Vanity by the Numbers at 74
Birthday Selfie at 74 years old (2026)
Candid photo at 44 years old (1997)
So. Doing the arithmetic, in the 29 years since 1997, I’ve aged 30 years. According to my AI app that claims to know about such things. Neither photo has been tampered with. Not an especially distinguished record for savvy self maintenance in the 21st Century. Not at all impressive compared to the guy in the earlier pic. He had already lived a life by then, traveled a big part of the world, accomplished the greatest aspiration in his life (fully 6 years before this photo), had a discreetly spectacular business career, and then managed to lose everything, including his wife, his family home, his self-owned business, all his money, most of his friends, and his literary career. Quite a record hidden behind those aviators. He was pretty sure his life was over.
Life had other plans though. Too long a story for a backwater post hardly anyone will ever see. What remains? The basic self appraisal that still obtains…
He’s still working at living up to it. Which maybe beats dying to become famous.
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