Tamed?

Over the holidays, I had a conversation with a friend who pops in and out of view from time to time. I knew him from my early days in my profession - and we seem to have a relationship of verbal sparring and matched wits.

I made some capricious comment which resulted in a rather extreme reaction from him -- which lead the conversation to him observing that although he has always appreciated my "countercultural" approach, he was also glad to see me calming down. Oh heck, he practically said that I've been tamed.

Me? Tamed? I mentioned this conversation to the Phenom and tried to make a case for my still being subversive and counter culture. The Phenom didn't really offer much feedback.

I understand that I'm less radical in some of my view points than I use to be. The youthful idealism has been violently shaken from my brain. Gees, I once had a very conservative person ask me if I were a republican - to which I responded "good god, no" -- which apparently wasn't the answer he was looking for. I have looked upon other young professionals brimming with youthful enthusiasm and naivete and thought "how cute, I wonder how long 'til they out grow it?"

But I still hold some subversive view points -- especially in this age of governments spying on their own citizens and censoring anything that isn't 100% american. I just like to think I've learned to chose my battles. But, just because I look tamed, don't be lulled into thinking I'm not going to enact the plan to take over the planet someday.