Speaker 1: That's me as a baby. If you're seeing this, Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm James R. James's fifty plus. Normally my audio only
Speaker 1: weekly podcast and probably every Tuesday. So I want to
Speaker 1: like to get older. I want to think on my
Speaker 1: listeners who faithfully listen to it every week. But everyone's
Speaker 1: so why I do want this audio and video? So
Speaker 1: if you're listening to this, there's a video version now
Speaker 1: a picture of my of me as a baby in
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. I'm talking about the way I actually
Speaker 1: just go down and disappear there. I am my curly hair,
Speaker 1: I look the same. Why did I picture of me up? Well,
Speaker 1: it's my birthday in twelve days as I'm releasing this,
Speaker 1: but if you're watching it later, it maybe sooner. My
Speaker 1: birthday is May tef just keeps think of it that way.
Speaker 1: I still recomition play records too, So there's another part
Speaker 1: of my past as I'm thinking about so because it's
Speaker 1: my birthday, I was get introspective. But I was on
Speaker 1: a show the other day and the guy asked me,
Speaker 1: I actually was my own show. It was my own show,
Speaker 1: and the guest asked me a question about legacy and
Speaker 1: this life. It was like, what would you tell your
Speaker 1: younger self? And that was very interesting. I was like,
Speaker 1: what would I tell my younger self? And I would
Speaker 1: do about that for the last week or show since then.
Speaker 1: So I thought, I always share my thoughts with you.
Speaker 1: Guess what I do. My show is about what it's
Speaker 1: like to be fifty plus, you know, with fifty where
Speaker 1: life is a lot different. I know what I told him,
Speaker 1: Like I say the same thing here. Getting older is
Speaker 1: twofold one. I don't mind getting older. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know more stuff. I've survived a lot of things. I
Speaker 1: have a lot under my belt. I had a good time,
Speaker 1: can't complain that much. I had a good time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a lot of bad times too, but I had
Speaker 1: I had some good I have some good memories. A
Speaker 1: lot of good people came through my life over the years.
Speaker 1: I've had some fun jobs, some fun experiences and unique experiences,
Speaker 1: out of this world experiences. I love it. So I
Speaker 1: can look back and go, Okay, I love life. I mean,
Speaker 1: so getting older is like, I don't mind it so much.
Speaker 1: The flip side of getting older, the other side of
Speaker 1: it is there as you let go of a lot
Speaker 1: of things you thought were important, but then there are
Speaker 1: things that are important now that start to hit. Usually
Speaker 1: its health issues, but that's not always the case. You
Speaker 1: can have bad health when you're younger or anything and
Speaker 1: get better. But a lot of times it is health related,
Speaker 1: parent related. May even take care of our parents orly
Speaker 1: looking after them. There's just there's this switch. It's like
Speaker 1: you start to see the other side. Okay, now I'm
Speaker 1: heading towards the end. We don't leave out of here,
Speaker 1: live kids, we don't we all die. Don't want to
Speaker 1: talk about it. I get it, but it's something that
Speaker 1: we have to talk about. I just feel so blessed
Speaker 1: that I made it to this age that I'm here
Speaker 1: at fIF fifty six. I made it. And then now
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, it's now about what I do now
Speaker 1: for the add towards the end, because I don't do
Speaker 1: what NaN's gonna be. It could be tomorrow, it could
Speaker 1: be ten years, thirteen, twenty years. But I'm much more aware.
Speaker 1: I'm hyper aware of my age and what that means
Speaker 1: in social circles. In many certain certain areas, I'm completely
Speaker 1: invisible in social circles. In certain areas. Things you thought
Speaker 1: were okay you could do, you just can't wait do anymore.
Speaker 1: It looks it's not it's not acceptable now it doesn't
Speaker 1: look good. On the flip side, I want to kind
Speaker 1: of fearless. I'm still fearless in many ways. I still try,
Speaker 1: and I'm trying all kinds of new stuff, even at
Speaker 1: this age is and I can appreciate it more. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not rushing. I don't I don't miss certain things.
Speaker 1: I take my time with certain things. I don't rushing
Speaker 1: through certain things. So it's a real it's a real
Speaker 1: mixed bag. I know I'll survive. I really feel I
Speaker 1: feel optimistic that I will make it to the end,
Speaker 1: to home stretch. Somehow, they don't think positive. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of things in the world going on. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like an but I feel like the basics,
Speaker 1: I'll be okay. I hope and I'm glad I've let
Speaker 1: go of a lot of stuff because I have friends
Speaker 1: who are younger who are going through something that I
Speaker 1: went through to I went through it also, so there's
Speaker 1: no high horse or anything like that. But it's just like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was there. I don't know if that feels like
Speaker 1: I don't know if that feels like and I did
Speaker 1: a show. Once you see you know things are not
Speaker 1: happening to you, and that's why I learned too. Also,
Speaker 1: not said they're just all everybody said. Everybody is coming
Speaker 1: down on me. Everybody thinks it's like they don't things
Speaker 1: happen because you live life and things kind of you
Speaker 1: kind of walk through life, and if you do anything
Speaker 1: has cause and effect. That's why I learned. Also, it
Speaker 1: can feel sometimes like what the what the beep is
Speaker 1: going on? The beat beat beat beat is going on here?
Speaker 1: You're like, Okay, I don't want for much anymore, Not
Speaker 1: really I don't. There's things I wanted, so I did
Speaker 1: all these things I wanted to come. There's things I
Speaker 1: want to do and things I want to conquer, but
Speaker 1: they're much smaller than they used to be. I mean,
Speaker 1: in good ways. We didn't think that it's still important stuff.
Speaker 1: But like there are certain things I know the time
Speaker 1: is past already. There are just certain things that just
Speaker 1: work for as certain ages and for a reason. And
Speaker 1: there are other things that are ageless that I know
Speaker 1: I can try. I've been doing that since last since
Speaker 1: the late forties, I've been doing things and be like
Speaker 1: what I love everything that I do. So I'm very fortunate,
Speaker 1: all my hobbies, everything, I'm very fortunate. I walk into
Speaker 1: my garden and there's times I just think, Wow, I'm
Speaker 1: so lucky to have this garden that I created eleven
Speaker 1: years eleven twelve years ago. It was not here I created.
Speaker 1: I created the garden. I'm creating the garden I've wanted
Speaker 1: that I envisioned it. It's really coming together, like it's
Speaker 1: a lot of it's coming together. I really wanted it.
Speaker 1: I work hard at it. In my house too. There's
Speaker 1: certain looks I wanted. I'm to my plant right here,
Speaker 1: I got it. And there's certain things, I mean, things
Speaker 1: on my walls I wanted in the wall there on
Speaker 1: the wall. Like I have created a safe space for myself.
Speaker 1: And that's that's that's that's a that's a that's a
Speaker 1: long time coming. I have places i've lived where I
Speaker 1: did feel safe. Place I think I didn't feel safe
Speaker 1: going out partying on stuff. I'm done and I'm okay
Speaker 1: with that. Like I have no like I'm fine, Like
Speaker 1: I have I don't. I don't miss it. I had
Speaker 1: a good time. It's a hold in time. It is
Speaker 1: now and that's a probably you have younger friends sometimes
Speaker 1: because they still want you to. They're still in it,
Speaker 1: which they should because they're younger, because it's for them.
Speaker 1: I don't don't miss that anymore, not at all. I
Speaker 1: don't need to go to every concert, every club, every bar.
Speaker 1: I don't need to do that anymore. I did all
Speaker 1: that for like forty years, and I don't feel like
Speaker 1: a you know, old funny daddy or nothing. I feel
Speaker 1: like I just I did it. I'm good. I'm good.
Speaker 1: I'm good in the hood. I don't. I have other
Speaker 1: things and needs and wants that I want, and I
Speaker 1: know I could be fun. I have a good and
Speaker 1: I can have a good time and then once the
Speaker 1: blue moon and may go out and whatever. But I
Speaker 1: don't miss it. I just when I come home like
Speaker 1: I didn't miss that now I could have I didn't
Speaker 1: have to go out, you know, trying to my friends.
Speaker 1: I try to do stuff. But I'm like, I'm good
Speaker 1: my life right now. For me, it's about accomplishments. What
Speaker 1: can I accomplish big and small? And I think, because
Speaker 1: I know I'm not going to live forever and I
Speaker 1: do feel my mortality, that I want to get them done.
Speaker 1: I got tons of tabs of light on my computer,
Speaker 1: folders over here, stuff. I got story with things I'm
Speaker 1: trying to accomplish and finish, which a very important to me.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what I want or anything else
Speaker 1: then just you know, the latest iPad or this, you know,
Speaker 1: I just get the latest iPhone is now. I need
Speaker 1: a phone. I need a new phone. I want to
Speaker 1: keep my weight phone. I need new phone. Apple does
Speaker 1: that to you, right, But I just I for me,
Speaker 1: I want just too simple things. I want to bench
Speaker 1: for my for my yard I buy. I want more plants,
Speaker 1: you know, to plan a plant out there. I mean,
Speaker 1: just I have so much My things are just simpler.
Speaker 1: I just don't. I don't need all these trappings. I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna buy the expensive car. My house is worth something,
Speaker 1: thank god, but I'm never gonna get the huge mansion
Speaker 1: or anything. I'm watching people grinding, like I make this
Speaker 1: much money and this much money and this one. When
Speaker 1: I see that, I'm like, I just want to make
Speaker 1: enough money to survive. Pay my people, survive byplants or whatever,
Speaker 1: take some trips. I don't. I just like the the
Speaker 1: grind for me is helping other people. The grind for
Speaker 1: me is getting projects and workout that I have something
Speaker 1: to say about or something to say. That's what I'll
Speaker 1: get out. Make some money. Great, I gotta make money.
Speaker 1: You gotta make money live. Had a huge bill for
Speaker 1: this ratless roof. But that's kind of the but that's
Speaker 1: kind of just the byproduct. You have to have money
Speaker 1: to make money live. And I'm not just into this.
Speaker 1: I used to go, go, go go. Now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go go go person in a sense. But more projects
Speaker 1: and what can I get done? And I love it.
Speaker 1: I have collaborators. I loved working with them and hear
Speaker 1: what they're doing and see what's going on and I
Speaker 1: and I do, but I do value my time. Took
Speaker 1: a ball back the other day, felt great, went out
Speaker 1: to the beach to just hang out. Felt great. Like
Speaker 1: I'm learning that stuff too in my own backyard. I
Speaker 1: love exploring through Los Angeles, what's going on in LA.
Speaker 1: I enjoy it. I enjoyed that whole thing. And that's
Speaker 1: you know, my birthday's coming up, and I don't want
Speaker 1: a big birthday. I don't need a giant birthday and
Speaker 1: everybody there and I was I don't care about that.
Speaker 1: It's like give me a bunch of smaller birthdays where
Speaker 1: I can actually talk to you, have meaningful conversation. And
Speaker 1: I was like, like, I have some longtime friends, but
Speaker 1: we're doing each other thirty years or longer. It's a
Speaker 1: long time. What'st of our adult lives. And there's like
Speaker 1: seven of us got together. It's perfect. We were we
Speaker 1: were in a back room and a place called sausage
Speaker 1: Factory in San Francisco. No one was there, just us,
Speaker 1: and we had amazing talks for like several hours. We
Speaker 1: had wine and posta and laughed and talked and you know,
Speaker 1: and that was and to me, I'll never forget that
Speaker 1: because who knows when we'll all be together again. We're
Speaker 1: not guaranteed that at all. The last phone call. I've
Speaker 1: learned this very much of my life as I get older.
Speaker 1: It's one of the things you also get older, that
Speaker 1: last phone call would be the last phone call. And
Speaker 1: that's just that's just kind of reality. That's reality for
Speaker 1: everybody saying when you get older, it's just a little different.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to be getting older. That's moral story. I
Speaker 1: had a lot of fun. So my advice an about
Speaker 1: who's younger. Try to have some fun. I know it's tough,
Speaker 1: it's hard out there, and I don't know whatever you
Speaker 1: consider fun do it. It goes by. I mean that's
Speaker 1: such a cliche thing to say, but it goes by
Speaker 1: so fast. I'm fifty six years old almost. It's like
Speaker 1: maybe somebody will see it's obaus fey six already. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't get emotional all of a sudden, it's just
Speaker 1: it's it's try to have some fun, really, because there
Speaker 1: are times later in life, you know, I might might
Speaker 1: be able to. So I advise everyone how some laughs,
Speaker 1: have some fun. Please, I beg of you, because that's
Speaker 1: stuff you've got to live on when you're not laughing later.
Speaker 1: I'm James on Jor and to all the rest of
Speaker 1: you guys are in your fifteen fifty plus, I salute
Speaker 1: you all. Birth my birthday, all my birthday twins out
Speaker 1: there salute you also. And to all of you, thank
Speaker 1: you very much. Talk to you next time.