Not for the Faint of Heart

Being in between things just kind of sucks. Mostly, I am talking about being between winter and spring--April is the brownest month in Thunder Bay--but the border-free zone in general is a tough place to be. As I have alluded to before (near the bottom of the post).

Here's life the past week or so. Strong sunshine-freezing wind-20 inches of snow-melty warmth-lakes in the driveway and over the septic tank-frozen lakes over same, all whirling past in approximately twenty-minute intervals.

As if that kaleidoscope of unsettlement weren't enough, this just in: I'm middle-aged. Much as I've tried to deny it, I am probably not looking at as many years ahead of me as I've had so far.

Yeah yeah, I know the equations. Everybody = same boat. Nobody = knows for sure. Attitude = everything. Life > alternative. My life > most. Age = state of mind.

I would say, "yeah, whatever," but that is "so five minutes ago," both of which simply serve to confirm that I used to watch Friends (whose stars are now all 40 themselves) back when it was popular, in a millennium long long ago.

To spare the world more late-boomer angsting blather (you're SO welcome; no really, my pleasure), I will continue processing my aging offline. However, I do want to share what prompted this most recent outburst of I = Old.

It's the Rickroll. For those who don't click through, whether on principle or out of ennui, the Rickroll (a term that is apparently always capitalized) is a joke you play on someone. The joke consists of providing a link that's ostensibly related to a topic but that actually connects to a video of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up," from 1987.

So yes, if I were to actually Rickroll you, the link above would have taken you here. For those among us still refusing to click through, the video is the Muppets "singing" "Never Gonna Give You Up." It's a two-fer, a sock-puppet karaoke 21st century joke.

Now, I could see the Rickroll as evidence of our voracious capacity for wasting time, an embodiment of the evils of the internet age. (Though I would like to point out that fifty years ago, workers wasted plenty of time arguing at the water cooler.)

I could see it as evidence of the unique ways in which creativity creates community among people who don't know each other. (Though books also do the same, just a little more slowly.)

Make of Le Rickroll whatever you want. Here's what I make of it: I'd never heard of it, even though it was all the rage on April 1 LAST YEAR. I still don't really get it. I'm also not a big Muppets fan, though I recognize that I bear a striking resemblance, personality-wise, to one of those old guys sitting in the gallery criticizing everything. (Muppets are too similar to dolls, which are just creepy.)

And for all of these reasons, I = Old.

Spring. Aging. As the subject line says. However, one benefit of the years I have accumulated thus far (sigh) is that I have seen more than a few seasons pass. And so shall this one. And meanwhile, I have work to do. Which I now do humming "Never Gonna Give You Up." Dammit.