Curmudgeon

My kids are very much used to my wild and hardly believable stories about an era in the very distant past when I was young. They can barely imagine  world where families didn’t have video players and computers, where TV was black and white, and eight-year-olds could walk downtown and watch a movie without supervision. However, we did have amazing old technologys like record players and typewriters and wringer washers that are quite beyond my kids’ understanding, the discovery of which added slightly to my credibility. One day in the car, I was telling them the titles of some of my favorite books “when I was your age”, and Gothgrrl said, “They didn’t have books when you were a kid!” Hmm, do you think maybe I’m overdoing it?



Survivor vs. Survivor

The b3ta newsletter said: Last week we asked for stories revolving around mix tapes you'd made for people, despite loads of our younger readers not knowing what the hell we were talking about. So read 'itunes playlist' if you like new rave.
??? I run into people my age who think a mix tape is something quite modern. I feel so old.

A review of colored pencils from the view of a young graphic designer who so far has only used a computer.

A Baby Boomer’s indulgence in the “good ole days”. (via Bits and Pieces)

Wulfweard the White has opened a new blog called Good Old Days.

I’ve been accused of living in the past, but I didn’t know my RSS feed was from 1969! Click to enlarge.  (Thanks, Alice!)

Take me back to the Sixties! (Thanks, Rich!)

A list of obsolete skills. I can do all those things, but don’t anymore. I would also add shifting gears with a clutch. Ask your parents.

Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Rule #1. Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase "it's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule #1.

Rule #2. The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule #3. Sorry, you won't make $50,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule #4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he is not going ask you how feel about it.

Rule #5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule #6. It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule #7. Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule #8. Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Nor even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on.

Rule #9. Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be perky or as polite as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule #10. Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule #11. Enjoy this while you can. Sure, parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be kid. Maybe you should start now.

You're welcome.

When I was Your Age -Weird Al Yankovic

Previously at Miss Cellania: Older Women, Nostalgia, and Generation X.

Thought for today: As you grow older, do you miss the innocence and idealism of your youth, or do you mostly miss the cherry bombs?

humor jokes video funny games curmudgeon middle age baby boomer nostalgia

Comments

[CurmudgeonFeathers]

I have two nephews who have a hard enough time understanding how I survived during a time of no cell phones and no computers; to explain to them now that I don't watch TV and get a lot of my news off the radio makes them think I was born pre-Pearl Harbor...and they don't even know what THAT is...

[OmegaMom]

Hah! I was thinking of my brother's reel-to-reel mixtapes just a day or two ago, and thinking how much time it must have taken him to put them together...

[Dick]

I really liked your list of rules for kids. I sent it to my kids to see if they can use it on their kids. It is funny but really does hit some true points. Good job today!