Well I heard Blue Monday for the first time on August 31, 1994 off Substance CD, so there you go - 13 years.
Now you asked how old I feel. Here's a thing. I'm 30 years old now and when you're of that age, people have certains expectations about you. And I try to live up to them but it's hard.
Now it's going to sound crazy, but everybody read The Portrait of Dorian Gray, right? And the idea sounds appealing: I also wanted I would stay young and handsome for ever because that's what you want when you're young, right? How stupid. Now I'm 30 but my mindset and mood are still of a 19-year old lad.
I have to really suppress myself to play an "adult" who is 30 years old and so forth. Because even though I have achildish mind, I also accumulated a profile of experiences over the years and I know how people react to this and that, so I don't want to give myself away too much because my real, immature nature shows up and I don't want to be perceived like that by people at least, professionally and in the outside world. Otherwise I would jump up and down, whistle and act foolishly. And I see some 30-year olds do it and get away with it but I'm afraid it would look dorky or people would get irritated by me easily or lose any respect for me (I "don't" care, but if it's people you deal with, you need something about yourself, right?) So instead I maintain that pretensious cool style that means minimum communication with co-workers and mostly anyone else.
I'm a kind person, fuck it. Yes, I feel sad when someone's hurt and more often than not, I don't express any concern verbally (people may think I'm thick). I always feel to help and when I can't, I become "indifferent" out of despair I can't help.
I trust people. I mean I WANT to trust people, but again with experiences accumulated, I can't get people have advantage of me, so I have to hide even my natural kind attitude towards people.
I'm always stressed everywhere but in my family and with my closest friends. But fuck even they get older, becoming "adults" with kids, washing machines and new curtains, old tiles and gasoline prices.
At my work I have to pose as that macabre cool dude who is dressed to kill, doesn't say a word and listens to some dark music in the corner (fuck, I'm listening to Goldie Lookin Chain and the Pet Shop Boys).
I noticed that strangeness about myself about 2-3 years ago. I thought it would go away, but apparently that's the nature.