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Reflections upon 20 years and the elasticity of time
I’ve always tried not to take time for granted. Even in my mid-20s I was keenly aware of how old I was, how much older I was getting and how quickly, and was always questioning whether I was older than the guy in the beer commercial, who represented some sort of ideal youthful adult age within the ultimate demographic. I knew even then that it was a silly notion to care about, but I also knew that one day I would wake up and not be young anymore. That somehow didn’t stop me from wasting a lot of time. Maybe I do take time for granted.
My years as a 20-something single guy disappeared long ago (the “20-something” longer ago than the “single guy”), but in retrospect that period in my life lasted for a long time, and it’s strange to think how long I was locked into that routine. I spent the better part of a decade living in the same cheap apartment and going to the same job. (Even if the job title changed a few times, it was still essentially the same deal.) Without a doubt not coincidentally, these were days that marked the most active period of my online reviewing activities.
Right before I turned 30, I met the woman who would eventually become my wife. We lived two hours apart for nearly five years until we got married. A couple years after that, after my services were no longer deemed necessary at the newspaper where I worked, I changed industries. (That’s a story for another day, but also the best career move that could’ve happened to me.) Then, two years ago, we welcomed our first child, our daughter. Six months later we moved into the house that, if things play out as planned (you can only make plans, not guarantees), will be the house we still live in when we retire. At the end of January, we welcomed our second child, our son. We have ourselves an idyllic family unit, and things are going great. I really couldn’t ask for more. To say the last few years have been eventful would be an understatement. That this hopefully helps explain my recent absence from my website goes without saying.
To tie this into my excuses for why the Star Trek Into Darkness review still isn’t posted: I could probably make excuses forever, but it comes down to what I choose to do with my limited available time, and I just haven’t chosen to finish the STID review, despite recurring hopes I would get around to it — and the fact that half of it has been written for nearly two years. Beyond that, I can only offer this explanation: Because it’s already so late, there’s no clock to beat, so I just haven’t made it a priority. You shouldn’t read anything more into it than that.
Anyway. In a little less than a year, I will say goodbye to my 30s. It’s odd how my 30s seemed to go by so quickly. Maybe it was all the change that happened during those years, versus the relative static nature of my 20s. But the thing I’ve been told for a long time, and always suspected to be the case (hence my obsession with the guy in the beer commercial), has turned out to be true — which is that time accelerates as you get older. My 20s seemed to take at least 10 years. But my 30s seemed to take about half that. And I wonder (fear?) whether my 40s may evaporate even faster, especially with young children growing up. I hear from so many people about how you blink, and suddenly your kids are adults. I wonder if that’s true, exaggeration, or a little of both.
Twenty years ago this month, I launched the website that is now Jammer’s Reviews. To write those words are both difficult and easy to fathom. Hard at first to believe it’s been that long, and yet the day I sat in that college computer lab and learned the basics of HTML from a friend over Unix ntalk feels like a lifetime ago. And then I remember sitting in my apartment writing about the fifth anniversary of the website. In my memory, those first five years feel like they took about as long as the 15 years since that moment have. Your memory plays tricks on you. This may especially be true as you mark your life in events rather than years. Paradoxically, the more events there are, the less time that feels has passed. Well, sometimes at least.
When we welcomed our son two months ago, we were in the same hospital where we welcomed our daughter two years earlier. The room, identical, was just down the hall from the one we had last time. It was like being in a time loop. Two years had passed, but it felt like we had just been there. Meanwhile, those two or three days in the hospital seemed to stretch out into their own chapter. Two or three days usually goes by like nothing, except when a major life moment fills your memory and stretches them out into something seemingly much longer.
With the addition to our family, I finally had to acquire a minivan. It is just not feasible fitting two child seats (with children in them!) into the back of your two-door Grand Am. So several weeks ago I put it up for sale. I bought that car — my first new car — on September 11, 2000, less than a couple years out of college, and I’ve driven it ever since. (I remember driving to work on September 11, 2001, thinking how I’d bought the car one year ago that day; needless to say, there was plenty else to think about during the drive home.) Now that car sits in my driveway until someone takes it off my hands. When that happens, I will probably feel a twinge of melancholy, because that will be another chapter closed on my vanishing youth. Before someone buys it, I need to make sure to take it for one last spin while playing Jay-Z’s Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter. That would bring it full circle. Of course, that album is now a digital file on my smartphone and the CD is sitting in my basement collecting dust, but there you have it. Times change, technology changes, life marches on.
A couple years ago when my daughter was born, a fellow 1990s-era Trek critic, David E. Sluss of The Cynic’s Corner, also a father, a few years older than me, emailed me a congratulations and told me to treasure these times. I replied that I would, because, hey, I’ve always been keenly aware of time’s passage. He offered me the quote, “Now will never come again.” I thought it was a perfect sentiment and I could fully relate. But it wasn’t until this moment, thinking back on it and realizing the reference had eluded me, that I bothered to look up where the quote came from. It’s from TNG‘s “The Inner Light.” How apropos. (A commenter on my website a few months back posted an obituary for a David E. Sluss of similar age, thinking it might have been the Cynic, but it turns out it was a different person with the same name; I’m happy to report the Cynic is alive and well.)
Sometimes I try to capture “now” by pressing an imaginary record button in my mind to willfully sear a moment into my memory so I’ll remember it in 30 years. Does it really work? I’m not so sure. I do remember doing this once on the last day of high school, and I do indeed still have a fragment of that memory, but it’s a shadow of the clarity of the moment, as if the memory couldn’t withstand the wear of time. And I’m sure I’ve pressed the record button on many other occasions, only for them to ultimately be lost. Perhaps the permanent recording can’t be willed, and we remember only what stands out naturally.
If this essay has ventured into the realm of kitchen-sink rambling only loosely connected by a common theme, please forgive me. It’s a rare Saturday where I had some time to kill and some things that came to mind, and I didn’t want the 20th anniversary of this endeavor to go unremarked upon. Aside from my one-off for Interstellar a few months back, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted a review in two years. That might be the longest drought in the 20-year history of this website. Such, I guess, is the life of a parent of young children. I’m sure I’ll write again someday; just probably not for a little while. Although I could realistically figure out a schedule to get writing back into my routine, I think my time right now just feels better spent elsewhere, or in indulging in that thing known as “relaxation.” Call it work-life-hobby balance, where the “hobby” part has settled in at somewhere just above zero percent. If you’ve been coming here for 20 years or this is your first time stopping by, I hope you’ll check in from time to time — even if the commenters right now contribute more to the site than I do.
For now, I gotta go. Naptime for my kids is over and my wife is home from the grocery store. I don’t care about the guy in the beer commercial. He’s such a tool.
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49 comments on this post
D.Jackson
Jammer thanks for posting! This is my first post after reading your reviews over the past two years while watching TOS>TNG>DS9 and now VOY(currently season 4). This website really is time in a bottle, I have been reading reviews written at various points over the past 20 years and comments that go back a few years. To me it is all in the present and at times I forget that I am reading a review from 1998. This is a great site and I am glad to have found it.
May your 40’s treat you well!
Mitch Spector
I may very well be the most enduring visitor of this site, a regular since the very beginnings. In retrospect it doesn’t seem that long ago, but wow, this month really does mark 20 years when I think back to that point in my life.
And so, it’s rather interesting that you mention marking life by series of events rather than years, as this site happens to be one of them. It was during my first year of university, near the end of term, I stumbled across a lab filled with Mac computers on campus, started poking around and quickly became excited to find they had an Internet connection. It was in this room I experienced the World Wide Web *graphically* for the very first time ever! (I had been an Internet user for years prior to that, but it had all been on the text-based screen of either my Apple II or the school terminals). As it turned out on that very day, I was exploring Yahoo’s category-topic listings and came across this interesting little site called ‘Star Trek: HyperText’. Said site, just happened to be reviewing the (then) new Star Trek Voyager series I started watching and wondered if I wasn’t the only one who thought something was off. The reviews were so well written, thought out and in depth I instantly became hooked. Every episode I watched was followed by a visit to this page to get Jammer’s perspective (an enduring experience, as it was mostly through the Lynx text browser on my Apple II computer!).
1994-95 was a turning point in my life as I just moved out, living on my own and started university. Somehow this site is intertwined in those memories. Just thought I’d share that!
Thanks for all the great reviews (I’ve literally read them all over the past 20 years! DS9, VOY, ENT, TNG, TOS, BSG, films) and look forward to reading more!
Quinalla
I love this post, so so true. I often reflect back on my single life and my married-without-children life in much the same way. Children really change your priorities a lot and I am so protective of the sliver of free time I have now, yeah I get it. Was great to see another post from you, I haven’t been coming to this site for 20 years, but probably about 14-15 years and wow it does not seem like that long, but there it is. Anyway, congratulations on your newest addition to the family and I do hope a few years down the road to see you reviewing more often again because I always enjoy your reviews, but if you don’t, I get that too.
Now I think I’ll go read a few DS9 reviews for old times sake! Oh, and if anyone is looking for some interesting Star Trek reviews, I recommend this: http://markwatches.net/reviews/ He’s watching Star Trek for the first time (he’s done TOS and the TOS movies prior to TNGs start and is in season one of TNG right now) and is going to watch it all and it is really interesting reading his thoughts about these show totally unspoiled. Anyway, just wanted to share as it was an amazing find for me as I really enjoy reading reviews and interacting with other fans, just make sure if you post to use spoiler tags on anything that might be a spoiler.
Howard Goldman
Age is all relative. A few weeks ago I was with some fellow members of a professional organization at a convention center, working out some details of an upcoming conference. In casual conversation, our sales rep mentioned she was looking forward to her birthday bash that upcoming weekend. The Big One, she said — “I’m turning 30!” We all looked at each other at a loss for a snappy response. One of the elders of our group finally provided it. “I’ve got socks older than that!” he said.
And I’ll mention a story Tom Bodett wrote about one of his fictional End Of The Road characters, who had promised himself he would write poems of his Alaska when he turned sixty. But try as he might, “he couldn’t sum up a life that wasn’t totaled yet,” so he grabbed a pencil and instead wrote:
“Six decades of life in a minute
I said I would do what I can’t.
I won’t strike a verse when I’m in it;
I won’t rhyme a word I still am.
I’ve friends yet to meet and to steady
My foes are afoot and I’m waiting.
These poems that I promised aren’t ready;
I’ll try it again, when I’m eighty.”
Brandon
I believe our best writings come in the moment, when we’re prompted and passionate, and not always necessarily planned. Best to save the writing, Jammer, until a thought occurs and jump upon it only then. I’m sure you already know that.
I look forward to your (hopefully negative-starred) STID review, but take your time and congrats on your second offspring!
Brad
As always, your site speaks for itself as an amazing little corner of the internet. I look forward to seeing what you write in the future, and I’ll always enjoy revisiting what you have written.
My best to you and yours!
Andrew
As a guy a few years older than you, let me share what I’ve learned (and you may ignore it at your leisure):
I spent my 20s figuring out what I *didn’t* want do to with my life.
I spent my 30s figuring out what I *did* want to do with my life.
And now I’m spending my 40s kicking ass at doing it.
I don’t know about my 50s; I’ll figure it out when I get there.
Chris
The fact that people continue to contribute to this site after such a long time is a testament to its quality and the fact that Star Trek and BSG are still things that we watch and want to discuss no matter how long it’s been since they first aired. I’m thankful that I discovered this site during BSG’s first season, and therefore got to experience Jammer’s “real-time” thoughts as the show developed. Thanks for all the reviews you’ve written, and I look forward to some more in the future.
Dan L.
Jammer,
That was an incredibly moving meditation on the vagaries and unfairness of time (and the implicit upshot to that unfairness – that it is the realization of thepassage of time that allows us to realize that life is worth slogging through). Roger Ebert, in his Great Movies review of “Beat the Devil,” quoted a character speaking of time: “What is time? Swiss manufacture it. French hoard it. Italians squander it. Americans say it is money. Hindus say it does not exist. Do you know what I say? I say time is a crook.”
It is, but, much as a crook might, it leaves some decent jewels behind for us to treasure.
Natasha
What a beautifully reflective piece- you’re a wonderfully talented writer Jammer. My brother and I have enjoyed your Star Trek reviews for years, and now my husband loves them too! Thanks for providing the Star Trek fandom with such a rich resource, which has a great deal of artistic merit in its own right! We very much look forward to your new material 🙂
Sarah M
It is always a pleasure, even if it’s a pleasant surprise these days, to see more Jammer content.
I started reading this site back when Voyager was still on the air. So, while I haven’t been here from the beginning, it’s been a good long time. It lives in my bookmarks and will continue to. It’s hard to find criticism on the Internet that isn’t just hyperbole and incitement in pursuit of click-baiting, so I miss the days when your pieces were more frequent, but I’ll take whatever you want to give.
Pat E, aka Mom
Wow, I just happened by this site because I pushed the wrong button on my keyboard. Glad I did. I haven’t looked at Jammer’s Reviews in a while, probably because I’m keeping busy too.
Time certainly does fly. I know that because I remember back…mostly to the real “beginning” of my life, my college years. I finally left home for college and got to be “me” at last. Not that doing that was the most intelligent thing I ever did–I did lots of dumb things in college, but I also learned a lot and eventually met someone who I’ve spent my life with–aka, Dad & Grandpa. If not for that meeting, certain people would not exist and I wouldn’t be having nearly as much fun with all of them.
Next year you will turn 40…wow, I’ll have a kid THAT old??? What does that make me? Well, let’s just say I’ll be “on Medicare” in a few more weeks. Now THAT is old, but I’m hoping to be around to see those gorgeous little kids of yours grow into adults–and that won’t take that long.
Keep writing..I’ll check back from time to time.
Tim
Wow. That article really hit home with me. I am about to turn 40 and just yesterday I was wondering what the hell happened to the last 20 years. I divide my life between kid and adult at the age of 19 when I got my first apartment, which was 20 years ago in January. I was so dirt poor, I didn’t even have cable. That’s how I first found Voyager, I only had five channels to choose from and there wasn’t anything else on. But I was on my own. I was happy.
And fast forward 20 years and I never would have guessed that I would have such a “grown-up” job, own a house, be married (or even that my marriage would be legal!) with step-daughters and everything. If I went back and told that goofy 19 year old how he’d end up, he’d call me crazy.
I often think about causality. If I could change anything that happened in the past 20 years. Would I? I sure would be tempted. But every choice I’ve made, good and bad, has led me where I am now and I wouldn’t want to risk losing that
Jammer, we are old. 🙂
aemom
Hello Jammer. I only stumbled across your site a couple of years ago and I’m surprised that I didn’t find it sooner. I really enjoy it and have been reading it since. I can totally sympathize with not having time with two small children. You start thinking of your life as before kids and after kids.
I was expecting my first child during the last season of DS9. It seems like only yesterday, yet that teenager is now a Star Trek fan just like his mother and we watch together.
Enjoy them while they are little, they grow up so quickly.
Trajan
Jammer, I’m in my fifties. You’ve just reminded me that when I first started visiting this site I was in my thirties. Yeah, thanks for that…
If there’s one piece of advice I can give you kiddies(!) it’s in common with the advice of others above: make sure that you stop and smell the roses along the way.
My late mother always liked that old Mac Davis song. Now I understand why.
karatasiospa
As a 51 years old jammer i can verify that time does indeed move faster aqs you grow older! but from what i can gather from your post it was not bad for you. Believe me in this life you can try, you can work and in the end find yourself in front of almost nothing. like after many years of work and some accomplisments finding yourself in a country in front of bankrupty (greece) with all that this means. Fate? Destriny? i don’t know.
mystery
This is a nice heartwarming post. I find myself in a different place. I was on the road to many of the things Jammer achieved…but was promptly given a U-Turn when my ex decided to end being with me. Gone were the visions of a home together, family, etc…something I had wanted since I was young but could not achieve due to lots of personal anxiety issues. The irony is that I spent the majority of my 20’s being focused and responsible on career goals. Now in my 30’s I’ve become a little more mellow and am enjoying having fun in life much more. I’m left with the conclusion that so much is out of our control, and while I’m happy for those who have have achieved “the narrative” and are happy, being on the other side uncontrollable / difficult circumstances makes me more appreciative of the basic joys of life as tomorrow anything could happen to change my circumstances. I feel so much in life is based on chance despite our best efforts. I only hope people with lots of riches (both material and personal) remember that everyone has their own path and some roads are rockier than others. We are all trying our best.
Yanks
Good to hear from you Jammer.
It’s good your employment allows for being around the kids. I’m a retired military guy and spent a good portion of those years gone. Gone is quite appropriate as before you know it those years are gone. While it may have seemed that time has passed quickly the last twenty years, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Enjoy them while they’re young, they don’t stay that way very long.
We’ll be here when you get back into reviewing.
InAUGral
Long time viewer, first time poster.
Must say I have relied heavily on this website for all the Star trek rewatching sessions I have done in the past 5 or more years. It has been a great guide to help me remember some of my least favourite and also some of my favourite episodes for some easy re-watching without the fluff.
Keep up the work and I hope this site remains running for as long as possible.
MidshipmanNorris
A tribute to your skilled leadership ser
methane
Always good to hear from you Jammer, even when you remind me how old I am (just barely older than you, & I started reading your reviews on rec.arts.startrek.reviews either right when you started or soon after).
Anyway, I’m planning on re-watching DS9 soon (have been putting it off awhile), so I’ll be re-visiting this site more often in the near future.
Jeff O’Connor
Jammer, I’m so happy you give us updates on life from time to time. I’m 27 now, myself, and I’ve been following this website for many of my occasional space operatic rewatches for as long as I can remember. I share your reviews with all the friends I bring into the sci-fi fold and seldom does anyone not get sucked into keeping up with your thoughts. The internet’s as strange a place as anywhere else in this crazy world we call home, but there are some sites that just stand monument to modern human history. This is one of them, even if it ultimately nothing more than a collection of reactions to episodes of television series.
But enough strange late-night rambling from me. Your post was eye-opening. I’ve never met you and I very likely never will; I’m not even sure you’ve ever had cause to respond to any of my comments here on this site. But your name carries weight to me, and it’s good to know your life is full of adventure.
By the way, should you somehow manage to find the time (there’s that word again) and The Expanse turns out to be a genuinely decent space opera when it premieres later this year on SyFy, boy oh boy would I be pleased to have my favorite net reviewer on the scene. 🙂
Live long, prosper, and all that other jazz.
MidshipmanNorris
Grats on 20 years.
Aaron B.
Whether or not you ever post new reviews again, I’m glad you’ve kept the site up. It’s always a shame when a site with good content goes down because it’s not being updated. You have a ton of great content here that deserves to be saved for your posterity. I check in occasionally when I can’t remember some detail from this or that episode, and I fully expect to do a DS9 rewatch again one of these years, so I’ll probably want to reread your reviews along with it.
Brendan
This was an emotional thing for me to read. Not only has it been about 15 years since originally finding “ST-Hypertext” which seems not that long ago, I also find myself 3 weeks away from turning 30 and experiencing the turmoil that comes with it. I’ve been in a bit of a meandering phase of life of late, and this was just what I needed to give me a kick in the ass. Thanks, Jammer.
Dustin Hatchett (Colorado_Gamer)
Class act as always good sir. Thank you for 20 Years, I have been here for most of it. 🙂
Dom
I have to echo what others have said here. I’m a bit younger than Jammer, and haven’t quite gotten as settled into my career and family situation, but I am really starting to realize that life is short. Sounds like you’re making the most of it, Jammer!
@mystery, your comment made my day. I found myself in exactly the same situation as you. My ex told me she wanted a divorce, and when that happened I realized that all my career ambitions meant nothing without family and friends. Glad to hear you figured out how to take it easy in life.
Johnny
Been with you for a long time Jammer. I remember reading your reviews with my newborn son in one arm. Now my son is 15 and I ask myself where has the time gone. It’s good to hear from you and your thoughts on life.
It’s not about the destination…but the journey
Johnny
Don’t know if anyone has heard of this site https://archive.org/web/ but it’s like an internet time machine where sites are archived with pretty good detail. If you’re feeling a little nostalgic, put in http://st-hypertext.com. It interesting to look back at how many sites were dedicated to Star Trek. Enjoy
Taylor
Regarding the elasticity of time, the most accurate description I ever found was from Alvin Toffler’s “Future Shock.” When you’re 10, one year is 1/10th of your life, and as a result, time appears to move slowly. When you’re 50, each year is 1/50th of your life, and thus time appears to pass much more quickly.
Thus, it’s not so much about what you were doing when you were younger – it’s more that time actually does “accelerate” as we age, and it’s not imagined.
The only exception to this “rule” I ever noticed was when I spent a year working in the Third World around 20 years ago. There was very little to occupy my off time (outside of reading and writing), unlike the bounty of distractions in the United States, and as a result, time seemed to drag. So if anyone wants to slow down the “acceleration of time” – move to a remote mountain cabin, I guess, and skip the TV and Internet connections.
I catch ST: TNG reruns on BBC America intermittently and still come here to read your reviews afterward, as a refresher – great stuff.
Dimpy
Time is the fire in which we burn.
Samuel Stinson
Jammer, thanks for your thoughts over the decades. Here’s to twenty more years, and your children writing with you as ST moves back to the small screen some time this century. 🙂
Bill
I didn’t know my “record button” was on when, in my early forties, I walked into an Elizabeth, NJ bodega for some lunch and the counter boy gave me my change with a, “Thank you, sir.” I only nodded, but realized it was the first time anyone had called me by that appellation. It may be that I wasn’t as aware of time’s passing as you were/are. Or maybe it was my predilection toward Zen that tended to keep me perennially in the moment for as far back as I can remember.
You’ve done a good thing here, Jammer. And you deserve to live a good life. I’m happy our paths have crossed in so natural a way. And, even if you find it’s no longer necessary to post another review, that’s perfectly fine. Nothing lasts; no worries, no apologies needed.
As long as my memory is alive (I’m in my 60’s) I’ll always be thankful to you, Sir.
Jeff
Speaking from my early fifties, I think I can answer a few of your thoughts/questions.
Yes, time feels like it speeds up as you get older. But all the while, the adage “the days crawl, but the years fly” remains true. The lesson I take from that is it takes discipline to make each day (the NOW Picard referred to) count – if you don’t, the the accumulated years seem empty and if you do, well, you get a gift similar to what Picard received from his Inner Light experience – a life well lived and a legacy as well.
No, the record button to sear in memories does not work. I’ve tried that as well with the same results as you’ve experienced. Writing/journaling as well as photos help immensely in capturing the moments you want “seared in the brain.”
I hope you will consider that your writing is a gift you have worked hard to develop – don’t let it atrophy by ill- or non-use. In your writing, you bless others and also leave a remembrance that we all desire and of which you wrote so eloquently in your Inner Light review a few years ago.
Mark Falconer
Like many of the other posters, this resonates with me too. I am turning 31 later this year, and I remember finding this website while I was in college, over ten years ago. BSG was on, and also I was rewatching all of Voyager at the time. Crazy to think of how much time has passed in those years. I still do visit the site from time to time, especially when watching an episode or two and I’m interested in finding your opinion on it. My dad passed away at 59 earlier this year, and that experience made me realize how precious and short life is. Not coincidentally, he is the man who instilled a love of all thing Star Trek in me – I remember watching VHS tapes of “A Piece of the Action” at a very young age. After his funeral, we watched Wrath of Khan. I miss him terribly, but I’ve always thought of him every time I watch Star Trek, and I always will.
Michael
Jammer! I remember reading your website as a twelve year old watching Voyager and thinking you had the coolest job ever. Realizing you didn’t get paid for it didn’t make it any less cool 🙂 You’re a great writer and are part of the reason I became one myself. I don’t know what you’re doing professionally now but I hope it involves writing because you are one with the words my friend.
Michael
Ben Franklin
I can’t help but empathize with you, Jammer. We just had our first child earlier this year and it already feels like time has started moving at an accelerated rate. I think the hyper-focus on another person (kids) helps to move along time at a faster pace. But I also have this theory that time is relative, not only in physics, but also with respect to an individual. I think of it this way: When you are 5 years old, 20% of your entire life had to pass before you turned 6. At age 40, one year only represents 2.5% of your life and so it feels like it passes very quickly. Kinda explains why the older a person gets, the faster time feels like it’s moving.
I don’t know, it seems like it makes sense to me! 🙂
Del_Duio
I wonder how hard Jammer will slam Into Darkness’ mad rip off of TWoK, and the cheesy “KHAAAAAAN!!!” Spock scream. Maybe someday we’ll see!
Jammer: GREAT SITE, man. honestly. I love DS9 and TNG a ton and your reviews are a read read still.
SlackerInc
“Paradoxically, the more events there are, the less time that feels has passed.”
It’s strange, because I am about a year older than Jammer, and I feel just the opposite. I often hear this refrain (echoed in the comments here) about when you have kids “you blink and suddenly they’re all grown up”. I guess I’m lucky or something, because from the beginning (I had my first two kids in the early ’00s, got divorced, remarried, and had my youngest two in the early ’10s) I have found that being a father seemed to make time slow down.
Before we had our first child, my wife and I lived together, in the same house, doing pretty much the same jobs etc., for three years. The uniformity of that time would make me think of something we had done together and wonder “was that, like, last month, or two years ago?” It all blended into a sameness that flattened out the passage of time.
Whereas once we had a baby, each month was marked by very noticeable developmental changes and milestones. By the time he was a year old, it seemed like he had been in our lives for-frakking-ever, not just a “blink of an eye”. And now that my oldest is a teenager and my youngest is three, it feels like I’ve been a dad forever and a day. Whereas the period in my twenties before fatherhood is what felt like it passed in an eyeblink.
Again, I acknowledge that according to the testimony of others indicates that my experience is the exception. But I find this hard to comprehend–and not just because it is not my experience. The explanation I laid out above seems like it would make sense for it to happen perceptually to many others, if not everyone. Go figure…
HawgWyld
It is striking how closely your experiences resemble mine. My 20s seemed like an eternity and I spent most of them in the same, rotten apartment and working similar jobs. By the time I was 30, I had a child and another one on the way. I’m in my 40s now, my kids are teens and one of them is heading into the Navy in a few months. My 30s flew by and my 40s are going by even faster.
I’ve heard it said that is partially due to something similar to Einstein’s theory on relativity (that may be a bunch of crap, but it makes sense to me). If time is relative to our position, then it makes sense that time appears to move faster when we have more years stacked up for comparison. For example, summer used to last forever, but that was when we didn’t have a whole lot of summers in our experience to compare them to — one month seems like a lot of time when you’ve only been alive for a couple of years, but not so much when you’re, say, 46-years-old.
Something like that, anyway.
At any rate, I still watch a lot of Star Trek and find myself looking up your reviews as part of that experience. So, thanks for that and I’m sure you’ll get back in the swing of things when time allows.
mt2994
So new Star Trek series announced for 2017. Think Jammer will make time to review it? It’s being produced by 1/2 the writing team for those abominably written alternate universe films.
So, yeah. Probably, probably going to be a trainwreck.
Snitch
The children better be ready to live on their own by 2017, Jammer needs to write some Star Trek reviews.
I can see where mt2994 is coming from, it could be a disaster. Just look at the Minority report series as an example for a total disaster.
TheNewTreker
Time to dust off that keyboard. New Star Trek series means new reviews!!!
The Great Danton
I discovered this website just this week. Yes, I’ve been a Star Trek fan for the past 25 years but never enough of a fan to get involved in any fan website. I simply watched the shows and that’s it.
I congratulate you for your 20 years running this website. It shows its age and I don’t mean that sarcastically or negatively. The design of this website is exactly what Tim Berners-Lee had in mind when he created the first website. Just delivery of content without the tracker-filled, ad-populated, Like-button, corporation-controlled mess we see today in most websites.
Kudos for still being around after 20 years on the web. Cheers for the next 20?
TB
Hey Jammer,
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying reading your reviews and others comments as I watch through Star Trek series that I first watched about 15 years ago.
Keep up the good work!
You likely don’t take requests but one thing that would be really interesting from you is which order would you recommend watching them in?
I started with TNG then considered the TNG movies but realised that Generations really came after TOS so now I’m planning to do:
TNG > TOS > TOS era Movies > TNG era Movies > DS9 > VOY > ENT > Reboot Movies
Currently I’m mid way through TOS season 2.
Jammer
I would recommend watching them in pure chronological air date order, including all the overlap between the series and movies. That way you get the perspective of a viewer who watched them in real time, and can view the stories in that full context.
Trajan
You wrote this blog more than two years ago. Eek!
Does anyone have a TARDIS I can borrow? I’m sure I know where to find my youth…
A. C.
Found this looking for the David E. Sluss takes on STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and THE ORVILLE.
Anyone know if his Site will go live with his takes on them?
Always interesting to come across something a couple of years old when we are now fortunate enough to be able to come here & have so much NeW content to catch up on 🙂
And 51 years after TOS we are getting the public chance
https://dpo.tothestarsacademy.com/
…now that Musk/Bezos/Branson have laid a ground work in the zeitgeist that has so wildly taken root!
APPLE II FOREVER!
SciFiBooklover
I just watched Voy: Blink Of an Eye which really explores this philosophy, that time is elastic. This is just one example of the theme. There has been other episodes like that only in Star Trek, but also “umpteen” books about time travel, even paradoxes and alternative universes. “HawgWyld” talks about age, but I have learned that this “age” is completely irrelevant. Relative to the orvit of Earth around the Sun (Which is also “temporally elastic”), it is all about feeling the youth in your mind, as long as you feel and believe you are at the age you feel most comfortable about, that would become your personal “Sky Ship”. And with that being thought as in “Thought, Space, Matter”, then you should not have to feel old or anything.