If I hadn’t felt old before reading this thread, I certainly do now! People less than half my age are complaining about how old they feel.
Three little words—“Thank you, sir.” Spoken by a kid who was probably younger than the shirt I was wearing.
That, or browsing the IMDB listings for pretty new actresses, and finding out that they’re younger than my little sister. And that some of them are married, and having kids already. :eek:
Little moments like that, you just start to feel yourself…shrivel, a bit. Not entirely unlike the Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
And once—true story, swear to god—looking in the mirror one morning, I started grousing that my moustache was starting to turn white. Then I remembered that I was 19, and that I have blonde hair. But for some reason, the first thought in my head was still “yup, really starting to show your age, old boy—hey, wait a minute!” :smack:
Now I feel old. PONG was state of the art when I was a kid. Oh, sure, we had PacMan and Galaga and all as arcade games by the time I graduated high school, but if that’s the standard . . . well, call me Methuselah.
>>SCL takes off glasses, climbs to feet with aid of cane and hobbles slowly off to do the laundry by beating it on rocks.
I started feeling old when I could answer more than three items on this list as “Yep, that applies to me”.
How To Know You’re Growing Older
Almost everything hurts and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work right.
The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals.
You feel like the morning after, and you haven’t been anywhere.
Your little black book contains only names ending in M.D.
You get winded playing chess.
Your children begin to look middle aged.
You finally reach the top of the ladder, and find it leaning against the
wrong wall.
You join a health club and don’t go.
You begin to outlive enthusiasm.
You decide to procrastinate but then never get around to it.
Your mind makes contracts your body can’t meet.
A dripping faucet causes an uncontrollable bladder urge.
You know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions.
You look forward to a dull evening.
You walk with your head held high trying to get used to your bifocals.
You favorite part of the newspaper is 25 years ago today.
You turn out the light for economic rather than romantic reasons.
You sit in the rocking chair and can’t make it go.
You knees buckle and your belt won’t.
You regret all those mistakes resisting temptation.
You stop looking forward to your next birthday.
After painting the town red, you have to take a long rest before applying a second coat.
Dialing long distance wears you out.
You’re startled the first time you are addressed as old-timer.
You remember today that yesterday was your wedding anniversary.
You just can’t stand people who are intolerant.
The best part of your day is over when your alarm clock goes off.
You burn the midnight oil after 9 p.m.
Your back goes out more than you do.
A fortuneteller offers to read your face.
The little gray haired lady you help across the street is your wife.
You get exercise acting as pallbearer for your friends who exercise.
You have too much room in the house and not enough in the medicine cabinet.
You sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there.
Whew! I must still be a kid. None of those items apply to me! (yet.)
I guess I was lucky – I never felt old at all until I was 45, when a fine 19-year-old lad decided he had the hots for me. It all worked out well, until a random moment when we happened to be talking near a large mirror inside my front door. I caught a glimpse of the two of us, and the contrast between us hit me like a ton of bricks. That was when the reality of my aging kicked in – hard. Six years later, I seem to feel my age and then some, while he’s just beginning to approach his prime. We’re still good friends, but I can never seem to see him without remembering that moment.
I’m 21. I have 31 years of on-the-job experience at being 21, but in my head, I still see myself as 21.
Mind you, the picture gets a bit fogged at times, such as a couple of weeks ago when I met the daughter of family friends for the first time in several years. She was talking about her children, and I can remember that I was a teenager when she was born!
Shortly after my 43rd birthday I heard that Elvis Presley was only 42 when he died. For some reason it made me feel old.
Just this year, when Nick at Nite started to air The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That used to be where they showed stuff like Dennis the Menace and I Love Lucy. 
I had a bad moment at a SDMB gathering when I made a joke about Johnny Carson and only one other person got it. Everyone else was too young to really remember “the guy that used to do the Jay Leno show.”
I went to the funeral of a co-worker who was killed in a motorcycle accident. By coincidence, he went to the same school I did. Except he was born the year I graduated.
Seeing movies get their twenty five year re-release and remembering I saw them when they originally released.
Being old enough that I first got cable TV, a VCR, a CD player, a computer, and internet access when I was an adult and bought them for myself.
Being old enough that I remember when Nixon was President and realizing that there are teenagers whose parents aren’t old enough to remember that, so I’m now two generations out of touch.