Thursday Thirteen - Life Lessons

Well, I'm not 50 - yet. It's a few days away but I will have hit that hard number by the time next week's TT rolls around.

So what have I learned in 49 years and 363 days of hard living?


1. Age is not just a state of mind. It's also a state of body, and some of us age more quickly than others.

2. People in general are so self-centered that nobody cares what you do so long as it doesn't draw their attention.

3. Love is a many splintered thing.

4. No one can live up to their title or stereotype. Parents, teachers, lawyers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, daughters, sons, good guys, bad guys, everybody else, and especially presidents and politicians will never be what you think they should be when you hear those descriptive words or see them on paper. They will always disappoint you.

5. It is impossible to keep the toilet clean for longer than a few hours.

6. Trust, but verify. I learned this as a journalist and I'm not sure what happened to that important mantra, since today the news consists of opinion and not facts. When I was a young reporter the theory was you needed three sources to be sure of a fact. That doesn't seem to be the case in the mainstream media anymore. But this also matters in everyday life.

7. Some stuff lasts a lot longer than you think it will, and other things do not last as long as they should. In the end it is all stuff and unimportant.

8. Education is one of the few things you will take with you when you die, so get plenty of it.

9. Life is not online. Get off of it and live. It's a nice place to visit sometimes but it ain't worth staying there. And Facebook sucks.

10. Bad days are a state of mind, but getting into a new state can sometimes take a really long time.

11. Tai chi can lower your blood pressure but you have to do it regularly. Exercise is a good thing and should be an important part of your self-care.

12. The reflection of yourself in the mirror only reveals the truth if you open your eyes.

13. Of course the tree makes a sound in the forest when it falls and no one is there to listen. Of course it does.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 297th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.