Today's illustrious band:

Buttered Mercury

Brought to you by the astonishingly swift passage of time, which has started to slip through my fingers like buttered mercury.

It's mid-August already. The year is nearly 2/3 over — and I'm still not entirely finished with last year yet. I can already smell summer drawing to a close. I've held the same job for 5 years now all of a sudden. This month marks 9 years since I moved to the Big Cities (and since The X-Files hit the airwaves), but I remember my first post-school apartment with perfect clarity. It's 11 years since I finished college and drove to Georgia with some friends for a sleep-deprived week of humidity and hanging out. My high school class had its 15-year reunion this Fourth of July (or so I heard), even though we seem to have graduated just a few months ago. And those are just a few of the milestones quickly accumulating behind me.

Can't say I mind, though. This brisk passage of time sure beats the second-by-second creeping that stretched social studies classes halfway to forever. I'm just curious to see how fast it really gets. Not that I'll necessarily be able to tell; I haven't worn a watch in 10 years.