Deep thoughts, part 3

Another installment of the things I think about when I get bored. The previous post is here.

-Right now there are still six (verified) people alive who were born before the year 1900. Think about that. William McKinley was president. Queen Victoria was still alive. The second Boer War was starting in South Africa. Nearly all of the soldiers who’d go on to fight in World War II weren’t born yet. The Model T Ford was still almost a decade away - the sinking of the Titanic was more than a decade away. And there are people from this era who are still living. Granted, they were infants at the time, but still. Famous people born in 1898 and 1899 include C.S. Lewis, James Cagney, Ernest Hemingway, George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, and Humphrey Bogart. Of course none of those people are alive today but the fact that it’s theoretically possible one or more of them could be...I find that fascinating.

-When my face is slack apparently I have a perpetual expression that falls somewhere between worry and annoyance. I have, as Buzzfeed terms it, a “resting bitchface.” People are constantly asking me “What’s wrong?” regardless of my actual mood. I’ve had coworkers say to me, “Well, when I first started here I always assumed you were sort of...I don’t know...angry and mean.” And when I ask why they thought that I get, “Because you always look...angry and mean.” Even my wife asks me what’s bothering me at least twice a week, when most often the answer is nothing. At first I was self-conscious about this but I figure it’s probably for the best because I’m introverted and antisocial and if my presumed grumpiness cuts down on social interaction, I’m all for it. Plus when I make a deliberate attempt to look cheerful I always overcompensate and end up with a creepy smile. I’d rather my friends and coworkers assume I’m grumpy all the time instead of thinking I’m some sort of deranged serial killer who keeps a jar of human ears in his fridge.

-I had to do some calculations for someone at work regarding how much paper we throw out every month and I was stunned by the total. Over the course of a year my little office goes through at least eight tons of paper. That’s a huge number and hardly any of it gets recycled. But with that in mind now I don’t feel quite so bad about using so many paper towels to dry my hands after I use the restroom.