I have always considered myself one of those positive people that views a glass as half full not half empty. I never thought that I was a negative person. Now that I am “older” I am thinking that maybe the whole glass half full thing has some holes in it. Don’t take this the wrong way…I am not against being positive and living a positive life…for the sake of this article I am going to take the other side. Hence the title…”You can ruin anything”. I remember a comedy bit by Richard Jeni when he talks about his father. Richard would say something…really anything and his Dad would say that he had it much worse than Richard. Things were always way worse for him…he had to walk two miles up hill each way to school each day in the snow. And on and on…it was hilarious and clearly, his father subscribed to the glass-half-empty side.
I think in many ways as we age we can choose to take either side. You can be a curmudgeon and find fault with everything. You can be a cranky old person who sees the negative aspects of everything. Have we earned the right to put things down, to criticize things, to basically throw shade on anything?
Let us start with personal hygiene. I mean why shower, shave, or brush your teeth when you are just going to get dirty, grow whiskers or have unclean teeth afterward anyway.
Getting a spa is fun until you think about the cost, the problems with installation, the built-in sound system that will probably only last a year or two. The extra costs to keep the water warm, the lighting that will surely fail, and the cover that will need to be replaced for around $300.00. The heater or motor that won’t last. The fact that you will stop using it altogether in a few years and wonder how to get rid of it and then the marks on the patio from the thing that you will never get to go away. Also, you have to maintain it, buy chemicals, and clean it regularly…is this really worth it. Why are you thinking about getting one in the first place?
How about a real Christmas Tree? You have to go cut it down or find one at a lot or the Home Depot parking lot, hopefully, it is the right size and fullness, you may have to alter it to make it fit, you will need to water it or very soon it will dry out and leave pine needles everywhere. You most likely will get sap on yourself and you know that never goes away. You have to put lights on it, and on top of that you need the right stand and you will need to decorate it. You may have to cut branches off and reposition them or even worse make the top flat so it will fit but you can no longer get your tree topper on it. Aside from the obvious fire hazard, you will need to dispose of it at some point…who thought having a real Christmas Tree was a good idea?
Let’s go to Costco. They suck you in with great prices and great specials. You probably won’t need what they are offering but it is very hard to dismiss the great deals. You will always buy larger quantities than you need and a lot of it will expire before you can use it up. These are a waste of money and negate all the great savings. Instead of spending $100 on what you need you leave there with a $400 ticket for a lot of stuff you don’t need. Why are we members of Costco anyway?
Most of what I see on TV are reruns or if it’s new then I will be seeing a million ads…I hate ads. Ads ruin my whole TV experience. Maybe I will find an ad for a new drug, or a better leaf filter, or a solution for ED, or I can lose some weight, buy some Testasterone powder, refinance my house, get new auto insurance, get a reverse mortgage, enroll in an on line university or buy a new car. Have you seen how expensive new cars are. I think $90,000 for a new SUV even with 0% interest is a lot of money. Maybe a used car makes more sense but no matter what car you get you will have to buy really expensive gas and take care of it which is also not cheap. You have to insure it and this is necessary because you will never use public transit no matter what. I have heard that the seats and handrails in public transportation has feces on them and we all know that isn’t good. Why do we buy anything?
OK, I can trash just about anything with little effort. I don’t think of myself as negative or a curmudgeon. I like to be positive and love life. I took this trip down negative lane just to make a point. Life is incredible, it is what we’ve got and we need to embrace all of it. Make all those crazy purchases that make no sense, love how they make you feel at least for a while and love each other every day. Life is so precious and each day is a new day even if we do the same thing almost every day. We are creatures of habit and even that isn’t a bad thing.
To all you seasoned citizens of which I am one…make today the first day of the rest of your life and share part of this day with the people you care about. They will appreciate your effort. You will also feel better about life in general. Make a point of reading hunsingershalfacre.com each day. I am creating this little publication for you.
50 years ago life expectancy was much lower than it is today. Take comfort in the fact that you will probably live longer than your parents. New breakthroughs are happening all the time on your health and even Covid won’t stop the progress. I have been vaccinated and as a matter of fact have received my Moderna booster as well as the over 65 Flue Shot. Hey, I plan to be around for some time to come and I plan to enjoy that time as much as possible. I will more than likely continue to make dumb purchasing decisions but that is part of our existence…I look forward to making those decisions for many years.
