Feel Young?

Ok, I was going to put this in MPSIMS, but I ended up bitching quite a bit, so here it is in the Pit. Feel free to take offense.

Ok, I know I'm only 18, but recently I've been feeling like a little kid. All of my friends have grown "responsibilities" and my boyfriend Carl (who is 6 years older than me) is constantly bringing up things that happened when I was only 6 or 7 years old. As a matter of fact, yesterday I was hanging out with him, his best friend Chris (10 years older than me), and the best friend's wife Robin (a few months younger than me, but she has a baby). Carl and Chris began to talk about "the good old days", and suddenly Robin interrupts her husband's speech about when he was in high school, turns to me and whispers "We were in the second grade!" Makes me feel a little like I'm dating a pervert.

Okay, enough ranting. The real purpose of this thread is that I want to take offense to this list which was posted in the Feel Old? thread. It is not an accurate portrayal of my generation at all.

1. The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1981
2. They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and did not know he had ever been shot.

I did too know that, and I even know that it had something to do with a guy who was obsessed with Jodie Foster. Didn't it?

3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
4. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
5. There has been only one Pope. They can only really remember one president.

I remember three presidents, thank you, and "voted" for two of them in school.

6. They were 9 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.

I remember the Berlin Wall coming down, and I fully understood the importance of it at the time.

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7. They have never feared a nuclear war. "The Day After" is a pill to them, not a movie.
8. They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up, and Tiananmen Square means nothing to them.
9. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
10. They never had a Polio shot, and likely do not know what it is.
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Polio? Isn't that a game with horses and mallets? I know what polio is!!!

11. Bottle caps have not only always been screw off, but have always been
plastic. They have no idea what a pull-top can looks like.
12. Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.

That is only accurate if you had money. I had an Atari, and I still have vinyl albums.

13. The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.

So you're saying we're incapable of understanding metaphor because the majority of us did not listen to records?

14. They have never owned a record player.
15. They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.

I owned a record player, I've played both Pong and Pac Man.

16. Star Wars look very fake to them, and the
special effects are pathetic.

Not. I just saw Star Wars for the first time this year (although most of my friends had seen it hundreds of times) and I thought the effects were awesome. (The original version, BTW, not the digitally remastered version.)

17. There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. What do you mean there used to be beige ones?

Wrong again. Okay, red ones I didn't know were "new", but I remember beige M&Ms and I remember when the blue ones were introduced.

18. They may have heard of an 8-track, but chances are they probably never
have actually seen or heard one.
19. The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.

Yet I didn't own a CD player until I was 16. I still prefer tapes.

20. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
(Accurate until recently)

Wasn't that only a few years ago? I remember the prices changing when I was in the 6th grade, and again soon after that. Sixth grade is not pre-memory, you know.

21. They have always had an answering machine.
22. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a
black-and-white TV.
23. They have always had cable.
24. There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.

Wrong to all of those. Our first answering machine was a big deal in our house; I remember it. We did have a black-and-white TV and one with 13 channels. I got cable in the 7th grade. And I remember being upset when we got a VHS because I couldn't watch Charlotte's Web anymore.

25. They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

Because everybody had a remote control beginning in 1981. Yeah, right.

26. They were born the year after Walkman were introduced by Sony.
27. Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.

No, inline skates are not the only ones I've ever seen. I remember skates before that.

28. The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.

So you're saying I have no idea who Johnny Carson is, and that Ed McMahon is just the guy from Publisher's Clearinghouse?

29. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.

I think you get the idea. . .

30. Popcorn has always been cooked in a microwave.
31. They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player.
32. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

Jaws? I remember that movie coming on TV once. I watched it on our little black-and-white 13 channel TV that had no remote.

33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as W.W.I, W.W.II, or even the Civil War.
34. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
35. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

I wear hard contact lenses. I can't wear soft contacts because of my cataracts.

36. They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

He came from Happy Days.

37. They never heard the terms: "Where's the beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel," or "de plane, de plane!"
38. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.

Ok, ok. Who did shoot JR? I've been waiting 18 years, I think it's time somebody told me!

[quote]
39. The Titanic was found? I thought we always

But do you remember being able to get a hamburger, fries, and a coke at McD's, AND get change back from your dollar?

-Melin
(whose children think she had a pet dinosaur)

I read the exact same thing through e-mail and was infuriated by it. I am 20, and I probably have more knowledge about many of the historical events on there than many adults do. I think the whole thing is completely ludicrous. Children of that era do have brains; it's not like they stopped issuing brains in 1980 or something. But I'm glad someone finally addressed that e-mail in a place where people can respond to it because it really pisses me off. It always seems like older generations feel like age has made them much more superior than anyone else.

No, but i remember when you could get a taco at taco bell for .39 instead of the exorbiant .79 cents it goes for now.....
I also remember their 59/79/99 menu, which has now gone the way of the dinosaur.....

Savor your youth Cessandra, and don't be afraid to be a little naive. It only serves to enhance your idealism.

7/20/69 - the most significant date of the 20th century. Cess: "Woodstock, right?"
Absolutely charming.

Don't be upset if we oldsters make fun of your inexperience. In another 30 years you'll be able to make fun of our senility.

In my day, you could ride the trolley to the movies, get popcorn and a drink, and watch two shows, the news and a cartoon, and ride the trolley home, all for $.25!
-- My grandparents. Sadly, it's true!

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
-- Henry David Thoreau

PB, I just saw your post. Damn! Forgot I'd said something that horribly cute and stupid!!! But, actually, I forgot what thread I said it in, and I still don't know what you're referring to. I can't look up a date, and I still wasn't there, so. . .

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
-- Henry David Thoreau

"The Eagle has landed!"...and not in the middle of an upstate New York corn field.

Oh, ok! I'm sorry, but if you want to trip someone up, refer to important events just by the date. If they weren't born yet, they just can't get it! I actually thought the landing on the moon was in '72. Sorry

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
-- Henry David Thoreau

They did land in 1972!...and 1971 and 1970 and 1969...uhhh...feeling old, again...

I meant I thought that the first one was in '72.

BTW, PapaBear, I don't want to be idealistic. There's nothing more horrible than the shattering of a dearly held delusion. I really hate the niave idealism of my peers, and I resent the implication that I am like that. Unfortunatly, I can see the day looming ahead when I'll realize that I am like that. How horrifying.

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Cessandra, I'd love to be more idealistic. The idealistic people ore the ones who are crazy and stupid enough to try to change the system. I'd hate to see what would have happened if MLK or JFK or a bunch of other people had been more cynical

I feel young whenever my husband hangs out with his new friends, or I go talk to the county VA guy or go to the Quilt Guild meetings. Just remember to put Pampers on me before you put me down for my nap.

I thought red M&M's were discontinued for a while, then re-introduced.

Oh, I grew up in a "prime strike zone" we did nuclear drills, just in case we were not vaporized instantly. Then we watched some scary Brittish movie with an expectant mom and lots of dead sheep in it.

Cassandra, I don't think the list was designed to insult you by making you feel young. It was designed to make me (us) feel old. Maybe the reason that you got steamed about it instead of just laughing it off is the same reason you're dating someone older.

my boyfriend Carl (who is 6 years older than me)

his best friend Chris (10 years older than me), and the best friend's wife Robin (a few months younger than me but she has a baby)

Makes me feel a little like I'm dating a pervert.

If the shoe fits.....

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"If you stick your finger in a pie, whatever is in the pie will be on your finger, and whatever is on your finger will be in the pie...unless you wear a rubber glove"----some demented old lady

Not to nit-pick, but Mork from Happy Days? No. Mork was from Ork. He lived with Mindy.

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"I think it would be a great idea" Mohandas Ghandi's answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization

Lucky:

Not to nit-pick, but Mork from Happy Days? No. Mork was from Ork. He lived with Mindy.

Then perhaps you shouldn't nit-pick. Because the character of Mork was, indeed, introduced on Happy Days.

And now I'm really upset at remembering some of the television I used to watch.

Waste
Flick Lives!

It always seems like older generations feel like age has made them much more superior than anyone else.

Age has taught me that adding to superlatives doesn't add to clarity

I'm 24, and I read that same list, and I laughed my butt off. I really don't recall anything from the Reagan era aside from a pin a friend had that said "No More Ron" as a pun on "No Moron". I thought it was quite witty at the time. (I was 9, I suppose.)

I remember the Berlin Wall coming down, but at the time, I remember thinking "I guess Nostrodamus was right." *embarrased*

I know polio is a disease, but until recently I couldn't name any of the symptoms. AIDS has been around since I first found out about sex. And Star Wars still looks fake. Even the Phantom Menace looks fake.

A friend of mine has a working 8-track. This makes him the epitome of cool. It's like he owns a working Model T or something.

I know more about WWI and WWII than Vietnam, because they get to WWII in History class, but they never have time to cover Vietnam. And not only has there always been MTV, it's hard to remember when it played mostly videos.

Lastly, Rock'n'Roll has always been what our rparents listen to. And "Happy Together" is just a Golden Grahams commercial.

Your Quadell

P.S. - Jordache Jeans were cool? Why?

quadell wrote:

I'm 24

Dang! Another one too young for me!

-Melin

All in all, I'd also put a vote in for that list's purpose being to make boomers feel old rather than to dis the '81ers. I mean, what virtue resides in having an 8-track (other than the retro-coolness factor, of course), or only 13 channels? The only constant is change, and I would say that the list attempts to prick the soft envelope of complacency that surrounds some smug boomers.
Now, as a boomer myself (1947) I'm sure my parents generation could have produced a comparable list with ease: "Beer has always in cans," or "'T'aint funny, Magee' means nothing to them," or "They have never had to crank for the operator," and so on.

My point wasn't really that it was insulting, but that it was inaccurate. It was more like my little brother and his friends than me and mine.
Oh, well. Don't really care anymore.

Not to nit-pick, but Mork from Happy Days? No. Mork was from Ork. He lived with Mindy.

Innocent! I'm innocent, I say! That was all a scurrilous rumor!

-Melin
(who in a previous life went by "Mindy." I wouldn't try it if I were you . . . .)

My near-husband is 15 years younger than me. Which is alot, nearly a generation. And I am constantly realizing the little things he ahs no clue about that I am SO OLD I remember...

dial telephones

no plastic garbage can liners... man, was I thrilled when THOSE showed up

Schwabs (I live in Hollywood)

The first consumer CASSETTE recorders and players..another deeply thrilling invention.

And FOOD? How many of you guys remember a time when there were maybe 5 types of bread, fresh produce was limited to 1 kind each of lettuce, tomatoes, a few fruits in summer (remember when watermelon was a penny a pound? I do) cabbages, green onions, a squash or two, etc? Ice cream came in about 4 flavers, two brands, the only sugar-free anything was "Dietetic" for people with diabetes, virtually everything came chock-full of preservatives, and frozen foods meant Swanson? Stouffers was downright exotic! I read somewhere recently that the average number of different products and brands in a large grocery store has grown from something like 5000 to 50,000. All to the good, except that every time they come out with something that I really like, they discontinue it as soon as I discover it. With all those products they are still aiming for the LDC.

How many of you can imagine Midnight Cowboy being rated X?

Word processing! (Not computing!) WOW!

And let's not forget...anybody besides me learn how to use computers when the dominant operating system was CP/M?

It never ceases to amaze me that my two closest friends and I have been so for nearly THIRTY years! Longer than my sweetie has been ALIVE!!!! AAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Yeah, I feel old.

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Stoidela

******Boycott shampoo! Demand REAL poo!******

GL;

You've jogged my memory. I do now remember Mork appearing on Happy Days. But the line form the original list said (paraphrase), They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
While he did appear on Happy Days, he certainly wasn't from Happy Days.

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"I think it would be a great idea" Mohandas Ghandi's answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization

Quad, I'm nine years older than you, and I remember the exact moment I found out the Berlin Wall came down. I was about 23 years old and we'd been hearing about what had been happening in Hungary and Poland, and then it extended to East Germany, and everyone in Spain spent 24 hours scared as shit about whether the Russian tanks were going to roll. Then we all went to sleep (no CNN in Europe at that time) without knowing what was going on. Woke up, no big deal, went down to the newsstand and picked up La Vanguardia, the leading Barcelona newspaper. The paper had the news that the Wall had come down. Went straight upstairs and told my wife, "The Empire is dead". No kidding, and that was the best line I've ever been able to come up with in my life. But you can't imagine the fear in Western Europe in the spring of 89 if you weren't there. Fortunately, everyone was wrong and the USSR couldn't invade like we all thought they could.

Think of it this way, Cessandra - in 20 years you'll be making a list for the next generation:

1. They don't know what the Y2K fuss was all about.
2. They don't know who Monica Lewinsky was.
3. They've never driven a gasoline-powered car.

Others?

This really is a case where where the older generation longs for the way things used to be. I can remember my parents saying that they had to walk 3 miles to school in the snow and up-hill both ways . The truth is that as you get older we all look back and think that those were the best years of our lives. It was easy when we were young, no responsibilities, no bills, and an afternoon snack when you got home from school, PB&J sandwiches. Those were the days. But as we grow up we are forced to comply with the norms of all the other adults in the world.

When anyone starts talking about how the "best" years of their life were in High School or even college, I turn to them and say NO. Life is what you make of it!!! If you wish that you were having a great time now in your life, MAKE IT HAPPEN. Reminiscing is great but only you have the power to make yourself happy.

In the past several years, I have take on several new hobbies flyfishing, kayaking, Mt biking, camping, astronomy, and as a result best some of the best people in the world.

This is not much of a flame, but oh well.

I can remember my parents saying that they had to walk 3 miles to school in the snow and up-hill both ways.

Your parents only walked 3 miles? Mine walked 10 miles. And had no shoes!