Free Fallin'

Having a little bit of time on my hands, I am nowadays devising new ways to amuse myself. For instance, today I suavely convinced my friend to get myself invited to his friend's housewarming just because the invite extended invitations to family AND ('AND' being the operative word here) friends. Similarly over the weekend, on a whim I asked some of my friends from school to get together for a dinner. Though such things might not seem unusual for a guy who's always been popular, for a guy like me (who's not popular), they are quite unusual.

If you knew me well enough, then you would know that me trying to gatecrash events or hosting a get together is kind of like, well, me not being me. When I am me, I spend much of my time doing things such as figuring out ways to crash my PS3, keeping away from important conference calls and social affairs (or networking as they call it), checking out how the companies I have not invested in are faring (because invariably the stocks I buy never fare well), reading or YouTubing car reviews of cars I can't afford (because my stocks didn't fare well) so that I can cite bulletproof reasons for not buying them, or simply plucking overgrown hairs out of my ears (and nose too sometimes) ...  well, you get the drift. Most of the activities involve me interacting with erm... just me. The kind of status updates I scrawl or the sad selfies I post on facebook and instagram and WA, I won't be surprised if one of these days I will get a mail from Mark Zuckerberg politely asking me to take my profile someplace else, or else...

Hardly surprising then that all these years of non-partying and non-wild weekends are beginning to take their toll on me.

Not adding social events to my calendar has not taught me how to live a proper sinful life. I'm beginning to notice that age is no longer a number. My knees are still strong for a good sprint to catch a city bus every once in a while. And I haven't developed bags under my eyes or got any crow's feet due to excesses of youth. Not good. Not fair. I curb any wild urges I get by using the miniscule wisdom and reason I have developed over the years. I think twice, thrice, and keep thinking till I find enough reasons to stop myself from buying a ticket to somewhere out there. And the little travel I have done has conclusively concluded that I was never meant to be an outdoorsman. Or for that matter even a regular city slicker. When I'm driving, I don't like people darting across my right of way. When I'm not driving I don't like vehicles darting across my right of way. I just travel like a mouse and return home without a squeak. And when I'm partying, I don't like loud music. So much for travelling. So much for partying.

But I am getting used to it. Slowly but surely, I am beginning to see some sense in getting off my couch and exploring the world around me. I am also enjoying with amazement as to how rapidly the world is changing. Which is why I felt it was high time I changed. I had to start somewhere. Inviting friends for a get together or getting myself invited was a kind of a start. A start I had to make. And so by killing a few grey cells to curb my age-induced wisdom, I am making a fresh start. A start that will no longer stop me from doing what I do best. Be myself. In a new avatar. Or better still, be myself version 2.0. So bags under my eyes and those craggy Clint Eastwood-ish crow's feet, here I come!