Age & Appearances

When I was 5, my most important possessions were a blanket and a few toys.
At 15, my stereo and cassette tape collection were more precious than gold.
By 25, it was all about my guitars, my Japanese toy collection and my data (pics & recordings)

Recently, I turned 37, and possessions matter little to me.  Oh, sure, my expensive items are important to me, but mostly because they're expensive.  What I value the most is my family and my free time.  And rather than amassing toys and musical equipment, I now collect irreplaceable things... like art created by me and my friends.

And over the years my appearances have changed dramatically.  Growing up in Montana, just having long hair drew jeers like "cut your hair hippy!"  And my hair wasn't even that long!  After moving to Minneapolis I grew my hair super long and dyed it green.  It was really important to me that I dressed & appeared the way I wanted.  Nobody was going to call me a "sell out"!

Well, despite my unorthodox appearance, I still managed to get promoted at my company and was told to normalize or lose my job.  Forced to make the decision between my rock star appearance or losing my big promotion... I chose to normalize.  But I still rebelled... going with black shaggy hair and wearing club-style "business" clothes.

And then I moved to Colorado and got a HUGE promotion... suddenly I was manager of other managers and meeting with Vice Presidents of a billion-dollar corporation, and even on casual Friday I made it a point to dress up.  I had to show everyone I was serious about my position!

My contract ended, and I went through years of low level jobs... yet I still dressed up like I was a manager.  In my current job, I'm not a manager and there is no dress code... and still I want everyone to know I'm serious about my work.  Many of my coworkers show up in sweatpants and many of my managers have outlandish styles... and I'm in my dress pants and a button-up shirt ready for a job interview or a wedding.  And even if dressing up doesn't influence my promotion, it sure makes me feel good.  And even if I don't have the looks of a rock star, I still stand out with my rock star personality and ideas.  I'm still me!


I've come up with a new system of age based upon the stages of human life using a base-18 counting system.  Because once you're 18 you think you're and adult... and yet you're just a newborn baby adult learning to crawl and walk all over again.

• 1-18 = childhood
• 19-36 = young adult
• 37-54 = middle-aged adult
• 55-72 = senior citizen
• 72+ = ??  senior senior citizen?  Surely this is a whole different stage of life.

So, I'm officially a newborn middle-aged man!  Most of my friends are in their early 20's, and I barely comprehend what middle-aged life is about, but I'm ready to learn and redefine it!


Apparently, my math is horrible and so is my rambly choices in words.  Edited.