For our written exam in driving school we had to answer some questions based on photos of different traffic situations. There was one question I remember quite well: There was a photo of a two-lane gravel road in the middle of a summery forest. The road went straight ahead and turned left, and there was a traffic sign on the right telling that motor vehicles are allowed on the smaller road that followed.

The question was “can you drive straight ahead?”

I answered no — because there also was a bird on the right lane.

It was the wrong answer. Apparently I shouldn’t have paid attention to the bird.

Gee, thanks for cheering me up! I haven’t achieved squat.

I’m only joking; I’m not feeling particularly “age-crisis-y” (well, I’m writing this on Sunday, the day before, so let’s see how I’m thinking tomorrow) and I don’t even think I’m allowed to. 30 is nothing! I’m still a kid!

OK, checklist:
– Wrinkles? I can see two horizontal lines forming on the forehead but no prospective laugh lines (now, that’s weird) or anything like that.
– Greys? No genuine ones but I’ve had both white and black strands since I was a kid.
– Aches and pains? My legs are sore at the moment but that’s from cardio-boxing on Xbox Kinect…
– Skin on the back of my hand? Bounces right back.
– Grouchiness? No signs, I would say. (OK, I don’t seriously think old = grouchy )
– Cats? None.

Let’s see what that list looks like in 5-10 years, but for now, happy 30th birthday me!

I pretty much always listen to music on my way back from work because I’m too tired to read. Today when I was sitting on the bus and listening to music (Muse, Milow, and Maroon 5), I was shaking my foot to my tunes. Next I noticed a reflection in the window: the guy sitting in front of me, with earbuds on, was drumming his knee with his hand. I couldn’t help but smile.

I can easily imagine a future where most people walk around with headphones on. I’ve even seen groups of teen girls where everyone is listening to their own music (and trying to chat, ha). Or maybe they are listening to the same song. Social music playing could get popular so wouldn’t one-to-many Bluetooth pairings be great? Or cords with multiple pairs of headphones on the other end? Those would at least be much better than what these groups do now: listen to the songs from the loudspeaker. To the enjoyment of everyone around them.

But then I noticed something else which almost made me chuckle out loud: she licked her right index finger as soon as she started reading the second page of each spread — long before she needed it for page-turning — and half the time she used the other, dry hand!

I usually resort to finger licking when I’ve already struggled for some time trying to open a freezer bag (the ones I have are slippery). And then the saliva will only be transmitted to me after disinfection in the freezer.

What I started thinking is, how much ink will these people swallow in their lifetime? I almost would’ve guessed Mythbusters had done an urban legend test on this but maybe not… (and the hits I got on Google were frankly very weird)