The youth of old age ....

VT turns 50 this Thursday. The BAGUS team, comprising JO, MJM, Victor Koo and myself bought him lunch today at Blooie's, a cozy little restaurant just across our office. Though 50, VT looks good for his age and claims that he can still make any women "meow" like a pussycat.

There is no running away from "aging". None in the BAGUS team is below 40. I was just commenting, during lunch, that time really flies and that a lifetime is really quite short. Even if one lives to the ripe old age of 80, time is really not quite enough. There are mountains to climb and rivers to swim. And how many people do we know who have gone through life and said that if they were to die today, they would die a happy and contented person?

I know I would not be able to say so, because there are so many things I want to do; such as learning to roller blade, play a musical instrument, travel the world, doing community work, the list goes on ... Most people have the fear of mortality. The fear intensifies as one approaches middle age, and by most account, 50 is definitely way pass middle age, I reckon. But you know how the human spirit has a way of "denying the truth", always conjuring up excuses to defy the truth. How else do you explain the phase "40 is the old age of youth; and 50 is the youth of old age"? Something coined up by someone in the 50s no doubt and probably someone who is in self-denial about his age.

Anyway, to make VT feel better for having hit the big 5 "O", not that he needed it because he sure looked cheerful enough, I quoted the exact phrase on the birthday card we bought him. Members of BAGUS each has their story to tell. Victor Koo wrote to tell him to make a trip to Hawaii, the backdrop for the detective series Hawaii 5 "O" which was very popular in the 70s. I love his wry sense of humour. He's not called a wordsmith for nothing.

Can't remember much of what MJM and JO wrote other than MJM telling VT to take life slow and easy ... As if VT is not taking life easy enough...