New Year, New Face

I missed the beard.

Sure, it was itchy, grew so long that my moustache was curling under my upper lip, getting in the way with my eating and drinking. If I wanted to pluck a whisker from the 'stache, all I had to do was bite down on it and smile.

Gross, I know.

Last summer, when I grew my beard, there was no conscious decision to do so. I just didn't shave on one weekend, and on the following Monday, I awoke later than usual and skipped shaving so that I could be at my desk for when my usual workday starts.

From then, I got in the habit of not shaving; not from wanting to have a beard but out of laziness. By the time my beard filled in, I was used to it.

But I was never attached to the beard, and then one day, I decided to shave it off without giving it much thought.

Last month, I saw some of the photos that I had captured of me, with the beard, and I told myself that I didn't look too bad in it. I saw one of my kayaking videos, where I had the beard, and I actually started to miss the facial hair.

In the final days of 2024, I told myself that I was going to grow it again. I just had to get one final video made and New Years Eve out of the way, and I would stop shaving.

I haven't shaved since December 31.

It wasn't until this past weekend that DW asked, "What's going on with your face?"

"I missed the beard," I said.

"I didn't."

"This is for me."

Last evening, after work, I went to my barber for a haircut. It had been more than a month since he saw me and a trim was overdue.

"I love the beard," Andrew said. At the end of the cut, he rubbed some moisturizer into my face and beard.

I'm not gonna lie: I didn't like the smell of it and won't let him apply it again.

For my haircut, I didn't ask Andrew for a particular cut. I almost never do. I just let him go to work and trust that he'll make me look good. When I got home, I took this photo.

Thoughts?

When I looked at the image on my phone, Google suggested some AI enhancements to the photo. Ever since I installed Gemini, it's been making all kinds of suggestions for photo editing.

I thought, why the hell not?

It offered me a 3D cartoon rendering of my photo and, again, I went with it.

The photo looks more like my brother than it does me. First of all, the rendering has de-aged me to the age that my brother is: perhaps, a few years younger.

I'll keep it, and may even use it as my new avatar. With me turning 60 in less than two months, I don't want to look as old as I am.

And I'll keep using it, and the original photo, for as long as I keep the beard or until I take my annual birthday photo, whichever comes first. But for now, it's a new year and a new face.

Happy Tuesday!