A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

age

It’s still just a number

I’ve never been much of a birthday person.

Sure, it’s a day many people celebrate. But our family hasn’t always been that way. We’d have a dinner with the birthday person choosing and all, but it’s never been too crazy. And I’ve always been a believer that age is but a number, thus meaning a birthday is but just a day.

I feel no differently today.

I’ve scheduled this to post a little later than normal because, well, it’s something I didn’t even know what I wanted to post. However, I did want to reflect on the last year or so, which has been one odd year.

Last year was a milestone birthday. It didn’t do anything to me, but at that point I was still unemployed. I didn’t know, at that time, where life was taking me. In fact, I was starting to really get to the end of my savings. I had applied for jobs at places like some big box stores, and never heard back. I wasn’t happy in life. It was a tough time for me overall.

As noted in that post last year, life is definitely a choose-your-own-adventure book.

Thankfully, my adventure really started a few months later.

I got a job to end a long bout with unemployment. I finally got a new car. I had a surgery that went even crazier than it should have. I finally took having diabetes seriously. I did some geocaching. A couple of us went on a Summer of Baseball. I smiled more often. I became a Godfather. We won a championship in softball.

It’s amazing, honestly, to think about it some. As bad as the past three years or so (2/2011-11/2013), it’s changed quite a bit since then

Still, age is only a number. And I’d like to think it will stay that way.

As long as I’m happy, anyway.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Age is but a number

I’ve never been much for birthdays.

I don’t know why, but they’ve never been my thing. I don’t go out and get crazy just because the number of my years on Earth changes. Well, besides for my 21st, but that was kind of that right of passage sort of thing. And I, surprisingly, actually remember most of that night.

Still, outside of that, I never do much for my birthday.

Why? Because it’s just a number.

If there was a fair around here, I’d find me one of these, throw a candle on it and wish for it to be totally awesome.

Today is a day when I reach one of those “milestone” years. It’s a day of reflection, to a point, where I can look back and wonder about many years gone by. About choices. About where I am today. About where I’ll be tomorrow.

I’m, obviously, not happy with my place in life right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret choices. I’m a believer in things happening for a reason. If I had made different life-altering choices, who knows where I’d be right now? Maybe I’d be way better off — financially and personally. But maybe I’d be even worse off. Maybe I wouldn’t be close friends with those I currently am.

Who can tell?

Life is certainly like a choose-your-own-adventure book. You make choices and things happen. If you would have flipped those choices, who knows what else would have happened?

I definitely know there are times I could have taken a different path and likely had a better outcome. My personality has probably helped, too, knowing sometimes I’m a little too outspoken or out there. And other times, I should have spoken up — and didn’t.

Life is short though.

I look back on so many things on this day, knowing I’ve gone through a whole heap of stuff. Whether it was growing up in the days before the Internet and cell phones to going back to college as a non-traditional student to what I chose as my profession. I look at different relationships, friendships, trips and more.

And it all helped shaped me to who I am.

I honestly have no idea how many more birthdays I have. Maybe one. Maybe 20. Maybe 50. Maybe none. Who ever knows? But I know it’s nothing more than a number.

Good people have died much younger than I am. Bad people have lived to be much older.

So on this day, I like to reflect a little. I realize my life may not be perfect and I may be envious of others who are way ahead of where I am and would like to be, but it could be way worse.

Instead of worry, I’ll use this day to plan and look forward. To press on to be where I’d like to be.

Life may be short, but there’s always time to better yourself. And, hopefully, if all goes well, I can continue to push forward and do that. No matter how many years I’ve apparently been here.

After all, it’s just a number.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

It is a number and only a number

Today seemed like a good day to write this post.

As more applications go out from me to potential/hopeful employers — some realistic, some not so much — I have been wondering when this bad trip will end. I keep hoping I’m going to wake up and know it’s a bad dream. Alas, I know it’s reality. But, I’ve been sending things out to hopefully good matches and something might come of it.

Right?

It’s likely hitting me harder knowing a few things — I recently found out a friend I hadn’t talked to in a while has been out of work nearly as long as I have, and that my unemployment will be ending by the end of the year.

That last part socks you in the face because it’s nearly impossible to get by now with that coming in. I can’t imagine continuing this job search without it. Alas, if it comes to that, I will do what I need to do to get by.

I’ll keep fighting.

Last week, I visited a trade school of sorts. Friends know what I’ve been looking at, but I’m not ready to share it all here. I’m going to fill out the financial aid forms and see what can come out of it. But this would be to fully change careers. And when I say change, I mean change.

But that could be a good thing.

A number doesn’t define some of the great things in life.

Today, I creep closer to the big four-oh. Well, I creep closer to that every day. But today puts me even closer. I’ve always said age is just a number and I firmly believe that. I’ve never been big into birthdays, so this day really doesn’t mean much. The only thing I’m figuring comes with age is it hurts more the day after a softball game, a couple rounds of disc golf, a long paddle or a day of hiking.

I can deal with that.

On the flip side, I also watch friends — younger and older — doing well in this world. As they march through life, they have good jobs, families and whatever else. It’s not that I’m jealous. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. I smile knowing what people are doing.

At the same time, I think about years down the road and retirement and know so many others are successfully building toward that and I’m still trying to figure out what retirement plans are!

I look back at what happened to me when my position was cut an I do think, in the long run, I’ll be better off. Let’s face it, newspapers are hurting and it isn’t going to get better. Major papers are cutting back to three days per week. It’s an online world and many newspapers are doing that. Unfortunately, some places won’t survive that. I see companies going to universal hubs, cutting people, cutting publications and more. There’s no way I would have survived in newspapers for the rest of my career.

Still, I’m finding many people are coming out of college with these degrees. And it’s made it a tougher job market. Public relations jobs and writing jobs are getting hundreds of applications. It’s a buyer’s market, that’s for sure.

Guess that Master’s degree is looking like a waste of money right now, eh?

So now it’s getting drastic in my eyes.

I’m hoping something comes along soon. And, if not, maybe the career change might be a good thing. It would be exciting. The program takes about eight months, so I’m trying to figure out how I would afford it with finding part-time work, paying for school and all that.

Who knows.

But I’ve also realized life’s short. And with that in mind, I’m trying to start doing other things better and taking a better look on life. Recently, as I’ve  stepped on the scales, my weight is the lowest it’s been in a couple of years. My pants don’t fit well. My sweatshirts and such are fitting better. So I need to continue down that path.

In the end, something good will hopefully happen.

Simple things in life are what make you happy. A sunset. A stroll on a quiet evening. A little pro rasslin’ on the tube or the excitement of September baseball.

Simple.

This day is about some number increasing by one. But it’s just a number. Age really isn’t much when thinking about the big picture. Some people reach big numbers, some, unfortunately, don’t.

It’s just a number.

And for me, the number is only part of the big picture. One I hope has a bright look to it for the future.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!