The Age Old Trade-Off

I realized this week that I no longer have acne problems like I have for years and years. The upside of being 30 is that the acne seems to mostly vanish. The downside is that I now have thick, grey hairs growing out of my ears and nose. It makes me wonder if God is a little bit of a groomer monkey. He likes us best when we have to focus on physical flaws and tear things out of our bodies or squeeze stuff out of our faces. It doesn't appeal to me, but I guess I am not the target audience.

Yes, that's right, in the past few days I have turned thirty. It happened without my even noticing, almost. One day I was a free-wheeling, fun-loving fellow in my late-twenties, next thing I know I reach a day when there is grey hair in my ears and I am 30. How does it happen?

Again, I have to point the finger at God. It's one of those ineffable plan things. Apparently age must teach us all lessons or something. I'm not clear on the exact details, but I am sure there are some.

What else is happening that I can tell you all about? What is our news, here in Okinawa:

Margaret is slowly going stir-crazy while working on her thesis. She has come to hate the sight of comic books, except for Bill Willingham's Fables, so good thinking there, Rob. Probably don't let her downstairs at your house with matches and gasoline, though. She is also preparing to paint the old table and the new chairs that we're going to get today. We're entertaining this Sunday and we're trying to get the house together for it. I think it will be a lovely time.

I spent the 4 days after my birthday in the field. There were huge tents to sleep in and no showers and smelly bodies and ridiculous training exercises that taught no one anything. I suppose that's how the military likes to do things. A waste of time is still time spent, and that's what the tax-payers are paying for. My job looks to be getting better, though. I am, without any real effort, well-known for my ability to work with computers and I will be using my old friend, Microsoft Access, to build some databases for Charlie Co. Hopefully this will work out well and I have not forgotten everything I know about Access. I have been sold big, I can't afford to let everyone down.

Today we are going to the Okinawa Aquarium, to see the whale sharks. It ought to be wonderful, and after we get back we'll be posting the photos we have from the past couple weeks. You'll all be updated via image. Be excited!

O+M