Another Countdown

Hayom Yom Asara l'omer, she'hem shavua echad v' shlosha yamim l'omer.

Today is the 10th day of the Omer.

I admit it. I feel old. I don't feel old most of the year. In fact, I can probably narrow my age consciousness to the month before my birthday. That makes 11 months of blissful unawareness of age bound things. But as you may or may not know, my birthday will be here before you know it, compounding this omer countdown with a birthday countup. Twenty seven is around the corner.

What does 27 mean? This website claims that all these things happened at age 27:

• Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. dropped out from his job at General Electric to become a full-time writer.
• Henry David Thoreau went off for two years to live alone in a cabin at Walden Pond.
• Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.
• Memphis millionaire Frederic W. Smith, whose father built the Greyhound bus system, founded Federal Express.
• Scottish botanist David Douglas discovered the Douglas fir.
• Ernest Hemingway published his first novel, The Sun Also Rises.
• Boston dentist William Morton pioneered modern anesthesiology after learning that inhalation of ether will cause a loss of consciousness.
• Conceptual artist Piero Manzoni crapped in 90 small cans which were then factory sealed and offered for sale at the price of gold.

I don't feel any pressure to save a small island from death and deprivation or anything?!

But I do realize that life is short and I want to make the most of it.

For those of you who have an inkling of buying me a present to celebrate said occasion, I'm putting together a little wish list. Click this link for the wish page. I will add the wish list button to my sidebar, so you can check at your leisure. Of course, I know many of the items are ridiculously expensive, and I don't actually expect any of you to buy them... but if you want to team up ....