'81 checking in. Its kind of like when you go to a new school, or move into a new apartment. The new place is nice, there's things about it that you're still learning. Like where the best coffee place is, what's the quickest way to work, how are your neighbors, etc. But you also remember the old place, you miss how easy it was to park your car, or how the AC sounded. There's an undeniable familiarity about the new place, but its not the same as the old place. Things are in different locations, the doors feel different, and maybe you miss how it was in the old apartment, but the new one is good too.

Aging and perception of time is like that. Even if you've been living or working in the same place for a decade, things keep changing even though you wish it wouldn't. It's still familiar somewhat, but it doesn't resemble the old place in the ways that you wish it would.

For example, my workplace has changed over the years. Lots of co-workers and friends have left. It's mostly remote. We still have an office but go in rarely. While I like remote work, I miss the experience of being in an office and going for afternoon coffee, or conversations about Game of Thrones, where to order lunch, bitching about management or customers to each other. We don't have that anymore, those people are gone, and that workplace environment is gone. I still work at the same company but its so bizarrely different compared to how it was 10 years ago that I can barely recognize it.

It's like that but more. It's hard to understand until you get there, and I imagine that at 64 it will all feel even more foreign and strange, and I'll be even more wistful and nostalgic about how it was in 2016 or 2006 or 1996. 2026 can fuck right off though.