# Tiny Events that Make You Realize How Old You Are **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935 "2006-06-16T15:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/61 "2006-06-17T03:26:55Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Oh-- and some time ago a guy in the street asked me where I had purchased the leather jacket I was wearing. He seemed genuinely disappointed to learn that I’d had it for over twenty years and didn’t remember where it had originally come from. I was genuinely alarmed to _realize_ that I’d had it for over twenty years and didn’t remember where it had come from. [/QUOTE] You’ve been wearing the same leather jacket for 20 years _and it still fits_? Count your blessings, pal… ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/62 "2006-06-17T05:07:38Z")
Regarding the erasable pens mentioned in the OP, I used them (because they sounded cool) in 8th or 9th grade, which is only three or four years ago. So I’m sure they still make them, and it sounds like they don’t work any better than they did when they first came out. Whenever I see someone younger than about 12 with a cell phone, I say, “You know, we didn’t even have cell phones when I was your age. Oh, they existed, sure, but they were only for big fancy businessmen.” I suppose that’s not really true, but it’s how I remember it. And kids that age definitely didn’t have them. Of course, the kids are like, “Yeah, whatever.” I’m 18, and got my first cell phone for my 15th birthday. If you had asked me when I was 12, what my cell number was, I’d be like, “Are you kidding? I’m 12!” What else? Well, I remember when they first opened Mickey’s Toontown at the back of Disneyland. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/63 "2006-06-17T05:26:47Z")
The other day, I was going to mention to one of my son’s friends that the birthday we share is also Huey Lewis’s birthday. Then I realized that he probably wouldn’t know who I was talking about. I won’t even bother to try to win tickets from a radio station for a concert on a weeknight unless I really, really want to go. When I started that, I knew I was old. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/64 "2006-06-17T05:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=TJdude825] Regarding the erasable pens mentioned in the OP, I used them (because they sounded cool) in 8th or 9th grade, which is only three or four years ago. So I’m sure they still make them, and it sounds like they don’t work any better than they did when they first came out. Whenever I see someone younger than about 12 with a cell phone, I say, “You know, we didn’t even have cell phones when I was your age. Oh, they existed, sure, but they were only for big fancy businessmen.” I suppose that’s not really true, but it’s how I remember it. And kids that age definitely didn’t have them. Of course, the kids are like, “Yeah, whatever.” I’m 18, and got my first cell phone for my 15th birthday. If you had asked me when I was 12, what my cell number was, I’d be like, “Are you kidding? I’m 12!” What else? Well, I remember when they first opened Mickey’s Toontown at the back of Disneyland. [/QUOTE] I was driving back home and saw a kid (10-12) riding his bike, no hands, talking on his cellphone. Odd moment. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/65 "2006-06-17T05:49:20Z")
[QUOTE=Malienation] You’ve been wearing the same leather jacket for 20 years _and it still fits_? Count your blessings, pal… [/QUOTE] Yeah, but I look [every bit as much of a dork](http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3074/seawall12li.jpg) at thirty-five as I did when I was fifteen, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/66 "2006-06-17T05:55:11Z")
[QUOTE=Roderick Femm] I have to tell this story: my father, who is 84, went out and bought a Segway last week. [/QUOTE] Just. Can’t. Resist. What’s a Segway? I know how to _make_ myself feel old. Just tell a younger person about having only 12 channels, 2-13. And no remote. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/67 "2006-06-17T11:40:21Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Waitaminit..they did WHAT up North? You’re kidding. I don’t wany to ask dad about this, cause that’s going to start a “Oh yeah, when I was a kid…” speech. [/QUOTE] Not kidding. Mr. Athena - 13 years older than me and the typical winner of “remember when” stories in the Athena household - barely believes me either. But I remember! You only had to type in 5 digits. Pretty neat-o, eh? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/68 "2006-06-17T12:00:40Z")
I know I can’t hold a candle to most of you guys in this thread, but… I’m going to be twenty soon, and I know three people my age, from school, who are _engaged_. Twenty is…old! ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/69 "2006-06-17T12:09:21Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick] I’m going to be twenty soon, and I know three people my age, from school, who are _engaged_. Twenty is…old! [/QUOTE] Ugh, don’t remind me. I got called sir in a shop. Sir! _shivers_ ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/70 "2006-06-17T12:28:56Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I’m 36. My life is half over. (On the other hand, given how much I’ve learned, and realizing looking back how much time I’ve wasted, I expect the second half of my life to be way better than the first half.) [/QUOTE] Good luck with that! I can recall having similar thoughts around that time in my life. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/71 "2006-06-17T12:32:34Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] I don’t remember where or when it was, but I recently recall seeing Nirvana’s “Smells Like teen Spirit” being classified as a “classic rock” song. In fact, any time I see a song listed or played as “classic rock” and can remember when it was new, I feel old. [/QUOTE] “The radio becomes your enemy. I’ll be in the car and some song will come on that I like, I’ll be rocking out, ‘And as we WIIIND on down the ROAD, woohoo!’ And then the announcer will come on: ‘Yeah. Led Zeppelin. “Stairway to Heaven.” _Thirty-five years ago today._’ …shut uuuup.” - Suzanne Westenhoefer ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/72 "2006-06-17T12:50:10Z")
[QUOTE=Morelin] When a teenybopper came into my store looking for books on 80’s fashion because she was going to be wearing a costume. And I looked at my colleague and mentioned the girl could just go through our closets. When did the 80’s become history? [/QUOTE] This is my favorite thing to do to make acquaintances feel old. Let’s say the girl was 15. Now think of when you were 15, and what you were wearing. For me, that would have been 1982. 24 years ago. If I were needing that old a costume in 1982 at the age of 15, I’d be looking for clothes from 1958. I’ve had several, and generally, I take them in stride. But one really hit me last year. My good friend, who will turn 39 next week, followed in his family’s pattern by marrying a woman 10 years his junior. We went out to dinner during wedding week, and popped over to a Best Buy to pick up batteries for their digital camera. My wife and I noticed a new, cool-looking DVD boxed set of the Ramones. As we commented on it, my friend’s young bride asked, “Who are the Ramones?” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/73 "2006-06-17T13:00:17Z")
Has anyone else been reading this thread like the voice-over from [The Wonder Years](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonder_Years)? 😃 One of the mixed blessings about growing up in NZ was that the country was well behind the rest of the planet in a lot of things. To give you some examples: I’m 24 (25 in six months), and the TV programmes I remember most fondly as a kid (ie, before I started fourth form) are: _Basil Brush_ _Sooty & Sweep_ _Sesame Street_ _The Electric Company_ (yes, that’s right- they were showing it on TV2 in the mid-80s as a “new” show!) _Playschool_ (the NZ one) _Fraggle Rock_ _The Wombles_ _Postman Pat_ _What Now?_ _Hogan’s Heroes_ _Batman_ (The Adam West one) _The Beverley Hillbillies_ _Gilligan’s Island_ _Thundercats_ _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ _Transformers_ _GI Joe_ _The Muppet Show_ _Parker Lewis Can’t Lose_ _Dinosaurs_ Just to name a few! Anyway, It appears many of those shows were never broadcast on TV in Australia, or if they were, it was at a different time… I made some reference to The Muppet Show at work last week, and the 15 year old check-out girl who was wandering past asked me “What the hell is a Muppet?” I’ve been feeling old a lot lately… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/74 "2006-06-17T13:10:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by E. Thorp > High school?? I was in my second year of grad school! Second year of grad school? I was in the fourth year of my hitch in the Marine Corps! So now I’m a veteran of “Gulf War I”. Might as well be the War of 1812. Speaking of Nirvana, that baby on the cover of Nevermind must be about 15 years old now. I feel old at the supermarket. I figure that you have to be 21 to work the register at a place that sells alcohol, but these girls look like they’re in junior high. IMHO, the words “record” and “album” don’t necessarily refer to 12" vinyl. “Record” is short for “recording”, regardless of the media it’s contained on. And I listen to my records on the hi-fi. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/75 "2006-06-17T13:27:21Z")
It wasn’t graduating from High School that made me feel old. It was when the people who were Freshmen when I had graduated finally graduated (a few days ago) that it finally hit me. Before I still felt I had some connection with High School because some of my peers were still attending and I went to some High School events after I graduated (football games). But now that I don’t know any of the students there I really have no reason to go back there… ever again. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/76 "2006-06-17T13:42:21Z")
I realized not long ago that the incredible babe who stands naked with a feather boa on the original, banned-in-North-America cover of the album “Moontan” by Golden Earring, is now most likely somebody’s grandmother. Know what else makes me feel old? I’ve never seen Sesame Street. By the time it was available to us on TV, I was six or seven years out of the demographic. The whole phenomenon passed me by. I have warm, fuzzy memories of Captain Kangaroo, though. And our first phone number was 83061. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/77 "2006-06-17T14:00:11Z")
The idea that the popular music that came after my time (rap) is now considered “oldies.” That makes me feel damned old. ---
**Author:** ![Otanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Otanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otanx)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/78 "2006-06-17T14:09:16Z")
Some geek oriented ones. When talking to other people I currently work with, and I mention dialing into a BBS to play L.O.R.D nobody has heard of a BBS, or if they had they never used one. These are all computer professionals. Trying to explain how several computers access a network at the same time (CSMA/CD) I used a party line as an example and had to explain what a party line was first. Computer techs who “have been into computers as long as I can remember” that don’t remember DOS, and didn’t know what a batch file is. Network techs who have never worked with coax, and never seen thick-net. I’m not even that old (26), but these guys make me feel like I need a walker. Of course when I started my last job I made the HR rep feel old. She had been the child there till I showed up, and I beat her by 10 years. -Otanx ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/79 "2006-06-17T14:27:17Z")
I’ve gone back to school for another degree. It’s been 22 years since I got my first degree, and some of my classmates are indeed young enough to be my kids. Good people though, and while they might not remember or understand everything I talk about, that’s not the real point of this story. The real point is that one Friday night, my classmates and I decided to head off to the campus pub, which is for students only. They all had to show driver’s licenses at the door, to verify their age. The doorman said he didn’t need to see mine (part 1 of “make me feel old”), but he would need to see my student ID to make sure I was indeed a student (part 2 of “make me feel old”). ☹ I also remember those erasable BIC pens. Great for crossword puzzles! ---
**Author:** ![Squeaker\_Snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Squeaker\_Snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squeaker_Snow)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/80 "2006-06-17T17:04:36Z")
One morning last year I tried to read the newspaper and realized that I couldn’t. Major fuzz except for the headlines. I got out my eyeglasses that I hadn’t put on yet and realized that they made the blur worse. I took them off, then held the newspaper further away…that made it a little better. Bingo! WAAAAAAH! I officially couldn’t see close up or far away. I am ashamed to admit that I am so vain that I cried at the eye doctor’s office. I have nice bifocal contact lenses now, but my eyes doing that and like overnight like that freaked me out. In the course of a year, it got a lot worse. The doc (an MD) says that happens a lot, not to worry. The grey hair I took in stride, younger people not getting my pop culture references was and is okay as well (it’s fun to clue people in to new and “retro” stuff), but this makes me feel like my body is failing. There’s a small, tiny voice in the back of my head saying, “Some morning you’re going to look in the mirror and there’s going to be an old woman looking back.” Just before my great-grandmother died, when she was bed-ridden in the nursing home at 89, she took my hand and said, “You know, inside I still feel the same as I did when I was 21. But then I look in the mirror and I see this old woman. I wonder where the years went…”. I guess that’s where that comes from. That was my little mid-life melt-down. Perhaps grey hair does it to other people… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935.md?page=5)