By the time you turn 32, the initial shock of entering your thirties is gone. The memories of your twenties grow a bit fuzzier each month. But most importantly, everyone your age has either started having kids, having affairs, or doing a career shake-up. Some brave souls even go for the trifecta.

As for me, I haven’t the time nor the desire for kids or affairs, so I’ll have to be all about the shake-up. You know how it goes, Future Mark grabbing Past Mark by the shoulders and shaking vigorously, “Look what you’ve done, you fool! You’ve doomed us all!” But all time fantasies aside, I know I’m a Capricorn, so I won’t leap into anything unless it is a calculated risk.

Nevertheless, I’m hopeful that turning 32 will be a good omen. Bill Clinton was elected governor of Arkansas when he was 32, the youngest person elected to that position in 40 years. But then again, Led Zeppelin drum god John Bonham, artist Keith Haring and martial arts legend Bruce Lee all died at the age of 32. Of course, the legacy of all three was already left, so it was not as if they were robbed of their chance to have an impact on the world.

Because for me, that’s what life is about— having impact. After all, what good is being infinitesimal? What good is being anonymous? To me, there’s no point in being alive unless you’re trying to achieve something righteous. If I never do anything that has a noteworthy impact on the world, then ultimately I will consider my life a failure. This is the sensibility that drives me to try. Birthdays tend to be a reminder of this, the reflective nature it contains. I used to get depressed every December 26th because I knew I had not achieved anything that made me feel like I had meaning. But not anymore.

To celebrate yesterday evening, I had an excellent steak dinner in Manhattan, drank several pints of tasty foreign beer, and had four hours of laugh-filled discussion with my two best friends in a familiar lounge. Underneath it all, I was happy because I feel like I am the closest I have ever been toward realizing my life’s purpose. Now it’s just a matter of time of making it happen. Cheers.

No, I didn’t learn a new language. S.Rod and I saw Les Misérables on Broadway last night, and it got my head stirring a bit. While I will admit that most things seen on Broadway are not my cup of tea, the musical was entertaining for the most part.

One of the character’s soliloquies (Fantine) made me think about the ongoing struggle with identifying the ‘American Dream’ (even if the characters were in 19th century France) and how to achieve it. I’ve always been under the impression that ninety nine percent of the world does not actually get to see their dreams finalized. That doesn’t include ‘dream’ vacations or material possessions either, I’m talking about dream careers or dream endeavors… the things that encompass our lives and define our history. In essence, it’s the content of how the encyclopedia entry of your life would read. Would there be anything worth reading in yours, or something that makes you unique?

When my mind gets rolling on this topic, it knocks over dominoes in my head (all to S.Rod’s late night discussion dread). I want my dreams so badly that they linger in my mouth like peanut butter. I get a feeling like my brain is lined with creative plastic explosive and I just need to find a way to program the detonator so that my dreams can blow up and spread across reality.

From there, I hope that S.Rod and I can make our collective dreams happen. I know we have the means, it is just a matter of realizing that we could be part of the one percenters if we believe. Êtes-vous prêt à commencer, mon amour?

A small reminder for the Fellow Capricorn in Chains,

There is content ripe for consumption. There is design waiting to be implemented. There are product concepts begging to be realized.

Don’t wait for madmen to rise from the basement in order for you to begin your part to make it all happen.

This service announcement was brought to you by Creeping Logos. Hit refresh twice if you don’t see it.

An editorial by S.Rod

Every morning Mark and I wake up to the news on our clock radio. At 6:45am, it pops on and in fifteen minutes or so, I actually start listening. Today while brushing my teeth, I hear the story, “Is Santa a bad influence on children?” Immediately the clever headline piqued my interest. Damn, I’m trying to get ready here, but I stopped to listen anyway.

Basically, the acting U.S. Surgeon General feels that similar to athletes who work with children to promote healthy lifestyles, Santa should be no different in terms of athleticism. Did I hear that right? Santa is too FAT! WHAT? That is just silly!

Santa has already lost his pipe (an old man with a pipe, I’m sure every kid wants to emulate that!), he can’t have kids sit on his knee anymore (this one isn’t so bad), and he can’t say Merry Christmas (if you are going to see Santa in the first place, why would this be a problem?) or Ho Ho Ho (Santa does know if you have been naughty!) because it could offend people.

Now, they want to take away his “bowl full of jelly”. What is wrong with this world? The PC element is out of control. Come on, are kids paying attention to Santa’s tummy? I mean really, Santa is a once a year thing, and the kids just want the presents.

Begin Rant:

If the Surgeon General wants to decrease childhood obesity and promote healthy living then he should start with educating their parents. It’s the parents who are stuffing their kids full of prepackaged and fast food, they are letting them play video games for umpteen hours a day without any physical activity. Do kids even play outside anymore?

Everyone has gotten so lazy. Why can’t we take responsibility anymore? Why does it have to be the person on the TV’s fault, or the international icon for Christmas?

Another problem is that healthy meals, in addition to taking effort to make, are expensive in comparison to fast food. I was just thinking about the cost factor the other day while eating lunch. I had gotten a salad that cost me about $7 on Monday and yesterday I bought a double cheeseburger and large fries for $3. So, if I always eat cheeseburgers and fries I could eat lunch for at least 3 days on just $10. Isn’t that crazy!? We should try to find solutions for things like this, and not worry about Santa’s waistline.

End Rant…

The question: which is more important— $18,000 worth of home renovation costs saved by taking on a huge project by yourself, or eight months’ worth of weekends spent executing that DIY project?

The answer: I don’t know yet. I’ll tell when I reach the end of the eighth month. I’m just starting month seven now.