THIS is Forty

Tomorrow is the day that I will turn 40 years old.  It hasn't bothered me at all, unlike 30 did.  I think 30 got to me more because when your in middle school and high school 30 seems so old.  And there's always that one 30 year old at all the parties who is as creepy as they come but great for beer runs.  I didn't want to be that guy.   Now 40 comes. 

You may have heard the joke "I start all my mornings with snap, crackle and pop and that's just me getting out of bed."  Yeah, that's actually my joke.  I wrote it a couple of years ago.  But that pretty much sums up my body these days.   There are days that I wake up and a body part will just hurt.  There's no good reason for it to hurt, it just does. You deal with and move on and the next day it will be a new body part that's giving you issues.   For all you youngsters reading this, that not all that you're going to face.  Mammary and testicular sagging are most uncomfortable.  If the gravitational pull gets any worse my knees are going to be playing tennis everytime I walk. Then there's the weekly deforestation of the ear and nasal areas.  I don't know why the hair on my head continues to recede while the nose, ear and eyes brows have just started to flourish.  And if that not enough of an insult, just wait until you walk naked past a mirror, stop and back-up to get a better look, only to see what appears to be a grey pubic hair.  You tweeze it out and examine it only to find that it's not grey.  Nope it skipped grey and went straight to white.  Yes, this is the physical 40 but there is a mental side, as well.

I spent most of my life questioning everything.  I find myself more accepting these days.  Some things are just the way they are.   Also, I've learned I can't do it all myself.  I need my wife.  Gretchen and I are a team and together we are stronger. You will all learn to what's best for the team and forget about yourself.  All in all, the biggest effect on my life has been getting back to church and learning the word of God.  Many of our struggles that we face in our lives have answers already written.  Just open your Bibles and read.   As bad as the physical body is at 40, I will take it in trade for the mental peace I now possess.

Mini-vans, hair dye, healthy eating, teen-agers......Yes this is Forty and I love it. 

"Click it or Ticket" Can Stick It

Everyday people drive 90 to 100 miles per hour on the interstate without any penalty.  However, I can drive 1/4 mile from my house and get a ticket for not wearing my seat belt.  This is why some people do not like the police.  It seems that they are concentrating on the wrong things.  Me not wearing my seatbelt, endangers myself.  The idiot driving 100 mph is endangering him/herself and everyone around them.  Oh, I suppose, I could get into an accident, have my body propelled forward,  launched through the windshield and take out 3 joggers. But probably not.  "Click it or ticket."  I hate that phrase.  I'm guessing they had a contest for school-age kids and some glue eating little shit came up with that stupid phrase.

Seat belt laws are nothing more than a tyrannical big brother government creating laws to protect us from ourselves.  When really all they have done is created a new stream of income for themselves.  They like to share how many lives are saved by seatbelt use and show us gory pictures.  Okay, I will agree that seat belts save some lives.  But we could save a lot more by having our speed limits enforced.  Not to mention the gas we could save, which in turn would create less demand for gas and ultimately lower gas prices.   For some reason, that concept is  not enough to get people to slow down.   Nor is the $75 to $200 fine.  What if speeding tickets cost $1000?  I'm sure most would slow down for that price.   However, our government, who wants to protect us so badly by implementing seatbelt laws and enforcing them by pulling people over for no other infraction other than not wearing a seatbelt, will never raise speed tickets to $1000 to help protect us.  Why?  Because they would lose out on the revenue. The higher cost of tickets would lead to less speeders, which leads to less fines being paid, which leads to another lottery less money collected by states, counties, parishes, cities etc etc....No they will stick to collecting their small fines and ensure their stable income.  And that my friends, pisses me off.


This was what was on my mind today.