The Mid-Life Crisis Myth

According to a story on msnbc.com yesterday, the famous American mid-life crisis is a myth. Crankyjewishguy (CJG) was especially amused by this because just a few hours before stumbling upon this article he agreed to give his aging Volvo to his older son, who will be a junior next year at Harvard on St. Charles, otherwise known as Tulane University. Knowing he now needed to think about replacing his Volvo, CJG spent a pleasant half hour on the Mazda web site pricing Miata convertibles. No kidding.

Mid-life crisis symptom or practical family car?

Most psychologists peg mid-life as the desert between 40 and 65 (CJG is in there somewhere) and say there is no evidence that people in that age range experience life crises at a rate any different than people in other age groups and, in fact, most people's lives are very stable at mid-life. Reassured that his yearning for a Mazda Miata was not driven by some subconscious desire to return to his salad days, CJG now feels even more justified than ever about giving the Miata serious consideration. All he has to do is persuade Mrs. CJG of its practicality, like the fact that the trunk can hold one entire bag of groceries.

But CJG has a bone to pick with msnbc.com. The story debunking the mid-life crisis had photos of many people in mid-life who seem to be thriving -- Oprah, George Clooney, Jon Stewart, Jeff Bridges, Johnny Depp, Conan O'Brien, J-Lo, Colin Firth, Brad Pitt and Barack Obama among others -- and CJG spent the better part of Sunday trying to figure out what he has in common with these people other than age (and, in the case of Johnny Depp, looks) and came up empty. For one thing, not a single one of those people would seem to have to worry about money and that certainly can help keep you young. Second, they all have, with the exception of Barack Obama, job security. And, third, none of them needs to work as hard as CJG for attention, and when you dress like this it does seem you're trying to get people to look at you, don't you think?

CJG dressed as Capt. Jack Sparrow.

Greetings from Boca! Wish You Were Here!

Crankyjewishguy (CJG) had a pleasant flight to Fort Lauderdale yesterday thanks to smooth air and two of the little white pills he likes to take just before a flight, the ones that help him forget he's inside an aluminum tube going 500 m.p.h. six miles above the earth.  CJG wasn't just happy to get back to terra firma when he landed, he was also reassured to find out that terra firma still exists given that he hasn't actually seen the ground in weeks thanks to snow that is now piled so high it's grazing the window sills on the second floor of his house. CJG, being Jewish, also has to admit to feeling a little bit guilty about coming to Florida one day before the next massive snowstorm moves in, leaving Mrs. CJG and their younger son to fend for themselves during the onslaught. However, before he left, CJG did show Mrs. CJG how to bait the traps, load the hunting rifles and call for Chinese take out, so they should be OK until Thursday when CJG is scheduled to return home with a three-day tan, like this guy, who just happens to be CJG's body double because CJG doesn't do his own stunts.

Sensitive, pensive and thoughtful, CJG requires that his
 body doubles be like him in every way.

Later today CJG has signed up for a spin class and something called "a plastic surgery walking tour" of Boca, a guided tour through the history of tummy tucks, face lifts and breast enhancement surgery that apparently uses random citizens of Boca as models. Sounds quirky, but fun.

A Shout Out to...

Readers of crankyjewishguy (CJG) might find it reassuring to know they are not alone in reading CJG. In fact, CJG seems to be developing quite the international following. So far, he's had visitors from (in no particular order) Canada, Italy, Laos, France, Germany, India, Belgium, Pakistan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (thanks Colin Firth!), Brazil, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Spain, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Qatar, Algeria, Estonia, Finland, Paraguay, Azerbaijan, Poland, Morocco, Israel, Cambodia, Vietnam, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, the Cayman Islands, the Republic of Georgia, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, The United States, Singapore, Croatia, Russia, Argentina, Nepal, Denmark, China, Mexico, Austria, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Peru, Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Colombia, Ireland, Japan, Hungary, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Egypt, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Iran, Pakistan, Moldova, the Philippines, Brazil and the International Space Station. OK, he didn't really have a visitor from outer space; just making sure you're paying attention. If you've been following CJG for a while, you know he likes to give an occasional shout out to the country, outside North America, with the most visitors to his blog, adjusted, of course, for population size. This was relatively easy at the beginning, but now it requires several hours of calculations to figure out who's winning. Nevertheless, CJG is compulsive enough to want to know the answer and it is...

Singapore! (Apparently they didn't have time to decorate the bottom half of that flag.) Thanks, Singapore! If you send CJG a round trip, first class ticket he'll be happy to make a personal appearance. And if you want to know why CJG is so popular in Singapore, this column by Thomas Friedman in The New York Times offers some clues.