56: another great year closer to the grave

Yesterday I turned 56 years old. Once more I rode the Earth for a single solar orbit, busily working on the planet’s surface while generating my share of electromagnetic emissions hurtling into space at the speed of light.

Here I’ll continue what is now a blog tradition of birthdayblogging (previously: 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2018, 2017), doing a bit of autobiographical reflection. Plus photos and poems.

What does it mean to pass this milestone number 56?

In some ways the annual view gives me hope. Biologically, I’m still alive! And my ambulatory carcass let me do all kinds of professional work since last February. My latest book, Universities on Fire, went from giant Word file to galley proofs, indexing, a nice cover, and finally print/ebook. The Future Trends Forum continued and grew its audience. Over the past year I taught five seminars for Georgetown University and co-taught a sixth, which clearly shows I still love the teaching experience. I led or participated in a ton of videos and podcasts. I traveled more for work, as various people decided that the pandemic was done, or at least bearable. That included visiting South America for the first time, which means now I’ve traveled to every Earthly continent save Antarctica.