Every now and then, the years catch up with me.<\/p>\n
I don’t know how my own age is perceived by the rest of the world (and am not sure that I want <\/i>to know), but in my own mind, I remain only a few years out of college, a Young Turk and full of prospects and all that. My mind can be an amazingly strange place, some times.<\/p>\n
Oh, I know that among my friends from that era, I see increasing signs of the passage of years — crows feet here, graying hair there. I try to ignore those bits when I see them in my own mirror, which, given the convolutions of my mind (and that fact I usually have a book in my hand when in the bathroom) is not too difficult.<\/p>\n
And then, sometimes, reality just slaps me in the face.<\/p>\n
An old college bud, Dave N., visited us yesterday. He’s on a trip about the western US, looking for someplace to settle down whilst he changes careers (the demand for philosophy teachers being a bit low right at the moment).<\/p>\n
It turned out he was in the Denver area this weekend, so we forced him to come over in the face of my folks being there and various other friends. He was up to the challenge, and seemed to have a good time (and, it turned out, was not actually staying over). I wouldn’t mind at all if he decided to set up shop here in town, especially since, ahem, he’s another gaming sort (and, in fact, has the dubious distinction to be the only person other than myself to have run a campaign using my own homebrew rules).<\/p>\n
But the slap in the face bit? Jeez, he’s changed. He bikes a lot, so he has that leanness about him that compulsive<\/s> regular bike riders have. But he’s … um … how to put it politely …<\/p>\n
Well, his hair has thinned considerably in the 15-odd years since I last saw him.<\/p>\n
Granted, he’s not alone on that, and mine own has waxed and waned, mostly waned, in the intervening years. But if you have a mental image of a guy with fairly thick blond hair, and he pulls up and gets out of his SUV with, ah, very little there … it’s jarring.<\/p>\n
And, jeez, it might actually drive me to, um, look at myself in the mirror, too, and compare myself to some graduate-era shots.<\/p>\n
Or, well, maybe not …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every now and then, the years catch up with me. I don’t know how my own age is perceived by the rest of the world (and am not sure that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":134750,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/18\/college-tours.html","url_meta":{"origin":221,"position":0},"title":"College Tours","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 18-Sep-17 10:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, college tours. Been there, walked that. View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/student-tourguide1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/student-tourguide1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/student-tourguide1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/student-tourguide1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/student-tourguide1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/student-tourguide1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26662,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/25\/santorum-was-for-college-before-he-was-against-college.html","url_meta":{"origin":221,"position":1},"title":"Santorum was for college before he was against college","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Feb-12 9:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"What a difference six years makes ... #ddtb Embedded Link Flashback: In 2006, Rick Santorum Wanted To Send All Pennsylvanians To College TROY, MICHIGAN \u2014 At an Americans For Prosperity-sponsored tea party rally here Saturday, Rick Santorum trumpeted his connections to the working class by attacking President Obama\u2019s plan to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131267,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/13\/college-essentials.html","url_meta":{"origin":221,"position":2},"title":"College Essentials","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 13-Aug-16 1:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's interesting contrasting what is on this list of 18 that:a. I had: 3 (a bike, a backpack, a fan[1])b. Anyone had (even existed at the time): 9 (generously, though I don't know of anyone who actually brought Solo cups with them)Things do change, I guess.------[1] Didn't bring with from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130446,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/16\/on-college-admissions.html","url_meta":{"origin":221,"position":3},"title":"On College Admissions","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 16-Apr-16 2:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not exactly a happy-making article for a father of a kid-going-to-college-in-2.5-years, but a realistic one. And, honestly, though I want her to go to any school she wants (and want her to take a stab at both our alma mater and our parents' alma mater), there are plenty of good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25756,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/26\/thus-the-gops-systematic-efforts-to-disenfranchise-college-students.html","url_meta":{"origin":221,"position":4},"title":"Thus the GOP's systematic efforts to disenfranchise college students","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 26-Jan-12 2:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a very positive trend, if you ask me, and a continued sign of the demographic countdown against those opposing equal rights for gays in our society (et al.). #ddtb Embedded Link UCLA National Poll: 7 Out Of 10 College Freshmen Support Gay Marriage A new poll finds that 71.3%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128387,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/22\/a-new-application-application-for-college-applications.html","url_meta":{"origin":221,"position":5},"title":"A New Application Application (for College Applications)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-Oct-15 9:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"Words cannot describe how eagerly I am anticipating helping +Kay Hill navigate through the college application process over the next couple of years. 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