42*

Maybe Jim Carrey was onto something with the number 23, but I keep tripping over "42" lately.

Last week I finished “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” where the answer to the riddle of life, the universe, and everything is--as any fan knows--“42.” Douglas Adams said he needed an “ordinary, smallish number” to suit his punchline.

While working on my taxes this morning, I stumbled across the IRS’ life expectancy tables. Turns out that age 42 is the first year where life expectancy is shorter than years already lived.

And with that, the gears started turning and the mindwig started feeding, courtesy of the Internet.

According to Wikipedia, 42 is considered an unlucky age in Japan because 4 (shi) and 2 (ni) are together pronounced like “going to death.” A nice metaphor for middle age.

There’s even a festival in Japan where drunken 42-year-old men carry a phallus-shaped cypress tree for a mile. The procession is supposed to help them spiritually evolve through a particularly rough year--unless they’re not crushed under a half-ton cypress trunk, I suppose.

In ASCII, “42” is the asterisk glyph, which represents a placeholder. Another apt metaphor for middle age. You’re not dead yet, but they’re saving a place.

I will crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep now.

*Forgive the obsession, but I just turned 42.