Rich
Glanzer
June 2010
Oh no, am I
old? I was playing broomball two days
after my 39th birthday and I was fighting Trevor, my hockey
teammate, but broomball enemy for the ball.
As I was winning the battle, I heard my hockey and broomball teammate Melanie
yell to Trevor, “Don’t hurt the Old Man!!”
Old Man??? Old Man?? Honey, don’t worry about me, worry about
him. This ball is mine. 5 seconds after Melanie uttered those words,
the ball was safely on my stick. Rich 1, Youth 0.
While I was
proud of my small achievement, it started to sink in. Yikes, I am the Old Guy. But calm down, Richie, no need to panic,
there are older people than me that play in the sports leagues I play in. And I’m not close to the oldest dude on my
teams. But it got me to thinking, what’s
on the Young Bucket List that I haven’t crossed out? You know what the Bucket List is right? Its stuff you need to do before you, “Kick
the Bucket” and die.
But life is
a journey, and you need more than one Bucket List. When I was 23, I realized I was going to
regret never going away to college. So I
decided to try it. And I regretted
it. New Paltz
sucks!! But I’d rather regret doing
something, then not doing it and regretting that. Does that make sense? Well to me it does.
So in 2006 I
thought my young years were quickly dwindling.
So I upped and moved to Vegas.
Take that Old Age!! And though
Vegas didn’t work out for me, I’m very glad I gave it a go. 5 months of real time created a lifetime’s
worth of memories.
But now that
I have less than 365 days till the Big 4-0…I have to make a new Bucket List,
and fill that bucket quickly. But
unfortunately, with a career, and not just a job, I have to make sure the law
is ok with my wish list.
You see I
always wanted to be in a bar brawl. I’ve
gotten into around 25 fights in my life (the vast majority in elementary and
high school), but none in a bar. I
always thought it would be cool to fight someone you never met before. Wrong place, wrong time
type of deal. Then I’d envision
two-four burly guys throw us out on our arses, and we
shake hands and go to another bar to celebrate our battle. But alas, I think the dream is dead for that
one.
I also want
to play in the World Series of Poker’s Main Event in Vegas. The buy-in is $10,000. I’ll never be able to afford that, but I can
play in satellite tournaments which cost less, and I can win a seat into the
tourney. But that can happen in my 40’s
or 50’s, I have time to cash in that bad boy.
No, what I
need is more urgent, more pressing. I
can’t let this year go the way I let my 38th year go. So to all my friends that are reading this,
I’m serious. I need help, I need
inspiration.
So if you
want to do something, but have no one to do it with…call me. I’ll try to find an excuse to say yes, not no. Want a cheesesteak in Philly but its 1 a.m.? Call me.
Sure I’ve done that already, but I’ll help you with your Bucket List, if
you help me with mine.
Because yes,
I got the ball from Trevor this time, but who knows how long I can win that
battle?