People you can't believe you're the same age as

sharke 
 
I'm also freaked out when I hear how young musicians and authors were when they wrote some song or book that I admire. I've been reading Evelyn Waugh recently (Decline and Fall) and I was shocked to find out he was in his early 20's when he wrote it. His grasp of characterization, dialog and all of the little insights and details in his writing make him seem much much older - there's no way I could have written like that at his age. 

Happens to me all the time! Though it all started way back - Rimbaud was one of my favorite authors when I was in college. By 21, he'd written his masterpieces and given up on writing.
 
When I saw that DaVinci exposition a few years ago, it blew my mind to see how much he'd accomplish - and that was only a small part of his legacy. Same when I got into Schubert and learned that he'd died at 31 - its unbelievable that he wrote so much.
 
I always smile when people post those mêmes about Bruce Dickinson and his accomplishments - I shouldn't because I haven't accomplished a 100th of what he's done. But still...
 
I look at a hero of mine, Nietzsche, who was fluent in Greek and Latin, on top of being familiar with French, English, Italian, who laid down the fondations of modern psychology and left behind a massive body of work, who was also well versed in philology, and who even found time to learn to learn to write music (even though his works are usually considered mediocre) - all that while teaching and battling crippling disease, before his brain basically shut down at age 44...
 
Of course, back then, there was no Coffehouse or Facebook. :P