Getting Older

I know a person (from work) who is dreading turning 40. I turned 40 last year. It was kind of strange cognitively to think about being 40, but it didn't really bother me emotionally. I don't like it when people dread their birthdays or complain about birthdays or their age. Whenever I hear people doing that, I'm reminded of a saying:

Growing old is a privilege denied to many.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

1. I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost...I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3. I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in...it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4. I walk down the same street.
There's a hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5. I walk down another street.

by Portia Nelson

Sign of Spring

I am sitting here this morning at 6:30 AM central time listening to birds chirp outside my apartment window. What a glorious sound! Something so small, but what it represents is much bigger-- the arrival of spring. It instantly uplifts my spirits.

A Buddhist Tale

There was once A Family who lived in The Village of You Never Know.

One day, The Only Son slipped on an orange while tilling soil- and broke his arm. His Mother and Father were distraught. How could this happen? How unlucky!

The next day...The Father slipped on an orange- and broke both his legs. This A Family felt hexed. They wondered: Why all the punishment?

Then within the week...A big, bad war broke out in The Village of You Never Know, and all the able bodied men were called to fight.

The Only Son and Father were deemed unsuitable soldiers due to their injuries and were left back at home.

It was a doozy of a war. Nobody came home. Not a single soldier.

Suddenly, A Family didn't feel so put upon.

After getting a good eyeful of the Big Picture of Life, they even felt pretty lucky.

Moral of the story? What looks bad close up might look pretty damn good from a distance.

What I Like About Madison

OK. So it's not all bad. There are a few things I like about Madison, including the fact that there are some really cool places here (and I'm not talking about the cheese house with the big mouse on top- from a previous post). Scott and I hit a few downtown spots the other evening. The photo below is part of the seating area in the Opus Lounge. We were there early, so the place is mostly empty. Very chic.



The Opus Lounge is not only cozy, they serve some interesting drinks. I got a "sampler platter".


What made me laugh about what I just posted is that someone I know has a blog and she recently posted pictures of chocolate covered pretzels she made. Me? I think pretzels-schmetzels. I'm posting pictures of martini's!

What may be even more funny to me is the next photo, which is the "sampler platter" from above after I had at it.


While I was at the Opus Lounge, I kept thinking my friends Greg, Renee, Eric, and Stefanie would love it. Maybe they will come and visit me so we can go....

This is a photo of the artwork behind the bar at the Opus Lounge.


Before we went to the Opus Lounge, we had a drink at Madison's, which is also a very cool place downtown. I love it that Madison has a vibrant downtown. In Columbus, there was virtually no downtown life at all. It had gotten a little better in recent years with the development of the Arena District. But still, people mostly go to downtown Columbus or the Arena District areas when there is an event (sports, concerts, etc.) In Madison, people go downtown just because.


Here are a few pictures of the outside of Madison's and the Opus Lounge. I think downtown Madison has a lot of visual appeal. This is the Opus Lounge, which is off the Capital square in downtown.



This is Madison's, across the street from the Opus Lounge.



This is the Majestic, where they have concerts of mostly off-the-beaten-path type artists and groups. I love the old theater look of it. This place is also off the square downtown-- next to Madison's and across from the Opus Lounge.



Going back to the title of this post: What I like about Madison is the downtown is an interesting combination of urban and hippie. It is a much more dynamic downtown than what I was used to in either Columbus or Louisville. Madison is a cool place. There's no doubt about that.

Courage

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."

~m.a. radmacher

So...

...does this picture just scream "Wisconsin" or what? It's a cheese house called "Mousehouse". It's north of Madison. I was on my way to a place called Portage, Wisconsin when I saw it. I pulled off for the sole purpose of taking this picture. I thought the big mouse sitting on the piece of cheese on top of the building was worthy of a photo.

My God, how did I end up here???