Grumpy Old Man

Wow, despite my 30th birthday still being 76 days out, it just seems like tomorrow will be my 40th birthday. Things simply aren't the same anymore. I remember a time when I could live on just three hours of sleep every single weekday for months, and still have the energy to practice basketball for the varsity team, being an officer in the student council, and run the yearbook committee as a co-editor. And on top of all that, spend the weekend partying hard. Or at least, living life to the hardest.

Look at me now. The past week was clearly an indication of my age catching up to me. Or all the years of sleep deficit, whichever came first. Last weekend, all I did was spend the night out drinking on Friday as far as anything exciting goes. Then on Wednesday, I went out to a small dive bar with people I had just met in Seattle for Halloween till three in the morning. So far, this would have been considered rather tame by the standards of my youth.

Then on Friday, I went out to dinner with my friends from Colorado and Rosa. A fine dinner, with barely any alcoholic drinks. Then Saturday brought Maria and Matt's wedding, which I had a total blast. I didn't get too terribly drunk, as I was still functional by the end of the evening, but oh my God! I felt like a freaking rock star finally deciding to stop drinking and snorting coke with random hot groupies after 30 straight nights of rocking out my life!

I am spent!!!

Here I am, sitting on the plane to Seattle, pondering what had happened. For some odd reason, I thought on Saturday night that after the wedding I would totally be able to go out and play football on Sunday morning. But came this morning, which brought me pain. Not the kind of pain like I had been drinking a lot, but pain as in wariness and wretchedness.

Obviously my new weekly commute to Seattle has started to take its toll on me. I remember years ago, I could not wait to fly out to Seattle every week when I had a project there. It was worse then, because I had to fly to Minneapolis St-Paul, layover for a while, before flying on to Seattle. And I thought that was cool and exciting. And I never had gotten tired of it.

How did I manage to juggle with all that weekly traveling and still maintain a decent life every weekend then? Now, I feel like a grumpy old man, dreading the four and a half hour long direct flight to Seattle every Sunday. Sure, it is much better now than when I lived in Kansas City, but somehow, it just doesn't feel the same. The allure of all this travel no longer excites me.

Of course, this could all very well be the fact that I had been super busy with myself every weekend. I barely had time to do my own laundry, and my place is in dire need of housekeeping. If it wasn't the marathon weekend, then it was the trip to San Francisco. If it wasn't Matt's bachelor party, it was Maria and Matt's wedding. Every single weekend kept me busy.

So busy to the point that I can't even find the time to download my pictures, sort them, and email them out. My current backlog of promises? Sending out the pictures from the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco. The pictures from Matt's bachelor party. The picture of a hot girl I had randomly met last weekend. The pictures from Halloween night. And now, the hundreds of pictures Rosa and I took at Maria and Matt's wedding. And on top of all that, deal with my stolen/lost phone with the police and insurance companies, and find the time to work on my place as if I had just moved in. You should know, as I have sort of neglected my blog for days now!

This is by no means a complaint, though. The wedding was nice and wonderful, and I had a great time. The Chicago Marathon and Nike Women's Half Marathon races were great and life-altering. But I seriously need some personal downtime. Well, preferably a pause in the life remote control. Unfortunately, time travel, much less time freeze, has yet to be invented.

I need some John time. Seriously.

Because, I just hate feeling like a grumpy old man. =)