Dave's Blog

Blogging Since May 10, 2001

1/2/11

I'm signed up for the Bay to Breakers. It looks like they opened registration on New Year's Day. I signed up for an on-line training program, too, which turned out to be a subscription service, so I immediately canceled it. But the good news is that apparently the $10 I paid in advance gives me access to an on-line training program until the B-2-B, which is May 15.

I mentioned the sign-up at church, and two people immediately wanted to help me. Life is good.

At the Burning Bowl ceremony at Unity SF, I thought about my training program. Carbohydrates are out. So lunch today was all seafood, all delicious. It's dungeness crab season, a perfect time to rededicate myself to protein.

I'm looking at the fish at the New May Wah supermarket with fresh eyes, too. Conch? Haven't tried it yet. Halibut? Delicious. Flounder? Why not? Carp? Maybe. Abalone? Um, no. No seafood could possibly be good enough for the prices that abalone commands. But how will I really know? Yes, this will be a good year.

1/1/11

OK, so I didn't blog last year. We can revisit 2010 later, if it suits us. Right now, let's just notice that 2011 is starting off on the right foot. With a party.

This evening I attended a nice party, with my peers, on Twin Peaks. An acquaintance from church and I got to talking about life lessons, and I realized that at 24 I had life completely figured out, but at 45 I knew nothing. Or so it seemed.

At the early age of 24 I had lived life to the fullest, knew what I wanted out of it, and I knew how to get it. I had my curriculum set for me, and my life agenda. Everything was figured out, and I embarked on the journey to fulfill my plan. At 45 I had achieved all my goals. I had the perfect job, the perfect wife, the perfect home, in a suburban neighborhood full of energy. And then I noticed the guy upstairs. He was 90, and he was getting up the stairs faster than I was. And I was going to the gym.

Wait. Every year I had lived so far, I would live another to match? I was just half way through my life? And I had already accomplished my goals? What was left? Was I doomed to live statically in the status quo for 4+ decades to come?

Already my wife was disturbing me. My social environment was disturbing me. All was not well in the State of Denmark. So everything I knew at 28 was obsolete at 45. Unfortunately, I did not have the skills to cope with the situation. I abandoned my life as it was. Left the wife. Changed jobs. Moved to another town. Found a bunch of people who were willing to let me try anything I wanted to, and to find out for myself what my true values were.

Years of learning followed. A few surprises showed up. I was not a polyamorous romeo. Rather, I was at my core quite monogamous. I was a flirt, but nothing came of that, because I did not have the disposition to follow through. I remarried.

Today, some 13 years down a journey that began after I had accomplished my life goals, I am still discovering what I want. I am still learning; in fact learning more than ever before. Where will we go from here? I don't know, but at least I no longer pretend to know. 2011 will bring its own revelations.

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