Young and Old

Birthdays get much less interesting when you get older. I?d go so far to say that they not only get less interesting, they get downright boring. Now this isn?t to speak of the Birthday Party, a beast unto itself, but as for the day, the time, the date?it needs work in getting you revitalized to start another Earth year of existence.

Weird how I can actually say Earth year and not feel like a sci-fi geek. Over the past few years with probes, satellites, and tests, we?ve become so enamored with space and time that traversing it is the next frontier. Saying that you?ve grown an Earth year isn?t going to turn heads in a decade or two.

Of course, by then I?ll be in my mid-40?s and promptly freaking out about my mortality.

A week or so ago, I was lamenting on having heart palpatations from caffeine pills. It was a scary and dangerous few minutes of panic, but I?ll be perfectly honest: I wasn?t afraid of escalation. Heart attack? Death? I?ve made my peace with those scary demons years ago. I?m not exactly living every day like it would be my last (my creditors may actually argue this point with me), but I?m also confident that whatever magical/mystical/strange place I?m bound towards upon my demise isn?t that bad. I can handle it. I can deal.

I don?t want to die of course. But I?m just, you know, assuring myself here on the internets that when bad things happen, I?m cool with that.

Ericka noted to me just the other day that I?ve been making a lot of young friends recently. Magic can have that effect. Why? Well, one of the latest jokes in Magic is this:

Professional Magic is like professional modeling. You?re washed up at 25.

And it?s true.

There have rarely been pro tour winners (note: winners) who are over the age of 30. Why? Because the big boys in other sports, all the way down to golfing or friggin bowling, get paid hundreds of thousands instead of just thousands for being the best in their field. Last weekend Pro Tour: London occurred and the winner isn?t anywhere near 30, and for good reason: With little else but a car and insurance payment, he has no kids. No ?bills?. He probably lives at home with his parents. Or he?s going to school.

And that?s all fine and good, where winning $30,000 means you won?t work for the next two years, or other such nonsense. In my world, $30,000 means paid off debt and a down payment on a house. Priorities are different. When you ?grow up? (and I use this phrase loosely), you find that what sustained you before cannot sustain you any more.

So I look at my new pals, Chris (20), EJ (18), and Dustin (22), and wonder if I had subconsciously befriended these guys to make myself ?feel young.? Then I remember I think that?s a load of shit, that you become friends with people you like and like to hang out with, and push it to the back of my mind.

But still, sometimes, I wonder.

To finish: Jim had a birthday over the weekend, and so congrats to him sticking around and inspiring this post. He?s a great guy, and it sounds like he had a great time. His son, Ryan, is truly a man?s man, with his king status and all.

It?s a motherfucker, getting through a Sunday
Talking to the walls, just me again

Tags: birthday age old mortality space magic-the-gathering pro-tour Jim outpost1