Well, the thrilling part of my doctor's appointments is putting the body back together so that I can get out there to skydive, paraglide, bike, hike, horseback ride, kayak, etc. I beat the holy shit out of this body for 12 years starting at 58. Now I'm on blocks until about, say, mid summer. Already planning another trip to Mongolia for a month.

Probably the best thing I've learned, Hogan, is as a writer and journalist, I do indeed write my life stories. Over on my website I talk about the trips, the falls, the fails, the Hail Marys and all that shit. I just found out my scooter, which I have to use until my foot heal, does wheelies down the hallways.

I have a sense of humor that I never had at fifty. That sense of humor saved my life in a scuba accident, and many other times when I was in a shitton of trouble too far from help to make it out alive. A sense of humor isn't just a coping mechanism. It's a fucking God killer when you better find a creative way to get out of trouble. Don't mock humor. I'm alive today because of it.

AS for wiser, bullshit, Hogan. Look at all the Boomers who were at Woodstock and somehow ended up as goose stepping Far Righters. Age conveys nothing but age. Wrinkles. Period. What we do with it is what makes the difference. Toni Morrison wrote about data, information, knowledge to wisdom. We have to have all four. Too many of us assume we have wisdom when all we have is data.

Wisdom is knowing what information matters, when, why and how to use it. That's why it's so rare.

Fearlessness in the face of impending death, which is inevitable, comes with being close to it, often. My chosen work as an adventure athlete has caused me to be very, very close to it more times than I can remember at this point. Teaches you a massive humility for life. Is that wise?

The true beginning of wisdom is accepting we know nothing. No advice to offer here other than get out and live, push yourself hard, own your own results and circumstances and always look for the funny. It's there.

Now I gotta go do pushups, pullups and upper body work. It never ends.