YOB: week 3

The Year of the Beard rolls on! After a full week back at work, I think I am past the point of people asking "Are you growing a beard?" I want that question to stop, because I won't have to resist coming back with "No, I am just showing up at work unshaven day after day because I am a loser." So far the most honest remark I've heard was from my friend Doug who asked "Do you realize how much older it makes you look?" I told him I was tired of getting carded at bars all the time anyway.

I wasn't really aware that there was a "grow-a-beard-until-the-writer's-strike-is-over" thing going on when I entered whisker initiation mode. And so the answer to the question is no, I am not unshaven in solidarity with the writers, although I imagine their cause is just. The two most high profile people with writer's strike-related new beards of late have been
David Letterman and Conan O'Brien.

But Dave got a shave a week ago, so his YOB is over already. I don't know what the big redhead has in mind, but he most certainly does look like some kind of freakishly giant version of the Lucky Charms leprechaun.

As you steep yourself more in the YOB lore, it' surprising to find out how many notable men (a a few women, too, I guess) have sported a beard. For example:









President James A. Garfield












Celebrated actor, director and anti-Semite Mel Gibson



















God (artist's depiction, not an actual photograph)

Just for future reference, I am learning something about New Year's resolutions, i.e., it's a lot easier to resolve to grow a beard and stick to it, than to resolve to exercise, eat better, drink less, etc. It's important to set obtainable goals. Baby steps - that's how God got started.