Do I look old to you?

I met up with some of the people from Channel 9 last Saturday – Dave Oliver, Barry Dorrans, Sarah Blow and Richard Peat (and his lovely wife Beth, who I don’t think has her own blog). Richard’s already written it up here.

Separately, Dave and Barry both told me that I looked older than my tender years (ahem) of 27, and suggested that I get rid of my beard. Barry also reckoned the ponytail should go (can’t remember what Dave thought but he did admit he’d had one when younger!)

For comparison:

What I looked like in 1998, the last photo I have to hand of me with short hair and no beard (digital snapshot of my passport photo!)

What I looked like last year (taken at my friend’s wedding in Toppenish, WA, USA).

The length of hair and beard varies. I was short-haired and clean-shaven at my graduation ceremony in 2001 and frankly I thought I still looked a bit too young in the photo (and very pale!) I’ve been letting the hair grow pretty much since then and it now just reaches the small of my back. I trim my beard every few weeks, normally when it starts itching too much – it’s quite short right now as you can see in Richard’s picture from Saturday where we’re attempting to play Barry’s card game Fluxx while waiting for food and/or Ian to arrive.

So, should I follow their advice?