Aging... or Not?

I realized recently that my driver's license is expiring this year, so I went ahead and tried to renew it online, instead of heading to the RMV. However, I soon received email back from them:

The Requested License Renewal Transaction was not processed. Your license photo was taken more than nine (9) years ago. You will need to visit an RMV office in person to have a new photo taken and to renew your license.


Whoah.... really? So this photo must have been taken before April 2000. As far as I can tell, I think I look largely identical now. D'ya think so? For reference, my haircut post from about a year ago (not head-on shots, though).

I guess this goes to show that Asians really have a weird thing with aging--I think we often stay largely unchanged from our mid-20s through our 40s or so. Thus, my getting proofed every once in a while. But when getting older, all of a sudden, you undergo this massive aging step function. You then transform into a stooped raisin of a human being who looks like he ought to be dispensing wisdom on a mountaintop while in the lotus position. ("... and young grasshopper, when you replace the flush valve on a water heater...")

Incidentally, this reminds me of a New York Times article from a while ago: "Facial Discrimination":

We almost never talk out loud about physiognomy, the bogus science of judging character on the basis of facial features. But we all do it. We like or dislike people, hire and sometimes fire them, steer them onto the fast track or nudge them into the oubliette based in part on facial prejudices of which we are scarcely even aware.

...

In one study tracking more than 500 cases of intentional wrongdoing in Boston small-claims court, judgments went against mature-faced defendants 92 percent of the time, but against baby-faced defendants only 45 percent of the time. The perception, says Brandeis University psychologist Leslie Zebrowitz, is that “baby-faced people are too honest and naïve to have a high probability of committing a premeditated offense.”

Huh... so maybe I should leverage my looks for a life of crime? However...

When it comes to choosing leaders, on the other hand, we often opt for people who look the part. For instance, another study categorized graduates in the West Point class of 1950 according to whether their faces looked dominant or submissive. Predictably, the top rank of general overwhelmingly went to people who fit the “tough warrior” stereotype. The people making such promotions apparently treated this facial type as a reliable indicator of the ability to command. And maybe there was method in their madness: Being sent off to war by a leader who looks like Howdy Doody might well be demoralizing.

Anyway, I'm wondering if there's anything other creative use for my currently apparent lack of aging. My UW grad student ID is about to run out... so no more student discounts at museums. And no, I'm not planning on using my ability to pass as younger-than-I-am to hit on twentysomething grad students. Ew ew ew.