I love the insights offered up through Calvin and Hobbes. It’s interesting to see this strip today (eleven years old today, republished via UComics), as it brings up some of the thoughts I’ve had recently.
I’ve mentioned it in the past on my blog, but at points I have struggled with the changes that I experience, especially in reference to what is “grown-up” versus what is not. Lately, my interests have taken quite an odd shift. I don’t remember the last time that I turned on my Xbox to do something other than the Yourself Fitness program. I bought a Nintendo DS (with lots of trade-in value, fortunately) and haven’t touched it in nearly a month. Even my daily reading of gaming sites has all but come to a halt, only lightly perusing the newsletters I get from the site. On the other hand, I’m now in the middle of not one, but two different books, whereas I don’t recall when I last completed a book before these two. It was probably Glorious Appearing back whenever that came out.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy gaming anymore, or anything like that, as I do. It’s just that lately, I’ve been more into reading and other tech toys, such as trying to develop a habit with my PDA again, which hasn’t been going well at all, or dorking around with my TiVo. I’ve also been much more into board games. I don’t know exactly what is causing the shift. Last month, I was dead-set on acquiring a PlayStation 2 by the time Final Fantasy XII comes out, and now I have no interest in that whatsoever. I’d rather drop the $150 on an iPod Shuffle and/or a DVD Burner.
I’ve also been returning to faith a bit more as of late, and have attended church services for the past two Sundays. There was a rough point last Sunday, but overall the experience has been greater than I could have imagined.
I don’t know if there’s a connection there, as I doubt there is. I know a number of other guys my age who attend that church and are still really into video games. Heck, one of them works at the nearest GameStop store.
Maybe it’s just that, as we age, more “toys” become available to us, due to an increase in available funds? I mean, I’m not rich by any means, but $100 doesn’t carry the weight that it used to. It used to sound like a ton of money, and now it doesn’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it either, but it just doesn’t seem like such a big deal to spend $100 (if I have it to spend, of course) on something that’s primarily for entertainment purposes.
Is it a sign that I’m maturing in some way? I don’t know. I know that other changes that have come along in the past few years attest to such. Had you asked me in 2000 if I was prepared to have a child, I’d have had to say no. Now, not only am I prepared, but I often have dreams of playing with my son or daughter. I now own a house. Talking of things such as replacing our kitchen faucet (a recent task of mine) or fixing our toilet bring me a sense of pride that, in the context of being a homeowner, makes perfect sense. Having not really adjusted to the role yet, it still seems odd to me. I chuckle when I consider how excited I was that I was able to install our kitchen faucet on my own (although I had a good deal of assistance from my father-in-law with the removal of the old faucet and the acquiring of a proper tool or two).
Lisa always jokes with me, telling me that I’m an old man at heart. I like old man music (which doesn’t seem to have much of a clear definition, but it’s what I’m told), I like old man hats and clothing. Sometimes I get this cough that definitely sounds like I’m an old man (although I haven’t noticed it too much lately, which is a very good thing). Yet, for all of that, I still feel very young at heart. I know that I’m growing and maturing as my life changes, and generally it’s been a good ride. It’s just a little weird to find my interests changing in ways that I’d never have anticipated.
Maybe things aren’t changing so much, and thinking about my upcoming birthday just has me thinking about age. We’re eleven days out from 26 years of life for me. As a teen, I used to joke that I couldn’t wait to be 25. I could care less about smoking or drinking or credit, I just wanted to be able to rent a car and pay low interest premiums. Now, that 25th year is wrapping up, and as I’m about to pass onto the latter half of my twenties (which is just really weird to see in writing), I’d say that I was about right. I’ve really enjoyed year 25, as it’s brought some great changes into my life. I only hope that it continues that way, into 26, 27, and ever more.
Aaaargh, I had a nice long post here but I hit some weird button combination and lost it.
I’ll just condense it to: Right on, I’ve experienced much of the same myself in the past few years. I recieved an 18v Power Drill and a Dremel for Christmas, and was totally thrilled by it. I replaced a ceiling fan and a light fixture recently, and told everyone about it. A less charitable example is how I used to dream about being old enough to go to strip clubs. I’ve been old enough for almost four years now and have only been once, for a friend’s 21st birthday. He hasn’t been back either. Once you experience things for real, all the cheap showy stuff like that doesn’t hold a candle.
Also, with the recent death of my step mother, I’ve noticed a few things. In the past few weeks my father and I have gotten to more of a level field with him. And I’ve been forced to deal with death and what it means in my life. I’m still in the middle of working through that, but I can’t help but think I’ll come through the experience better for it.