Middle-Age University

ok, well, i'm 29.
i hope that doesn't quite qualify for middle-aged, but whatever.
i turn 30 in 4-ish months and therefore, i'm facing more of more of my mortality. (whatever. you know what i mean. i'll go ahead and steal the 'quarter-life crisis' title from those spunky little 25-year olds. there! 30 is my quarter-life. i'll outlive you all. even though you are thankful you did not know me when i was 25. crisis is putting it lightly. iraq, anybody? yea, no thanks.)

with all of that said, i have a renewed drive to learn.

as weird as that sounds, maybe i'm being inspired by my 8mth old?

i look at him and am so impressed by his curiosity, and his rapid-fire learning skills. the curve is steep and i'm sorta jealous.

chad and i were discussing this, and i feel it's so interesting that we, as parents, OR we, as children placed and have been placed upon -- certain expectations for 'learning.' we gear our kids up at the unbelievable age of SIX MONTHS, with music classes, jungle gyms, einstein toys and pre-school fairs. we push push push PUSH them through college....and then....wheeeeeeeeee!.....they're done. i'm done. no more learning. let's coast for life on that communications degree because that's clearly all i will ever need to sustain me forever and ever, amen.

why do we stop expecting more of ourselves.
now, before i GET TOOOOOOO deep here, i wanted to forewarn you that, no, i am not going to grad school. i am not enlisting in anything like that....

rather, i do the quick, painless internet learning that most people my age rely on:
wikipedia.

dude.
how i love thee, wiki.
i have somehow become a wiki-addict and while i AM SO BEHIND, HERE (it's been around FOOOREVER), i have recently gotten into a very bad habit of wiki-ing eeeeverything. for fun.

for the first time in a long time...i have a desire to learn about things NOT related to forced issues. like. fertility. ovulation. PCOS. NICU. TMJ. (tha'ts alotta acronyms, peeps.) bradycardia. developmental milestones. blah blah BLAH.

i wanna learn about stuff because i WANT TO, not because my life steered me in that direction.

i have somehow wik'd topics such as:
mozart, beethoven, bach (did you know that all of them only lived to be in their 30's? that's a harsh quarterlife situation, faced at 8years old.)
tiger woods
the food triangle
FOX news
(and yes, for the record, FOX really is the #1 news network and yes, CNN really is #3. ha. funny how DESPITE your political leanings, people just don't like it when an anchor yells at a man, holding a 2 year old son.***
or when you use pathetic and downright dirty sexual innuendos***to discuss an american group enjoying their freedom of speech:
go wiki, 'tea-bagging'......grow up CNN. you'll be bankrupt this time next year. just like NYTimes. just like Boston Globe. just like all the other ridiculous news sources out there....)

ALL of this to say...wiki is just a first step. i have a whole slew of books i'd love to read...and i feel this renewed desire to learn about American history. and world history. and how we can to be and what part of this year -- as we live it -- will go down in the history books, for people to read in 100 years.

who knows. maybe this all stems from spending my days with an 8mth old and recognizing a need for something to sink my teeth into. curious george just ain't cutting it.

but i'm excited.
and i want to hurt people, who in the last week, have gone on and on about how insufficient wikipedia is. WHO CARES. when i have 2.5 minutes to scope around about a topic, it fits the bill JUST FINE and intrigues me JUST ENOUGH to want to dig around and learn more!

my brain, at one point, was 8mths old....and alot of people placed expectations upon it, challenged it, prodded it, and filled it with good information. and the brain is still in there....and it still needs to be prodded and given good 411.

so what!
i'm 29!
and i still have so much to learn and the thirst for it is full drive!

*** click on the purple text, people. they're called links to the newsclips. since a few of you have told me you're confused.***