# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/141 "2006-06-20T19:48:28Z")
Two incidents from back in the early 90s did it to me. 1. I was chatting with my neighbor and his grade school daughter when I committed the unpardonably sin of referring to the then hot music star as “McHammer”, as in “McDonalds”, much to the daughter’s amusement, and 2. My buddies and I were in Hooters after an Indians game flirting with the waitresses, and one of the young lovelies there said to me that, quote, “I was so nice that she’d like to fix me up with her mother.” ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/142 "2006-06-20T20:27:44Z")
[QUOTE=iampunha] That’s [a href=“[RAR - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR)”]RAR[/a]. [/QUOTE] You are using HTML syntax with vBcode brackets. You have to actually use vBcode syntax as well. In this case it’s url=[http://blablah](http://blablah) and /url (with appropriate square brackets). a href and /a are HTML. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/143 "2006-06-21T03:05:11Z")
Nothing cultural, but I’m constantly reminded of how old I am compared to my classmates (which I quite like, actually): There are three senior guys in Choir. I’m not one of them, but I’m older than two of them, and younger than the third by about a month. People in my grade have birthdays that I celebrated before the year was even close to starting. That’s it, really; I’m sure I’ll have more in college. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/144 "2006-06-21T10:42:47Z")
I had mine early on. I remember sitting in the living room of the house where I had grown up, watching coverage of the first Gulf War. I had no real idea of what was going on, although I do have a very vivid recollection of one of those map graphics with some cities that I had never heard of marked on it, while they conducted a telephone interview with someone who was actually in Iraq on the audio channel. I honestly have no idea why I was watching it – one of my parents probably had it on because _they_ had a very _good_ idea of what was going on, and I was curious about the thing that was worrying them. I thought to myself, “This is going to be in history textbooks someday.” And then I thought, “I’m old enough to remember when this happened, and someday I’ll be explaining it to kids who didn’t see it on the news.” It rocked me, and I felt pretty old already. I turn 25 this year, so I would have been in about the fourth grade then. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/145 "2006-06-21T12:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=YumemiSama] I had mine early on. I remember sitting in the living room of the house where I had grown up, watching coverage of the first Gulf War. I had no real idea of what was going on, although I do have a very vivid recollection of one of those map graphics with some cities that I had never heard of marked on it, while they conducted a telephone interview with someone who was actually in Iraq on the audio channel. I honestly have no idea why I was watching it – one of my parents probably had it on because _they_ had a very _good_ idea of what was going on, and I was curious about the thing that was worrying them. I thought to myself, “This is going to be in history textbooks someday.” And then I thought, “I’m old enough to remember when this happened, and someday I’ll be explaining it to kids who didn’t see it on the news.” It rocked me, and I felt pretty old already. I turn 25 this year, so I would have been in about the fourth grade then. [/QUOTE] Your post makes me feel old. I was two years younger than you will be this year when I was watching the same coverage… ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/146 "2006-06-21T16:40:14Z")
I studied Saturn’s rings for my undergrad honors thesis in astronomy. My advisor warned me that I would feel old when I was one Saturn year (29.5 Earth years) old. He was right. I probably should have avoided this problem by studying the rings of Neptune (one Neptune year = 165 Earth years) ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/147 "2006-06-21T16:48:36Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] Oooh, earlier this week my brother sent me a souvenir from his trip to Hawaii. It’s a tiki idol shaped bottle opener (because we are classy like that). He wrote the note as if he were Greg Brady writing to Marcia Brady, because, duh, it’s a tiki idol. I thought this was hilarious, but when I shared this with my coworkers (the package was sent to my office), some of the younger adults didn’t know exactly what I was talking about. They knew about the Brady Bunch … but I found myself having to explain the whole darn story " … so then there was this tarantula!" Good grief, I felt ultra old. Passing on the ins and outs of the Brady Bunch Hawaii episode as oral tradition! [/QUOTE] Hee - a friend and I had a similar experience (we’re both 38) trying to explain the Love Boat to a jr. high student. And I think we frightened her when we started singing the theme song! ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/148 "2006-06-21T17:14:51Z")
[QUOTE=ianzin] Watching TV nostalgia shows about historical and political events that I can remember ‘like yesterday’, and seeing how grainy and aged the film or video footage looks. [/QUOTE] Ouch! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/149 "2006-06-21T17:32:19Z")
My kids (8 & 6) love hearing stories about the “good old days”, back when nobody had a cell phone, or Internet access, or an Ipod, and cartoons only came on on Saturday mornings. Last night at dinner we played “Fidonet”, pretend-typing messages to each other that got hopelessly garbled because of the horrible network latency. As the make-believe flamewar spun out of control my son eventually called my wife a Nazi and Godwin’s Law had to be invoked – the thread was over. “No!” my daughter interjected, “Mom IS a NAZI so it’s okay!” So my wife began tapping out her Neo Nazi talking points and the game continued … . Ah, what childhood memories they’ll have! ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/150 "2006-06-21T20:05:39Z")
I was watching a friend’s child one day and told her that I watched Sesame Street when I was a little girl, too. She didn’t believe me, so I got out my cherished Sesame Street album songbook from, oh, approximately 1971. Not only did the poor child have no concept of album – nor did we have a record player in the house for me to demonstrate – but once I explained it to her, she looked at me in horror and said, “You didn’t have VIDEOS when you were little?” ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/151 "2006-06-21T20:27:39Z")
Watching home movies of your parents when they were in their twenties, and they are cavorting around and looking like children! ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/152 "2006-06-21T20:36:56Z")
Just last Monday I was buying some vodka at the grocery store. The checker was a teenage girl and asked me for my ID. I said SURE and started to get it. Then she just LAUGHED and said she was “ONLY KIDDING”. _grumble_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/153 "2006-06-21T21:25:48Z")
There was a pic of Robert Plant in the paper recently, in connection with his upcoming performance in a multi-artist charity concert to raise funds for Love’s Arthur Lee. Plant’s face is puffy and deeply lined and virtually unrecognizable. And as for Arthur Lee (no pic was given of him), but he has some horrible disease that IIRC ends in -oma and requires a bone marrow transplant. I hope that concert raises pots of money. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/154 "2006-06-22T00:37:24Z")
I read in a magazine yesterday that Cyndi Lauper is 52 years old. 52-friggin-years-old. She was popular when I was in high school. When in the hell did she get to be 52? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/155 "2006-06-22T05:16:09Z")
[QUOTE=phall0106] I read in a magazine yesterday that Cyndi Lauper is 52 years old. 52-friggin-years-old. She was popular when I was in high school. When in the hell did she get to be 52? [/QUOTE] Well, she was already in her thirties when she hit it big. She just didn’t sound like it or dress like it, so we were kinda fooled. “She hates time - make it stop! When did Motley Crue become classic rock?” – “1985” by Bowling For Soup ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/156 "2006-06-22T09:31:15Z")
Try explaining to your kids why there is a “carbon copy” on Outlook when they don’t know what carbon paper is. Or was. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/157 "2006-06-22T13:10:32Z")
[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] **Sublight** wins the thread. Mine was on a business trip. I took a colleague along, and she brought her mother. It was her mother’s birthday, so I took them all out to dinner. During the course of the dinner, she told me which birthday it was. Nothing says senility like working with someone whose _parents_ are younger than you. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/158 "2006-06-22T14:50:17Z")
[QUOTE=phall0106] I read in a magazine yesterday that Cyndi Lauper is 52 years old. 52-friggin-years-old. [/QUOTE] This may be another comment on how I’m getting older, but I saw a performance video of her recently, and I think she’s gotten more and more beautiful with every passing year. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/159 "2006-06-22T15:24:52Z")
[ul] [li]Grey chest hairs? _Check_[/li][li]Oldest person in my office? _Check_[/li][li]Learning the keyboard on a typewriter? _Check_[/li][li]Still own records? _Check_[/li][/ul] But when I really, \*really \* felt old is about 15 years ago when I was driving a very cute college classmate (about 20 or so) home (I was 34 years old). I noticed how the town had built up since I was a freshman (1975), and actually said, “I remember when all this was field.” _I remember when all this was field?!_ I might have well have told her, “You remind me of my granddaughter.” Christ. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935/160 "2006-06-22T18:10:26Z")
[QUOTE=Athena] . Still, I can one up you: when I was a kid, local numbers were 5 digits. They all started with “22”, and you didn’t have to dial that. . [/QUOTE] Do you mean the numbers used to be 22nnn, and you’d only have to dial the ‘nnn’ part? Or was it 22n-nnnn? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-events-that-make-you-realize-how-old-you-are/360935.md?page=9)