when does it stop being funny?

some recent random thoughts ...

1. so Chris' birthday approaches. For years, since he was about 40-42, I've joked that he wasn't old and his current age didn't matter, but when he turned 50, he would be out and I'd be looking for a younger model. Isn't that hilarious? Well, now he is going to be 48. 50 is in sight. And now maybe the joke is not so funny. Should I stop? Or give it another year? Or keep going right up until the 50th, then he'll be surprised when I don't kick him out?

2. But maybe by then he'll be disappointed to not be on his own coz maybe he'll be in the midst of a second mid-life crisis (the first one was the Beemer convertible, remember?) and will want to exchange me in for a younger model; one who doesn't drink so much and who isn't so mean.

3. All my new girlfriends here in Chicago have the hots for Chris and go on and on about how handsome he is and perfect and such. One of them even has an elaborate fantasy in which Chris leaves me and moves in with her. "Those shoulders and he's so handy," she says. (And this is not Missy.) She has been fixing up her bungalow on the Northwest side, and though she is impressively handy herself, much remains to be done. So one can understand her attraction and her dismissal of me as a candidate. "I can cook," she says, in understatement (she's a culinary school grad). It doesn't make me feel that bad to be passed over, although I do really like her cat Scooter. I guess I could visit.

4. Speaking of the 50s set, has anyone heard from Daddy? (Ha! Boyer, you thought I was gonna say you!) I haven't heard a word from him nor from Simone. One would think he'd have a new script in the works by now ... something about the execution of Hussein? How she and Liza were throwing back martinis in the front row?