Not old, just older

[mingmerciless]

Oh man, where's the time going these days? The lyrics of Rush's Time Stand Still which I quoted a while back seem all the more appropriate now. Similarly, while getting reacquainted with Bon Jovi's output, like Time Stand Still, one of their songs now has a much greater resonance just because, I suspect, I've reached that time of life. That song would be Just Older, from their Album Crush, with evocative lines like:

I like the bed I'm sleeping in
It's just like me, it's broken in
It's not old - just older
Like a favorite pair of torn blue jeans
This skin I'm in it's alright with me
It's not old - just older

or

Well, I look in the mirror
I don't hate what I see
There's a few more lines staring back at me

So, yeah, life seems to rush by terribly quickly these days but, by and large, life is good. So, attempting a bit of a crash catch up, things I've been up to lately:

• Having finally voted in a UK election, must say, the outcome brings the Rolling Stones song to mind: "You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes you might find, You get what you need". So far, so good, it seems.
  
• Then, on the Labour leadership contest, I was briefly tempted to join the Labour Party just so I could vote against Diane "Hypocrite" Abbot but aeshna_uk pointed out that would mean I would have to vote for one of the other guys. And my parents were complaining they couldn't tell Cameron and Clegg apart!
  
• Had a couple of Highgate School reunions on successive Saturdays. The one for my old house, School House, was much better attended than the one for the school as a whole but I suppose that's to be expected as the strongest ties we formed would have been within the house, especially for boarders.
  
• Parents, sister, brother-in-law and two neices flew in for a couple of weeks for Lin's Christening up in Northumbria. Great to see them all again. Lin is a remarkably quiet (and big!) baby. Shame Northumbria's such a long way away!
  
• aeshna_uk and I went to Liz's wedding a few weekends ago - missed T2 for this. Funny, I've known her for some 16 years now. My first Jewish wedding. Fascinating - good thing there were explanatory notes and one of the presiding Rabbis took the time to explain the background every now and then. I now also have my own Yarmulke.
  
• It's now nearly halfway through the year and I have been airsofting precisely zero times this year. I really need to attend to this, especially as my UKARA registration has lapsed and the A&K Vietnam pattern M60 is out!
  
• As part of the ongoing decluttering, I've resumed eBaying old RPG, wargames and even military gear again. Hell, even disposed of an airsoft, the P90. Also plan to dispose of the spare Vietnam M16 and maybe even the AUG A3 (too many rails - lacks the functional beauty of the of the original AUGs) or AK47 (but that is an excellent loaner gun).
  
• Against that, my Shanghai Tang addiction grows.
  
• Real life is getting in the way. Quite apart from missing T2 because of Liz's wedding, also missed the Upnor Castle muster due to combination of aeshna_uk's Birthday and the need to be in Warrington for first thing on the Monday morning. Not helping my fencing much either!
  
• On a related note, I seem to be spending a lot of time working in Warrington and Newbury these days. Good news is: clients in Warrington seem to like me and want me back. Bad news is... clients in Warrington seem to like me and want me back.