...and as soon as I can find the time I will scan and post some more.

Well, you had that eight hours when you were sleeping, plus the twenty or so seconds it took you to post on this thread.  C'mon man, we're hungry and impatient!!!!

I felt like doing something slightly different this moring if you all will indulge me -- but I had a little self awareness this morning to go with a cup of joe. I posted it here because of the homeyness and warmth in this thread (which is a testament to Tom I suspect and the regular posters).

I was driving into work having dropped off my kids at their respective day cares when my iPod played "Daily Records" a cut from The Who's Face Dances album.  This got me to thinking how of late, later era Who music has been speaking more to me than earlier stuff.  And I realized its because much of its a guy my age (at the time the tunes were written) lamenting getting older. 

Now, I'm not generally very into navel gazing but sometimes it happens.  You wake up and you feel older and you wonder what happened.  That kid you were is still there somewhere but you don't think he'd recognize himself in you as you want to grab back some of his excitement and passion.  Thats not to say I don't love my life, I really do.  I got a great family.  I love my wife. I love my kids.  I wouldn't trade them to go back to being that kid -- but sometimes I miss the irresponsibility of youth and the accompanying excitement of that irresponsibility.  I miss the recklessness.  And I even miss the young man frustration that comes with being 20ish.  With problems like trying to get laid or have enough money to buy beer.  That wonderful selfish passion at that age -- be it lust for a girl or passion for an idea that seems to dim with the onset of mortgages and daycare and following investments. 

I'm not old, I'll be 35 in a month* and I enjoy the stability of my life now, I enjoy most of my domestication, but sometimes I feel restrained.  And I wonder, is that part of the maturation process?  As the man said "you can't pretend that getting older never hurt." 

Just my ruminations this morning! Good thing I didn't hear a Pink Floyd song!

* I know my bones aren't even hard yet but they got pills for that (had to give Tom a pun for bogarting his thread with my mastubatory lament)!

But I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  I'm still the same me, even though I'm older.  You know how you sometimes think, "I wish I could go back and do it all again, knowing what I know now...?"  Well, I would never want to do that.  What happened to me in those times -- with that insane amount of ignorance -- made me the man I am now.  I mean, changing the outcome of certain situations might look good on appearance level, but that would substantially alter the lessons I took away from those moments. 

I don't miss hunting for cock (pardon, Geoff -- had to make it "work" for me) or beer (or pot, as the case may be), just as I know when I'm in the next chapter of my life, I'll look back fondly on this one.  Rose-colored glasses?  Perhaps, but there it is. 

Life keeps getting better as we get older and more canny.  It's just our bodies that give up the ghost.

(pardon, Geoff -- had to make it "work" for me)

No need my friend!  We were both hunters just looking for a different kind of prey!

What happened to me in those times -- with that insane amount of ignorance -- made me the man I am now.  I mean, changing the outcome of certain situations might look good on appearance level, but that would substantially alter the lessons I took away from those moments. 

100% agree -- which is why I felt so self-indulgent posting what I did but I had a demon that needed expressing.  As I said I would not trade places with the kid I was but I do sometimes envy (and miss) his freedoms.  I do look back at him fondly.  I hope he'd like what he's become (I'm not so sure about that but he had a lot of growing up to do).

FYI -- Tom bears noting -- the man you are today -- as far as I can tell -- is a pretty bloody good one!

Here are the Lyrics that got me started on these thoughts:

Daily Records
Pete Townshend

This could be suffering
This could be pleasure
I'm unaware of any difference
My head is aging
My balls are aching
But I'm not looking for deliverence

This could be letting on
This could be highly cut
I'm unaware of ~any difference
One says it can't be done
Then somebody does it - but
I'm not watching for equivalents.

I just don't quite know how to wear my hair no more
No sooner cut it than they cut it even more
Got to admit that I created private worlds
But cold sex and booze don't impress my little girls

Daily records
Just want to be making daily records
Try to avoid the bad news in the letters
Just wanna be making records
Play in - play out - fade in - fade out
Making records day in - day out

And they say it's just a stage in life
But I know by now the problem is a stage
And they say just take your time and it'll go away
But I know by now I'm never gonna change

I could be losing you
I could be coming through
I'm unaware of any difference
You still support me now
You love me anyhow
And I am still under your influence

We've had some years of hate
But now we're in the eights
I'm unaware of any difference
I need you even more
My money keeps me poor
I'm still amazed at your omnipotence

I look at baggy suits and leather capped with puke
I look at Richmond married couples denim look
I watch my kids grow up and ridicule the bunch~
When you are eleven the whole world's out to lunch

Daily records
Just wanna keep making daily records
Can't exist no more in chains and fetters
Just wanna keep making records
Play in - play out - fade in - fade out
Making records day in - day out

Just wanna be making daily records.