OT: - You know you are getting old when........ | The Boneyard

OT: You know you are getting old when........

Bald Husky

Bald Husky

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Going through 75 years of life there are lots of memories, but some of them, although vividly still in your mind, are just that, memories. The biggest thing that used to throw me is when I am talking to a younger person, and I refer to a famous singer, musical group, famous TV show, things or people that I think everybody knows, but the response I get is, WHO IS THAT? Can you imagine there are so many people who don't know who the Beatles are, or never heard of the TV show Mash? I used to work in retailing, so I got to work with people of all ages, and this use to blow my mind whenever I referred to an event or person in the past, especially when I was making a joke about it. LOL. So, how about you guys, does this happen to you, and what makes you feel older than you think you are?
 
About 15 years ago, I was having my nails done by a 20-something year old woman. I had been to a charity function the night before and told the nail tech that I had won a cookbook signed by Paul Newman in the silent auction. She gave me a blank look.

Me: Paul Newman - Butch Cassidy? Cool Hand Luke?
Nail Tech: (blank look)
Me: The voice of Doc Hudson in Cars?
Nail Tech: Ah, oh, well, that's nice (about winning the autographed book)

Man, I left that shop feeling pretty darn old.
 
It's the music thing for me as well. I can't believe that there are people who never heard of the Beatles, or who think the song their favorite artist is singing is an original. There's no sense of history, or even the interest in finding out what came before them. Even when I was younger (I'm 63) I was a history buff; especially with the roots of music.
 
For me, the realization came when I was buying a cup of coffee. I went into a Dunkin' to get a cup and was about to pull out my AARP card to get the senior discount when the young man behind the counter just gave me my coffee at the discount price without me asking. I thought to myself "Damn, not only AM I old but I LOOK old."
 
This phenomenon goes both ways. When watching the Olympics last month I asked my son “who the heck is this guy Snoop Dog? I thought Snoop Dog was character in a comic strip.” I got the silent eye-roll response. The next day I heard that NBC was paying him $500,000 a day for his commentary. I told this to my son and added, “They don’t pay expert commentators like Chrissy Evert or Martina Navratilova that much.” Son’s response, “Who?”
 
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A couple weeks ago my wife and I hosted our 6 year old grandson for the week. We had lots of fun things scheduled and, for the most part, we had a great time.

However, our grandson is smart, curious and full of energy. He literally never stops. Trying to keep up with him was exhausting. We concluded that we are both too old to maintain the pace necessary to manage a 6 year old for an extended period of time. That’s why you should have kids when you’re young. ;)
 
We have seen entire industries come and go in our lifetime. e.g. Video Tapes. The original tape players were about $800 in the late seventies. How many people know the difference between VHS and Beta? (over $4000 in today's dollars) Then Mom and Pop video stores were everywhere. Then Corporations like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video put Mom and Pop out of business. Then Netflix had mail order videos. Finally, streaming video made Video Tapes obsolete. How many people refer to "taping" a show or movie, when they really mean a digital recording?
 
oldude said:
A couple weeks ago my wife and I hosted our 6 year old grandson for the week. We had lots of fun things scheduled and, for the most part, we had a great time.

However, our grandson is smart, curious and full of energy. He literally never stops. Trying to keep up with him was exhausting. We concluded that we are both too old to maintain the pace necessary to manage a 6 year old for an extended period of time. That’s why you should have kids when you’re young. ;)
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I like your use of the word "hosted". It means you don't live here permanently...and at some point you're leaving.:)
 
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Aluminny69 said:
We have seen entire industries come and go in our lifetime. e.g. Video Tapes. The original tape players were about $800 in the late seventies. How many people know the difference between VHS and Beta? (over $4000 in today's dollars) Then Mom and Pop video stores were everywhere. Then Corporations like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video put Mom and Pop out of business. Then Netflix had mail order videos. Finally, streaming video made Video Tapes obsolete. How many people refer to "taping" a show or movie, when they really mean a digital recording?
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While not the age of some you that posted here, yesterday I was showing my teenage son some model collectibles I had. I needed to move a box of VHS tapes, and my son asked what those were, so I said "they're VHS tapes". He's like, "what's that?" Now, it wasn't that long ago that I had the VCR set up in the living room to view tapes, but jeez it's like it was an 8-track. Meanwhile my teenage daughter saw a mini-system that I bought in the mid-00s. She deadpanned to me earlier this week, "Oh, that's definitely from the 80's." 0.0 She didn't believe me when I said the system is only slightly older than her.
What makes me feel old is that none of my music has autotune (and our bands actually played instruments as well as composed music), that and I don't recognize any of the songs playing on the radio.
 
Cornell Lt said:
You know you are old when your golf game requires you to move to the senior tees because you can't reach the par 4's in two anymore :-(.
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Unless your ego won’t let you. Luckily there is only 1 that is unreachable (except during droughts when you get some roll).
 
oldude said:
YES! One of the benefits of “grand parenting” over “parenting” is that you get to give your grandchildren back to their parents at the end of the day or week…..
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I am a grandparent too. My saying is being a grandparent is more like attending a party where being a parent is like throwing the party.
 
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My main old age differences is now I have heart problems and arthritis that make me use a walker at a snail's pace!
When I was younger (1970-2002) I was coaching HS/JHS sports, especially Wrestling! But I also coached HC and Asst. Girls Field Hockey, Asst. Boy's Gymnastics, Asst. HS FB, JHS FB, JHS Track, Asst. HS Track, Scorekeeper HS Baseball. Asst. Boy's Soccer, HC Boy's Soccer, Youth Wrestling!
Now I see Wrestling or Field Hockey Alumni and they see me with my walker and say "what happened Coach, you RAN everywhere, you never walked!" I tell them " Don't get old!
Fight like hell to stay young!
I haven't had a healthy, good day since 2013!
Thank the heavens for UConn WBB and the NY Yankees, but Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman are killing me now! HaHa!
 
Jim said:
For me, the realization came when I was buying a cup of coffee. I went into a Dunkin' to get a cup and was about to pull out my AARP card to get the senior discount when the young man behind the counter just gave me my coffee at the discount price without me asking. I thought to myself "Damn, not only AM I old but I LOOK old."
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Dam I got that discount at Dunkin and I didn’t qualify yet
 
Thanks to my grandkids, I now know Baby Shark, recent Disney movies (I never want to see Frozen again), more about Pokemon than I ever wanted to know (and I lived through that craze with one of my sons 25 yrs ago), and current kids' shows on PBS and Netflix.
 
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KryHavok said:
While not the age of some you that posted here, yesterday I was showing my teenage son some model collectibles I had. I needed to move a box of VHS tapes, and my son asked what those were, so I said "they're VHS tapes". He's like, "what's that?" Now, it wasn't that long ago that I had the VCR set up in the living room to view tapes, but jeez it's like it was an 8-track. Meanwhile my teenage daughter saw a mini-system that I bought in the mid-00s. She deadpanned to me earlier this week, "Oh, that's definitely from the 80's." 0.0 She didn't believe me when I said the system is only slightly older than her.
What makes me feel old is that none of my music has autotune (and our bands actually played instruments as well as composed music), that and I don't recognize any of the songs playing on the radio.
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We actually had singers like Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, Andy Williams, and they had variety shows each week on TV.
 
baggerbob said:
We actually had singers like Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, Andy Williams, and they had variety shows each week on TV.
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This one thing that I appreciate in that when my daughter listens to Christmas music, which she'll likely start doing next month ^_^, she'll stream many of the singers you listed (I'm particularly fond of Bing Crosby).
 
My 41 year old son was in my office the other day and saw a ticket stub from 1973. He asked who is SHA-NA-NA? I told him a singing group who sang doo-wop, jazz, rock and roll and almost any other type of music that you could think of. He looked at me and stated what is doo-wop? Told him some of the best music you will ever hear. I also told him to look them up on You-Tube or even watch Grease to get the feel of their music.
 
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