Doesn’t it seem like the year is flying by at a good clip? Mid-month/pay day is just a few days from now. It seems like it was only a very short while ago that we were going through the whole new year thing.

I remember that host Jay Ingram on Daily Planet once spoke about a study that seemed to suggest that people experience the passage of time at a faster rate as they age. It’s interesting stuff there. If I think about how I experienced my childhood, it seems like time periods stretched out far beyond what was expected. Back then I didn’t really pay attention to that fact though. I guess at that point in life people can afford to be carefree, right? As soon as expectations and responsibilities start creeping into the picture, that’s when things become tougher. All of a sudden there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. It’s like your eyes are suddenly opened after years of clouded vision.

A big difference that I can identify between life now and life back then is the fact that now the things to strive for happen more frequently. Does that make sense? In elementary, school is just routine, with maybe summer vacation as the main delineator. Sure, there are tests and exams, but they didn’t feel like they were of too much consequence (whether or not that’s true is another matter). Now, there are deadlines galore where my ass is on the line. There’s also pay day which really acts as a time marker of sorts. With these things always looming on the horizon, there’s enough to keep me moving forward. It’s that transparent dangling carrot that Alanis sings about–at least, it’s my carrot.