My main memory of my Aunt Lulu is her apparent dyspeptic personality. She always looked like she needed a Tums. Something had gone down wrong at dinner, and was sitting uneasily in her stomach. And her face wasn’t happy about it.

Of course, as a boy barely old enough to use two hands to count my age, I wasn’t great at interpreting facial expressions. I’m still not. In fact, I can barely recognize faces, let alone interpret them. I certainly didn’t understand that time weathers the fairest skin, and expressions can be misleading. So although she always looked a bit belligerent to my young eyes, she treated me very kindly. Her countenance and her deportment just didn’t seem to match. She was Winston Churchill with Betty Boop’s personality.

When did you realize your childhood wasn’t going to last forever?

Time moves so slowly for the young.  Waiting for Christmas to come, anticipating a trip to the amusement park, praying for school to end and summer to begin – these can create the illusion that time is endless. Each grade level of school takes an eternity, so childhood obviously is forever.

I remember with aching clarity the moment my bubble of youth was burst. As usually happens, it was a mundane moment, one that had no right to affect me in any way, but it went ahead and intruded on my oblivious bliss.

There’s a recurring scene in my life. A complete stranger approaches me, and when within striking distance, calls me by name and asks how I’ve been.  And I ask myself, “Who is this person?” I would swear I’d never met them before. But it always turns out that we know each other in some manner. I just didn’t realize it.

Evidently I have a small issue with facial recognition.  I spent most of my life unaware of this.  Believe me, I have no trouble telling Angelina Jolie from Brad Pitt, or Charlize Theron from Charlie Sheen.  Those distinctions are crystal clear. But if it’s someone I’ve met only nine or ten times, or it’s been more than a month or so, well… 

We gaze in the Misty Mirror today to bring the world of apps into focus. Smartphone users are always hunting for and hungry for the newest, trendiest apps.  The reason they’re always hungry is that today’s apps aren’t satisfying.  Like the worst kinds of junk foods, most apps are lightweight and packed with non-nutritive fillers, leaving the user craving something with more substance.  In the Joe Zone, we’re all about healthy, nutritious apps that leave the user satisfied, and with lower cholesterol levels.  Down with Twinkie™ apps!