QOTD

I found this quote, by a friend/user on a BBS, to be particularly relevant today, because I was just noticing that today is July 4 -- Independence Day in the good ol' USA -- which means that about half of the year has gone by already, and I truly have no idea where it went or how it went by so quickly.

"Age is like toilet paper. The closer you get to the end the faster it
seems to go."

--the wizard of aahz, a user on Uncensored BBS.

They were having a whole discussion on the aging process, and the time/aging relationship. Here's a selection of what other users from Uncensored had to say about the topic:

Yup. It's what I call an inverse ratio. The speed at which time seems to go by is inversely proportional to the amount of life, in years, that you've already lived. Or somehing like that. (harry)

For each day hat you experience, you compare the rest of your past against it. As the days add up, the proportion of days in your life cause you to feel as if each new day goes by faster. It really is relative to your experience. (fleeb)

I'm NOT getting older, it just seems that way because there are so many younger people around. (arabella)

"I'm not getting older, everyone else is getting younger." (Loanshark)

I have the body of a 19 year old. It's in a box in the trunk of my car. I'm trying to find a place to dispose of it where the authorities won't uncover it and track it back to me... (IGnatius T Foobar)

IG: a friend is someone you call when you need help moving. A *real* friend is someone you call when you need help moving a body. (hjalfi)

This last one gave me pause to think: do I have any *real* friends -- that is, do I have any friends who would help me move the body of a deceased 19 year old out of my trunk in an effort to evade prosecution by the authorities? Do you? I think there might be one ... maybe two people in my life who would help me with that. They would be nervous as all hell in doing so but, if I asked, they probably would come around and help me with it. I guess that's the one area of my life where I remain fortunate: having friends.

**UPDATE** 4 July 2006 8:30am: It's funny how timing works out some times. I just found this article on the New York Times web site, about a study conducted by sociologists at Duke and Arizona Universities, which found

on average, most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives — serious health problems, for example, or issues like who will care for their children should they die. And about one-quarter have no close confidants at all.

"The kinds of connections we studied are the kinds of people you call on for social support, for real concrete help when you need it," said Lynn Smith-Lovin, a sociologist at Duke and an author of the study, which analyzed responses in interviews that mirrored a survey from 1985. "These are the tightest inner circle."