#51 - STILL ONE SHORT OF A FULL DECK!

Happy morning at Serious Ink Tattoo Studio
in Shirehampton, Bristol, UK

It's my 51st birthday. I'm still not playing with a full deck.

I wonder how I'll act one year from today when I am playing with all 52 cards. I'll probably still be the Joker. I may be an old man, but I'm still lucid and clever enough to have Blog #51 publish on my 51st bday!

On my 50th a year ago I posted the same meme I had for John Apple who had turned 50 months before me. It said that if you haven't grown up by age fifty you don't have to. I'm going to stick with that.

However, now that I actually have a real job and punch a time clock I guess maybe I have grown up, even if only slightly.

Knuckles Range, Sri Lanka 2014
Hunting Poecilotheria smithi
in the cloud forests

Today's not a big deal. I'm working. I'll bring a cake. Cheesecake, my favorite. I'll blow holes in paper targets and smell gunpowder just like every other day.

I already celebrated my bday with family in advance since my father's birthday is less than a week before mine and his wife's is a couple days earlier still. And last night I went out to sushi and a movie (Trainwreck) with my bonus dad Joel. This weekend though I will celebrate it again with my Minnverts friends.

They have quite a group of Arachnophiles up in the twin cities area that meets every couple months or so. I've been up there for one previous Minnverts meet held at Chad and Chase Campbell's house.

This time it is hosted by Lisa Donahue and the familiar faces and some new members will be in attendance. Whiskey will be consumed.

I'm hoping to visit a couple of brew pubs with Chad in the afternoon before the evening's gathering.

Spiders will be swapped and sold. People with a common passion will socialize. They have dozens of members and the comaraderie is one of the best sides of the arachnocultural hobby.

Kudos to them for forming such a strong group and welcoming new people all the time.

Tiger lager time. Jameson Black Barrel time. Raise a glass and think of your aging blogger. But don't drink Dos Equis.

I may not be the most interesting man in the world. But I'm happy with who I am. And I'm happier today than I was a couple months ago ...

51. Who'd have thunk it?

Best, Michael