Manganese, 25

I just read The Joy of Old Age by Oliver Sacks and reflect upon what my "elemental age" is — I am Manganese: 25, Mn, a hard gray metal of the transition series. Manganese is an important component of special steels and magnetic alloys. The black dioxide of this as an industrial raw material or additive, esp. in glassmaking. ORIGIN late Middle English (referring to a mineral said to be an ingredient of the philosopher's stone). "A transition metal" they say. Yes, hard, grey, an element to add in the production of something else... Sitting behind a glass window at 5:39 in the afternoon I am roasting under in the sun and being worked by the flames of interpersonal communication, navigating the throws of my quarter-life crisis. 

The Periodic Table of Elements