What makes you feel old?

[Binkx]

Knowing that most of us on this forum are at least over the age of 14, some of us can feel, at times, older than what we are (and just the same we can feel younger at time), so I was wondering, what makes you feel a different age than what you actually are.

I have been out of high school for 8 years, and that doesn't phase me. I have an 8 year old nephew and a daughter who is about to turn 4, that makes me feel old. While I have many fond memories of being in school, remembering when my nephew and even my daughter were just babies and how long ago it was just makes me realize that I'm getting older.

[Aerostel Trethiraz]

Being 18, whenever I go over to my Aunt and Uncle's house and see my baby cousin, it makes me feel old, but not old old, not like "Damn, I wish I lived my young life better" Cause I'm still pretty young and Hell I had a pretty good childhood save a couple things. Only things that makes me feel old is seeing babies, but thats pretty much all.

[Chriz]

This:

CD2LRROpph0

[Cahalith]

1. when my hip joint acts up i have to walk with a cane, to actually get things done.
2. chronic pain issues (i usually can ignore them but not always)
3. how tired i am all the time
4. the responsibility list keeps growing

[kathryn]

When my back cracks when I straighten it, when my shoulder (not the joint) pops, and when I take my medication to go to sleep.

[NeonLightChild]

When I hear people younger than me living comfortably, getting married, buying a house and/or having children.

Perhaps I should say that it doesn't make me feel "old" so much as it does make me feel depressed and lazy. Oh well.

And then I think of the time I have left to do some heavy physical stuff with dogs (think bitework, police K9-training type stuff) without relying on any sort of mild OTC painkiller of any type, and I realize that I just might want to get going with that yesterday. Of course, that leads back to the second sentence of this post, so there you go. It's a vicious circle.

[Rylias Shadow]

Bills. I remember back in high school I used to have money to do things with, because I worked but didn't have to pay rent, or pay for a phone, or buy my own food, or all those other things you need to sustain an apartment (bathroom things, batteries, light bulbs ect.) Nor did I have a man and two cats to care for :-p

Other than that, luckily, I don't often feel very old.

[MorganaFang]

I'm only in my mid twenties. I refuse to feel old.

I feel surpassed however when I hear someone my age or younger being accomplished doing something I'd like to do.

[Klark]

The pain issues with my SI joint tend to make me feel old, but I feel prematurely old.

What does make me feel old is that my son is 12. I just bought him his first yearbook from a school in which I received my first yearbook.

[Chiron Jackal]

I feel old when I'm reminded that I could have joined the Marines 7 years ago if I'd been a perfectly normal, straight America.

Realizing that I will probably be too old to serve once we catch up to Canada enough to allow transgendered soldiers really doesn't help.

[Vendetta]

Are you kidding Chris, that makes me like a genius, not old.

Mostly it's just my body that makes me feel old.

[MorganaFang]

Ok I'm seriously going to pull a Vendetta here and say for those of "us" under the thirty marker saying "this makes us feel old" is more a "this makes me feel depressed". I can get bodily issues like sore joints and things but at the same time I can't. I've had arthritis since I was 14, I do not associate any geriatric status with it. Partly because it's genetic and partly because I was a very active athlete that has earned my aches.

I mean really what is "feeling old" anyway?

I don't think feeling depressed, regret or remorse really represent it. Regret and remorse are two things "us young'uns" should not even allow ourselves to feel. Instead it should be feeling tenacious and really want to challenge our situations. I mean seriously look at Egypt, doesn't that kind of motivate people?

/tangent filled rant that veered slightly off topic

[Bane]

I partially agree with Morg, but I do feel old at times when things I grew up with (Like the Nintendo 64) are called Ancient gaming platforms. Or the worse one...


Books being called obsolete. I grew up reading and to hear people talk about those stupid friggin electronic book databases like they are the greatest thing ever makes me sad. You can't replace the suspense from reading a book and not knowing what happens next, turning the page just added to it. I heard that one today as I was discussing my favorite literary work in school... someone said that books are obsolete now..replaced by electronic books and television...le sigh

[DarkWolf]

I partially agree with Morg, but I do feel old at times when things I grew up with (Like the Nintendo 64) are called Ancient gaming platforms. Or the worse one...


Books being called obsolete. I grew up reading and to hear people talk about those stupid friggin electronic book databases like they are the greatest thing ever makes me sad. You can't replace the suspense from reading a book and not knowing what happens next, turning the page just added to it. I heard that one today as I was discussing my favorite literary work in school... someone said that books are obsolete now..replaced by electronic books and television...le sigh
I posted this on another site but it's about the same "books being threatened/obsolete" thing and I cannot be bothered to rewrite. Huzzah for copy 'n' paste. ^_^

I like books but I do love e-books. My kindle is a great asset to me. It's more comfortable, I can hold it and turn the page all one-handed, and it's easier to hold if I'm reading while lying in bed. It travels well: fitting nice and neat in my pocket so it would be good for taking to work when I have nothing else to do during my lunchbreak.

Sometimes, I do like the tactile sensation of books. I have a box of them stored in my bedsit. Whether paperback or hardback they just feel nice in the hand while you're reading and look good on shelves. I love the atmosphere of old libraries wandering through aisles of books.

So I am two-minded about the issue. Right now while trying to get back into reading more I need practicality and the e-reader with e-books wins hands down in every conceivable way.

Are books threatened? Not so much. E-readers are expensive things and if you're doing research going to a library for some free reading of a book far surpasses having to buy a download. Books will always be around. Digitalisation is great but it does have drawbacks - having physical copies is a good thing. Perhaps in bigger places book supplies suffer, no doubt. But being in a relatively small town we don't have that problem. Despite almost everyone having broadband here I still see bookstores filled with books and patrons browsing and buying and there's always people in the local library.

There are always places with no internet, people who cannot afford E-readers (you can read books on a comp but it hurts the eyes too much and I know some people who cannot stand reading stories on a screen), and then there are those who enjoy collecting tomes of stories rather than digital things. Books may become more scarce in some places and dearer but they will certainly never be gone. People had this scare over Libraries from Internet - yet Libraries are still here, still popular.

[Cyberwatt]

The solitary ticking of a clock in a quiet room where dead thoughts sleep in the walls...

Oh wait, that's what scares me (we had a another thread for that, right?).

Anyway, old...

In the morning. When every joint from my neck to my ankles cracks so much that people think I'm eating cereal in my bed.

But then I think "Stonehenge." And then I feel young again!

[Sinanju]

Opposite issue. So many people I know got married at 23 and 24 and have families now that I feel like I never really matured. Whatever, I'll go live in Portland or something. Portland: where young people go to retire.

The only thing that I really feel is catching up with me is sleep. I used to do 4-5 hour nights every night without consequence but now I just feel wrecked, and finally bit the bullet and got a sleep prescription just because I finally feel like I really just need to sleep.

Re ebooks: Yeah, I was a skeptic too, but they totally do make paper books 100% obsolete to me. I have 100+ books on my kindle right now, can read whatever genre I want, when I want, weighs only 8 ounces and I can take my entire library plus dozens-hundreds of unread books with me in a small, compact size. I even like the page flipping better and dont have to keep a book propped open so the pages fly back constantly. I can adjust font size, the space between lines, and other personal formatting preferences. Ebooks own in every way.

[Bane]

Sinaju, you make me sad..;.; I guess I'm just waaay to attached, most of the books I own have been with me since I started reading at 3 years old, that's right I still own all my original doctor sues books, and plan on passing them down to my kids one day.

As to the portability thing, I take books with me all the time, THey may weigh a bit more but thats a comfort thing to me, as I lose things very often, so something weighing 8 ounces...yea I'd most likely lose it before I left the house..>>

[Cyberwatt]

Warning: minor (hopefully encouraging) rant ahead. ;)

If I may venture an opinion: eBooks may ultimately replace the physically printed media, but television will never replace the written word. Such thinking is a cultural delusion.

The reason I say that is because the latter two speak different languages. I actually disagree that a picture is worth a thousand words. I've seen stories and turns of phrase that one would have to work super hard at to even approximate visually.

Television and movies speak the language of images, not propositions. When I've talked to the average person about logical thinking, i.e. minor/major premises, syllogisms and deductions, I lose them. That's because they're used to second-level philosophy: illustration (which is what TV is at its very best). One must reason from theory, illustrate by example and apply with social discussion. TV reverses it. Now logic has nothing to do with what makes sense. Now it has to do with whatever movie star or talk show host is the most interesting or provacative.

Maybe our culture is headed down the wrong path, but I take courage from several sources, not the least of which is that eBook readers are an extremely popular item. It means that people are still reading.

And that makes me happy. :)

Rant over. Shutting up now. :D

[MorganaFang]

Just a few words on the ebook thing...

STAR TREK :)

[GhostBat]

It's not really about feeling old to me, but rather noticing how fast time flies by.

The Matrix is 12 years old!

[kathryn]

I'll add this: Movies that I saw and loved in my childhood are classics, but I don't mind that.

Movies that I saw in my teens? "Classics" or outdated to my cousins born after 2000. =__=;

[Cahalith]

It's not really about feeling old to me, but rather noticing how fast time flies by.

The Matrix is 12 years old!


*blinks* 12!? I saw that in theaters with my dad... that is kinda amazing!

I did caregiving for the elderly, sick, and/or dying.

Honestly the thing that the elderly who needed caregiving had that young people didn't was most of what was mentioned above was mentioned: Pain, responsibility(bills, obligations,extra), things you remember becoming obsolete or old, Failing health, and a reliance on other people to maintain your independence...

There is more but those where the things I remembered.

[Sinanju]

Warning: minor (hopefully encouraging) rant ahead. ;)

If I may venture an opinion: eBooks may ultimately replace the physically printed media, but television will never replace the written word. Such thinking is a cultural delusion.

I was reading a fantastic article the other day about how the western world (especially america) has been shifting from text based news to image based, and how thats dangerous because image-based societies interpret things more emotionally than rationally (which is always kind of a danger given the media fearmongering). I want to say it was Noam Chomsky. I'll see if I can find it, but it was kind of scary.

The thing about reading is that it's not inherently more "intelligent' than other media, it's all dependent on whats being read. sadly, most americans seem to be reading airport fiction and there really isn't much value there.

[Sono_Rose]

This:

CD2LRROpph0




yyyyyy i saw this and i puked blood!

[Sono_Rose]

But just looking back on things in time

[Binkx]

Ok I'm seriously going to pull a Vendetta here and say for those of "us" under the thirty marker saying "this makes us feel old" is more a "this makes me feel depressed". I can get bodily issues like sore joints and things but at the same time I can't. I've had arthritis since I was 14, I do not associate any geriatric status with it. Partly because it's genetic and partly because I was a very active athlete that has earned my aches.

I mean really what is "feeling old" anyway?

I don't think feeling depressed, regret or remorse really represent it. Regret and remorse are two things "us young'uns" should not even allow ourselves to feel. Instead it should be feeling tenacious and really want to challenge our situations. I mean seriously look at Egypt, doesn't that kind of motivate people?

/tangent filled rant that veered slightly off topic

To me, feeling old is the sudden realization of the passage of time. That's why I referenced my nephew: he was born my senior year of high school. There are times where it seems like just yesterday that I was walking through those hallways awaiting my inevitable freedom from the place and holding him after school hours had ended only to pass him off to my brother when things started to smell a little to bad. Then when I think about how old he is. Because of the time frame in which he was born, it is a directly association to my last year of high school.

There is no regret, remorse, or depression involved in this realization. It's more awe and wonder how time can just fly right by. The only time I feel any depression about this is when I think about my daughter's birth in association with my brother's death (she was born 9 months after he died, yes, freaky/weird, what have you). But that is an obvious "I miss him" type of depression rather than "Damn, I'm getting old" type.

[D. Michelle Gent]

Old? Who the hell has time for getting old? I'm still in the same mindset as when I was 16 - and my daughter will be 22 next week so figure than one out. She's the one that's always telling me off for doing silly stuff. I'm growing old disgracefully and I intend to stay 'young' for the rest of my life, despite the responsibilities life insists on throwing at me (throw em back, like a grenade).

Growing older is mandatory, growing UP is optional!

[Nicolae]

1. when my hip joint acts up i have to walk with a cane, to actually get things done.
2. chronic pain issues (i usually can ignore them but not always)
3. how tired i am all the time
4. the responsibility list keeps growing


Oh, I am with you there.
Plus, I can add to this list...
1. My nephew turned 30
2. Few people remember some events like the fall of the Berlin wall.
3. Popular music from my time is now elevator music.:banghead:

[Chiron Jackal]

Popular music from my time is now elevator music.:banghead:

Does this mean that someday Lil' Wayne will be played in elevators?

[BTR]

Having to listen to my sister's over emotional rants, really draining, and back pains sometimes, makes me picture myself as Jafar from Aladin in his old man disguise.

Something that makes me feel younger, the knowledge of my dad being old enough to be my grandpa.

Something that probably makes my nephew-in-laws feel younger, having an uncle that is sixish years old.

[demonic_monkey]

I feel old everytime I wake up and can't move because my back hurts, when I see 15-year-old girls who look like they're twenty already, knowing I lived through two separate Bush presidencies, was born shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and that I'm as old as The Simpsons. That, and the facts that I can't do as much physical stuff because I've been smoking for almost ten years now (ten years...damn) and that, when I do manage to get sleep, I sleep for twelve+ hours at a time.

I also feel old every time I hear a song by The Rolling Stones on the radio and I turn the volume up...

[Nicolae]

Does this mean that someday Lil' Wayne will be played in elevators?

Well... based on hearing "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult being turned into some lame instrumental rendition, I would not be surprised if your favorite artist(s) one day will end up with the same fate.

[Hoplite]

Growing responsibilities usually make me feel old. Continuous working, lack of rest, fulfilling expectations..all are byproducts of growing responsibilities. Let's just hope I'm strong enough to deal with them all :D

[Fenris_brood]

My damn back hurts and these teenagers these days annoy me and won't get off my lawn!

[Thrax]

I feel old when I talk about tv shows I used to watch in the morning that no one can seem to remember.

[Tag]

I'm 27...

My nephew is now going through driver's education (stay off the roads in IL!). Standing up after sitting for awhile is a chore. And don't ask me how I did this, but I went for a simple walk and wound up tearing up my ACL and injuring my meniscus the other day. Mentioning game systems like the Atari and Commodore 64 to teenagers.... Those all make me feel so dang old!

[Kishi-Dawi]

having been on this site 10 years ago and coming back on a whim.

[FMtRIS]

LMAO@Kishi Dawi. Yeah, I know what you mean.

What makes me feel olde is seeing Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew, the guy who plays Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies at the thirtieth anniversary reunion. Also, buying Lion King merchandise for my niece and nephew.

[Binkx]

New "made me feel old". My friends daughter got a pink fish that she named Pinky, but she wants a beta fish too and has no clue what to name it. I said "Brain, so you have Pinky and the Brain" and her mom and I busted out singing the theme song of theirs on the show Animainiacs. She looked at us like we were crazy and asked "how does that make sense?" I felt so old and the show was only on in the 90's!

[demonic_monkey]

New "made me feel old". My friends daughter got a pink fish that she named Pinky, but she wants a beta fish too and has no clue what to name it. I said "Brain, so you have Pinky and the Brain" and her mom and I busted out singing the theme song of theirs on the show Animainiacs. She looked at us like we were crazy and asked "how does that make sense?" I felt so old and the show was only on in the 90's!

Crap. That makes me feel old, too. I remember watching that as a little kid.

Another reason for me to feel old; the swiftly increasing number of cursed gray hairs on my head.

[Vendetta]

New "made me feel old". My friends daughter got a pink fish that she named Pinky, but she wants a beta fish too and has no clue what to name it. I said "Brain, so you have Pinky and the Brain" and her mom and I busted out singing the theme song of theirs on the show Animainiacs. She looked at us like we were crazy and asked "how does that make sense?" I felt so old and the show was only on in the 90's!
I think I've got you beat. My first thoughts when I read that name were "oh she needs a Blinky, Inky and Clyde fish, and possibly a voracious yellow fish."

[Binkx]

I think I've got you beat. My first thoughts when I read that name were "oh she needs a Blinky, Inky and Clyde fish, and possibly a voracious yellow fish."

Actually...pacman themed fish seems awesome to me. Now I must hunt down a pacman game to play. I think they have an arcade version of Ms. Pacman down at Newport Pizza...

[RainWolf]

I feel old when I see 7 year olds talking/texting on cell phones and then scream when their phones are taken away. Saying crap like "You're taking away my life!!!" Fuck that! When I was 7 we didn't even HAVE cell phones and I never got kidnapped. I would run around in the woods all day long with my friends and as long as I was home by dark they wouldn't call the cops, lol.

[Cahalith]

I used to feel old, I even made a post in this thread stating what make me feel old. (http://werewolf.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17769) Now I started a job working specifically with the elderly, not just disabled people.

I stopped feeling old, and started to feel grateful that I am only about a quarter of a century, and that I can still walk, cut my own food, falling is not always a potential life threatener. That if I am not careful my skin tears, that forgetfulness is because I am not paying attention, not because I am loosing precious memories. That I am never visited by my children or grandchildren, my hair failing out and my joints and organs are failing.

Really the list can go on, and yes I know not all of this is just the elderly that go through this, but in my experience right now that is what it is like to be old physically and emotionally. It is lonely getting old, watching friends you have had forever die after going to the hospital for breaking a hip or your husband or wife dies because they had a stroke, and mostly being unable to care of yourself, the loss of independents. Having to move from you home to a one room apartment where people come and check on you every so often to make sure you haven defecated or urinated, to give you your pills and help you bath.

I think my tangent is done, sorry about that.