# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/81 "2018-12-29T18:55:32Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > USING SLIDE RULES My first year in college, I used a slide rule. I’ve still got it somewhere… ---
**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:** [December 29, 2018, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/82 "2018-12-29T19:54:26Z")
I’ve used a slide rule. Whoever invented it needs rooting with a burnt stick. My passport has 3 years to run- I think that will be the end of my adventures. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/83 "2018-12-29T20:25:33Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > Let me see. > > Oh and I remember a time when if I fell I bounced. Now I just go thud with no bounce. Not only do I thud, I often hear break or tear. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/84 "2018-12-29T20:46:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > See, l don’t understand this. I am familiar with events that happened before I was born, not just major events, but movies, celebrities, popular songs, objects (like candlestick phones, though I’ve never used one), and other cultural items from my parents’ generation. I know who Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller are, and a couple of the songs they were known for. I know about sleeve garters and painting a line down the back of a woman’s leg to simulate a stocking seam during the wartime nylon shortage. > > Maybe it’s because my parents sat around and talked about stuff. I dunno. No, it is because you listened when they talked. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/85 "2018-12-29T21:21:42Z")
I’m 61 and a good driver. Even the best drivers have an occasional glitch where you accidentally cut somebody off or fail to yield the right of way or some other minor mistake another driver may rightfully be irritated by. Most of my driving years this was followed by an angry honk, maybe a middle finger, sometimes a verbal insult. Now I’m much more likely to get a sad half smile that seems to say “You pathetic old geezer, must suck to be that old.” Unless it’s another senior driver. Then it’s middle fingers. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/86 "2018-12-29T21:54:24Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > That’s what rattles me. I’m “only” in my mid-50s and though I’m healthy now, I’m surmising that by the time I hit 75 I’ll be on borrowed time…some 20-something years from now…and the last 20 years was like a blur to me. It’s just like you say: it may as well be the day before yesterday. > > On the plus side, my parents were/are the first in my family to live past their mid-60s. Still doing pretty good in their late 70s. Maybe the sliding scale of healthier living will favor my generation of family even more. At 70, I really don’t feel old physically. My mother was hale and hearty into her 90th year. I don’t anticipate that major physical deterioration will set in for a while. I don’t anticipate mental deterioration at all. It’s just that I can SEE the end from here. > [@rsat3acr](#): > > No, it is because you listened when they talked. :smack: Ah! I knew there was a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/87 "2018-12-29T22:36:09Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > See, l don’t understand this. I am familiar with events that happened before I was born, not just major events, but movies, celebrities, popular songs, objects (like candlestick phones, though I’ve never used one), and other cultural items from my parents’ generation. I know who Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller are, and a couple of the songs they were known for. I know about sleeve garters and painting a line down the back of a woman’s leg to simulate a stocking seam during the wartime nylon shortage. > > Maybe it’s because my parents sat around and talked about stuff. I dunno. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. “I don’t know, I wasn’t even BORN YET!!!” I was once at a trivia event. One of the categories was 1970s music. After a few questions from that category, a team of 20-somethings complained (whined) loudly, saying how were they supposed to know that stuff, it wasn’t fair, they weren’t even BORN YET!!!.." The host actually agreed with them and eliminated that category so the contest would be fair. So basically, nothing that occurred before they drew their first breath matters. Bunch of self-important, self-centered, snot-nosed crybabies. mmm ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2018, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/88 "2018-12-29T23:52:08Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > This is one of my biggest pet peeves. “I don’t know, I wasn’t even BORN YET!!!” > > I was once at a trivia event. One of the categories was 1970s music. After a few questions from that category, a team of 20-somethings complained (whined) loudly, saying how were they supposed to know that stuff, it wasn’t fair, they weren’t even BORN YET!!!.." > > The host actually agreed with them and eliminated that category so the contest would be fair. > > So basically, nothing that occurred before they drew their first breath matters. > > Bunch of self-important, self-centered, snot-nosed crybabies. > mmm Thank you for sharing my pet peeve. I appreciate it. This definitely drives me nuts. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2018, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/89 "2018-12-30T00:25:37Z")
Reminders that I am old: I am now that doddering old fogey who says [Gabby Hayes voice:] “How the heck you work these here newfangled gadgets anyways?” I remember when research meant going to a library- or a few different ones- and pouring through books and microfilm of old newspapers. I remember children’s toys that weren’t made out of plastic. I remember television variety shows besides Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show. I remember when you had to make a commitment to watch a television show at a fixed time each week if you wanted to keep up with it- actually planning your schedule around it! Half of what I learned in the Boy Scouts is now obsolete due to new technology and environmentalism. Things I have always considered universally known to everyone now have to be explained to anyone under 25. I have now seen entire genres of pop culture be born, mature, decline and pass away. It’s not worth keeping up with anymore. Buildings have the longevity of mushrooms. Many of the things that have simply accumulated in my house over thirty years could qualify as antiques. I wish they’d stop _ **changing** _ everything! I have to perform strict triage on what’s worth learning and what isn’t. Ancient History: the Apollo program, the Vietnam War, Watergate Obsolete History: the Soviet Union, the Cold War. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/90 "2018-12-30T00:26:19Z")
I just plucked a pube…that was growing out of my chin ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/91 "2018-12-30T01:53:28Z")
You remember where you were on 9/11. You remember when you only had to charge your cell phone every four days. You remember texting your friends by pushing the number buttons multiple times to get each letter. You traded pogs with your friends when the teacher couldn’t see. You remember a gallon of gas costing only $2.10. You could only get the movie times on your cell phone by calling the theater. Your school only one computer per classroom, and you had to ask to use it. You couldn’t wait to get home from school so you could get on AOL Instant Messenger with your friends. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/92 "2018-12-30T02:08:38Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You remember where you were on 9/11. > > You remember when you only had to charge your cell phone every four days. > > You remember texting your friends by pushing the number buttons multiple times to get each letter. > > You traded pogs with your friends when the teacher couldn’t see. > > You remember a gallon of gas costing only $2.10. > > You could only get the movie times on your cell phone by calling the theater. > > Your school only one computer per classroom, and you had to ask to use it. > > You couldn’t wait to get home from school so you could get on AOL Instant Messenger with your friends. You remember where you were when Kennedy was assassinated. You remember when the house had one black phone in the hall. It had a two-foot cord. No answering machine. If you missed a call, you didn’t know it. You passed notes in class and got in trouble for it. One way was to hide the note in the bathroom and your friend would go after you and retrieve it. Another way was to wrap the note around the refill in a ballpoint pen and then hand your friend the pen. Teachers knew these tricks. You remember when a gallon of gas cost 20 cents. You looked in the newspaper (which came twice a day) for movie times. Movies cost waaaay less than a dollar. Computers took up entire floors of buildings and you had never seen one. You prepared reports and papers on a manual typewriter using carbon paper, because Xerox machines (i.e., plain paper copiers) hadn’t been invented yet. You couldn’t wait to get home so you could go outside and play with your friends until suppertime. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/93 "2018-12-30T02:27:22Z")
Obligatory song by the Eels - [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVZ87aJiytk) I recently had a coworker ask if he could use my desk telephone. “Sure.” He told me that the phone must be broken or something, because it was making a weird noise. After investigating, the noise turned out to be the DIAL TONE!!! He had only used cell phones & had no idea what a dial tone is.’ I have a genuine passion for my research & would love to keep doing it for decades to come. … But, honestly, I think at some point I will just have to wall myself away from my coworkers. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/94 "2018-12-30T02:49:00Z")
When I was young, I asked an elderly relative to compare life in his youth to life today. He said that the one thing that people today almost never discuss (and I haven’t seen in this thread yet) is the fact that death was so much more common in the past. If you catch pneumonia today, for example, you would probably think of it as being mildly serious - maybe a night in the hospital and a week or two taking medication. Go back a few decades and something like pneumonia was almost a certain death. My grandmother, at age 22, spent 16 weeks confined to a bed due to pneumonia. Just about anything could become deadly & very quickly. If a family had 6 or 7 children, they were lucky to see more than half live to marriage. Death was omnipresent. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/95 "2018-12-30T03:39:48Z")
**Annie-Xmas** is 64, and joined this board on 04-15-2000. I joined on 11-04-2000. So basically, she was the same age as I am now. That’s inspiring. And a bit scary. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/96 "2018-12-30T05:11:27Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > My first year in college, I used a slide rule. I’ve still got it somewhere… I still have mine. I used it after I got out of college. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/97 "2018-12-30T05:55:38Z")
Prank phone calls. Nowadays, you can’t really call a number and ask if their refrigerator is running or if they have Prince Albert in a can. Rotten caller ID. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/98 "2018-12-30T15:07:27Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Prank phone calls. Nowadays, you can’t really call a number and ask if their refrigerator is running or if they have Prince Albert in a can. Rotten caller ID. Not only that, but you can’t call to check up to see if your boyfriend is really at home like he said he would be. My soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend left my 21st birthday party unannounced. I noticed that he wasn’t around, looked outside, and his motorcycle was gone. I called his apartment and a GIRL ANSWERED THE PHONE! He already had my replacement in place. :mad: You also can’t call and check to see if the guy (or person-of-interest) is married. Oh, the stuff you could find out before caller i.d. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/99 "2018-12-30T15:08:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I haven’t quite reached the milestone of having a President who was younger than me. But it’s been real close; Barack Obama is less than three months older than me. Obama was my first. It was not until then that I truly understood the grumbling my father did when Kennedy was elected. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788/100 "2018-12-30T15:30:18Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You remember a gallon of gas costing only $2.10 Gas is under $2 here. Last fill-up with discount was $1.10. That’s less than inflation compared to the 20 cents a gallon of my childhood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-im-64-and-other-reminders-that-you-are-old/826788.md?page=6)