I think I’m officially a dude. I looked at myself in the mirror last night at a bar bathroom. One beer in me and wearing a shirt and a tie, I thought: “I’m no longer a kid. This isn’t how kids look. I think I’m a dude now.”
A few years ago, I checked out about 200 library books, thinking I’d have time to read them. I have slowly been returning them. I realize now that I’ll never have time for them all.
Kids and adults learn differently. Kids plunge full force into learning whatever is interesting. They are curious about everything. Adults mostly stick to learning about their area of expertise. Like the wiley old frisbee player, they conserve their limited energy.
I always loved Richard Feynman because he seemed to follow his curiosity. In one story, he talks about how his Nobel prize was in part thanks to him getting curious about how a frisbee flies and trying to work out the equations for its motion. My uncle said, “Nothing I ever learned was extra or unnecessary. Everything comes back, in some way.” I suppose that’s true, but still, I need to focus.
I talked to a professor about how I am indecisive about what to do with my life. He said, “It’s natural to like everything, but life is short. You have to hurry up and do something.”
I’m a dude, I’ll be an old dude before I know it. It’s time to get to work.
danscreativeoulet 