It's the Eyes, Sean Astin
Allegedly, growing up--or, at least, growing older--helps you also grow wiser. More days on the planet equal more opportunities to learn life lessons multiplied by the existential dread of growing older divided by the square root of the diminishing concern you have for others' opinions.
Also, you learn that math class taught you nothing of practical value.
Anyway, I'm not entirely certain that I buy this equation or that it is applicable to me. So I offer you a sampling of the life lessons I have recently learned, and I leave the determination up to you whether these equal greater wisdom and insight or just thoroughly misplaced priorities.
1) Sad puppy-dog eyes can kill. Just ask the approximately 20% of characters Sean Astin has ever played on film, whose sheer earnestness and desire to be liked meant that they would inevitably suffer a poignant demise in the story's denouement.
2) People don't use or respond to SPOILER ALERT warnings because they honestly don't want to offend their readers or avoid spoilers. People use and respond to SPOILER ALERT warnings because they either want to be a)referential, but not so blatantly referential that it ceases to be cool; or b)they secretly really want to find out about the spoilers.
3) In real life, mice are tenacious, indomitable, and roughly as long (not counting their long, weird-looking tails) as my palm is wide. [shudder]
4) Yoga mats are cat magnets. Seriously, opposing poles and everything.
5) My Dad was right. When painting a room, 20 percent of the painting will take 80 percent of the time. The next 20 percent of the painting will also take 80 percent of the time, and so on until you either run out of paint or sanity. On a related point, I've learned that coats of paint can be entirely different colors, thicknesses, and opacities when viewed in different lights. It's also entirely possible that the paint itself leaps off the wall onto the carpet or retracts from the blue tape to expose the previous paint color, all when you're not looking.
6) My cat is actually a ferocious predator.
