Turning 60

Strange how time goes by. And strange I would say that, since I know time does not flow, it is just our perception of one of the spacetime coordinates of our block universe...
The thing is, on February 5 I will turn 60. An important date for anybody - I could say a milestone. First of all, let me say that we give for granted all the days of our life we got to live, but in truth we did not know it from the start we would make it far. I do feel rather young still, but I am very well aware that there are heaps of ways I could have ended my life earlier. Accidents, but also naturally occurring sickness.

Life is a dangerous business. We go through it and spend little thought on the fact that we risk it on a daily basis. Say we catch a plane or get in a car for a drive - we have a one in O(1 million) chance of not making it to destination (forgive me for not being more precise, here we are talking in qualitative terms). Or we go jogging around the block - maybe a heart stroke is awaiting us. Or a tree crashes on us. Or a drunkard runs us over. Food poisoning. Domestic accidents - just slip in the shower, and you may be done for. The list is endless.

Besides accidents I nearly avoided and never got to know - these are the vast majority, I suppose -, I can list a few instances where I clearly risked my life. E.g., I wrote about one excursion to the top of the Cumbre Rucu volcano here (Cumbre Rucu is a 4800m peak near Quito, in Ecuador; I once got caught by a storm just after getting to the top). I also think I risked significantly in another instance, while climbing solo the Cima Fanis sud in the Italian dolomites in 1987. Still earlier on, as an 8-year-old I risked drowning in the waters of Bibione (Italy) when I jumped out of a boat in clear water that was deeper than I thought (they fished me out of danger in time then).

Health-wise, I have been rather lucky as I never got into any life-threatening condition through viruses or other sickness. One exception is a relapsing carcinoma that I got removed from my skin twice in 2007 and 2008; apparently I got it over with.

So, here I am, at 60 years of age, still in my prime :-) . One thing that is going to test my strength these days is the birth of twin boys, last December 16. Taking care of small babies is an all-time job!

And how is my health today? Generally fine - I weigh 69kg for 1.76m of height, and feel relatively fit. However, there are a few issues. If you like the gory details, here is a list of small problems:
- I have loose shoulder joints, which cause significant pain when I extend my arms back or sideways. I am doing exercise to mitigate the problem, but I know it will never really go away.
- I have a mild prostate enlargement, which fortunately has not caused significant issues so far. To be kept under control.
- My eyesight is generally ok (I wear glasses for presbyopia) but I have a congenital maculopatia that is gradually impairing vision - so far mostly on my right eye. It is not treatable. I trust the left one will keep working for as long as I need it, though.
- I have had a couple of atrial fibrillation attacks in the recent past, which brought a diagnosis of some heart arythmia. There is not much to be done here either, but with a healthy lifestyle this should not be the cause of my demise.

So, with some luck, you can expect me to be here blogging for some twenty more years, and then we'll see! To celebrate my birthday, I am pasting below a few pictures, in random order.