Comprehending Human Time Scale
Aug. 12th, 2016 03:26 pmYesterday, on a whim, I posted a photo on Facebook for Throwback Thursday, a pic from a time in my past. Many found it amusing because I've changed a lot over the following years: I've lost most of my hair, what I have is more grey than brown (esp the beard), the glasses are a bit dated, and wow, I could wear a pair of tight jeans!

In the hours following, I took a closer look at the photo and came to some moderately disturbing conclusions.
On one hand, it's been a long & crazy ride. On the other, it doesn't seem that long. And I keep thinking, is that all there is/was?

In the hours following, I took a closer look at the photo and came to some moderately disturbing conclusions.
- That photo was from July 2, 1992, I would have been 25 at the time. I'm now only a few months away from my 50th birthday so that pic was taken when I was half my current age.
- I've had my mustache since the summer of 1985. That makes it 31 years since my upper lip has seen the light of day.
- My chin has been bearded since February, 1991: 25 years. (My cheeks were covered from Feb 1991 until July 2000 when I trimmed down to a goatee; I've since grown out the full beard again but can't recall the precise date that happened.)
- I still have that watch although I don't wear it any longer.
- I still wear glasses, but I got my first contact lenses about a week after that photo, giving me an option on corrective eyewear. Of course, these days both my glasses & contacts are bifocals...
- At the time of the photo, I was living in Toronto, maintaining Sun Microsystems equipment for Psychology, University of Toronto. Sun is now a division of Oracle; I'm still maintaining Sun servers albeit newer systems in private industry rather than academia.
- John Schrag and I were renting a condo at 15 McMurrich Street, Toronto, but we had become joint homeowners of 222 Berkeley Street (Dundas & Parliament, Toronto) about a week before that photo was taken. Several years later, I sold my share to John as I moved to the US. John later sold that townhouse and now co-owns a house with his husband Chris near Pape & Danforth in Toronto.
- In another 1.5 months, it will be 20 years since I moved to the US. It doesn't seem that long ago.
On one hand, it's been a long & crazy ride. On the other, it doesn't seem that long. And I keep thinking, is that all there is/was?