![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.vallentyne.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/grumpy_old_men.jpg\" "\\"grumpy_old_men\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nI mentioned last year to Nikki that I started to buy these containers of two hard boiled eggs, with cheese and crackers from the cafeteria at work and eat them for breakfast.\u00c2\u00a0 I noted that I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as hungry for lunch because the eggs kept me a little fuller than just fruit would.\u00c2\u00a0 Pretty logical, an astute observation about my caloric intake and appetite.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see any of the danger signs because a man in his thirties is still young and virile.<\/p>\n
A year later though, as a man in his forties who has been doing the same thing most mornings for over a year now, I now realize I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already on the slippery slope of Quirky Old Grandpa Courtney and picking up speed.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too late for me now, even if I stopped doing that egg thing immediately.\u00c2\u00a0 I am conditioned now.\u00c2\u00a0 If I went cold turkey I would be grumpy and hungry well before lunchtime.\u00c2\u00a0 If I changed customers (no doubt that will happen eventually) I would probably spend some time looking around for options to keep buying my hard boiled eggs in the morning at the new customer location.\u00c2\u00a0 If I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find anything I would probably start making my own and bringing them.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the kiss of death right there.\u00c2\u00a0 The amount of effort and energy I would expend to keep that habit as close as possible to the SAME would increase.\u00c2\u00a0 The defining criteria of old people as I recall from my 8,9,10 year old eyes was that they like everything to be exactly the SAME.\u00c2\u00a0The catch is that I have spent 40 years now trying to develop good habits.\u00c2\u00a0 The problem is that after 40 habits just become doing things the SAME.<\/p>\n
The only thing that separates me from Grandpa now is when I do the same damn thing I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just weird, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the benefit of being really old and also OCD.\u00c2\u00a0 Cause that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just cute, instead of what I am now.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is just weird.<\/p>\n
So, the threshold of old is defined by the new desire to maintain habits that require increasing amounts of energy to maintain, which make no sense to people who have not yet crossed the threshold.\u00c2\u00a0 All I can do is to shout advice from the other side of the threshold back to the young people.\u00c2\u00a0 Who will ignore me because from their side of the threshold I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just cute old Courtney, clutching his eggs and waving his arms and yelling adorably in his old man way; something about cassette tapes and rotary dial phones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You know how you paid attention to your grandfather\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s little personal habits and thought to yourself, wow that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty quirky.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually old people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quirky translates easily to endearing.\u00c2\u00a0 You probably wondered just how those habits were formed, and assumed that … Continue reading