The Slippery Slope

In the early/mid 1990s, there was a terrific t.v. show called Northern Exposure, about a young doctor (Rob Morrow)  paying off his med school bills by working in tiny Cecily, Alaska.  On one episode, the doctor has two patients with similar symptoms of restlessnes and erratic behavior.  One man (John Collum) is in his 60s and the other (John Corbett) in his 20s.  The doctor discovers the 60 year old man's family tends to live to over 100 years old, whereas the younger man's family tends to die in their 40s or younger.  Therefore, the diagnosis for both men is a "mid-life crisis."

This got me thinking, which is frequently a dangerous and ridiculous occurence.  With the exception of my paternal grandfather, on average my ancestors tend to live to be around 90 years old.  This puts me in a slightly precarious situation.  If Northern Exposure's theory holds true, as of today, I'm on the downward slope of middle age.  It's not that I feel like I'm gazing into the yawning mouth of death.  I mean, looking back, there's tons of stuff that I don't remember, time that I piddled away doing nothing in particular and times where I did some really spectacular stuff.  I figure, at the end of the line, I'll think the same thing about today:  Just another day in the life of me.

So, why a blog and why now?  One argument is that it's in the stars.  Not only was I born in the Year of the Snake, but I'm also a Leo.  That being the case, the question ought to be why haven't I had a blog until now (the business one aside)?  Blogs are horribly egotistical, taking Facebook and Twitter a giant step further. Why restrict pontificating and status updates to 140 characters?  Why not expand my insightful and profound thoughts to pages and pages?  AND why limit it to Friends?  Shouldn't the whole virtual universe be aware of my mediocrity?  Um, yes.  I don't know that I can be as entertaining as Ms. Palin, but at least you'll know that I'm trying to be funny/snide/droll.

The other reason for a blog is to stretch my writing skills into the non-fiction realm.  The newletters and ad copy are o.k., and the fiction stuff is something different altogether.  In school, I didn't much care for writing compare and contrast essays, but I adored answering essay questions on undergrad and grad exams.  I was fortunate.  My professors looked for well constructed arguments with suitable evidence rather than concurrence, and on that front I did o.k..  So, we'll see what happens.  I'll try to present a thesis, and set up a decent defense.

So, what will The Cranky Cow discuss?  Probably not much on the dog front since that's covered in the other blog.  Music, film, fashion, events of everyday life will probably be the majority of it.  Societal commentary would be a good blanket description.  Properly vague, but with high brow cache - Proustian.  Go ahead.  Clean the spit off the computer screen and return.

In the meantime, I've got cake in a bowl, a lovely icy glass of Pernod, a bouquet of red freesias (my favorite for their fragrance), music, my health, my hounds, and my hubby - place into whatever order you please - oh, and sushi and martinis for dinner.  Slippery slope be damned.  With all due respect to Great Big Sea, not such an Ordinary Day.  And I feel fine.