Wednesday, April 3, 2024

39ers Aging with ATTitude APRIL 2024

 Laughing & Streaking through April Flowers  

Well, 39ers, I killed my keyboard on March 31st, and am in a time-crunch to finish packing my apartment, lock-stock-and-barrel as we used to say, for renovations that begin mid-April. I’ll surely need the resulting “staycation” while the sawing, grinding, wiring, and myriad installations ensue. Sometimes you just gotta grin ‘n’ bear it!

That should tell you, this humble article is (by others’ request) not at the top of my schedule. I’m fighting with a C-grade keyboard and mouse, but April is 90% finished anyway!

Happy UN-Birthday APRIL 39ers! With a faint Easter egg scent and fake basket grass trailing behind us, let’s spring into Spring with wild abandon! Well, at least with renewed faith in our inner strength, as we wake our brains from winter hibernation. It may not be visible yet, but the winter doldrums are beginning to dissipate.

We start the month with a joke—Happy April Fool’s Day ya-all! (Ya see, when I started this, it was before April 1st!) We’ll follow it with National Humor Month and top it off with our April Song of Note, “The Streak”! It can’t get more fun than that.

Those 39ers who remember the Ray Stevens’ 1974 tantalizing tune will laugh with the memories, and those who have fewer 39-and-holding UN-birthdays under their belts can read on with a curious smile … 

֎ For 39ers who Follow the Stars  

Aries (March 21st–April 19th) & Taurus (April 20th–May 20th) 39ers will feel the effects of this month’s New Moon coupled with a Total Eclipse. Take advantage of the energy it generates and get busy …

Aries, count your lucky stars—one by one—as they’re making a big splash in the sky just for you! Whatever changes you’ve been thinking about making … decide what you truly want and go for it! From the first week to the last, April stars align fortuitously for Aries. Adjust your life personally, professionally, or both. Whatever you do, have fun!

Taurus 39ers, you’ll need to wait ‘til later in the month for a Jupiter-Uranus connection to make your changes (April 20th), but they will be no less spectacular. Especially if you spend the first couple of weeks peeking inside your inner workings. Take a spiritual deep breath before moving forward, then go for it!

Gift-givers for Aries and Taurus may want to think beyond the traditional white diamond. Do you know diamonds come in many colors? Aries 39ers relate well to gifts of red, and Taurus is ever partial to earth-loving green.

֎ Celebrating APRIL 39ers ~ And More!   

If you’re 39 and Holding (at least once) you’ve learned how important is our sense of humor in life. Welcome Spring and National Humor Month. The original sponsoring link is not current but of course, I found more to help us enjoy the humor of life.

While it may not be clinically true that “Laughter is the best medicine,” most of us admit to experiences in life when you just threw up your hands and laughed at the absurdity or irony of your situation, no matter how devastating. If you can’t fix or stop a bad moment in life, you might find laughing at it will soon provide the frame of mind to find a solution forward, or just plain deal with it.

Businessman and author, Harvey Mackay, gives us some tips to stay in good humor health, beginning with a quote that fits the moment, “Our local newspaper pictured a man standing by his car, which had been crushed by a fallen tree. He was smiling, waving at people driving by and holding a sign that read, ‘new-style compact car.’” Gotta love it!

National Card and Letter Writing Month   
œAlthough the last post about this venerable cause was in 2018, the sponsoring link is still a very active & worthwhile site; of course, the month’s designation began with the USPS, but nothing noted on their site since inception in 2015, and throughout the years since, have occasionally focused on it 

Regardless of your motivation for writing, sealing, stamping & mailing an actual letter or positive postcard, it’s a meaningful endeavor not just for you, but for your recipient …

Sunday ~ April 7th: I say we start National Beer Day on the day before (Saturday ~ New Beer’s Eve)! Though Wiki’s tribute about its origin when President Franklin D. Roosevelt put alcohol back on the table after prohibition ended, is informational, the story is a little dry. So I scoured the ‘Net for more than a few fun links about beer, as you sit ‘n’ sip.

I’m proud to say I live in the “Capital of Craft” beer! And there’s a reason for that: “Six San Diego County craft breweries won nine gold medals at the 2024 Brewers Cup of California, the annual statewide brewing competition,” reported the Times of San Diego. Pizza Port Brewing Company captured four gold medals and two silver for San Diego County’s best.

To remind us of the immense honor of that, Spirit of the Holidays site comments, “One of the best things about beer is the sheer number of varieties that exist.” Truer words were never spoken!

If you’re nowhere near San Diego, look for a celebration or brewery near you for loads of beer info and history, like this Northern and Central Pennsylvania favorite, “All of the craft beers created at the Runaway Train Brewery are themed around the railroad including names such as Ticket to Ride, Golden Spike, Last Train Home, and Lucky Ticket.” And yes, there is a “Wet Your Whistle” brew … what fun! 

Monday ~ April 8th: At 39 and Holding every month’s New Moon is an opportunity to refresh and reflect on a smaller scale than the New Year. Except for THIS month! Great celestial happenings today as much of the world witnesses and experiences the pull of a New Moon AND a Total Lunar Eclipse! Make your New Moon Musings count. You don’t need to be in the totality path. We will all feel its effects if we open ourselves to the possibilities. Celebrate April’s New Moon!

֎ Monthly Song of Note
Just couldn’t help myself. When I saw The Streak” hitting the vintage music charts for April 1974, I had to do it. Your monthly Song of Note comes to you from the grand era of comedy records. This one by Ray Stevens, also infamous for “Gitarzan” (1969) and “Ahab the Arab” (1962) parodies real happenings in the 1970s. Yep, we had fun! He ain't crude, look at that, look at that | He ain't lewd, look at that, look at that | He's just in the mood to run in the nude
There are m
ore tuneful tidbits to manifest your memories of 1974, and keep the Rock Rockin’ from 50 Years Ago this Month 

֎ Aging with ATT-i-tude Platitude 
We were given a sense of humor for a reason. Like most things, 39ers, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it! Do it today. Right now. Smile, grin, LAUGH!   ~ L. Rochelle 

So there will be more, m'dear 39ers. Give me a few more days and come back to learn about April's fun for Aries and Taurus UN-Birthdays and the double-whammy of a New Moon and the full lunar eclipse on April 8th!

Happy UN-Birthday 39ers ~ APRIL 2024 ~ Rock On!
       This one’s for you, kids – Varoujan (John), Les, and Elvin/Al (IM)!  

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