The ancient art of ageing

When did it happen? All of a sudden, I've become the person who is susceptible to the hangover, the person who feels it the next day. I don't like this development at all...
So I was out w/Erika last night and was witness to her paltry attempts to flirt w/a guy...it would be embarrassing if it weren't so funny. I finally felt bad enough for her that I got involved, went and got the group thing going so that we hung out the rest of the night...and now I'm paying for it. We had a good time, went to a new bar, shot some horrid pool. Stayed out past close- which I so rarely do anymore. But anyway, I found myself wondering last nght- will she ever develop the ability to get to know someone to whom she's attracted, or will she spend the rest of her life coming across as a total idiot?! Do we ever master those things w/which we struggle or are there certain things we'll never get?
I thought about all the things I've spent my life "working" on w/o developing any discernable skill- and there are quite a few. Then I contemplated family and friends- who has improved at what over the years. Then I realized it. While we've all improved in very small ways at certain things, there are many ways we've all given up even trying. We have gotten too comfortable w/the concept of not being good in that arena- to the point where we make jokes about it, but never work to change it. Is that age?
Maybe that's what it is. Youth is optimism- you have time to work at everything so you pretty much assume you'll eventually be able to do or accomplish whatever you want. With age supposedly comes wisdom; I think that with age comes prioritization. I know now that no matter how much time/effort I'm willing to spend, there are certain arenas in which I'll never shine. I also know that I've been fortunate enough to work at quite varied endeavors and master those- so it can be done. But now it's a simple equation...
desired goal = energy + ambition
and it's simply amazing how rarely I get it together enough to really try.