The actual line is; “Fuckit, I’m old. Gimme free shit”, from Justin Halpern’s Sh*t my Dad Says.” Pretty funny book.
That said, I don’t feel old. But there’s been a lot of “huh…wonder why they said that” going on with me. For instance, I’ve had a few older ladies, at social functions, ask me “Are you still working?”. I’m 56. Of course I still work. I pretty much have to, and will probably have to until I drop.
I think it’s the grey hair that does it. I consider myself lucky. After Chemo, it was white. And I’ve been feeling the aches of the aged lately.
But what started this moment of clarity was my son. We were talking after dinner one Sunday, and I was prattling on about the average age of trades guys being mid-fifties, and many I know working the trades in their seventies. So I said something along the lines of “I’m thinking of getting into HVAC. It’ll be a good gig when I’m old”.
To which my son replied “Heh…Yeah…When.”
Ahh…the acorn don’t fall far from the tree. Irish wit must be a dominant gene.
Very funny.
I’ve been meaning to get back to weightlifting, and bought a cheap set of iron to get back into shape where going to a gym is worth it. So I went to the local rec center to check it out. The one I belonged to in Plano had a nice array of freeweights. This one, did not. Only machines. So as I’m asking the reception dude about the lack of iron, he starts selling me on attending the senior center. Wut?
All these things got me thinking hard about what I should be doing as I age.
One of the businesses I have includes doing network and security camera support. I’ve done a few jobs in homes lately that were punishing. Although I’m good at it, I’m not sure it’s for me. There are other reasons, like they don’t pay real well for the hassle, but I’ve already told my partner I’m done with this, unless he wants to do it with a helper, which will drive down the profitability further. I’m simply not as agile as I used to be. My recovery times are in days rather than hours.
And besides, that was part of my career that I liked the least. A necessary evil.
But back to the title. Am I really old enough to start glomming discounts? It’s worth looking into. Pride may keep me from doing it, but entertainment value of being a penny pinching pain in the ass may be worth it.
Inspected By Pat 