35

I turned 35 today. I have always been enamored by the concept of lists. I have not had the chance to do very many lists on my blog. What better occasion than a birthday to change that. So without further ado, here is my top ten list on turning 35.10. 35 feels awesome. For no obvious reason but that it is an odd number and ends with a 5. Odd numbers rock IMHO. I always felt that even numbers got way too much attention and odd numbers got tossed by the way side, ignored and rejected. And I decided early in my life that I was going to root for the underdog. As an added bonus, my son thinks its a cool number too because he can count by 5's.9. In the Valley, 35 is considered old. Atleast that is the feeling I get hearing everyday about the 20 something who made a gazillion dollars selling his startup to Google or Facebook or Apple. 24 maybe 25 is as old as you are allowed to be if you have any remote ideas of being an entrepreneur. We have to change that, don't we?8. While I did not write as much as I would have liked to this year, I still ended up generating a decent amount of content for my blogs. I had my first article (not counting what I wrote in my college days) come out in print which was a sweet feeling. I also got paid for it which was pretty awesome.7. I promised my wife that I would cook often enough this past year. That happened twice. Here is promising her that I will try to match last year's number in the coming year. Not that I am bad at cooking. She is just that much better.6. I had a ball at work this year. Building consumer devices is a lot of fun. And chaotic and hectic. Deep breath. It was and continues to be one heck of an experience. I learnt a ton of new things and promptly forgot all about it. Hopefully I will remember atleast some of it in the coming year.5. I rediscovered my lost handwriting thanks to a new found love for fountain pens and good quality paper (read freakin' expensive). My wife says she can finally read what I write. And that is huge progress.4. I spent a good amount of time with my son this year. That is a pretty big deal for me. We had some awesome moments together as a family. If that alone is not worth celebrating, nothing else is.3. This year, the realization dawned that I needed to move my sorry a#$ to a gym. It was painful at start. But after 9 months, it has totally transformed me. Everyone else around me is sick and tired of hearing about it. Folks, do not expect this year to be any different. Did I tell you that I did 72 pull-ups unassisted the other day?2. I published my first book this year. And that gave me a big thrill. And it was for a good cause which made it even better. <shameless plug>If you want to buy a copy, you can pick your version here </shameless plug>. We have already donated over Rs.15000 to charities from the sale proceeds of the book. But the best part was seeing my son proudly showing it to everyone who came to his room saying,"My dad wrote this book." That can't be beat. Ever.1. 35 is the new 18. Enough said.