Yep, at some point during my stay in New York I realized I’ve been working in consulting for … ta-daaa … 15 years.

That reminded me of the man I met more than a decade ago, somewhere around San Diego while waiting to have the oil changed at the service station. I’d say he was about the age I am now or just a bit older and had some kind of facial tick, nothing major but impossible not to notice.

As I am not the kind of guy who effortlessly starts a conversation we just sat there minding our own respective businesses (staring in the distance, checking nails and the like) but at some point he asked am I from around here and the conversation went from there.

One of the things I remember very well was him saying that he used to work in IT, was quite successful at it and made a pretty good money but at some point realized he was under way too much stress so he quit whatever it was he was doing and now works in the hospital administration for a lot less money but with a lot less pressure to deal with as well.

And I thought: “Is this me 10-15 years from now? Will I too, develop some kind of physical manifestation of the psychological trauma caused by deadlines, delays and all-nighters?”

Well, for the time being I can say I’m hanging in there and unless you count my neighbors who, because they either don’t see me for weeks on end or see me around at all times of the day, probably think I’m a bit of a weirdo, I can pass for a relatively normal guy.

At least on the outside.