Rui CarmoWell, another year has passed.
I'm turning 35 today, which means a number of different things:
- It's basically the same as turning 34, except my hair is getting thinner.
- If I ever go back to playing Quake, I will be squarely in the "old farts" category (but grandpa here still fires a mean railgun, and cunning is starting to take the place of adrenaline rushes and blind charges for the red armor).
- I find myself starting more and more sentences with "these kids today", "what is the world coming to" and "back in my day...".
- I am now officially beyond the threshold of hiring age for a number of interesting jobs - here in Europe, and especially in my neck of the woods, people above 35 are somewhat discriminated against, despite overall population aging and experience. It's not as bad as France, but stupidity has always been a pan-national affair.
- Lots of people will have a field day calling me "old curmudgeon". As if I cared.
Oddly enough, there aren't any noticeable white hairs. It wasn't an easy year, what with my little incident, lots of things happening at work and a rising index of Dilbertian-events-per-day that makes me wonder if I have any sort of psychic connection to Scott Adams, but I persevere.
Heck, there's bound to be a lot of fun things to do out there in the next 35 years at least, and I've always been able to motivate myself no matter what. Which is probably why I'm not taking the day off from work - or maybe I'm still too hooked on what I do to let go, who knows?
Anyway, my special thanks to Bruno Fernandes (of Mira fame), who mailed me my first "birthday" present (expect a review soon), to a family of close friends now living in Zurich (who were the first to wish me a happy birthday due to the time difference) and to everyone who sent me books and stuff over the past year - I've had many hours of fun and relaxation with those, and have always considered them as much of a birthday present as if they arrived today.
Finally, my regards to all of you who've been visiting regularly. This site is one of the fun things I intend to keep on doing - at least while the fun lasts.
Oh, and one more thing:
Sony, where it regards not launching the PS3 in Europe today - no problem, I'll wait until you start making money on them.