Feel Old Yet?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to
try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year’s incoming
freshmen. Here is the fall 1999 list:

  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.
  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. For them, there has been only one Pope. They can only really remember
    one president.
  6. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the
    Cold War.
  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.
  9. Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
  10. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
  11. Bottle caps have always been screw-off and plastic recycled.
  12. Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums.
  13. The expression “you sound like a broken record” means nothing to them.
  14. They have never owned a record player.
  15. They have likely never played Pac-Man and have never heard of Pong.
  16. Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are
    pathetic.
  17. There have always been red M&M’s and blue ones are not new.
  18. There used to be beige ones?
  19. They may have heard of an 8 track, but probably never have actually
    seen or heard one.
  20. The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
  21. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
  22. They have always had an answering machine.
  23. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they
    seen a black-and white TV.
  24. They have always had cable.
  25. There has always been VCR’s, but they have no idea what BETA is.
  26. They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
  27. They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
  28. Roller-skating has always meant in-line for them.
  29. The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.
  30. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
  31. Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
  32. They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a
    football player.
  33. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
  34. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII, or even
    the Civil War.
  35. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
  36. They can’t imagine what hard contact lenses are.
  37. They don’t know who Mork was or where he was from.
  38. They never heard: “Where’s the beef?” “I’d walk a mile for a Camel,”
    or “de plane, de plane!”
  39. They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
  40. “The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was”.
  41. Michael Jackson has always been white.
  42. Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not singing
    groups.
  43. McDonald’s never came in Styrofoam containers.
  44. There has always been MTV.

SO, DO YOU FEEL OLD YET?

2

Not in the slightest.

3

I do.

4

What’s MTV ?

Coldfire

“You know how complex women are”

  • Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
5

Yes, I feel very old. And I’m only 21.

Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty!

6

Gee, thanks DIF. You’re making my arthritis act up.

7

Hell, I feel downright DEAD now…

Yer pal,
Satan

8

J String: Awwww, take some methyl-sufone-methane like I do, and shut up, ya crybaby!

P.S. Actually, I don’t take it. But I have heard of it.

9

I may be old but apparently the staff of Beloit College is downright senile. They seem to be unaware a list they made up in 1999 has been going around on the internet for several years.

10

Good grief. That does make me feel old. Thanks a lot.

Heh … 100 extra pushups for my students tonight while saying “Star Wars f/x are not pathetic for the time”. I’ll teach those young whippersnappers!

What more could you expect from somebody who lets people kick him to the head?

11

Having been born in 1981, I’d like to point out that the ONLY thing on that list that applies to me is the Jordache jeans remark…

Steve Pantol
CRC Radio
http://www.crcradio.com
“Waah-Waah, Yea-E-yeah” --James Hetfield

12

A bit off the subject, but it seems there are a lot of kids out there who don’t know the basic historical stuff.

This afternoon a group of older high school/young college age kids came in wanting to know when [a local hotel] was built. I told them I thought it was built during the depression. They then started looking at 1920s newspapers to get the exact date.