silva rerum

Old age should burn and rave at close of day

Since this summer really got into the swing of things, I’ve noticed that I’ve changed in many ways. That teenagers annoy (and might always do so) me cannot be entirely attributable to my brother’s attempts to question my sanity. I always knew that I was a bit precocious but now I realise with dread and trepidation…I’m old!

Most notably, I now enjoy a regular sleeping pattern. If I happen to try to stay up much later than usual, I can’t. And if I should try to sleep in past my usual wake-up time, I can usually only go for maybe 1-2 hours more than I usually get. My eating patterns, too, have become regular. Gone are the happy days as a teenager when sleeping and waking up could be done upon a whim and eating occurred when there was ever food.

It makes me wonder too, then, about my mental changes along with these physiological ones. I wonder if I’m more mature? I was always a bit of a stick in the mud to begin with anyway so I can only wonder if I’ve gotten more boring. Being old might explain, though, my sometimes habit of being cantankerous.

I suppose a little-known fact about me is that one of the nicknames my parents have given me is “old man.” From a strictly Confucian philosophical point-of-view, I’m not so sure that that’s a bad thing.