34 years + 1 day

Though I suppose I am now technically in my mid-thirties, I refuse to acknowledge that until I turn thirty-five ... at which point I will be in my mid-thirties until I turn forty.

Thirty-four still counts as early thirties, right?

I unfortunately find myself in a profession in which admitting to only twenty-nine has its drawbacks, seeing as how a certain amount of experience is assumed, and that makes a too-young professor a bit suspect. So I'm thinking if I'm going to freeze my age, thirty-one might be the best bet.

Thirty-four. Get outta here. I can't have been around that long. Of course, when I interact with my students, that's a generation gap that invariably makes me feel old. I get very amused when speaking to former students, now in the last year of their degree or just finished, who speak in exasperated tones about how "young" the first-years they meet seem to them.

Ha. I'm not that far away from being, reasonably speaking, old enough to be my students' father. I think when that realization seeps through you can find me down at a local pub well into my seventh pint.

Not yet though. Still only early thirties.