aging.

"We're all as old as we have ever been, and we're all at different stages of considering the aging process."

I like that quote... it's making me contemplate some things.

I took a silly little "real age" quiz on facebook and it said I'm 25. Well, though I am 27, what little flattery that quiz may have intended, was quickly trumped by the fact that it was an 8 question facebook quiz. In any case, I'm not 25. I don't even think I'm 27. I think I'm closer to 40.

I've been told I have an "old soul," that I am wise beyond my years, and much more mature than many people my age. I take this as a compliment, but I'm not entirely sure that it's always intended that way. Nor am I sure how I came to be this way. I have always heard that wisdom comes from experience, so I guess I have plenty of that.

I'm 27 and I've done the college thing, I moved to a big city, I've waitressed, I've bar tended, I've managed bars, I've worked for lawyers, I've worked in web design, I've worked for one of the most notorious lawyers in the country, I even helped write his book, I've run a multi-million dollar company, I've played major roles in launching entire companies, I've been the boss, I've been the assistant, and I've been unemployed.

From my experience, I have learned so many things. I have learned more in the last 5 years than I learned the entire time I was in college. And yet, when it comes to work and jobs and whatever, all that matters is what it says on that fancy little paper I have framed in my office.

Unfortunately, my little piece of paper says none of those things.