James O'Brien

There’s been a bit in the papers lately about Facebook photographs. I guess it all started with the Australian Olympic team and those photographs of them being very drunk and disorderly. I’m sure there are some photographs of me in a similar situation just waiting to be uncovered (and no, that’s not an invitation to drag out of the shoe box, scan them, and share them with the rest of the world).

I share these concerns about workplace embarassment, which I guess labels me oh so “Gen X” in oh so many ways. While “Gen Y” have had little to worry about in terms of of unemployment, old blokes like myself remember when youth unemployment was 40 or 50%, and so we worry about holding on to our jobs, and anything that might cause embarassment, and maybe compromise job security.

But there must be a little “Gen Y” about me, as well. Because today, when my friend Cathy posted some older photographs of me (and her, and our friends) from our university days on Facebook, I immediately showed them to everyone at work. Phrases such as “Oh my God, you were so hot”, and “You were so skinny!”, poured forth from the mouths of my colleagues.

In sharing them here in a more public way, I’ve cropped out everyone else, leaving you with an image of me in 1985 and 1986. For some reason or other, it’s a period of my life for which I didn’t have a lot of photographs previously.

My immediate reaction was to realise how skinny I was and how much hair I had (blonde and flowing – though maybe starting to thin). On a deeper level, you can see in my eyes the absolute joy of life as a twenty year old embarking on life’s big adventure. Thanks Cathy for reminding me of that time.

On a more disconcerting level, I’m beginning to wonder if I ever got out of my pyjamas!