Some things are more fun when you're doing them yourself. Others are more fun when you're watching someone else do them.
Having a mid-life crisis, for example. It is way more entertaining to watch someone going through one than it is to live it.
I had a mid-life crisis in my early 40s. It was loud, messy and pathetically predictable. It was also endlessly amusing to the (much younger) people around me. At the time I didn't understand why but now that the flip flop is on the other foot, I totally get it. It's fun to watch someone spin out of control. And you don't have to feel guilty about laughing because they will tell you a hundred times that they just don't care how they look 'cause they're having so much fun.
I bet a third of all tabloid sales can be directly attributed to celebrity MLCs. It's so predictable that there's even a slot machine called Mid-Life Crisis. The right combination of symbols can reward you with a coin bonus or, if you have too many "adventures", a madly pumping heart symbol.

So here are the signs of  an MLC (or a to-do list, depending on your point of view);

- acquiring a brand new, age-inappropriate wardrobe - should be at least one size too small.
- end/abandon that long-term relationship you worked so hard to build
- acquire a new group of  'friends with benefits', preferably younger and/or more attractive than your ex. Bonus if they also make more money.
- a new tattoo or piercing
- a stocked bar and your single friends on speed dial.
- getting fat and flaunting it. Women tend to lose weight during a mid-life crisis although some, along with the men, gain weight. What with all the drinking and take out food, it's unavoidable. The thing about older fatties is they really embrace the pudge and the way it looks in their new wardrobe. On the plus size, uh side, you get unlimited use out of that line, "there's more of me to love".
- increased investment in lotions and potions (skin cream for women, viagra & rogaine for men)
- a new vehicle - a shiny red convertible or motorcycle may not be in the cards once you're reduced to a single income and facing the high cost of divorce lawyers, but it's completely cool if you can convince a honey to invest in one that you get to drive! (on that topic, I love this quote, "A man with a midlife crisis buys a corvette, a man with a lamborghini has no crisis." --Joseph "Rev Run" Simmons)
- a puppy or kitten - nothing establishes your singleness and separate household like a fur-baby. Be prepared to make a thoughtful gift of it to a honey once it has chewed up your favourite shoes.
- attending concerts of the latest and greatest bands/singers. So what if the kids point and whisper "narc". (do they even use that word anymore?)
- a new vocabulary. Suddenly, everyone is like, dude and brah
- taking up a new (possibly extreme) sport - no surprise that beach vollyball courts, spin classes and dragon boats are filled with adult-onset athletes. They're so hardcore.
- a gym membership. You may only use it twice but the fact that you have one makes you feel like you're taking matters into your own hands.

I'm sure I've missed a few. If I'd kept a blog back then, I'd just check it for reminders but I'm glad I didn't. It's not a period of my life that I want to examine too closely. After the dust settled, my mantra became "Relax, no one ever died of embarrassment". You might want to keep that in mind if you're going through a midlife crisis or planning one in the near future.