The ghost of my Christmas future
Technicians were in our house most of the day. They replaced our furnace. They thought that that would enable them to quickly fix our air conditioner. (Don’t ask me to explain how the different appliances affect each other.)
It turns out, they’ll need to replace the air conditioner, too.
That’ll happen another day.
The boys were fascinated by all this activity, especially when the technicians would open up their van to rummage among their tools. The boys would stare out through the front door, their faces pressed against its glass surface.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
I never thought I’d have so much to say about TikTok image filters, but here I go again. Today’s filter predicts how a person will look after he or she ages. It’s supposed to be pretty accurate.
A HuffPost report. Fascinating stuff.
Here’s a filtered, i.e. aged, picture of me; aged how much, I don’t know. (I’d give you the unfiltered picture, too – my present-day look – but I don’t have it. It was Karin who took the picture, and she didn’t send me the unfiltered version.)
I’m relieved not to look worse, although I’m a little saddened to see myself so … sad. Apparently, a lot of people are discouraged by how the filter makes them look.
Brittany Wong, the HuffPost “lifestyle reporter,” gives some advice on how to think about your probable future self: Accentuate the positive. Concentrate on your nice bits.
This is basically the same advice she gives for thinking about the past.
My countersuggestion is, come to terms with the promises and disappointments and ravages of time in their multitude of flattering and unflattering guises.
It turns out, they’ll need to replace the air conditioner, too.
That’ll happen another day.
The boys were fascinated by all this activity, especially when the technicians would open up their van to rummage among their tools. The boys would stare out through the front door, their faces pressed against its glass surface.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
I never thought I’d have so much to say about TikTok image filters, but here I go again. Today’s filter predicts how a person will look after he or she ages. It’s supposed to be pretty accurate.
A HuffPost report. Fascinating stuff.
Here’s a filtered, i.e. aged, picture of me; aged how much, I don’t know. (I’d give you the unfiltered picture, too – my present-day look – but I don’t have it. It was Karin who took the picture, and she didn’t send me the unfiltered version.)
I’m relieved not to look worse, although I’m a little saddened to see myself so … sad. Apparently, a lot of people are discouraged by how the filter makes them look.
Brittany Wong, the HuffPost “lifestyle reporter,” gives some advice on how to think about your probable future self: Accentuate the positive. Concentrate on your nice bits.
This is basically the same advice she gives for thinking about the past.
My countersuggestion is, come to terms with the promises and disappointments and ravages of time in their multitude of flattering and unflattering guises.