Is it just me or does it seem like once you hit a certain age, every medical commercial on television is somehow personally aimed at you?

We recently went on vacation to Marco Island, Florida and one night on our trip I called my sister.

"Ok, I'll call you tomorrow." I said. "We're off to bed."

"Bed?!" She exclaimed. "Isn't it like 9pm there? Why aren't you out enjoying the nightlife?"

I laughed.

Night life...who needs it?

I'd rather cozy up in bed with my hubby, watch an episode of Portlandia, and get to bed at a decent time. If I am up past 1am, I get physically sick. I need my sleep. In Marco Island, 9pm is known as "Marco Midnight"...now I could get used to that!

Yes. I'm officially old.

While we stayed mostly in Marco, we also visited some other areas of Florida: Key West and South Beach, Miami. Our experience in those "crazy" towns only justified my goal to live in the middle of nowhere, away from civilization, maybe to a small rural town, with fantastic internet (of course!), surrounded by my books, dogs, music and, of course, my lovely husband and our small but ever increasing wine collection.

The wild life--it's just not our scene anymore. And while I love a great drag show once in a while, sitting on the sofa watching "Cops" with a bottle of wine is far more appealing these days.

Then there's the "medical assistance" we need now that we are older. Blood pressure, braces for carpel tunnel, ice packs, heating pads, an endless supply of antacids and bandaids. Our toiletries have gone from illegal to OTC (basically from Blow to Prep H in under two decades, so to speak. LOL). It's pretty funny to think how fearless we were back in our 20's and 30's and now a flight of stairs and just the right twerk of an ankle can put you out of commission for a week.

It's not just the physical wear and tear, it's the mental as well. We lose patience with hotel guests making too much noise in the room next to us. I swear, it's like people are clueless to their own existence. BTW, if you get to the end of the escalator, the key is to MOVE! Hubby and I like to point out the idiots to each other, it's a game we call "Then there's this a**hole."

Concert...Oct 2015...Poi Dog Pondering...well worth going out in public for!

You'd think I would learn from all this, but time and time again I find myself buying concert tickets, or agreeing to go to social gatherings and then immediately wish I had just kept the cash and stayed in for the night. Not that it's all terrible. Most recently, we went to see Poi Dog Pondering at the Vic for their 20th anniversary of the album Pomegranate. It was a magical evening. From the pizza at Blaze Pizza on Belmont, to the homeless guy kissing my (leather jacket-covered) arm as we stood in line for the show, to the band playing one of the most memorable shows I've seen yet.

So, maybe New Year's will bring with it a tiny resolution of abandoning society a little more in 2016. Hey, maybe with that kind of time, I'd actually get more writing done! LOL

*****

Bonus Material...two blogs for the price of one!

So, in just a few days, on November 1st, NaNoWriMo kicks off for writers around the country. We get 30 days to write 50,000 words. That equates to 1,667 words per day. And if you skip a day, it doubles, triples...you get the gist.

2015's Work in Progress - "Wrestle with my Heart"

At the 11th hour, I have decided to participate this year. I have been tossing around an idea for my Love, Chicago series (book one is currently in edits and I am SO TIRED of working on it, I need the break before I drive all my characters off a bridge!). In a nutshell, this year's novel is a girl meets boy/boy annoys the crap out of girl but she sleeps with him anyway/girl is forced to team up with boy and insists they don't have sex but of course they do/girl eventually breaks it off with boy/girl reunites with boy to live happily ever after-type story.

Should practically write itself considering I've already gotten some ideas for scenes. I've really been trying my damnedest to go from being a life long, die-hard pantser to a thoughtfully-outlined planner (complete with "kung-foo grip" outline). You'd think it would be a no-brainer--"plan" before you "leap"--but I love sitting down to a fresh piece of paper and just seeing where my brain takes me.

That said, I'll be taking a small hiatus from blogging for a while. Feel free to read previous NaNoWriMo excerpts - 2013 I started Racing Hearts and will be working on it again soon or you can check out my Camp NaNoWriMo project from 2014 called The Girl Who Didn't Go.

Happy reading!