Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Sequel

In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, the character Andy Dufresne makes the observation that one must "get busy living, or get busy dying". In so many ways that simple statement is profound.

I apologize to everyone I made worry about me with my last post. Indeed, the outpouring of concern was astonishing. It seems like people did everything short of calling out the National Guard to go door to door. Here's something to keep in mind, though: in the battle between me and the world, bet on me.

Sometimes, you have to hit the absolute bottom before you can begin your ascent. For me, Friday was the bottom, and admittedly, from my mental position, any effort to go forward seemed futile. I did a lot of painful soul searching, and finally remembered what George Patton once said: "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."

With that in mind, I endeavored to reinvent myself, and begin what I have affectionately started referring to as "Life 2.0". For me, this means many things, and consequently, it made Saturday was a very busy day.

When I talked to the kids' therapist (who, by the way, was amazed that I was able to keep my cool when my son had his meltdown), I got a referral from him for someone good for me to talk to. (I've frequently commented that I think mental hygiene is like dental hygiene -- about every six months or so, you need a good cleaning.)

I also made an appointment with the optometrist, and updated the prescription for my glasses. As long as I was updating, I decided to also update the style. Then, using my daughter as fashion consultant, I ventured to give myself a new casual look.

With my newly minted physical shape (having lost almost 30 pounds, etc.) I discovered that a lot of doors have opened for me in creating a trendy casual look. Frankly, I think I look pretty good in jeans. I even bought a new wallet and cleaned out all the crap so it would be nice and thin (I know where the ladies are looking).

After seeing me, a female friend gave me a very nice compliment on my new look. She said, "You were cute before, but now you're hot." It was music to my ears. Even my daughter who doesn't want to think of her daddy as the object of female affection was forced to agree that it works well for me.

I have some other very exciting changes planned for this week. I won't go into too many details here, because I don't have to - I've decided to start a new a new blog. This is partly to quell the uprising that I stirred up by suggesting I wouldn't write anymore, partly to give me a little more control over who reads it (I started to get the impression that a certain individual was using the insider information obtained from this blog to play a game of cat and mouse with me), and it is also somewhat symbolic. As I begin this new journey forward, it only seems fitting to document it in a new place, with a new perspective.

If you want to read the new blog, you can get a link to it the same way you found this one. If I gave it to you, ask me for the new link. If a friend gave it to you, ask that friend. If you saw it posted somewhere, check the place you found it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am glad to see that you are not going to give up blogging. Maybe the wife will like the new look!