16 November, 2005

Think I got away with it, pt.2

I'm still alive.

That wasn't a foregone conclusion, since I've just attained an age which my mother told me I'd never see.  Seriously.

Apparently it's something she read when I was very young: thirty-three, and game over, so I'm pleased to have reached my 34th birthday.

I presume it was a Daily Mail astrologer's interpretation of Nostradamus (nice of the old guy to give me his personal attention, I suppose), but to a child, that seemed meaningful and truly scary. With repetition, I started to believe it at some level, and it probably helps explain my views on mortality and my need to be constantly productive.

It also says something about a woman who'd inflict that little 'fact' on a young child. "Yes, everyone dies. Oh, and by the way, your 'use-by' date is a litle closer than most people's. Make the most of it.".