A Quarter-Century of Chaos
Apparently, while I'm not as old as dirt in general, I am now older than some layers of strata found in the earth.
Mel is rather enjoying herself as she calls me, "Old man!"
In response, I've had to cup a hand next to ear and mutter, "Eh? What was that? You're not insulting me again, are you? That's the way it is with youngsters today! No respect, and no sense of resposibility. Why in my day [insert walking-naked-in-snow-uphill-both-ways rant], and what were we talking about again?"
Personally, I'm rather amazed I can even recall how old I am. And no, I'm not going senile. This is what happens when you inherit genetics from your parents that make you look about 5 years younger than you really are, and your parents exploit said genetics to get better deals at restaurants.
For the longest time, since my sister and I both looked about 12 or 13 even though we were roughly 15-16 years old, my parents would look at the Kids' Menu at restaurants and see if there were any decent deals. If there were, they'd be, "Great! This looks pretty good, and we can save money! You both are 12 today!" So we'd get the Kids' Menu.
Other times, they would frown and remark, "Well, this one's not so good, so you can be over 13 today." And thusly my sister and I were allowed to be as old as we were. After a few years about this, we were the ones walking into the restaurants asking, "And how old are we today?"
You can well imagine what jumping back and forth with your age does to a kid. As a result, I regularly lose track of how old I am (or am supposed to be), and need friends and family to remind me of my age.
With any luck, this year will prove easier to recall than others past, since it's a bit of a milestone. Just think: I've been on this earth for 25 years now...and it's a miracle I haven't either managed to accidentally get myself killed, or cause the world to implode. Here's to life's little victories!
Today's Pondering: if you're only as old as you feel, then what is the age for insanity?
posted by Phillip at 8:25 AM
