A Journal of My Mid-Life Crisis

6 September 1998 - Consider the Alternative

I'm not going to say a lot about my 40th birthday. Things went reasonably well with Robert, but I do have to say that the realization of how strongly I could react to someone else did make a difference. Still, it was generally pleasant spending time with him and we really only had one very minor spat, which had to do with his misinterpreting something I said in response to an attempt on his part to be helpful. It was essentially a matter of our minds working different ways, so that his directions were more confusing than useful, but he thought I was angrier than I was. Still, there didn't seem to be any lasting damage.

Anyway, about being 40. I really don't see why I should mind getting older. It isn't just that the alternative is death. I think I am, in many ways, a better person than I was when I was younger. There are things I regret not having done, but I feel there is still time to do a lot of them. Mozart may have died young, but Grandma Moses didn't pick up a paintbrush until she was 80ish! So why assume anything is impossible?

Optimism on a rainy day... I really do hope this disgusting cheerfulness is not a symptom of something really dangerous!

Oh, one random observation just to prove I don't like everything. There are a lot of ugly buildings in the U.K.. Westminster Cathedral commits a dual sin of being both ugly and not being visible for miles around. Bad architecture should at least make a good landmark!