Aftershocks

One of our section managers passed away this weekend (our weekend of course, being Thursday and Friday). He suffered chest pains and complained of shortness of breath while driving somewhere. He had the presence of mind to park his vehicle on the road shoulder. He then lay down on the pavement to regain his bearings.

A passing motorist, seeing a supine traveler on the road, stopped and offered his assistance. When the man stood up, that was when the stroke got him.

He couldn't have been more than forty-five years old. He leaves behind a young family.

A Blood Pressure Chart is now displayed prominently on my cubicle and stares smack at me whenever I turn to make a phone call or to talk with my colleague in the cubicle to my left.

I haven't exactly been the paragon of health and over the past five years my health has gone progressively worse. This has, of course, matched the progress of my drinking habit. And, save for those few months that I deluded myself that I was a vegan --- not the best times of my life and something I would rather not repeat, though the health benefits were countless --- I haven't exactly been watching the diet. Sure, I know how to avoid pitfalls when I see them, but I haven't exactly put myself on Bruce Banner-restraints whenever an opportunity to gorge presents itself.

So now, I'm certain, instead of attracting the "babes" as I should (decent-looking, well-paid, single, and would absolutely listen to the tritest stories you can come up with --- no snoring, sadly, not guaranteed), I simply don't. Aside from the fact that most ladies, are, deep down, just as bad as men when it comes to looks, you can't get go far with an engine if its power plant might just give out on you when you have come to depend on it. And all the ladies out there are smart buyers. That's why you send them to school and give them fair shakes at high-paying jobs in the first place.

Yes, I know I shouldn't be too hard on myself. Nothing's more depressing when self-deprecation turns into self-flagellation. But when it comes to being healthy, there just isn't any room for drawn-out excuses. I haven't been fit because it hasn't been important to me at all.

Well, I am re-thinking this one over. Very, very carefully.