Scott Adams gives himself a "permanent age"--meaning the age that best suits one's permanent state of mind--of 42. "I was ill-suited for being a little kid," he says, "and didn’t enjoy most kid activities." I totally agree with that sentiment. Ditto high school and most of college.

However, as I've found growing prematurely gray suits me fine, I should probably add a decade to that. In a previous life I imagine myself an obscure British eccentric holed up in his library and growing battier by the day. So I'd place myself in my early 50s.

Which is why I chose as my website mascot Rumina's grouchy grandfather from Tokyo Underground. (My beard's a lot shorter.)

Adams also asks, "Do you live in the past, present or future?" Definitely not the past. I can't put the past behind me fast enough. It's a toss-up between the present and future (alternate futures included), depending on which one is faring better at the moment.

There's a great expression in Japanese that translates literally as "Facing the day after tomorrow." It refers to something that's a little off, a little bent. That's me: Boldly facing the day after tomorrow.

Labels: day in the life, deep thoughts