On being an old fart

I decided to be an old fart after my 65th birthday a couple years ago. Many today think it's too young to be an old fart but to hell with them. I like being an old fart because it excuses two eccentricities I enjoy with increasing frequency, namely forgetting things and talking to myself. Most of the time I talk to myself mentally but it's still talking to myself: I test the cadence of something I'm writing, or make notes for a blog entry, or give a speech at some great occasion to which I'm never invited. I often do this while I'm cruising around, a hobby I enjoy, especially when errands along the way make it look like I'm actually accomplishing something.

Today for example I went to the copy center to pick up my syllabus, then to the post office to mail a CD of Oscar Levant Playing Gershwin to a friend who has the old 78 album (!) but never upgraded. He wants it played at his wake and if he died tomorrow, who the hell has a 78 record player? Along the way I babbled to myself over various things, including this very blog entry. I figure it's a harmless way to stay out of mischief. Not as social as the barroom talk in my younger days but the same principle applies: one is passing time between writing sessions. That's a challenging time for a writer, what to do between writing sessions. Some of the escape opportunities of youth are not so practical when older, so we find other alternatives, like cruising and talking to oneself.

I usually manage, as today, to stop along the way for a cup of coffee. One might even start a conversation with a stranger. It passes the time.

I'm ready to start the new term except for a minor concern for my health because I'm still not running at one hundred percent, though I'm getting close. No relapse! I also hope we don't get snow next week because Portland will freak out and everything will get cancelled and I'll have to adjust my syllabus, which is a hassle.

Winter term is usually my worse but I accept the challenge of changing the pattern this year. I'm ready for a great winter term!

I also plan to get a ton of my own work done. Back to Sally! Finish the new screenplay and start another: I want to write four screenplays in 2007. Start Coffin. Finish research on the ambitious new libretto. Start research on an ambitious new play, coming out of retirement as a playwright if I actually write the damn thing (tired of waiting for Stoppard to write it ha ha, who would have an easier time of it than I shall).

I like being an old fart. I like being exactly where I am, despite my periodic venting about marginality and all the rest. I feel very free. I feel at the top of my game. These are no small things.