Greeting Loyal Airmen.  Sometimes when thinking about this log, we look over events of the past week to find some reoccurring theme.  And finding one this week was rather easy.  As most of you who logged on last week saw, British artist Mike Fyles had done an amazing job with the cover painting to our newest Airship 27 Prod. pulp title, THE GREEN LAMA.  Well, what most of you don't know is that Mike loves to take brand new illustrations and then using a little PC magic, age them to appear worn, used and old.  Of course once he'd handed over his dazzling cover to our book, he could not resist the temptation to play with it in the manner discussed.

              
And here it is with worn, yellowed and wrinkled edges, as if it were an authentic 1930s pulp that had been locked away in somebody's trunk all these years.  All of us involved with the book thought it was just too cool.  And as one of our gang pointed out, this is most likely just how our book will look in another 30 years.  Amazing.  Sort of like a handy time-machine experience.  Two days later, we signed up for Social Security.

We were given early retirement from our day jobs upon turning 55.  The company gave us a full monthly pension plus a nice settlement until we were ready to sign up for Social Security.  Whereas the Air Chief will turn 63 in November, it was time to sign up now as to make sure we are on the rolls and our first check arrives when it is suppose to, as that same month our supplement will end.  So there we were on-line, filling out the forms and becoming the latest post-World War II baby-boomer to sign up.  Which led to lots of thoughts about aging these past few days.

My father worked hard all his life and always predicted he would never get a single penny of social security.  He was in ill-health and his prediction was realized when he died at the age of 59.  Just wasn't fair at all.  Yet we here we are, surviving with lung cancer, feeling good (save for a few extra pounds) and planning on being around for a bit longer.  As for the extra pounds, Valerie, since her return from Colorado, has gotten us on a really good exercise regiment and portion control.  Goodbye snack foods, hello fruits and veggies.  Still, 63!  Just how the hell did that happen?

Val says the older we get, the more we look like the actor Wilford Brimley.  Ha.  Don't worry, we're not about to start selling you oat meal, although it “really” is good for you.  The Air Chief dug around in his files to find a decent mug shot of himself to show how he looks these days.  We picked the photo above.  It's the Air Chief in the Batcave hard at work on a new comic script, and surrounded by all his posters and toys.  Not exactly the decor of most soon-to-be-63 yr. old seniors is it?  And that's the point.  Aging is about both the body and the spirit. We certainly have no illusions about the physical limits time and nature have placed on us.  Gravity is a bitch.  But then again, we still love to laugh, to play, to read comics, to see dumb aciton movies like G.I.JOE, and to truly get a whopping big charge out of life.  Somehow wisdom has managed to creep into our youthful imagination and that's a strange and very new aspect to our identity.  One we hope to explore in much greater depths in the years ahead.  You see, like everything else in life, aging is what you choose to make it.  We think it's an adventure, one we're very happy to be on.

Till next week, you youngsters take care,
Ron – Over & Out