Now that I am (cough, cough) sixty-five, shock and awe rankle me. I always thought of people this age as being old; ancient, really. Now, here I am—one of them. I don’t feel old, but age is apparent from my reflection in the mirror or when walking outside. What seems like a fast pace to me can’t keep up with that of the younger folks; not even close.
Sometime recently, Ron Howard-directed Cocoon came to be available on one of the streaming services. The film released in summer 1985, and I was 25 at the time. I easily identified with the Twenty- and Thirty-something aliens, and I chuckled at the absurdity of the elderly folks hoping to regain some youthful vitality. Gasp. Now I am their age, and that realization caused eerie, queasy emotions while rewatching Cocoon.
I am alive and relatively vital—seemingly healthy and cognitively acute, too. All of that is something to be thankful for. With that sentiment in mind, I share the Featured Image, which was captured today using Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 12, 1/1000 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); Portrait mode; 2:56 p.m. PDT.
Someone hung the sign on a utility pole along the alley between Louisiana and Mississippi streets in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights.