Fifty Things — July 28, 2024 – John Agliata

🧩 Today’s Puzzle Pieces 🧩
Love🎶
Chestnut⚽
Lessons Learned🎁

THE DAILY UPDATE

Three Little Things To Notice and Be Grateful For:

Beautiful singing voices.
The stories behind people’s scars.
Being adored.

Pursuit of Wordle Godhood: Today’s result: Four … brought me back to elementary school art days …

Wordle 1,135 4/6

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🟩🟨🟩⬜⬜
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Pursuit of Connections Godhood: Six. It’s never a good thing when I start guessing.

Connections
Puzzle #413
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The song in my head when I woke up today: Love Used To Be, by Jewel

July 27: When You’re Gone, by Avril Lavigne
July 26: Tell Me I’m Alive, by All Time Low
July 25: Wagon Wheel, by Darius Rucker
July 24: Wide Open Spaces, by The Chicks
July 23: Call Me, by Shinedown (Yes. Please. Do.)
July 22: Rainbow, by Kacey Musgraves
July 21: Don’t Let Me Down, by Joy Williams
July 20: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, by Crash Test Dummies
July 19: What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes
July 18: Hello, by Adele
July 17: Dancing in the Streets, by David Bowie, with Mick Jagger, and this one really makes me question my morning brain.
July 16: If I Didn’t Have You, by BANNERS
July 15: New Slang, by The Shins. It’ll change your life, I swear.
July 14: Burn Me Once, by Bella White
July 13: Kind and Generous, by Natalie Merchant
July 12: It’s Not Over, by Daughtry
July 11: A Thousand Years, by David Hodges

Favorite line from the song in my head when I woke up: Love used to be my compass/But now I’m alone and I’m adrift and I’m lost at sea/’Cause love used to be …

Sleepy-Time Tunes: I fell asleep last night listening to some music from my Chick Singers playlist. I admit I slept through a lot of these songs …

Ordinary World, Joy Williams
Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer
If It Makes You Happy, Sherly Crow
Uninvited, Alanis Morissette
Complicated, Avril Lavigne
Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O’Connor
Wish You Were Here, Avril Lavigne
The Nearness of You, Norah Jones
Hello, Adele
Time After Time, Cindi Lauper
Front Porch, Joy Williams
Landslide, Fleetwood Mac
When Does A Heart Move On, Joy Williams
Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Jewel
Can’t Help Falling In Love, Kacey Musgraves
We Danced Anyway, Deana Carter
Don’t, Jewel
Four Stitches, Antje Duvekot
Welcome Home, Joy Williams
One and Only, Joy Williams
I’m With You, Avril Lavigne
Angel, Sarah McLachlan

Something I’m looking forward to today: Celebrating my 50th birthday with my family.

Something I’m looking forward to in the next seven days: Having some alone time at home when Boy The Younger and Wifey Poo go to Tipton to hang with her sister.

Something I’m grateful for from yesterday: Playing gin with BTY.

What I’m writing: Yesterday’s two crappy pages involved some journaling and some future News-B-Nuts

What I’ve written: Life Lessons From Atherstone Ball and a Boy Named Chestnut

So this is 50, huh? Today, I “celebrate” a half-century on this here planet, and my hope is that this is the last pitstop on what has been John’s Summer of Feeling Old.

First, there was Boy The Elder’s college graduation, followed several weeks later by his motherflippin’ wedding. Then there was Boy The Younger getting his driver’s permit. There has been this god-forsaken neck problem that has left me feeling ancient, and the death of my aunt and spending time with a friend who now is somehow called “dad” by kids who weren’t even a thought when we last hung out.

There has been a lot.

I thought about writing something like, “50 Things I’ve Learned During My First 50 Years” and figured I’d give it a shot, though I don’t know if I’ve actually learned 50 valuable things or that those 50 things will be the same tomorrow as they are today. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of 50 years is that shit changes. Often. So maybe I’ll start with that.

50 Things I’ve Learned During My First 50 Years

Shit changes. Often.
A friend with chocolate chips can make bad things better.
The people who are there after the storm are the ones who matter.
Life is too short for crappy pizza.
It’s OK to abandon a bad book.
Learning how to let go is harder than learning how to hold on.
Tie your shoelaces so there are no long strands to catch in a bike’s pedals, because that shit hurts.
Just because someone has a microphone and a platform doesn’t necessarily mean anything they say is valuable.
Never trust HR. Ever.
Like HR, tequila is never your friend.
Don’t wait until you’re in your 40s to do the hard work of fixing you.
Do the hard work of fixing you, no matter when you start.
Those who say “This is just how I am” don’t deserve a place in your life.
Apologize when you’re wrong.
Don’t worry so much about screwing up. Your mistakes are good life-lessons for those who are watching.
Give yourself guardrails and accountability.
Listen to those who warn you of impending danger.
Strawberry rhubarb pie is really, really good.
Human touch should never go unappreciated.
The saddest sight imaginable is a tiny coffin at the front of a church.
A good barometer for how you’re doing is what you hear and feel inside when you’re alone.
Music matters.
Forgiveness is far from a one-time thing. It’s often a daily, hourly or minute-by-minute thing.
“Family” has little to do with DNA. Blood don’t mean shit. Strength, love, loyalty … they mean more.
“Let’s just move forward” are the four stupidest words in the English language. If you don’t fix the thing you’re moving forward from, it’ll be there again. Shortly. And worse.
Give those who order their steak well-done a wide berth.
Slow the fuck down. Please.
If someone is grieving, don’t feel like you have to say anything. Just get down in the trenches and stay there with them.
The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is “Hang in there. It won’t always be this hard.”
But sometimes, it is this hard.
Resilience is exhausting.
Put the phone/camera down and experience it.
Things can be broken beyond repair, no matter your intentions or belated desire to fix it.
Never feel loyalty to an employer, no matter how much they say their workforce is like family. See #24.
Measure twice, cut once.
There are other worlds than these. What awaits is better than Here.
All politicians lie and pander and are bought-and-paid-for. Period.
Be decisive. Nothing gets fixed while you ponder every possible outcome.
Keep your eyes on the road ahead.
If you find a type of pen that you love, buy a huge stock of it.
The best trait of a good leader is grace and calm under pressure.
You learn more about how to be a good leader from the bad bosses you’ve had than the good ones.
Notice the homeless. As human beings. Treat them as such.
People think about you far less than you think they think about you.
Quitting a chess game just before your opponent gets checkmate is a bitch move.
Be careful with printer toner cartridges.
Ignorance truly is bliss, and you can never find that peace again after you’ve been smartened up.
The moment you start learning because you want to and not because you have to is the moment knowledge begins.
The dog in Duck Hunt is an asshole.
The goal isn’t to live a long life. It’s to live a life worth living.

Would you please help a brutha out? I’ve created a weekly eNewsletter called News-B-Nuts in which I’ll be sending out news nuggets and witty commentary to subscribers. If you can, would you support this endeavor for just $5 a month via Patreon?

Fifty Things — July 28, 2024

THE DAILY UPDATE

50 Things I’ve Learned During My First 50 Years

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