My Thoughts on Design and Other Things

My dear friend James writes a blog,  much better then I do I might add, www.jack-jackson.org but this is not about how well he writes or how well I don’t. This post is about the struggle with aging and why we fight so hard to keep away  the silver and the wrinkles.  Just last night one of my colleagues at work commented on how beautiful the silver sparkle in my hair was, and I seem to be getting more and more of those types of comments. Not that I am unappreciative, quite the opposite, it’s flattering to be still thought of as a handsome man.   It does however strike me as a little surreal as I rapidly approach fifty. My head tells me not to think of  growing older as such a bad thing and in reality it certainly beats the alternative, but… I  just can’t seem to stop the little voice in the back of my head saying “It can’t be possible,  I can’t be this old yet”. So I decided to try and understand what is was exactly that bothered me so much about becoming older.

The obvious reason that the whole aging thing bothers me is the idea of being that much closer to death. I know that all of us think about this one. I asked my mother about death when I was a kid and I remember her telling me that when people get old they just get tired and become ready to die. I don’t know about that, I have always thought that dying sucks no matter how old you are. I think that the real reason I struggle with getting older is the reality that I haven’t given anything substantial to the world in my fifty years. Sure, I’ve given my friends love and laughter. I’ve helped create  a whole lot of wonderful memories with a lot of wonderful people and I’ve managed to travel alot, seeing more of the world and the fantastic personalities that inhabit it then most people I know.   The one great thing however that I will be remembered for, my one great contribution to make the world a better place has still eluded me. I haven’t cured the incurable, or designed  great architecture, or envisioned  anything that will survive the test of time, so I can’t help but think that I still must have time… I still have to have time…I guess I better get moving.  I could on the other hand just learn embrace the beauty that is me,  the beauty that is my life and the beauty that is my silver.

I just read an article in the New York Times today by Eric Dash about the 11.3 billion dollar profit that JP Morgan chase reported for 2009. Well its nice to know that someone is doing OK in this economy. I know that I’m still having a difficult time trying to make ends meet. Part of the reason that I’m having such a hard time is that the interest rates on my credit cards went form 11 percent to 25 percent last year. I find this really interesting considering that for most, if not all companies that I do business with,  I think, I would be considered a great customer. Like most Americans, I use my credit cards, I make more then the minimum payment every month and I never miss or am late for a payment. Oh, and by the way, those credit cards just happen to be with, you guessed it, JP Morgan Chase. Well I for one have had enough of being screwed by the big banks. I closed my savings and checking accounts with chase and as soon as I can get my tax return back, its going to pay off those credit cards. I am done with the large banks and I’m pretty sure that from what I’m hearing all around me, I’m not the only one. I think that JP Morgan may be surprised next year when they don’t get a visit from the American customer, as we spend 2010  looking for banks that will treat us fairly but they may just get a visit from JP Morgan’s ghost lugging around those chains.

I thought that this was a pretty cool video. We have come a long way since I came out in the 70s, but the ability to display our love for each other in public is still considered dangerous or taboo. I look forward to the day, I hope a day very soon that this is every persons reality.

A new day of a new year, of a new decade seemed like a good place to begin. I have never been much of a writer, a story teller definitely, but a writer never. The art of writing has always been, for me an elusive prize. I have never really had a grasp of the ins and outs when it comes to the complexities of the English language, so naturally,  I decided to write a Blog. Spending at least one day a week writing about something that  I am supposed to know about, design. I hope not only to improve my writing skills but to also jump start the spark of creativity that is the basis of my chosen career, a Creative. I find it hard to imagine that anyone would be interested in any thing that I have to say and I guess that that remains to be seen.  At the very least I should be able to improve my writing skills  and hopfully not offend too many people with my crazy ideas or viewpoints on the world around me. On that note, welcome to my little piece of publishing on the web.