OK, how old do you *think* you are?

My brother still refers to me as being 9, because that means he's 18. I'll be 29 next week.

In some ways it doesn't feel like ten minutes since I left university, so I feel like a 22 year old. In other ways I think I've been 30 forever.

more or less..

I rarely if ever think about my age. But if I had to answer, then I'd probably answer 27 yrs old.

I'm 39 in two weeks time. My parents and my wife keep reminding me that I'm touching 40 now. I still feel about 32, I suppose. It's only looking back that I realise that I'm older than I feel.

I think having a son has made me more aware of time passing - he's two in a few days time and those two years seem to have gone past very very quickly indeed.

until recently, i'd always felt a bit older: 21 when i was 18, 26 when i was 21. hard to explain why]: perhaps down to a desire to be in the position i hoped i'd be at that age (eg wanting, when i was 21 and just starting out in a career, to be a bit further down the line; wanting, at 18, not to be tarred with the inevitable styuu-dent brush, etc). or maybe it was just my immense maturity :)

now, though, i'm stuck at 30, despite the fact i'll be 33 in july. mrs fiendish actually pulled me up about this the other day. damn, i'm living in the past.

of course: being a student again (and, in an ideal world, getting out of a job/career with which i'm basically bored and disillusioned ASAP, although i fear it might take longer than i hope) might mean some kind of regression. praise the bong and pass the traffic cone, or something.

(actually, no: i mostly loved being an undergraduate but i'd never, ever want to go back.)

i always feel 1 year older. in the months leading up to a birthday, i try to get myself used to the idea of the new age, so that when it finally rolls around i then add a year to the age i've gotten my brain into. so now, i'm 27.

17

Usually I think I'm 25, but my son is 10 this year; that thought makes me feel about 40.

(IRL I am 30...)

74

I feel 27. I'm only 29, so not too far off, but something tells me I'll continue to feel 27 for a long time.

I feel really old and also really young. I turned 30 four days ago and also stepped on a dead bird that same morning, which seems ominous for what's to come. Should I worry? Dead bird/birthday incident has me freaking out. Also, I got a cold and the subway station was covered in feces. Worst birthday ever.

21. Real age 27.

21. Real age 27.

-- the next grozart

Same here. I hate being old.

I don't feel like I've matured since 25, so that age I suppose. I'm 31.

X

How the fuck is 29 supposed to feel? I pay a mortgage and cook all my own meals but I can't use the washing machine.

I alternate between acting like I'm 65 and acting like I'm 4. Depends on the situation, I guess. I don't really feel like my real age is right at all. Someone should fix that.

I think the frequent schism between real age and perceived age has a lot to do with the fact that grown-up-hood is a total social construct. I maintain that people are essentially kids who get progressively better at playing dress-up (some more than others).

feel 19, am 20

I usually feel 1 year younger than I am

I am the antiresa

I rarely if ever think about my age. But if I had to answer, then I'd probably answer 27 yrs old.

Forgot to add that I'm turning 35 this year.

I think I have reached the point where the age I feel has crossed over the age I am.

Mmmmmm, I'mmmmmm supposin' I do feel "in my 40s" now, for these past couple of years or so. But. It's still kinda vague most days, heheh. Just when the sonuvabitchin' birthday comes round -- and there was one kinda recentish, o'bugger! -- does the number-of-years-lived suddenly acquire a striking concreteness. And I'mmmmm mightily baffled once again.

(Nudge-nudge, hint-hint: Mark G is slightly younger than me. Or at least he was upthread :)

Despite months of tehresa-style preparation for birthdays I don't seem to know how old I am any more. In 3 weeks of being 28 I've a) accidentally described myself as 26 and b) had a brainflash of "oh hey, same age as me" while reading that someone was 23.

I guess 23 is about right: still stuck in post-university "what is everyone else doing and will I ever get used to basic everyday life and shouldn't something more be happening by now?" rut + realisation that people much younger are accomplishing all the creative things I daydreamed about and never quite got round to and maybe it's too late + suspicion that this probably is how it'll feel forever, now.

'Course as you see I can still angst like a 14-year-old and for some reason I dream about secondary school and people from it and hardly ever anyone I've met since, so maybe that's the answer.

'Course as you see I can still angst like a 14-year-old and for some reason I dream about secondary school and people from it and hardly ever anyone I've met since, so maybe that's the answer.

-- a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 8 May 2008 14:54 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I think that's familiar for a lot of people.

I was thinking about this just now, and I think your age and how old you feel depends on what you've achieved. If you'd had your life semi-planned out - job by x yrs, home by y yrs, family by z years - and you'd missed a few goals along the way, you may not feel like you're the age you are. Speaking for myself, having severely fucked up a few goals along the way (college - twice, job) I suppose I still see myself as having these to achieve before I reach 'maturity'.

In my mind's eye I am an eternal 25.

Those of you who have met me know that this has become significantly delusional.

I turned 38 yesterday. It feels a lot like 37.

I passed my age a while back but it didn't recognise me.

I turned 40 last December but I feel like I'm about 30 and I have felt so since I was about 25.

i'm 25. on any given day i can feel 12, 19, or 3 months.

Happy birthday, Bill.

I still feel 25. I will probably feel this way until my first major body part failure.

Thanks

Like someone upthread said, it's those 'goals' or 'pointsofmaturity' that get yer.

I have a young family, which I guess helps. A lot of my colleagues have been divorced, and have grown kids. They are younger than me, but I feel them as older. So do they, it seems.

I am 30 and I feel anywhere from 18 to 25 depending on the day.

I've somehow managed to feel perpetually 22-ish since I was 19.

27 now.

wait, latebloomer is OLDER than me????
now i feel REALLY young.

i am 23 and that's about how old i feel; i wouldn't want to be older, because then i'd have less time left to do something decent and productive with my life.

nah, fuck that. it's overrated.

I'm 37, I usually feel about 30. Although this week I solidly feel 37. Have a couple kids...that'll give you gray temples really fast.

my left knee tells me I'm 80, but I probably behave about 24 or so.

I still feel 25. I will probably feel this way until my first major body part failure.

What, Dan and I thinking similarly again? You don't say.

I mean, for me it's always been about the fact that there's a lot of future ahead. Whatever concerns about the state of the world I have, which are plentiful, generally speaking I'm always thinking about all the new possibilities out there -- within the last few weeks alone I've received and/or talked over a slew of new writing opportunities, for instance, which has further encouraged me to consider other steps in turn. Saying this 'keeps me young' is a stretch, I'd guess, but it's a key factor to it all. The grey hairs and the like, whatever. I remember my dad and I talking a few years back and he confessed he still felt he was 19 or so, so it's all state of mind.

(I also admit, having decided to attend my 20th high school reunion for the heck of it more than anything else -- I really haven't talked to anyone there since the 10th -- that I'll be looking at everyone else and probably thinking, "Now when did you all get old?" When, of course, they're likely going to think the same about me. But at least they already knew about the long hair.)

I'm not sure I've quite got over 26.

I turn 33 this year; I still feel like I did when I turned 30 - or at least, I feel like I wanted to feel when I turned 30. This, I suppose, make me actually feel about 31 and a bit. Yes, I'm happy with that.

Mind you, stick me in the Barfly of a Tuesday and I now automatically feel about 237 - a very saddening recent development.

16 at the most

i'm always 4 years younger than i am (despite acting like an old man a lot)

Re: feeling old in clubs/bars - I used to get this in my late 20s a lot - "am I too old to be going to these places?". Since I've hit my 30s I find myself not really giving a shit either way. Which I think definitely means I am too old.

on any given day i can feel 12, 19, or 3 months.

-- latebloomer, Thursday, May 8, 2008 9:18 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

^^^Actually, I change my response to this.

i am 32; i feel 30-31

I guess 23 is about right: still stuck in post-university "what is everyone else doing and will I ever get used to basic everyday life and shouldn't something more be happening by now?" rut + realisation that people much younger are accomplishing all the creative things I daydreamed about and never quite got round to and maybe it's too late + suspicion that this probably is how it'll feel forever, now.

1000 OTM, for me at least.

Have a couple kids...that'll give you gray temples really fast.

-- pj, Thursday, 8 May 2008 14:48 (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Nope, temples still not grey.

It's easy when you shave your head.

I am 32, could pass for mid-late 20's.

All I want to feel is that I'm barely real.

Feel mid-30s, am mid-40s.

It's easy when you shave your head.-- Ned Raggett

Wot, prey, do you, Ned, kno' of shaving teh head?!
;)

Precisely!

(As all know, I have a war against sideburns. Which conveniently is where I appear to be greying the most.)

Tony Curtis looks kinda scary billiard ball bald.

23

(I'm actually 33, fwiw)

I've got this scattershot of gray loners covering the whole of my head, is that at all normal for a dude of 27?

One of my housemates at university had them from the age of 15 so I reckon you are OK.

Mmm, good. Now what about full patches of white in my beard?

Those scare me the most. At the same time, though, I think "striking white beard, sweet."

i grew a beard over winter: it went from "ah, distinguished salt and pepper" to "shit, i'm father bloody christmas".

My job doesn't let me grow a beard, but I vacationed overseas for a few weeks without shaving and now I want one. Straight up.

For that reason, (xp)

at 6:30 a.m. - 72 years old
at 2:30 a.m. - 26 years old

am 26 feel 26 its a good age

THIS THREAD CONTAINS MANY CORRECT ASSERTIONS TO THE QUERY OF AGE

I'm 35, but people are always shocked when I tell them that. Apparently I have "good genes" and can pass for much younger. It's a good thing ultimately, b/c I am such a late bloomer in terms of life path that it's just plain silly. I am the adult equivalent of the kid who couldn't tie his shoes until he was six years old, if that makes any sense...

I feel like 'the young old kid.'

yeah, nobody guesses I'm 33, either. If it doesn't come up, a lot of people just assume I'm in my mid-to-late 20's and are surprised months later when I drop a reference to my age into conversation or something.

Usually along the lines of "No way you are eight years older than me!"

I've heard people say I look ten years younger than I really am. Must be a sign of something. (Plenty of others guess correctly.)

I'm 35, but people are always shocked when I tell them that. Apparently I have "good genes" and can pass for much younger. It's a good thing ultimately, b/c I am such a late bloomer in terms of life path that it's just plain silly. I am the adult equivalent of the kid who couldn't tie his shoes until he was six years old, if that makes any sense...

-- dell, Thursday, May 8, 2008 11:21 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Yeah, lotsa people think I'm like 21 or 22 when they first meet me. Great now but it was just awful when I was 16-18.
"So...are you in...7th grade?"
"Shuuuuutuuuupp! I'm attracted to yoooouuu"

^^^not actual response

"Shuuuuutuuuupp! I'm attracted to yoooouuu"

^^^not actual response

Can I steal that, though? I would like to throw that, or its equivalent into conversation at some point this evening.

My self-age-perception varies quite a bit, according to circumstances. Most of the time a feel a bit younger than my years, but that's pretty subjective because how am I to know what being a 53 year old is supposed to feel like?

When I feel quite old are the times when I have to shoulder any kind of responsibility or duty that comes with an emotional burden attached. For various reasons, I am pretty burnt-out, with only small reserves of emotional resiliancy left in me. (It is the pits, because emotions are so central to both happiness and to finding the motivation for life accomplishments.)

At those times I feel very husklike, old and sick unto death - until I find a way to slog my way through it. After the burden is taken care of, I perk up again.

About 35, but I'm actually 27.

Or, God, half a day away from death.

Doesn't anyone feel older than they really are?

NOT AT ALL

SPRY AND OPTIMISTIC IS A TOMBOT

When I was like 23 I felt about 30. Now I'm 28 and would say I feel 24 or 25. I'm going through a late twenties wild and immature stage I think.

Most people think I'm either 26 or 46, depending on whether I'm in close proximity to my brother.

I am 36, and in general I feel like I'm in my mid-twenties, especially since I am back in college. When I am totally exhausted, though, I feel a lot older.

Dan, who the hell thinks you are 46?!

People who think my brother is younger than me, apparently!

Sooooo confused now. I bet you still get carded in bars, ffs.

I ran my first half marathon a few days ago and I felt 10 years older than my 37 years while running it (the pain; I wasn't winded but hurt so bad that I couldn't go very fast), but generally I feel like I'm 27, an immature 27.

I can't even differentiate between the grades of twentysomething after 21, it's all one big swath of jackassery. my 30s will hopefully see me finding a happy medium between responsible adult tediousness and actually following through on a couple of the ideas I had about what I wanted to achieve during my twenties.

generally I feel like I'm 27, an immature 27.

lol, from "twp62yo!"

Sara, I just shaved my head and mountain-man beard off and it dropped something like five years off of my appearance.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2947934&l=230b3&id=884505037
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2951585&l=fa971&id=884505037

bah

I'm sorry, I cannot accept that you had a "mountain man beard." (I still picture you as 20 in my mind. The advantage of living so far away!)

check the "before" and "after" pictures in my Facebook albums

i'm fine with being 33 but i always think for just a second 'oh me too!' when people who are 28 tell me that is how old they are. weird.

i always assume everyone is my age and am constantly surprised when they aren't.

^^^^^ very, very true

Dan, awesome pictures.

And yes, you should all be my age, or possibly a year younger or older. EVERYONE! (Except my kids, who should get to grade school age and stay there.)

feel 24, am 26. pretty good!

The pics don't actually do the moustache justice; when I combed it out, it touched my lower lip.

WHY is there no photographic evidence of THAT, huh?

I should have kept the moustache crazy long and waxed it.

^^^^^

HI DERE Steampunk

No wait

http://www.handlebarclub.co.uk/03mercury.jpg

Dan Perry and his Championship moustache

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2417/2476988510_0f3061ba9f_o.jpg

BEFORE

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2476988526_d7d86eae96_o.jpg

AFTER

xpost I am srsly considering doing that, even though it will be directly responsible for my divorce

I'm 26 but I feel like a middle-aged man. My gf is 19 and she makes me feel ancient.

Dan's photos have totally made my day.

i never actually think about my age at all, which probably explains a lot. I just turned 35, and apparently look early to mid 20's to most people, possibly because i am drunk a bunch of the time and look like i cannot possibly have a real job.

when my age finally catches up to me, people will apply the same calculus to my appearance and assume that i am homeless.

Dude, I've seen recent pics of you, and, um... look, I can track down some soup kitchens near you if you want.

Dan is at the age at which beards are permissible

It was the combination of Serious Mountain Man beard and Antartica-appropriate parka the other night that made me thing The Thing.

I have seen John get carded in bars in person. I think you do seem younger for the reasons you cite, but also because you have kind of a crazy look in your eye.

argh xpost - John looked like he was about to venture onto the arctic tundra in search of FB. But his face would have been warm.

the angle dan is holding the camera relative to his gaze in the mirror makes it look like he has just opened up some kind of hatch and is completely nonplussed to find the audience inside

The Daniel Show

I keep thinking of my big cousin Myra as a teenager with bad early 90s frizzy hair.

Even when I see her (about once every three years) I still think she's only a few years older than me (I'm 20), despite the fact she is married with 3 children.

She's 36 this year.

Woah.

It is harder for me to realize my sister is 34 than it is to realize that I'm 37, true.

whenever people tell me i look younger than i am, i am shocked, because i feel way older. i really need to take a vacation.

you do look very young!

Not a day over 80!

dan, i'm assuming you changed shirts between photos because the other one was rendered unwearable by a surfeit of beard clippings? :)

I think I am 30.But that bears no relation to my actual age.

I had one pic of myself immediately after the haircut but I deleted it because I was shirtless and it was very "lol desperate for Internet sexing". The reason I had the beard was because of an opera I was doing; another guy from the cast posted his post-shaving pic and he was shirtless and there was a little bit of an "uh, no I will not fuck you" reaction.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/7716/hiderewasherti8.jpg

lol

I was a little wtf at how superpreppy I am in these pic before I remembered that they were both taken right before I left for work.

57

lol, from "twp62yo!"

Yes, but "the well-preserved 62-year old" wasn't a name I gave myself. It's closer to how I feel rather than how I think, so I keep using it, because I'm all about feelings. I'm so old I miss the days when I could say something like that and then get away with saying something like "I will now punch myself in the cock."

...and not be called a douche or whatever mean name the kids are using these days when an old guy says something stupid.

hmm. What is that, nowadays?

nonce