MadMup.com

I’ve never been able to picture myself as an old man – 70, 80, on from there. I just figure with my poor eating, lack of sun, and lack of exercise, I’ll be lucky to make it to 50.

If, by some chance, I do make it to that point, I know what I want to do: sing pop songs in a choir with other people my own age.

I’m watching the movie Young at Heart, and I’m not even done with it and it’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a documentary about a group of people in their 80’s and beyond singing songs by The Clash, The Ramones, James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, and Coldplay, and it’s absolutely a fantastic thing to watch. These folks are having a ton of fun, and the movie is funny, encouraging, challenging, and touching. I know it doesn’t sound like it would be, but it really is.

Here’s the trailer, which gives you a pretty good idea of the movie:

So, hey, if we still know each other when we’re that age, care to join me?

There’s no easy way to say this, and I’m sure it’s going to disappoint a lot of people, but there’s really no other way to say this other than to just say it.

I’ve started drinking soda again.

It’s been about 6.5 years since I drank soda regularly. In those 6.5 years, I have had a sip or two now and again, mostly to try some new concoction like Vanilla Coke or Wild Berry Pepsi, but I quit drinking soda as a general rule.

My folks visited me a few weeks ago and I picked up some Sprecher’s Root Beer for my dad. When they left, he didn’t take it with him, and Sprecher’s Root Beer is the second-best root beer I’ve ever had, and… well, that’s pretty much what happened. From there, I decided to re-try some other root beers at Culver’s, McDonald’s, at A&W… I may not pronounce “root” correctly, but I do love me some root beer.

Since then I’ve also had some other sodas here and there and I’ve come to remember why I stopped drinking them in the first place: they don’t sit well. I never feel better after drinking a soda, and I often feel worse. And, aside from the Sprecher’s, none of them are so good-tasting as to be worth the trouble.

So, yeah, the pendulum has swung pretty far back the other way here, but I anticipate it heading back toward the middle some time soon. I’m not going to be a militant non-soda drinker, but neither am I going to start drinking it on a regular basis, I don’t think.

It was a pretty good run, 6.5 years. It wasn’t like it helped me all that much, though. I filled the void (my stomach) with plenty of other stuff that was way worse, I’m sure. And, as I’m constantly reminded by pretty much everybody, since I don’t eat veggies or fruits I’m probably headed to an early grave already, so why hurry the process along?

So that’s it. Probably not earth-shattering to anyone, but I thought I’d let you know. And for those of you who are bothered by such things (approximately 51% of you), feel free to read “pop” instead of “soda” throughout this entry, and those readers in the South can just read “Coke.”