Caution: Future Trigenarian* Crossing

* - I don't think this is actually a word because I couldn't find it in the dictionary. But since "septagenarian" (age 70+) and "octagenarian" (age 80+) are in there, this one only makes sense, and therefore I take credit for inventing it.

I'm turning 30 soon.

Yeah, it's still over half a year away, but it's close enough that it freaks me out. Pretty much since the first time I found myself telling someone "I'm gonna be 30 in November." Now, I realize most of the readers to this blog are over the age of 30 and therefore don't see the point of me being concerned about this, but it IS a big deal. When I turned 29, my friends and I joked that leaves only one more year to mess up, do stupid things, act without thinking, that sort of thing that you can blame on being "young and stupid." While for the most part, I'm not really LOOKING to do stupid things between now and November, I still like having the excuse.

I'm fortunate that I'm in good health, have no serious problems, and really I've taken better care of myself in the second half of my 20s. Getting your first ulcer at 21 and your first BAD ulcer at 24 will do that to you. Since then, I've pretty much cut out soda from my diet, and let me tell ya, I used to drink A LOT of it. I think now I average a soda every two weeks just cuz it may be the only thing offered and I can handle it. For the most part, I drink iced tea... I have especially become addicted to sweet tea. I also had to change my diet and avoid spicy or overly greasy stuff, which pretty much means I'm eating healthier, even if I still don't make the effort to cook anything that isn't incredibly simple.

Also, I started working out seriously at age 24. Yeah, I came late to this party, but I've done it faithfully ever since (except for a few-months gap when I was between gyms), and I intend to continue for the rest of my life. I may never be able to pull semis with my teeth but I feel good after I work out and that's the important part.

However, it also means I have to deal with the occasional inexplicable aches and pains. For example, I had a recent one-week period where I first had sharp pain in my left hand, then my left forearm, then my left elbow. It's like parts of my left arm just took turns nagging me. I'm really not looking forward to dealing with things like this for the rest of my life.

Another recent episode made me all the more aware of my aging. A friend of mine is engaged to the lead singer of a local ska band called The Action! So my circle of grad school friends and I have gone out to see them perform on a few occasions and I have to say they're quite good. I went to see them during Spring Break (what a joke that was... I think we've had maybe two days this month where the temperature has broken 40), at a venue that I was advised "caters to a younger crowd." As soon as I walked in the door, I understood what my newly-engaged friend meant... it was like I walked into 1997. Except I'm not 19 anymore. I think I was easily the oldest person there by at least 5 years. I still had a pretty good time and enjoyed all the bands I saw, but I have to admit, I wished I was younger so I could REALLY enjoy it.

I can sum this all up with another recent anecdote: I went to a 30th birthday party a few weeks back, and the guy's friends gave him the full "over the hill" treatment: black balloons, headstones on the cake, you name it. That was funny... because it wasn't happening to me. Now I can see it all coming my way in just 7 months and 19 days...

Not that I think about those things...