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I'm just writing this because I realize that, as I approach 40, I feel that I haven't achieved very much. I've been thinking about going back to college for many years and I know it's never going to happen. Well, I may take a class, but I'll never get a master's. Plus, I have to be frugal. I don't make much money. I don't like crowds (i.e. school) or driving.

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Hey there CMS39 (now I understand your moniker!) Today I turn 40. Ew! I'm my mother's age now and my daughter is my age, because I'm really 19. I just stopped there. Only the body is 40.

Here are my major accomplishments in life (seriously):
<ul type="square">[*] not getting convicted of a crime or put in jail[*] not actually killing anyone I've secretly stalked and/or plotted to kill[*] not actually committing suicide[*] raising 3 kids, one mentally handicapped [*] coping entirely on my own with a huge garden of blooming madness for 21 years[*] carving out my own career in web design & development, autodidactically, from scratch[*] never losing my ability to touch other people significantly through my writing[/list]
I'm not "successful" as the world deems success. I work freelance from home right now cause I can't navigate the complicated human social structure of lies, fawning, etc. I haven't any energy for that nor any means of parsing socially-acceptable and mandatory untruths. I barely pay my bills and live in a townhouse -- can't even afford a real home. My destiny was breached and abrogated by deicidal usurpers and I will never have my life back. Oh well, happy birthday to me. If you're happy with your accomplishments, screw what the world thinks. You'll never be happy trying to please THEM or THEIR corrupted ideas. I think you should stick with what you are doing -- too few people can say they "love" what they do for a living. Honor that!

~Mal