>It is often the young, who have just recently discovered such
>pleasures, who are most likely to frequently partake of them and to
>announce this to anyone in the vicinity.
>
>As one grows older, the consequences of indulgence mount, and
>temperance often becomes a necessity rather than a choice.

Another thing many of us discover with age is a talent for, and indeed a capacity for positive delight in, buzzkillery. As we arrive in middle age, we cannot wait to tell the young how disappointing the world they've not yet grown into is going to be when they get here; how their peers, their leaders, and especially their bodies are inevitably going to let them down; how they, too, will one day be doomed to wear eternally the chains they forged in life; etc. Some of us ultimately adopt wiping the smug smiles off their fresh little faces as our chief, in some cases sole, recreation.

You're welcome, kids! One day you'll do the same to the irritatingly brash and cheerful little punks who are being born around now, and we'll watch you do it from the porch and nod sagely, reserving to ourselves the even more satisfying knowledge that it gets far, far worse than even the middle-aged you knows. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.