Aging: Two pop/rock views

To grow old is to change
To change is to be new
To be new is to be young again

John Denver, “Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life,”

Rhymes and Reasons (1969)

Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying
And dying to me don't sound like all that much fun

John Mellencamp, “The Authority Song,”

Uh-huh (1983)

Maybe it's a mark of getting old, but I think I have to go with Mr. Denver on this one.

In a related story, in the wake of the sudden passing of Monkee Davy Jones....

...David Bowie has announced he wants his name back.

Ladies and gentlemen, DAVY JONES is dead!  Long live DAVY JONES!

A wonderfully Augustinian lyric from Leonard Cohen

...on this first Friday of Lent:

When you're not feeling holy,
your loneliness says that you've sinned.

(From "Sisters of Mercy", The Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1967)

My Breakfast with Andre

The Problem with Choice

is

What You Leave Out

: Andre Gide





Paging Katie Couric! Paging Katie Couric!

So, prepping for my colonoscopy on Sunday and early Monday morning gave me a sense of accomplishment. And I bet I'm not alone in this. 

So, given that physicians want to encourage their patients to have the procedure, I have a couple ideas (the first quite seriously, the second less so) for t-shirts/hats, etc. to be given to whomever has a colonoscopy.

 It should be accompanied by a major public service announcement campaign...hence, the need of Ms. Couric!

Slogan 1:  

I've been 'py-ed

(Have you?)

It should, of course, be "'scoped," but no lay person says that.  We always use the name of the procedure.

Slogan 2:

I put it where the sun don't shine

(Have you?)

Katie, have your people call mine.

It was 50 years ago today that John Glenn circles the earth...

...in his space capsule, Friendship 7.  Below is the recording (45 rpm!) that came with the G. I. Joe Mercury capsule! 

I still have my record, though not the capsule or the spacesuit or the G. I. Joe.

And, also in John Glenn's honor, here's my favorite Elvis Costello reference to presidential candidate Senator Glenn from "Peace in Our Time" of 1984's Goodbye Cruel World:

And the heavyweight champion fights in the
International Propaganda Star Wars
There's already one spaceman in the White House;
What do you want another one for?

Godspeed, John Glenn!

Top Five (er, six) Presidential Colonoscopy Quotes

On this Presidents' Day 2012 (and the day of my first colonoscopy), here are the top five presidential colonoscopic quotations:

6. (Bonus)  "Colonoscopy accomplished." 

George W. Bush

5.  "I cannot tell a lie; I didn't have a colonoscopy." 

George Washington

4.  "Tippecanoe and Colonoscopy Too." 

William Henry Harrison

3. "I am not a gastroenterologist."

Richard Nixon  

2.  "A colon divided against itself cannot stand." 

Abraham Lincoln

and the #1 Presidential-themed colonoscopy quotation is:

1. "I did not have a colonoscopy with that doctor." 

Bill Clinton