“Oldies” are songs that were released before I was born (or at least before I was consciously aware of current popular music). When I was a teenager, songs from the 60s were oldies. They still are. But I can’t think of songs from the 80s as oldies, even though the 80s are now longer ago than the 60s were then, hard as that is to accept.
Likewise movies: “Old movies” are movies released before I was born. If it isn’t old now, it never will be (in my perception).
The weekend before last, I was at my friend’s dad’s 80th birthday party. At the dinner, I was seated next to my friend’s nephew, who is a junior in high school. When 9/11 happened, his age was measured in months. Bit of a reality check for me: that happened long enough ago that in the intervening years, someone could go from an infant to a high school student. But it happened, just like it did for my parents. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, my parents were what would now be called tweens. It was real to them, but babies kept being born and growing up with no first-hand memory of WWII at all. Wonder what this young man, in future years, will have as his “I’m old enough to remember…” incident? There will be something, because the world keeps rolling on.
I age in human years, but I remember in dog years.
Regards,
Shodan
Ditto, I conjured up this theory several years ago. When I explain it to people I usually get the “thousand yard stare”.
This is something I’ve wondered - I am afraid that life will just pass me by because I’ve slipped into a routine of every day being more or less the same (same job, same neighborhood, same routine, same this or that.) I don’t want a decade to go by in a blink. So I’ve wondered if, in order to make things slow down, I have to deliberately inject variety or unusual experiences or different and new things in order to milestone things.
When we are young, a lot happens. There is constant change. New grades, new schools. Milestones such as getting your driver’s license, dating, etc. When you are older it gets more monotonous and the years kind of blend together.
This is a good idea, and something I sometimes have to remind myself of. When deciding what to do, where to go, etc. my instinct is to pick the familiar. But, I remind myself, I will have a fuller-feeling life, with more memories to look back on, if I do things I haven’t done before—even if I don’t enjoy those things any more than I would enjoy more familiar pastimes while I’m doing them.
Everybody says that, but I’m experiencing quite the opposite.
The decade before we adopted the Firebug - that seems like a very short time in retrospect. We’d travel and stuff, but other than that, each day, each year, seemed pretty much like the one before it. It easily compacts to take up little space in the memory. It was like we fast-forwarded through that time.
But the nine years since - those years have been huge. Too much happened in each year for them to compact easily; they take up an enormous amount of space in the mind and the memory. He’s in fifth grade now, and even when he was in third grade seems a long time ago. The year before we adopted him seems like the other side of time.
So I’m weird. What else is new? 
The uphill side of life is coated in molasses, the downhill side in grease.
This is what I came in here to mention, but without the blizzard. The proverbial walk in the park is going to seem longer the first time.
I’ve noticed it, and I think it’s caused by a natural tendency to seek routine. It makes life easier to deal with, but it sure can sneak up on you.
You’re not alone. What’s the old saying? “Too soon we get old, too late we get smart”.
Kind of related (kind of unrelated too) but supposedly the art you are exposed to as a teenager or your early 20s forms a lifelong taste in music. The reason is that your sense of identity is forming in those years, so the art you are exposed to at this time becomes intertwined with your sense of self. As you grow older and your sense of self solidifies, the music you are exposed to doesn’t have any impact on your core sense of self anymore.
Hence all the ‘this isn’t music, when I was young we had real music’ that everyone says about their kids generation of art.
Yes. I’m 42, and this is perfectly normal, and the above theory is what I personally have always assumed is the main factor in perception of time passed.
Is this concept really breaking news to some of you? I thought it was common knowledge.
My anecdote: Recently a cow-orker mentioned his age. I responded with, “when you were born, I had already been working here three years”.
The look on his face was one you might reserve for an occasion such as an alien landing.
mmm
I still think of the early 90s as being roughly ten years ago. I have more vivid memories of my life between 1988 and 1995 than I do from one month ago. I remember someone noting that Nirvana’s Nevermind is now further back in history than Woodstock was when Nevermind was released, and Woodstock was practically considered ancient history back then. Then, one day I was the same age my mother was when my wife and I started dating as teenagers. Suddenly, Groundhog Day doesn’t seem like a comedy anymore.
Stealing this .
And in the words of Dylan, “he not busy being born is busy dying.”
When I started posting on this message board, I wasn’t married. I was an “old-timer” on the board when I posted about our troubles getting pregnant, and how the cosmos was messing with me when we finally, unexpectedly, did.
That little Torqueling is wearing a bra and giggling about boys now.