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Meters swum today: None. Open water swim tomorrow, though. Whoo hoo!
Playing in the background: The new song by The Sounds, "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake." Excellent guitar work. Not sure about that vocalist, tho.

I have an hour and a half left in my thirties. Then the clock will strike midnight and I'll be officially Over The Hill. I'm not sure what hill - Dallas doesn't have a whole lot of hills - but does that mean it'll be downhill from here? I like downhill, especially on my bike. Very cool.

When I was just a youngster, I used to dream about the time when I turned forty. I always imagined I'd be an unemployed paralegal in Dallas. (Okay, well, actually I was planning to run a small country or something.) I was thinking this morning that sometimes it seems like I was thirteen just a few minutes ago and other times I feel like I've been alive for years and years. Eons, even. Einstein was right; time is all about perception. Which means there is no absolutely correct time. Which means I may not be forty. I might be seven or fifty-six or a hundred and twenty-three, depending on where you're standing. Ultimately the only real proof we have of the passage of time is the visual reality of aging. Growing grey hair and all that. Ponder that next time it's taking the barista too long to make your latte. By the way, I have plenty of grey hair, but I had plenty of grey hair when I was twenty and I imagine I'll still have plenty of grey hair when I'm fifty. I'm also rather fond of lattes.

My document inspection gig wrapped up today and as a consequence, I'll have my birthday off. After my open water swim I'll probably take in a movie. (Friday Frights, anyone? A Haunting In Connecticut is finally at the dollar theater.) I think Joan is cooking up something for Saturday but I don't know what it is. There's WriteClub on Sunday and I think we're all going out afterward. However, I'm not adverse to celebrating all month long if future gatherings are in the works. Oh geez, only an hour and fifteen minutes left. The implications are just staggering.

I also thought, when I was a youngster, that by the time I was forty I'd have some great profound insights into the human condition and be able to say wise things that would make the venerable Asian masters nod and say, "Ah, yes, it is so." Instead, all I can say is wing it and see what happens. Oh, and we should all try to be nicer to other people and animals. But that goes without saying.