Hi ESChamp, On Wed, 06 Aug 2014 17:43:08 -0400 ESChamp <esch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I installed strawberry perl, edited out all my feeble attempts at > troubleshooting, and -- voila! --, it's working. > > Thanks for all your help and encouragement. > > At my age, I'll never be a perl programmer and having to take Neurontin > doesn't help my mental accuity, but getting through this makes me happy. > You should believe in yourself, even if you are old. As this Quora thread (may require registration) says: http://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-about-starting-new-activities-at-the-age-of-36-like-music-or-exercising#ans3512602 «« Quote »» My grandmother started playing violin when she was 72. By the time she died at 98 she had been playing for 26 years and was very proficient. Hope that answers your question. ============== When I was 18, I had been drumming for about 10 years. (They say that if you want to be a good drummer, you better have started by your teenage years, or you'll never make it.) I got a call from my neighbor. He was about 65 years old. "Jason," he said, "I made a promise to myself when I turned 60 that I was going to do 3 things. Lose 60 pounds. Stop smoking. And learn to play a musical instrument. So far, I've done 2 of those things." "Which two?" I asked. "I hear you're a pretty good drummer. Would you like to teach me how to drum?" (I didn't know what to say. You can't learn drums when you're SIXTY-FIVE! What do I tell him? Well, maybe it'd be best to let him try it, then he can move on to guitar or piano or something if he doesn't like it.) I've never seen anyone that age take a hobby as seriously as this guy took drumming. A year later, he was pretty proficient, and I cried a little when, after I left for college, I saw a video of him playing live on stage at a concert back home. I learned way more from him than he did from me. I figure now that I should have been the one paying him for the lesson. You ain't dead until you decide you're dead. ============ My grandmother was a guidance counselor in the New York City public schools for a long time. Which doesn't have much to do with this answer, except that it was her job to be wise and give good advice (as opposed to most grandmothers, who are merely world-class amateurs in this regard), and I can assure you she was good at it. A friend of hers, at age 34, came to her and said "I'm thinking of doing this graduate program. But if I do, that's three years and I'll be 37 when I finish." And Grandma said "In three years, you'll be 37 no matter what you do." In three years, you'll be 39 no matter what you do (as will I, it happens). And the alternative to starting new activities is...what? Sit around and keep doing the exact same things you're doing now? Forever? «« End Quote »» Some people achieved great things, and these two women did so, and most likely started less fortunate than you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou . Youth is more a matter of attitude than of calendrical age. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell was arrested for violation of peace during a protest in which he took part, well after his 70th birthday and after being a British lord/peer (and he died at age 97). Never Give Up! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxGRhd_iWuE Regards, Shlomi Fish -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ Understand what Open Source is - http://shlom.in/oss-fs That’s why I feed my leprechaun every day — because there are not enough phonemes in Navajo to tell him to get his act together and find a job. — My comment on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izne8XcaBBg . Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply . -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
