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I forgot it was 2008. Cripes, I'm getting old.

Probably not. I turned 40 last month. I find that I'm much less likely to write the wrong year on my checks than I was 10 years ago. When you're younger, what year it is seems permanent, hard to change. Later you're no more likely to forget what year it is than you are to forget what month it is.

Heck, I'm only 24 and I was just noticing that the other day. I remember when I was in second grade, and the year switched, I put the wrong year for months. Now the turning of a year just doesn't seem that momentous anymore.

I wonder why time seems to accelerate as we age. Is it because we are more busy, and hence spend less time being bored? Or is it somehow related to the fact that any given year's memories are an ever shrinking percentage of my overall memory store? If I were rich I would study people's perception of time, because it seems so non-linear.

I think it's largely the latter. When you have fewer memories, everything is newer, so each moment is more vivid. As time seems to slow when we have adrenaline rushes, the same with vivid experiences.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jmkenney/

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