Chipper Jones and The One-Game Playoff of Doom

Last weekend, I saw my little sister all grown up, getting married to the father of her baby, and (with a modicum of family drama) get through a wedding day that she deserved. She's still the little baby who spit up on me the first time I held here, twenty-four years or so ago. But I still say she did that on purpose...

And now I look forward to a milestone all my own; in a few days (Tuesday, actually...don't know why I'm being so vague about it) I will be thirty-three years old. Jesus started his ministry at thirty-three; I'm not that ambitious. Plus, I don't have twelve close guy friends who would listen to me even if I formed a philosophy based around basic respect for every human being regardless of their "standing" in society. They'd just grab another beer and see if the Panthers can get the point-spread.

Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they're missing by not being Giants fans...

Thirty-three is an age that doesn't necessarily have to mean anything (the ones like thirty, forty, fifty, and so on, get all the press), but I do want it to mean something, just for me. I'm well aware that I tend to stand in my own damn way when it comes to achieving things that I want to achieve. For instance, I have long dreamed of becoming intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett, but rare is the time when I've actually tried to do anything about it. This year, I'm finally getting that live-sized replica of the Slave I I've had my eye on.

I've always had the vague notion of writing for a living (see as evidence "blog, this one"), but maybe now would be a good time to really buckle down (sans my own PC, as it were, but still) and give it a real try. If anyone knows of a newspaper that needs a crotchety thirty-three-year-old, let me know. I used to write for a pop-culture weekly, and it was the most fun I've had in a while.

Anyway, I would like to try harder this year, unless the Mayans were right and the world ends on December 21. I'm sure Fox News will somehow blame that on Obama.

Let's ask a Mayan...