, so that concert this weekend is on the agenda.   She will also sample my new guest room futon and let me know if it was worth getting. I began my plan to become a regular at a neighborhood wine and beer bar.   I’ve been there just enough times now that some of the staff knows I’ve been there before and soon they might remember my name.   I remember all of their names, partly bec...

Do you have a bucket list?   That’s a list of things you want to do or accomplish before you ‘kick the bucket’ (die).   Many baby boomers have such a list.   Younger and older people too, probably. Items on a bucket list often include outlandish, exciting, thrilling and dangerous activities like skydiving or wrestling an alligator.   Less adventurous people might list travel destinations or people they want to meet. I’ve been thinking about my bucket list a lot lately.   My new-found life alone has opened up opportunities that used to have limitations.   I believe I will live a long time, and therefore I have plenty of time to check off items on my list.   But life can end or become debilitating in the blink of an eye, so why should I wait for some uncertain tomorrow to do things I want to do? The items on my list might seem odd but some are on there just because I want to challenge myself.   There are things I want to do and pla...

Another thing I have visualized is becoming a regular at a local bar/restaurant.   I’m not really a barfly, but I do like my nightly glass of wine and I specifically want my local version of “Cheer”’, where everybody knows my name. I identified the specific place last summer, six months before moving into this neighborhood.   Tonight I decided to begin the specific plan.   I have been a customer at this place several times, but tonight I sat at the bar, had conversations with both bartenders, traded names, had an extended conversation with another customer and a short chat with another customer. This could become my ‘joint’.   I’ll keep you updated.   Cheers.

The self-discovery journey I’ve been blogging about for the past few years turned a corner eight months ago when I finally took the steps I had contemplated for such a long time.   My new life and patterns were rocky at first, not at all the celebratory release I had expected.   My idealism is a little unrealistic sometimes. That was December.   Now it’s the middle of July and I’m settling into my new life.   And celebrating it every day. One of the many people I have to give credit to in helping me along the way is my consultant friend Mary.   She does radio interviews for me and each January does one about the New Year and her ‘word of the year’.   She chooses one word to attach her key goal or plan for the coming year. I have done the same since I first heard her theory several years ago, although I was in the middle of changing my life at the beginning of this year so I’m a little late in adopting a word for 2013.   But it hit me today what...

Work has used up all my creative talent for the week, so this post and the next one are borrowed.  Saw them both on friends' facebook pages.  Borrowing other people's words of wisdom.  I'll provide my own again in a few days.

In case I didn't mention it before, I started yet another blog.  This one is mostly photographs and observations about the  Kentlands and Lakelands neighborhoods in Gaithersburg MD.  Visit some time.  The plan is for a new photo daily.

Hot, humid, with an occasional cool breeze.   Eighty, sunny, blue sky, sipping hot coffee on a bench outside, people watching in the ‘town square’.   Couples and singles walking dogs and pushing strollers with babies, one was pushing a stroller with a dog inside. Note to self: Sunday morning before 9am would be a great time to ride my bike … little traffic, few people.   My balance sucks but I love riding bikes so I must fix this balance problem. The neighborhood tiki bar featured a blues band on Friday.   Stayed for most of their performance.   More music and people Saturday as I watched the Nationals eek past the Padres then stayed for a post-game show starring country band Thompson Square.   Met them before their show then joined some friends in the band’s box for the rest of the game and the show.   Free beer and catering.   Is this how the rich live?   Many attractive young women at this party.   Mmmm. Meeting a female ...

I’ve been called many things in my life: odd, shy, asshole, weird, patient, emotional, quirky, romantic, cold, smart, a good friend, sensitive, insensitive, curious, stubborn, a tight ass, cool, a fool, selfish, giving, husband, a good lover, average, boring, judgmental, open and tolerant, secure, insecure, stable, unusual.   All of those descriptors have been accurate at various points in my life, but the one that has impacted me the most was only spoken (written, actually) once and not until 2009 and by someone who did not know me very well yet: a free spirit .   Me?   A free spirit? For much of my life, my self-impression was that of a shy, sensitive, odd, quirky man who is sensitive yet insensitive, curious, average and quiet, a fairly boring person living a fairly interesting but abnormal life.   I always felt I was living on other people’s agendas and up to or down to their expectations.   In other words, anything but a free spirit.   Yet after hea...