Shinn the Writer

¾ of a Century

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So here I am. As I write this, I look at my calendar and it tells me that today I turn 75. Long ago I made a push to establish St. Shin’s Day (coincidentally March 3) as a national holiday. You know St. Shin, patron saint of aging bachelors everywhere? The day would be celebrated by all those who had received gifts for wedding-related occasions (Weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, divorce parties etc.) need to buy a gift for any acquaintance who never married and thus never received a present in return. It only seemed fair, but somehow the idea never seemed to catch on.

 

I suppose I should be writing reams of advice covering the wealth of knowledge I’ve picked up during my tenure on planet Earth, but as Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy so wisely observed, “Hindsight ain’t worth a damn.” He figured that if he had it to do over, he’d likely make the same mistakes again. I used that quote right here as my “Quote of the Month” back in November 2021, and the longer I live, the truer it sounds to me.

 

I’ve tried through the last several years to do something special on my birthday. The bad news is that I got busy and other pressing events made the requisite planning impossible, so I promised myself that I’d defer such an outing until things became clearer. But the good news is that a dear friend invited me out to dinner to mark the occasion. It’ll do until I can plan a bigger event but this one was pretty special.

 

I think that birthdays in general are much like new years – either can serve as a chance to reset one’s self, to take stock of one’s life and what tweaks should be made to improve it. I’ve rarely done New Year’s Resolutions, figuring that if they’re worth doing, the thought is worth doing continually and, once decided upon, they should be enacted ASAP. As for birthdays, well, for some reason we don’t seem to make birthday resolutions. But what am I doing that would qualify as birthday resolutions?

 

Well, a few things are ongoing but have already been started. First and foremost, I’m going to record the two songs I wrote that haven’t yet been recorded. Perhaps that will be by mid-March, but the end of March would be reasonable. Second, I’m going to get my weight down to what the CDC would call healthy, 173 pounds. After that, I should continue to about 170 or so to allow me to stay at or below 173 even after a binge. More on this in my Physical section.