# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Meleemancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Meleemancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meleemancer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/121 "2006-06-20T05:07:20Z")
I was younger than the teenage main character of [Zits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zits_(comic_strip)) when it began its run. I was impressed at how well they captured the teen culture at the time, and it was funny because they always exaggerated it to humorous effect. As time went on, the teen culture that they showcased started referring to things that I’d been avoiding, because they were too immature, undesirable, and the like. Then it started featuring things that I didn’t have direct knowledge of, but knew about through my younger sister. By now, even that’s gone; the strip’s still generally funny, but the teens are getting more and more alien. So I’d like to submit that while being around young people may be the easiest way to make people feel old, teenagers are definitely the epitome of that. And I’m really impressed that the strip’s writers have been able to stay up to date about that culture (if they actually are; it’s not like I can tell any more.) ---
**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 20, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/122 "2006-06-20T05:50:16Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] [You kids who never played Nintendo NES games](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7498603&postcount=24), get off my lawn! [/QUOTE] That makes _you_ feel old? I was enthusiastic about video games from our first Pong console (it took “D” cells!) through the Atari 2600 and joyfully to Colecovision (which was the cat’s ass) and then the industry crash in '83 coincided with me becoming a jaded teenager. By the time the NES rolled around, console video games seemed too cheesy – and NES games seemed even more “cutesey,” so held little appeal. (Of course PC games were mature enough by '87 – or my brief flirtation with pretending to be grown-up was over forever. One or the other.) ---
**Author:** ![MadPansy64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MadPansy64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPansy64)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/123 "2006-06-20T06:00:37Z")
The cute shoes (circa 1979-ish) I wore today are older than my new boss. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/124 "2006-06-20T06:07:47Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] [You kids who never played Nintendo NES games](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7498603&postcount=24), get off my lawn! [/QUOTE] NES came in after I got tired of video games. I’m too old for NES. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/125 "2006-06-20T08:24:31Z")
I felt old when I heard the other week that Monica Lewinsky had just turned 34. It seems like only just the other day she was crawling around the Oval Office on her hands and knees. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/126 "2006-06-20T08:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I am _not_ kidding. The problem is that the two files with the video are large (588MB and 673MB). I’m going to try to upload one of them to a file sharing service; few handle files over 500 megs. [/QUOTE] Why not use [a href=“[RAR - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR)” target=“new”]RAR[/a]? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/127 "2006-06-20T08:40:17Z")
That’s [a href=“[RAR - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR)”]RAR[/a]. (One of the organizations where I head up copy-editing uses a lot of target=new code in its links so there’s no worry that a user will get sidetracked from the body of any article when clicking a link. It’s all I can do not to use carets here.) ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/128 "2006-06-20T08:43:48Z")
I quit. (I remember life before my brother, who did college visits these past few months. I’d say more, but having sextegenarians in here makes anything I’d say comparatively trivial.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/129 "2006-06-20T10:30:50Z")
Being called “ma’am” by a kid who wanted to know the time wasn’t really that big. I mean, I wasn’t even in high school yet, so I still remembered a time when anybody taller than me looked like a “grown up”. But when my 8 years younger little brother came asking “you got a record with the Schweepes song, right?” Oh God… I could have made him eat my Police Greatest Hits. Upside was he decided to try my other records as well; he remembers it as the point when he discovered I wasn’t just a wages-less babysitter but actually the owner of some Very Cool Stuff. ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/130 "2006-06-20T11:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=Athena] Heh. Hardly. Cherry Creek Road now probably looks a whole lot like it did back when you remember it - wide open, farms, woods, etc. This is the UP. Things don’t change. Except the damn area code. 😃 [/QUOTE] I grew up in the Houghton-Hancock area of the U.P. We finally got dial phones in July of 1962. How many Yoopers or former Yoopers here? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/131 "2006-06-20T12:08:23Z")
[QUOTE=rayman5321] I grew up in the Houghton-Hancock area of the U.P. We finally got dial phones in July of 1962. How many Yoopers or former Yoopers here? [/QUOTE] As far as I know, I’m the only current yooper living in the UP. There’s at least a handful of ex-yoopers. The only one I can think of at the moment is **Keeweenaw** cuz he’s got the easily-remembered handle. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/132 "2006-06-20T12:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] Are you sure? I remember my grandmother’s number from when she lived in Marquette… and this would have been back in the 1970s… was 906. I even remember her address. Cherry Creek road. Probably a whole housing development up where her house was. Anyway – were you just giving example area codes, or do you pre-date 906 in da UP? [/QUOTE] I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a 906 code. Huh. Maybe your grammy was a spy or something. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/133 "2006-06-20T12:35:03Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Frankemnuth’s chicken is goooooooooooood. I remmeber when they started going nuts with the area codes. there’s…248…585..and 810 and…328542739854372546..and a bunch more. I’m keeping it real. I’m 313. I haven’t been to Frankemnuth in a long ass time. That is certainly one ass whoopin mall up there, too. I may have to choke you out if you start talking about how Bronner’s is a “cool store.” Where you live, woman? [/QUOTE] In the northern part of 248. another two miles north and I would be an 810. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/134 "2006-06-20T12:37:57Z")
[QUOTE=Athena] As far as I know, I’m the only current yooper living in the UP. [/QUOTE] You gots the entire UP to yourself?! Party at Athena’s! ::::::::::::flees before I am hit alongside the head with a pastie.::::::::: Wait…it isn’t pastie season… ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/135 "2006-06-20T13:53:25Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] More recently: In the morning, I took a dump. In the afternoon, I got a blowjob. In the evening, I found myself thinking, “man, that was a great dump.” [/QUOTE] Okay, I think we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/136 "2006-06-20T14:19:02Z")
[QUOTE=iampunha] Why not use [RAR]([RAR - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR)" target="new)? [/QUOTE] Still won’t compress under 500 megs. Anyhow, I’ve got them up on a web hosting account I don’t use. Like I said before, write to me at mtv1983(at)[gmail.com](http://gmail.com) and I’ll send you the URL. For a limited time only. Not available in Utah. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/137 "2006-06-20T14:47:34Z")
More fun with relativity: Screen shots from _Back on the Chain Gang_ by The Pretenders: [http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2833/output1608269qy.jpg](http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/2833/output1608269qy.jpg) [http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/305/output1632520xr.jpg](http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/305/output1632520xr.jpg) Missing Persons - _Words_ [http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2540/output678200ku.jpg](http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2540/output678200ku.jpg) Men at Work - _It’a a Mistake_ [http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/5614/output583705na.jpg](http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/5614/output583705na.jpg) Madness - _Our House_ [http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/6826/output1399241ep.jpg](http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/6826/output1399241ep.jpg) [http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2075/output1401425vo.jpg](http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2075/output1401425vo.jpg) All from MTV in 1983, making these songs at least 23 years old. **These videos were made before most recent college graduates were born.** What was 23 year old music in 1983? Some examples from the charts: Chubby Checker - _Twist_ Bobby Darin - _Mack the Knife_ Everly Brothers - _Cathy’s Clown_ Elvis Presley - _Are You Lonesome Tonight_ Wilbert Harrison - _Kansas City_ Brenda Lee - _I’m Sorry_ Marty Robbins - _El Paso_ Pat Benatar, Bob Seger, Prince and Phil Collins is as timely to the teenagers of today as Connie Francis, Roy Orbison, Paul Anka and Bobby Rydell was to me. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/138 "2006-06-20T15:43:24Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a 906 code. Huh. Maybe your grammy was a spy or something. 🙂 [/QUOTE] :eek: More evidence that you Trolls really don’t deserve the UP… ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/139 "2006-06-20T15:45:05Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] You gots the entire UP to yourself?! Party at Athena’s! ::::::::::::flees before I am hit alongside the head with a pastie.::::::::: Wait…it isn’t pastie season… [/QUOTE] C’mon up! It’s always pasty season up here. I won’t even mention the obvious spelling error. 😃 On the plus side, I have dopefests all the time. Like every night. But it’s just me and occasionally Mr. Athena, who used to post every once in a while before we went pay-to-post. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/140 "2006-06-20T16:31:35Z")
I was flirting with the incredibly hot barista at my favorite java joint the other day – she seemed impressed that I was wearing a logo shirt from the radio station I work for. I was thinking the old charm was still working pretty well – then she told me she’s the younger sister of the girl who was my youngest son’s high school sweetheart. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935.md?page=8)