It's a sad thing when one creates a blog site, but then fails to grasp the nature of the exercise -- and leaves the blog site empty of thought for yay these 12 long months. Writers block perhaps.

So what prompted this missive at long last? Today I took the plunge, drank the kool-aid, followed the madding crowd -- and decided to get a flu shot for the first time in my life. But not just any flu shot, the H1N1 flu shot.

As I creep closer to a half century of life, I am reminded just how short life really is. Geez, there's an eye-opening phrase, huh? How many of you -- and your friends, family, etc. -- say this at least once a week? But I digress.

As I creep closer to a half century of life, I am reminded of my mortality. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm afraid of dying. I say 'think' because, well, I've never been close. I think. Anyway, it's not really that I'm afraid of dying, I'm simply scared to death of being ill. Being out of control of my body/bodily functions fills me with dread.

And so, I faced the fear of side effects, sharp instruments and snot-nosed kids, and stood in line for 2 hours -- outdoors in -10C temps -- then waited indoors another hour, and had the shot.

Piece of cake.

Now as long as I don't sit beside any coughing/hacking/sneezing person on the plane tomorrow, I should be okay. The next 10 days to two weeks should tell the tale. Hopefully I'll be back to blog then. Stay tuned!