So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Pink Floyd - “Time” – Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
The Big 5-0! So apparently, the 50th anniversary of your arrival on this big ball of rock is supposed to trigger all sorts of emotional crests and valleys and evoke various mid-life crises. (Like those of Walter White in AMC’s most excellent Breaking Bad series – I am currently working through the first four seasons of BB on Netflix and really enjoying it.)
For Your Faithful Servant, the 50th felt pretty much just like the 49th and the 48th and the 47th and – you get the picture. No such heavy angst or internal turmoil. Meh. I was, though, really stoked about some of the lovely cards and gifts that I did receive for my 50th. In addition to a delicious “Yellow Cake with White Icing and Chocolate Morsels” confectionary masterpiece that Chris’ friend Sharene baked for me, on the gifts side I was the fortunate recipient of:
- The Blu-Ray Disc format of Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill. Really enjoyable flick. Of
course the subject matter is appealing to me. Going in, I was wondering how Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to be able to pull of the Art Howe character, but he did. Some of the scenes involving Pitt and his teenage daughter (played by Kerris Dorsey) were really moving. Two thumbs up.
- The Complete First Season of Curb Your Enthusiasm starring Larry David. It has probably been twenty years or so since I have subscribed to any premium movie channels like HBO or Showtime, so I am really enjoying the opportunity to leverage DVDs and Netflix to catch up with some of the quality content that I missed out on the first time around. My sons turned me on to Curb last Christmas with The Complete Seventh Season. Isn’t it weird that I so thoroughly enjoy a series starring a snarky, cynical, asshole like Larry David? (Don’t answer that.)
- A Pittsburgh Steelers Retro Bobblehead from the “Legends of the Field” collection of Forever Collectibles from my lovely niece Paula Jo.
Tough to imagine three better gifts than those – really made my day and greatly appreciated. The bobblehead from Paula Jo (shown below) really works on so many levels for me:
- First off, it is a fine collectable - handcrafted and well-detailed, sturdy in construction and looks great. It makes for a classy addition on the center of the fireplace mantle.
- The tones and textures of the bobblehead are almost in perfect color-combination alignment with my downstairs decor.
- Given my advancing years, it occurs to me that I. like this lovely Pittsburgh Steelers Bobblehead, could also correctly be categorized as “Retro”. (I resemble that remark!)
- Finally, I’d like to observe that this gift from Paula Jo perhaps allows her to achieve some sort of emotional closure for the damage she wrought upon my Pirates and Steelers bobbleheads in the late 70s. The guilt from that episode (detailed in Bobbleheads Part Deux: Destruction) had to have been weighing heavily on her as she grows older as well. (Perhaps this post should have been titled “Bobbleheads Part Trois: Closure”?)
Here’s to fifty more!
