You Don't Just Get Older...

... with any luck, you also grow into yourself.

I don't write much for a public audience these days, but every now and again, I'll get an automated reminder that my blog exists and will go about reviewing the important impressions of my twenties. I may not know the commenters from 2008, but the line "Honey... I work for IEEE and I've got the Manolos," has stuck with me for the last decade.

To steal a line from ee cummings (specifically 'The Enormous Room,') that encompasses my feelings on the matter:" Madame la vendeuse de café, I shall remember you for more than a little while."

It's important to know and give voice to what you really think - and, certainly my later writings here have proven to be internally consistent with regards to my personal vision and values. I read a tone of recurring hesitancy along with a tendency to over-justify - both of which make me wish I could go back in time and mentor myself. It's a nice feeling to have become more self-assured and less apologetic, and to know it's possible to do such a thing without turning into a jackass. That incremental addition of perspective, my friends, is why I love getting older.

The vast majority of how we communicate has moved from the long format over to social media. It's been incredibly instructive to see the massive and unfathomable amount of time and energy we spend in vehement agreement, invalidating and arguing past one another in small bursts and blurbs. It's also provided plenty of sparring practice as we all become adept at the social equivalent of elevator pitches and kneecapping. The internet fulfilled every rhetorical battle royale fantasy that all us argumentative pedants could possibly dream of. All the same, I've started spending more time reading again. I miss Oliver Sacks. I miss Octavia Butler. And occasionally, I miss writing.

Besides - I've spent the intervening years building up my library, and now I have a handsome and diverse backlog.

So, we'll see what happens!