Encouraging Words

Last week on my 30th birthday, I emailed everyone in my address book and asked "What have I done with my life? Anything good?"

Here are the responses along with my smart-alec comments:

1) Turning 30 huh. Well, its all down hill from here, might as well just give up. You are OOOOOOOOOLD!!!!

I said encouraging words!

2) You married me; that's something good.

If you don't say so, yourself...

3) You put the "unk" back into funk.

so where does the 'f' come from?

4) your [sic] the bomb, mike. think of all the people you have brought together time and time again through your music. i'm lucky to be a friend of yours and to have played your music with you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

laying on the cheese there thick, bro

5) You have spread glee and happiness throughout the Louisiana nation...!!!!!! Happy B-day

thanks, smurfette. by the way, what is the "Louisiana Nation?"

6) Hey Mike, Happy birthday! The best way to think of 30 is to remember that its actually 3 multiplied 10 times. This means you should spend the day doing what 3 year olds do - eating, sleeping, watching cartoons, and climbing around on stuff - with ten times the energy.

however what I ended up doing was acting like I was 90 with 1/3 the energy: I ate, slept, watched Murder, She Wrote, and drooled on stuff

7) You've reminded me of my mortality!

sorry

8) happy birthday. the only encouraging thing i can say is i'm 32 and everything is finally coming together, i think. [my] cd is getting mastered next week and we should have it out by july. do you still freelance for offbeat? i'd love for you to review it.

some musicians can't stop self-promoting

9) "What have I done with my life? Anything good?" Of course you have. The new teeth were a great idea. See?

hardy har har

10) I recently hit 30, myself. welcome to the club-footed. for one, you ate ... in the hallway of a police station. and you played an acoustic guitar cover of John Cage's 4'33" to a largely college audience. (they went wild, if I remember correctly. which is unlikely)

aaah, memories, how they fade

11) Let the deluge of incriminating photos begin!

you don't have any do you?

12) you cut your hair, fixed your teeth, working on another degree, got a job w/the state, build web pages, set up wi fi at local hang out, good friend to all that meet you, can ... and still stand, bought and sold a car, playbass, guitar, ran open mic for years, write well, funny, married a beautiful woman, bought a house, i think i am depressed now.

buying and selling a car by age 30 was a goal of mine

13) encouraging words, eh? Here's something from Haruki Murakami about running the Boston Marathon in 1992.

When you feel that the goal is approaching after about a 30-kilometer run, you have to tackle with the famous "Heart Break Hill" in Boston which is coming into sight. This naming of the hill might sound a bit exaggerated, but you'll notice what a tough hill it is after actually running it yourself. Running up the hill is not so hard, but after reaching the top, it'll get arduous itself. You climb up the hill with all your energy, encouraging and saying to yourself that there's no more steep hills after this and that now is the time to endure. After a short break when you've got to the top and you think the rest is the flat course leading to the downtown of Boston, the sudden fatigue thuds into you as if it were waiting for you to come.

This fatigue resembles the middle age crisis around 40. The instant you reach the age, when you can have some rest after clearing the difficulties in the 20's and the 30's, the crisis falls upon you with a thud. (Some people might never understand how it is without actually experiencing it though.) Several gentle slopes in the town, which are far less equal to the "Heart Break Hill" in steepness and length, start torturing you. I felt so this year as well as last year. Especially this year, the rapid rise of temperature exhausted me.

Excerpted from: No Bringing in a Japanese Lunch

So hang in there. You still have some energy left. Be glad that you
aren't you ten years from now. He he he he.

Looking for some sympathy from me? At least you're not unemployed,
living in your parent's shed, still attending community college.

thanks, my verbose brother, the younger Waugh

14) Life is short...your's just got shorter. Age is all in your head...and you head was the first thing out, so it's the oldest part of you. If you only live to be 50 you past mid-life 5 years ago. Your not getting older, your getting senile.

this one is from my mom. she sounds like George Carlin

15) 30 is the BEST age!! You look better than you ever have, you have the start of a great career that is not a horrible sell out. you're not as stupid as you were in your 20s, but you haven't reached that point where you realize that you're a lot more conservative than you ever thought you'd be. Best of all -- you're still young enough to go out and have a rollin' good time without having to pay a major price in the morning!! Enjoy your 30s! They are the BEST!!!!!

this one probably was the most encouraging

16) at least you don't still live wiath [sic] your mom!!!!!!

thanks, boomerang boy

Posted by Mike Waugh at May 11, 2004 08:43 PM