My version of the mid-life crisis...

T-500 and counting...

Some dudes buy a Harley. Others get hair plugs, plastic surgery, and a destructive relationship. Some drink. Still others get wild, or withdrawn, or depressed, or manic, or all of the above.

I count.

I know that is not a very entertaining way to have a mid-life crisis...but that's what I do.  I count things, organize things, try to control things through order. So on May 8th of this year, my 48th birthday, I was on my igoogle page and saw the "countdown" application. You choose a date and time in the future, plug it in, and a "Dick-Clark's-Rockin'-New-Year's-Eve-type" digital display starts counting the seconds, minutes, hours, and days until that event.  It made me think of my big 5-0.  So I plugged in 12:00 AM, January 1, 2013, the 1st day of my 50th year and started watching it tick down. Tick. Tick. Tick.

I don't remember my 10th or 20th birthdays.  I had an awesome 30th birthday (an excellent day.) I don't really remember my 40th birthday (although that time of my life was extraordinarily hectic.) So as I looked forward to my 50th, I wanted to make sure it was, well, memorable.

I also didn't want to target only a specific day, but an entire year. And, not just, "Ok, it's January 1st. Guess I better do something about something." I want to be "ready" for my 50th year.

So I looked at 500 days before that 50th year to "get ready."  Part of that is writing in my journal. But I've only ever used it (a fine Moleskin I bought in Houston) sporadically.  So, blogging it is.  My goal is a minimum of 500 entries before 2013.

So here I am, at Panera, drinking a Chai Tea (another goal), feeling a little like a self-absorbed idiot.

And now 1 of 500 is done.

chris