stone happy in '72 and at mile 25

do you ever come across old pictures in which you appear to be much happier than you ever remember feeling? as an empiricist confronted with such evidence, i'll admit that the bleep-eatin' grin attests to the fact that i indeed seemed pretty happy at the time the shot was taken, but only in retrospect. this happens a lot with running pictures. i'll recall a race as hot or miserable, but then find myself beaming inexplicably or clowning with new buds, as in this one at mile 25 of the memorial day tribute-to-global-warming 2006 mad city marathon (dammit jim, they're dropping like superheated flies!"). it doesn't appear to be an aberration: of 10 pictures, the only one where i look even arguably unhappy or uncomfortable comes from the first few steps of the race (when i still thought i was gonna win it).

all this is by way of admitting that i'm probably happier now than i let on, even when i'm not feeling cooked. i don't know whether my experiences hold more generally or what would happen if attitudinal reports of subjective well-being were cross-checked against the photographic record, but i suspect that others are happier than they let on as well. since keith richards has understood this since before exile on main street, here's an ancient video of my favorite keef riff and vocal.