11:02 p.m. | 2004-04-27 I Couldn�t Have Said It Better Myself. You know how someone just spontaneously says something that is so right on? Like, it�s a thought that you feel so deeply that you think it could appear, in lump form, right in the middle of your forehead? Yet, you hold back? The remedy? OMC. Here�s an example. (OMC:) (Just spontaneously at lunch.) I need to go to bed earlier and get up later. (CI:) (Identifying with that statement, but mulling it over nonetheless.) Heh. (OMC:) Sorry, I didn�t mean that. I misspoke. (CI:) I know what you meant to say, but don�t apologize because I�m thinking the same thing. You don�t even know how much my life would improve if only I went to bed earlier and got up later. Let me just say that it�s hard to keep up with the �youngsters�. I also have to tell you that OMC specifically told me that I have to stop calling him a �youngster� because he�s 29. And therefore, apparently, not �young�. For the record, I�m ten years older than him. I feel it. Trust me, I do. And, he needs to get used to being called a youngster, because that happens. Hell, the folks next door � at the Senior Center � think I�m a toddler. They�d consider him an infant. Definitely. Again, there�s always someone younger, older, cuter, uglier, taller, shorter� the list goes on and on endlessly. That�s not the point though. True, but not the point. Not that I know what the �point� is exactly, but I�m sure I have one. Somewhere. Oh yeah� OMC tends to roll in at 9:00am rather than 8:30am. However, he often works until midnight and usually works until 8:00pm. He should go to bed earlier and he should get up later. He definitely puts in a ton of hours. And, he�s productive. Me? Yeah, not so much. My usual hours tend to hover around 8:15am to 7:15pm. And, sometimes, I�m there right at 8:30am and leave at 5:30pm. That�s scandalous, I know, but honest. I also tend to do a lot of work at home. More than anyone else actually, but it�s not readily evident. I�m so off the point now that I don�t even know where I am. However, I do know that I�m tired. That is the point I guess. Pretty much everyone at work is very young and ambitious, and trying to spin this job into something more lucrative. Ten years ago, I was in that mix. Hell, twenty years ago, I was really raring to go. Big time. I do believe that I�m a little jealous that they�re farther along than I was at the same age. Especially the women. It�s a double-edge sword there. Back when I was young, I had to walk to school in the snow. With no shoes. Uphill there and back. Here�s your clue to cry for me. But, seriously, when I was in my twenties, the only �successful� women were flat-out bitches. There were exceptions, of course, but that was the norm. Women had to act like men, only more so. I swear, those women had way bigger kahunas than any man I ever knew in the workforce. It was blood, sweat and tears. And, I didn�t want that hence I didn�t pursue it. I�m like a bridge person, if you will. The generation before me was totally screwed, my generation was a generation of betweeners, and, hopefully, the next generation has it a bit better. As a side note, if any men are reading this, I�m speaking in general terms and I love all of you. Well, most of you anyway. It�s changing though. Right when I�m old and tired. That�s disappointing. I�d like to really kick some asses, except I prefer gardening now. Well, and books. It�s hard to act all tough when you shove a book and flowers at someone, you know, as a solution. I kicked more asses in fourth grade. Playing four-square and tetherball. But still. your thoughts? seed flower