5/30: What I Accomplished Today

1. Last night, I got the DVD player connected to the bedroom system; our newer Tivo box has a DVD player/burner, so we don't need it in the living room anymore.

2. Finished the grunt work on the transcript. There's still formatting stuff to do, but my Co-Vivant does that; for the part I can do, this To Do list item can be removed.

3. Started new Pogo badges.

4. Watched forgettable stuff on television.

5. Still working on Reading Judas; I've finished the translation and the commentary through Chapter 7.

6. Level 28 Night Elf Hunter. Finished the Level 24 version of Tower of Althalaxx, Elemental Bracers, and Aggressive Defense. Swung by Forest Song and got Helping Hand and Kayneth Stillwind; I also dinged 29 and trained Mortal Shot 2. I picked up the Flight Path for Forest Song and Talrendis Point and amount a gamillion quests in Forest Song. Finished Report from the Northern Front, Fallen Sky Lake, and Mage Summoner, and turned them in. Finished the treant part of Raene's Cleansing and Howling Vale, and I've been working on the latter sequence; I'm all done except the last two. (The rare 34 spawn is in my Elune's Scythe tunnel, so I'll try that again tomorrow; I kept trying to come back later, but it wasn't happening this evening.) I also finished all but the last quest in the Stalvan sequence.

7. At lunch today, my Co-Vivant and I commented on two women, sisters perhaps, who had come to dinner, each bringing a child; one had a daughter about four, and the other hand a son about two. Each did a phenomenally poor job keeping her child in check, largely because they were each competing for each other's attention so much the kids didn't have a chance.

We expect children to campaign for Mommy's attention; part of raising children is helping them understand when this is appropriate and when it isn't, and what particular tactics will be tolerated and which will not. I realized at lunch today, though, that part of the problem these young mothers were having is that they hadn't "moved along to the next stage of the circle of life," if you'll forgive a rather cliched image; they were still competing for each other's attention, so they had no concept that children could be taught not to be bothersome during their mothers' lunches (and those of diners around them), or even that children could occasionally be granted attention for appropriate behavior.

How do parents who, frankly, were never properly raised themselves raise anyone?

That feels like a bit of an easy shot, though, since I have no children, but the "non-moving-on" mindset is ubiquitous. And I have to admit I have mixed feelings about that. Yes, I think everyone has the right to feel good about his, her, or its body and the right to express creativity in his, her, or its own way--but sometimes that way involves people in their 40's wearing belly shirts and low-riders. And part of me is going, "Good for you! Do not go gentle into that good night!' And part of me is going, "Oh, crimony, does the expression 'mutton in lamb's wool' mean anything to you?"

We're living longer, and we're feeling young and healthier longer. I'm all in favor of that. I'm 42. I don't feel 42. I look in the mirror, and I look much better than people I knew as 42 when I was a kid; I look (granted, to me, which may be biased) like I used to think people in their mid-30's look, and I have no particular skin or health regime, just good general health and lots of laughter. My mother-in-law is 81, and most people would place her at 10 or 15 years younger than that.

Part of this is regional; my grandmother is 85, and while she's healthy and fairly spry, that's more or less where people would place her. Part of the difference: my mother-in-law lives in a city, and my grandmother lives in a more rural community. Cities move, move, move, and my mother-in-law is no exception. Life is slower where my grandmother lives. (I also think a lot of it is because every person in his or her 80's whom my grandmother has ever seen has at least started to "fade," if they hadn't before, so I think she sees it as part of her job. My mother-in-law has no such compunction.)

We've all seen enough Golden Girls to know that older people still have libidos and can have active, fulfilling sex lives. Nobody (at least, nobody I want as a friend) begrudges anyone this. (You know, three of the four Golden Girls were only in their 50's. That hardly seems Golden anymore.) When adult children get their bowels in an uproar because their senior parents are dating or having sex or getting married or whatever, I think that's just the stupidest thing ever; get over yourself. If it makes your parent happy, why are you in the way? Yes, it might be a mistake, and yes, the behavior might be foolish. Every marriage ever contracted, every relationship ever begun, has this potential; if we let that stop us, civilization is paralyzed and grinds to a halt.

On the other hand, I also think this is part of the pattern I'm discussing: what we essentially have is older people continuing to play ingenues. Part of the reason adult children are uncomfortable with the concept is because they think the parent is horning in on their territory.

So I don't really have anything definitive to say here, I guess. I think parts of this trend cause problems (like people who find themselves thrust into the parental role who never quite finished being children themselves). I'm ambiguous about other parts (self-expression, certainly, but I can't get excited about people my age wearing clothes designed for teenagers). I fully support the extension of middle age into what has traditionally been "the golden years."

Longevity changes the cycle of life, and we haven't figured out what we're going to do about that yet.

8. Yesterday's BigFishGame was a puzzle game billed as "cute"; Tonstant Weader passed. Today's is Boggle. I like Boggle, but I don't need it on the computer.