Are you where you expected to be by this moment in your life? Are your days serene and comfortable; Have all your ambitions been realized; do you have the domestic, public and professional life you'd always sought; do you get the respect you're due, and consequently generously grant the same respect to others who deserve it; are you guilt-free; have no health concerns; never have a carnal thought about anybody other than your spouse or life-partner; have no fear of death, disease or destruction; do your kids love you more than life itself; are you between 35 and 60 and welcome the next part of your life even more than what has gone before?

If you answered the foregoing questions in the affirmative, what is to follow is definitely not for you. To you I can only say, continue to have a nice life, as you are among the chosen -- and also probably not of this planet.

For the rest of us, however, who have reached that magical plateau known as mid-life, the way is not so clear, nor so comfortable. Certain realities encroach on our days and extract some of the magic. What we thought and felt at 20 no longer applies when we reach 40 or 50, which is probably not a bad thing. However, the reality still leaves us with some disquietude.

The excerpts that will be running on this site for the next while are chapters from a forthcoming book by myself, Ian Lidster, that are designed to explore the perils, pitfalls, and possibly hope contained in successfully navigating our middle years.

While material abounds for females on this stage of life's journey, there is a pathetic paucity of stuff for males -- especially, angry, disappointed and confused males, like most of us. We see a world we once knew going to hell all over the place, and we're not certain how to respond. The rules have changed, and the playing field has grown horribly uneven. At the same time, age seems to be rendering us less capable of hanging on and making it work. Time has caught up too quickly, and we weren't given enough lessons to cope.

If you are looking for a working title for the book, call it 'A Middle-Aged Male's Guide to Life: Moving from Medieval to Renaissance'. Or, if you'd be more comfortable with prosaic and utterly down-to-earth, consider: 'A Pissed-Off Guy's Rants: Ignored Ain't Bliss.'

If you are seeking a scholarly thesis here, or a touchy-feely formula that involves a lot of beating on drums and grunting, look elsewhere. At the same time, for better or for worse, I have made it as far as I've made it, and most of my stuff still works, albeit not as rapidly as it did at one time -- which some people of my acquaintance consider a blessing.

Life is funny, and life is irritating, and I hold to my guns on both counts. At the same time, life also demands some maneuvering skill so that whatever mistakes we make don't land us permanently on the rocks, or at the bottom of the sea. Enjoy, the excerpts, and feel free to share thoughts, opinions, or examples.

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