# When I'm 64, and other reminders that you are old **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788 "2018-12-27T15:08:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/282 "2020-02-23T19:32:00Z")
> [@Polyester](#): > > Speaking of topsy-turvy, I wish I could go back to the 60’s/70’s. Just think our world today is a complete and utter mess. Nope. Vietnam War. Cities burning. Assassinations. Nearly all of Latin America and many other countries under brutal right-wing dictatorships. The threat of nuclear holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/283 "2020-02-23T19:34:56Z")
Little kids are amazed when I tell them there were only 48 states when I was born. ---
**Author:** ![Polyester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Polyester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polyester)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/284 "2020-02-23T20:42:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I actually feel sorry for people who didn’t experience the 1960’s. It was such a unique time in human history. Things got totally different in such a short time, and there’s no easy answer for what caused it. > > Compare that to 40 years later, when you can pinpoint the exact second every thing changed. I couldn’t agree with you more. ---
**Author:** ![Polyester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Polyester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polyester)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/285 "2020-02-23T20:45:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Nope. Vietnam War. Cities burning. Assassinations. Nearly all of Latin America and many other countries under brutal right-wing dictatorships. The threat of nuclear holocaust. It’s all relative in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/286 "2020-02-23T22:15:11Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > Little kids are amazed when I tell them there were only 48 states when I was born. So are coworkers. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/287 "2020-02-23T22:17:44Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > same here I took typing in 1974. I’d be willing to bet most people under 30 have never even seen a manual typewriter let alone know what it is. That’s for sure singlequote backspace period ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/288 "2020-02-23T22:18:18Z")
You’re old when people start referring to things _you lived through_ as “a half-century ago.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/289 "2020-02-23T22:40:36Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > That it’s 2020 is starting to sink in. That means that 1970 was 50 years ago. Several interesting things happened in my life in 1970 or around then. All of that is a half century ago and counting. Same here! I feel like I’m on some sort of revisiting of those major events. Also, once we get past the leap day next weekend, the days of the week will even line up across 50 years. March 1 was a Sunday in 1970, and it will be a Sunday this year too. And so forth for the next two years, until 1972’s leap day throws things out of sync again. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/290 "2020-02-24T03:34:19Z")
I remember my mom stepping on tin cans to flatten then for recycling, to help win WWII’ My first grade teacher was born in the Grant administration, when the school was built. But here’s what makes me feel old: I don’t want to learn new technology any more. I don’t know how to “dial” a number on my wife’s phone. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/291 "2020-02-25T01:09:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There was a bad moment this year going to the 50th anniversary re-release of _Yellow Submarine_ and reflected that I saw it during its initial release. I had a moment like this when I saw a theater marquee touting “ **Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary! Performing Aqualung in its Entirety**!” Now, I must naturally look on the bright side, because my second reaction (after “I can’t be THAT old”) was “Hey, I saved a lot of money!” When my teenage self went downtown all by myself and saw Tull, they surprised us with the next album they were working on: Aqualung. As opposed to the $50-80 the anniversary show cost, I paid **$8** for box seats. I still love the t-shirt I saw on an aging rocker: **I might be old… . but I saw all the cool bands!** I always regret not congratulating the guy and adding “And you saw 'em for ten bucks, too, I bet.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/292 "2020-02-25T10:13:42Z")
Woodstock was $24 for three days. I still have my ticket somewhere, but I’m too old to remember where. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/293 "2020-02-25T14:45:54Z")
$24 sounds cheap but the [Inflation Calculator](https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/) says it’s the equivalent to $169.70 today. I was living in eastern Pennsylvania at the time and had heard about Woodstock beforehand. But as a poor nineteen-year old, I couldn’t afford the ticket and did not go. Probably just as well; I likely would have wound up one of the ones milling around outside for my trouble. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/294 "2020-02-25T14:50:58Z")
Rotary phones. You could actually go somewhere without a phone and you survived! ---
**Author:** ![Polyester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Polyester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polyester)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/295 "2020-02-25T17:10:33Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Rotary phones. You could actually go somewhere without a phone and you survived! Oh yes! How many calls I took as a teen babysitter using a rotary phone! ---
**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:** [February 25, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/296 "2020-02-25T18:05:49Z")
As a child, I was taught that listening to other people’s phone conversations was the height of rudeness. Since cell phones became omnipresent, that is unavoidable. And listening to other people’s phone conversations is very, very, very boring to the point where I think it’s rude to inflect them on other people. ---
**Author:** ![Polyester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b2d939/32.png) [@Polyester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polyester)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/297 "2020-02-25T18:37:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As a child, I was taught that listening to other people’s phone conversations was the height of rudeness. > > Since cell phones became omnipresent, that is unavoidable. And listening to other people’s phone conversations is very, very, very boring to the point where I think it’s rude to inflect them on other people. We had a party line until the mid 70’s, and I remember my siblings and I, listening in on neighbours catting on the phone. We used to giggle and snicker, even knowing we’d get a good spank on the bottom (from mom) if we got caught. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/298 "2020-02-25T18:48:07Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Woodstock was $24 for three days. I still have my ticket somewhere, but I’m too old to remember where. It was $18 if you bought tickets in advance. I know approximately where my tickets are (which of course were never collected). A year earlier, I saw shows including bills of The Who/The Doors and Big Brother and the Holding Company/Jimi Hendrix at the Singer Bowl in New York for $2.50 each. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/299 "2020-02-25T22:26:14Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I remember my mom stepping on tin cans to flatten then for recycling, to help win WWII’ My first grade teacher was born in the Grant administration, when the school was built. > > But here’s what makes me feel old: I don’t want to learn new technology any more. I don’t know how to “dial” a number on my wife’s phone. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff “under the hood” that makes Windows 10 a far more versatile operating system, but for 98% of what I do Windows 3.1 would work just as well, if anything ran on it. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/300 "2020-02-25T23:45:36Z")
My coworkers don’t believe me when I tell them that when I grew up, WHITE people bombed the PENTAGON. They survived for nearly a DECADE and most of them were either never caught or were charged with far, far less than they actually did. [The Weathermen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Weatherman_actions) Can you imagine what the political climate would be if there were such a group of people today? I mean, goodness, these people got all worked up about the freaking Unabomber & he was nothing compared to the Weathermen. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/301 "2020-02-25T23:59:54Z")
> [@Polyester](#): > > I remember when smoking was allowed everyone, including inside department stores, etc. They used to have vending machines for cigarettes too when I was younger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788.md?page=16)