I know i'm getting old because.

[DeathtollWRX]

I went to the outlet store and bought collared golf shirts then went to Ecko,Banana Republic and was unimpressed by what they sold.

I hurt my back when I picked up my daughter today.
Got a fade yesterday and noticed few grays falling to my chest.
I'm more interested in a smooth riding car with great MPG rather than a slammed car that goes really fast.

and last but not least.

Disgustipated mentioned that I said I pay a mortgage now so I can't afford a 135i.
oh..
and Green Day has been together for 16 years...


How about you guys?

[civil]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.

[Wolvie]

Hmmm... married for 7 years, and have two 5 year old daughters. I too am more interested in a smooth riding gas efficient car that gets me where I'm going. I'd rather stay in then go out. I drink iced tea and diet soda, and haven't had a beer in months. My hips began to hurt the other day at work, and I don't have as much energy during the day as I used to.

Oh, and I tell my kids to calm down and keep quiet all the time. I think I'm not too far off from yelling at kids to get off my damn lawn.

[KamaItachi]

I know I'm getting old because I'm usually in my pyjamas by 9 O'clock on a weeknight.

[DeathtollWRX]

Wow I have been married for seven years and I have a five year old daughter and I'd rather drink iced tea too!

You are me!

We took these today. If you like anything like me then we are the same person. Another Spartan project side effect?
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5996/daddyandpaige.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/daddyandpaige.jpg/)http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/daddyandpaige.jpg/1/w851.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img132/daddyandpaige.jpg/1/)

[DeathtollWRX]

I know I'm getting old because I'm usually in my pyjamas by 9 O'clock on a weeknight.

Wait minute, I do the same thing..

It's freaking over... someone get me depends.

[rein]

I know I'm getting old because I'm usually in my pyjamas by 9 O'clock on a weeknight.You wait till 9? The first thing I do when I get home is throw on the PJ's.

I guess for me, the receding hairline, the fading memory, the 20 year old daughter, and the fact that I have become very much a recluse over the last year or so. On the plus side, I was propositioned by an attractive 26 year old today and I didn't even have to pay her. I'm not dead yet. :D

[DeathtollWRX]

It aint over till it's over!

[Grifter]

I'm still in denial...

[JayK47]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.

Good to hear, especially since I am 32. For once something to look forward to. Me being a half bald, half gray, half fat, half bored retard and all. I want to know things can only get better.

[pronounconnoun]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.

Happy belated birthday, old man.

[diablopath]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.

Fucking hell, really?

Dude, I thought you were like 28.

Fuck you guys, I'm 20.

[pronounconnoun]

Fuck you guys, I'm 20.

I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to seem like a dick. Now that the seal is broken, I'm turning 24 in two months and I'm fucking scared.

[Whunpo]

I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to seem like a dick. Now that the seal is broken, I'm turning 24 in two months and I'm fucking scared.

Dude, I'm off to college in less than a year and I'm scared shitless. Old is relative. I may not be getting old to the rest of you guys, but jesus christ I feel like I am.

[Narradisall]

Im 25, so I'm reaching the part where the hill starts the steady decline.

At this rate I may not live to see Duke Nukem Forever...

[KamaItachi]

Hmmm... married for 7 years, and have two 5 year old daughters. I too am more interested in a smooth riding gas efficient car that gets me where I'm going. I'd rather stay in then go out. I drink iced tea and diet soda, and haven't had a beer in months.

In many ways I'm very glad of my family. They're the absolute best excuse for not having to go out with the 20-somethings from work to go get pissed on a Friday night. I'd rather just sit down with a few friends with a cup of tea and a couple of crisp sandwiches.

[BigJonno]

Fucking hell, really?

Dude, I thought you were like 28.

Fuck you guys, I'm 20.

I'm with you, I still think the bastard is lying about his age to make himself seem worldly-wise. :D

I do think how old you feel in comparison to other people is a generational thing. When I talk about my childhood; 8-bit computers, He-Man, Thundercats, blowing the crud out of NES cartridges, that kind of thing, I find that people even just a couple of years younger than me don't know what I'm talking about, but I can happily relate to people 7-8 years my senior.

[Wolvie]

Wow I have been married for seven years and I have a five year old daughter and I'd rather drink iced tea too!

You are me!

We took these today. If you like anything like me then we are the same person. Another Spartan project side effect?


Well I'm not Asian, I have Leon Kennedy's haircut from RE2, and I'm kinda chubby... but other then that we're twins! You know, like the movie Twins. With Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito :D

In many ways I'm very glad of my family. They're the absolute best excuse for not having to go out with the 20-somethings from work to go get pissed on a Friday night. I'd rather just sit down with a few friends with a cup of tea and a couple of crisp sandwiches.

No doubt. Just kick back, relax with some good friends and family, and enjoy life. I'd rather stay in and play some videogames or surf the net when I'm not doing that. The only adventurous thing I do anymore is go out to see a movie.

Edit: Man, the iced tea thing reminds me of something else. My wife threw out a perfectly good pitcher of iced green tea. And made a batch of regular iced tea and dumped a ton of sugar into it. I took one sip and wrinkled my nose in disgust, too sweet. Back in the day, I would not drink iced tea unless it had sugar and lemon in it. Now I drink it straight. That right there is a sure sign of me getting old.

[Kelegacy]

I'll be 29 next month. My girlfriend was watching the MTV music awards rerun yesterday and I was disgusted by what I saw. That network, IMO, is getting worse for teens and young people. But that's what our parents said. :)

I embrace my "old age"--getting older does not scare me. I still act as immature as ever and now I have a sun that will carry on the torch. My father still sings songs when he gets up in the morning and it drove me nuts as a kid...but now I do it. Totally made-up songs on the fly that don't make sense. It's bizarre.

I don't have any grays that I know of, but my girlfriend, who is 32, is hoping that I do. She wants me to age. I don't mind if I do. But I am totally out of touch with today's pop, clothing, and tv shows. They just don't click with me. The cell-phone and texting generation also gets on my nerves, especially when I'm out in public, like at a restaurant. My kid won't have one until he's damn well old enough, and then it will probably just be a trac-phone with prepaid minutes--if he runs out, he's screwed, but it will teach him to be responsible. But right now EVERY kid seems to have a cell phone.

[Gorvi]

I'll be 29 next month. My girlfriend was watching the MTV music awards rerun yesterday and I was disgusted by what I saw. That network, IMO, is getting worse for teens and young people. But that's what our parents said. :)

I embrace my "old age"--getting older does not scare me. I still act as immature as ever and now I have a sun that will carry on the torch. My father still sings songs when he gets up in the morning and it drove me nuts as a kid...but now I do it. Totally made-up songs on the fly that don't make sense. It's bizarre.

I don't have any grays that I know of, but my girlfriend, who is 32, is hoping that I do. She wants me to age. I don't mind if I do. But I am totally out of touch with today's pop, clothing, and tv shows. They just don't click with me. The cell-phone and texting generation also gets on my nerves, especially when I'm out in public, like at a restaurant. My kid won't have one until he's damn well old enough, and then it will probably just be a trac-phone with prepaid minutes--if he runs out, he's screwed, but it will teach him to be responsible. But right now EVERY kid seems to have a cell phone.
I'm exactly the same way, the only difference is my wife is 3 years younger than me instead of 3 years older (I'm 29). The whole hating pop culture (clothing, music, tv shows, etc....) thing doesn't make me feel old, though, I've been doing that for as long as I can remember. But that went along with being very much into the punk scene (what little there was) when I was in high school.

[bapenguin]

I turn 30 this year. :\

[Mashidar]

30 years old, turn 31 on the 31st of this month. But I take a trip from Colorado to Ohio once a year so my family can see my daughter, who will turn 3 in January. So I get together with my friends for a night of gaming and back in the day we could play till 2-3am. Now though, we are lucky to make it to 10 or 11 without someone falling asleep.

[Hotcod]

I just turned 25 and due to a few reasons i'm unemployed not in education any more and stuck living at home with the parents and it's honestly a little depressing heh i still go out far to much when i do get a bit of work i play in bands and do crazy stuff but lately i've found my self not getting sick of it so much as wanting more.

I've had it with crazy annoying girls and random relationships and long streches of being single... i wanna find the girl i can spend the rest of my life with and sort out a job and find a place to live with her while i work out getting to do something i love doing... oh and out of nowhere i've realised i do want kids...

So i'm getting older but dear god you guys need to get out more :P

edit:

i was seeing a girl who was 30 for a while her freinds where all older some where married and had kids but they where all essentially still like my friends... they can be mature and responcable when they need to be but will still end up doing random crazy things after drinking to much heh so i'm not that bothered about getting older... at lest not until 40

[c0m3d14n]

Fucking hell, really?

Dude, I thought you were like 28.

Fuck you guys, I'm 20.

get off my lawn ;)

i'm close to 34, interests and habbits change over time but i dont feel old
what surprises me often is to see people in talkshows that are aged around 25 but behave and look like they are 40+ and ask myself if i have a skewed view of myself..
but i'm pretty sure i'm not like those geezers ;)

[Squidbot]

Back when I was working on 360, a kid came in to work wearing an Iron Maiden T-Shirt. I asked him when he was born. I had seen Iron maiden live before this kid was born.

[fitbabits]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.
Happy birthday. I, too, am 41!

[Thanasimos]

Something which seems like it happened yesterday actually happened a year and a day ago. Time went by so slowly when I was in gradeschool and stuff. Now I'm eighteen, in college, and everything's some kind of whirlwind. Each day goes by so fast, and the weeks must be going by faster. Also, the thought that I have known my best friend for over a decade. God damn I am old.

And to think, I'm still young by most your standards! You guys also know you're old because I call you farts and you can safely pass me off as a damn kid. :D

[Squidbot]

Thanasimos, go to your room.

[civil]

Good to hear, especially since I am 32. For once something to look forward to. Me being a half bald, half gray, half fat, half bored retard and all. I want to know things can only get better.
Sounds like you're at your peak already!

Happy belated birthday, old man.
Thanks, son. And don't tell mom where you got those claw marks from. And don't share the candy I gave you. It's, huh, "special".

Fucking hell, really?

Dude, I thought you were like 28.

Fuck you guys, I'm 20.
That's what I told you so you wouldn't feel too creeped out. Surprise!

I'm with you, I still think the bastard is lying about his age to make himself seem worldly-wise. :D
It does make picking up high school chicks easier.

Back when I was working on 360, a kid came in to work wearing an Iron Maiden T-Shirt. I asked him when he was born. I had seen Iron maiden live before this kid was born.
Yep. Though I take a pleasure in it. A sort of "I"m cooler than thou motherfucker!" attitude. You've got cred man. Use it!

Happy birthday. I, too, am 41!
Yep. If I remember correctly from EvAv you, Random and I were all born in '68.

I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to seem like a dick. Now that the seal is broken, I'm turning 24 in two months and I'm fucking scared.
This is spoildered because it's a fucking novel:

I would ask yourself why you're scared. When I was 13 my friends and I made a pact to kill ourselves when we turned 18, life as an adult just didn't seem worth it. No one went through with the pact (though one of use did kill himself but it was for entirely different reasons) and as we started to realize, even at a young age, that our lives were what we shaped them to be life started to feel fresh. Exciting even.

In my 20s, I thought I was going to be rich. A famous artist because I thought myself a unique, creative person who had miles of ideas and loads of talent. But that didn't happen. I didn't make it happen, I thought it would happen to me. I wasn't scared, I wasn't timid. I was lazy. Then I got married, and bless my ex-wife, I started down a path that I thought I should take because I thought it was the thing to do. We had respectable jobs with an amazing combined income. We bought a condo then a two-flat with tenants. Then a brand new car. Soon we would be having children. I was, for all intents and purposes, living the American Fucking Dream.

But it wasn't me. I don't a shit about stuff. About owning property. About owning things. They will fade. I will die. It will not matter what I accrued, what paths I took. In the end I will be an old man with a lifetime of memories. I wanted them to be my memories. Not those of someone who followed a pre-determined path. I had become what my teenage self wanted to kill: A bore. An ordinary man with an ordinary life with ordinary things around him.

I quit my job. I told my wife I wanted to leave (there were many many reasons and we went through years of therapy to try and save our marriage). I started to make art again. I found a new group of friends, some younger, some older, some the same age. But we all wanted to forge our own stories. Our own paths. And I found myself again. I chose happiness. Which, after many years of experience, I realize is a choice not happenstance.

I've lost about 85 pounds. Some nights I'm up until four or five in the morning. Some I'm in bed by 10. I belong to a midnight kickball league that 9 times out of 10 ends with cops chasing us out of the park. I go to shows and bars. I dance every once in a while. I travel. I fell in love, a few times, with women 12, 13 years my junior. I am now living with my favorite person in the world who I not only love dearly but actually like. We have friends over for dinner who are musicians and we stay up until one o'clock playing music and drinking. Life, because I chose it so, is good.

It's not all sunshine and unicorn shit. My divorce left me nearly penniless and my ex has, not intentionally, ruined my credit. In fact last week I was named in a lawsuit for bills she did not pay but was supposed to. I get calls daily from creditors looking for her. Several times I thought I would have to declare bankruptcy. But I take this with a shrug. These problems, these issues, they revolve around money. A thing of man. I will not let some false sense of worth, of value, determine my happiness. I will not let money, or lack of it, determine my sense of security and stability. I will not let this false thing determine my joy. I did that for a few years, and it brought me misery.

So Joey, I say to you that being terrified of the unknown is good.Being timid, though, that is not. Fear is healthy. Timidity is not. I can honestly say that from experience.

[wyeast]

I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to seem like a dick. Now that the seal is broken, I'm turning 24 in two months and I'm fucking scared.
Dude, don't be scared. You're young, you have your life ahead of you, good friends, and a sweet woman who puts up with you oogling over the Capcom fighting stick. :D ;) Sure, change and the future can be spooky, but you'll get through it. Just tell yourself, the shit that seems terrifying now will be a joke at your white elephant party 10 years from now. :p

I turn 30 this year. :\

Shurrup, whippersnapper. ;)

Squid - Holy shit I see that all the time with "Kids" all talking about Maiden, Bon Jovi, any band from the 80's. Sometimes I just have to chuckle and think, "Cinderella? Really? Man, do you even know? Those guys sucked live!" :p

Ahh, the days before autotune. :D

[BigJonno]

Not quite as long in the tooth as Maiden, but I have a burning hatred for Red Hot Chilli Peppers "fans" who are unaware of anything pre-Californication.

Yes, they did used to be a punk band, you stupid child.

[DeathtollWRX]

I'm turning 33 in January.

I still collect Transformers, Watch cartoons and of course play video games. As far as videogames though I think people around my age group that were the first who truly got hooked on video games. Everyone I know near my age has a video game console for themselves. I don't think it is something I will ever get too old for. Animation these days is no longer your Tom and Jerry mindless violence, with movies from Pixar and Anime it seems that animation is totally geared to adults and children alike.

I feel like being a kid at heart helps me have good relations with my children. I honest l feel like I am a cool parent (especially when I see what back to school parents look like).

Maybe i'm in denial but I would rather play ODST than go out drinking anything like that.

BTW, for any of you Sirius XM people out there.... 80's on 8 is my favorite station!

[Thanasimos]

Thanasimos, go to your room.

Suck my dick, old man! When you retire, who's going to take care of you if you piss me off!

[boratika]

I must have reached some age milestone recently, since now I can't just eat whatever and never gain weight.

Also, I grew a beard, mostly out of laziness and there's a lot more greys than there used to be.

I wanted to say it, but I didn't want to seem like a dick. Now that the seal is broken, I'm turning 24 in two months and I'm fucking scared.

Don't worry, it's 25 when people arbitrarily start expecting you to be an adult. ;)

[OldJadedGamer]

I'm 35 now but constantly date girls younger than me but have never broke the 10 year mark. I was on a date the other night with a girl who is 25 and some how I ended up telling her a story of crowd surfing at a Nirvana concert and as soon as it came out of my mouth I instantly felt old.

The key to dating younger girls is to never mention anything age related but sometimes stuff like that slips out and makes me feel old.

[Squidbot]

Suck my dick, old man! When you retire, who's going to take care of you if you piss me off!

Tch, kids today.

[Whunpo]

This is spoildered because it's a fucking novel:

I would ask yourself why you're scared. When I was 13 my friends and I made a pact to kill ourselves when we turned 18, life as an adult just didn't seem worth it. No one went through with the pact (though one of use did kill himself but it was for entirely different reasons) and as we started to realize, even at a young age, that our lives were what we shaped them to be life started to feel fresh. Exciting even.

In my 20s, I thought I was going to be rich. A famous artist because I thought myself a unique, creative person who had miles of ideas and loads of talent. But that didn't happen. I didn't make it happen, I thought it would happen to me. I wasn't scared, I wasn't timid. I was lazy. Then I got married, and bless my ex-wife, I started down a path that I thought I should take because I thought it was the thing to do. We had respectable jobs with an amazing combined income. We bought a condo then a two-flat with tenants. Then a brand new car. Soon we would be having children. I was, for all intents and purposes, living the American Fucking Dream.

But it wasn't me. I don't a shit about stuff. About owning property. About owning things. They will fade. I will die. It will not matter what I accrued, what paths I took. In the end I will be an old man with a lifetime of memories. I wanted them to be my memories. Not those of someone who followed a pre-determined path. I had become what my teenage self wanted to kill: A bore. An ordinary man with an ordinary life with ordinary things around him.

I quit my job. I told my wife I wanted to leave (there were many many reasons and we went through years of therapy to try and save our marriage). I started to make art again. I found a new group of friends, some younger, some older, some the same age. But we all wanted to forge our own stories. Our own paths. And I found myself again. I chose happiness. Which, after many years of experience, I realize is a choice not happenstance.

I've lost about 85 pounds. Some nights I'm up until four or five in the morning. Some I'm in bed by 10. I belong to a midnight kickball league that 9 times out of 10 ends with cops chasing us out of the park. I go to shows and bars. I dance every once in a while. I travel. I fell in love, a few times, with women 12, 13 years my junior. I am now living with my favorite person in the world who I not only love dearly but actually like. We have friends over for dinner who are musicians and we stay up until one o'clock playing music and drinking. Life, because I chose it so, is good.

It's not all sunshine and unicorn shit. My divorce left me nearly penniless and my ex has, not intentionally, ruined my credit. In fact last week I was named in a lawsuit for bills she did not pay but was supposed to. I get calls daily from creditors looking for her. Several times I thought I would have to declare bankruptcy. But I take this with a shrug. These problems, these issues, they revolve around money. A thing of man. I will not let some false sense of worth, of value, determine my happiness. I will not let money, or lack of it, determine my sense of security and stability. I will not let this false thing determine my joy. I did that for a few years, and it brought me misery.

So Joey, I say to you that being terrified of the unknown is good.Being timid, though, that is not. Fear is healthy. Timidity is not. I can honestly say that from experience.
I just want to thank you for sharing that story with us. It was, I don't want to say awesome, but it was very interesting, and I have a lot of respect for you and the choices you made. Glad it all seemed to work out for you.

[Kelegacy]

Yeah, that's a great story, civil. Thanks for sharing.

[diablopath]

In light of civil's life choices, I have a question to propose to all of you regarding college, and I don't think it's quite enough to spawn its own thread:

Did you go to college to pursue intellectual thought, without an actual career goal in mind? Or did you go with a career in mind and used college to maintain that? Do you have any positive or negative thoughts regarding either path?

[NoName]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.

Happy birthday old man! :D

Ug, I turn 27 this upcoming Tuesday. I forgot I had a birthday soon until mid last week. Then I had to remember how old I was...

I agree, age is just a number.

[carnage11]

I know I'm getting old because...

...the clothes that are popular now, I was wearing 10-15 years ago.

We saw the 70s come back in style, we even saw the eye sore 80s come back in style. Now we are starting to see the 90s grunge look coming back.

[muddi900]

I am 23 years old, but I don't feel like I've grown up enough to use that word. :)

Keeping with the tradition; YOU LOSERS ARE ANCIENT! ENVY MY MOTHERFUCKING YOUTH! :p

[pomeroy]

cw-mTmCh5jU

[Pale Ale]

So is weight tolerance.

[Nameless]

In light of civil's life choices, I have a question to propose to all of you regarding college, and I don't think it's quite enough to spawn its own thread:

Did you go to college to pursue intellectual thought, without an actual career goal in mind? Or did you go with a career in mind and used college to maintain that? Do you have any positive or negative thoughts regarding either path?

This ended up being way longer than I expected, so I'll spoiler it:

I can't say I had a fully-formed goal in mind when I entered college. But I ended up in a program that is almost as theoretical as it gets (Math), and I loved every minute of it. In fact, now that I'm out, I just want to go back. I'd love to do degrees in a dozen in different fields, but that's hardly a realistic outlook.

Anyway, my opinion is that if you're going to college only looking for a specific career on the other side, you're going to miss out on the best parts of the whole experience. Colleges/universities are places of higher learning, not vocational training. It's unfortunate that these days Bachelor's Degrees seem like the minimum requirements for most jobs, but that's definitely not what these schools are about.

Hell, I was in a very 'job-oriented' program last year (Teacher Education), and even that was basically 90% theory and 10% practical training (which, admittedly, was more than the 100% theory of Math). There is a lot to be said about the skills that you learn in college, but they're often peripheral (like being able to do independent research, for example).

Those are my rambling thoughts on the subject, anyway. In the end, the experience of college is unique, and it should be savoured while it's still possible to do so.

This is spoildered because it's a fucking novel:

I would ask yourself why you're scared. When I was 13 my friends and I made a pact to kill ourselves when we turned 18, life as an adult just didn't seem worth it. No one went through with the pact (though one of use did kill himself but it was for entirely different reasons) and as we started to realize, even at a young age, that our lives were what we shaped them to be life started to feel fresh. Exciting even.

In my 20s, I thought I was going to be rich. A famous artist because I thought myself a unique, creative person who had miles of ideas and loads of talent. But that didn't happen. I didn't make it happen, I thought it would happen to me. I wasn't scared, I wasn't timid. I was lazy. Then I got married, and bless my ex-wife, I started down a path that I thought I should take because I thought it was the thing to do. We had respectable jobs with an amazing combined income. We bought a condo then a two-flat with tenants. Then a brand new car. Soon we would be having children. I was, for all intents and purposes, living the American Fucking Dream.

But it wasn't me. I don't a shit about stuff. About owning property. About owning things. They will fade. I will die. It will not matter what I accrued, what paths I took. In the end I will be an old man with a lifetime of memories. I wanted them to be my memories. Not those of someone who followed a pre-determined path. I had become what my teenage self wanted to kill: A bore. An ordinary man with an ordinary life with ordinary things around him.

I quit my job. I told my wife I wanted to leave (there were many many reasons and we went through years of therapy to try and save our marriage). I started to make art again. I found a new group of friends, some younger, some older, some the same age. But we all wanted to forge our own stories. Our own paths. And I found myself again. I chose happiness. Which, after many years of experience, I realize is a choice not happenstance.

I've lost about 85 pounds. Some nights I'm up until four or five in the morning. Some I'm in bed by 10. I belong to a midnight kickball league that 9 times out of 10 ends with cops chasing us out of the park. I go to shows and bars. I dance every once in a while. I travel. I fell in love, a few times, with women 12, 13 years my junior. I am now living with my favorite person in the world who I not only love dearly but actually like. We have friends over for dinner who are musicians and we stay up until one o'clock playing music and drinking. Life, because I chose it so, is good.

It's not all sunshine and unicorn shit. My divorce left me nearly penniless and my ex has, not intentionally, ruined my credit. In fact last week I was named in a lawsuit for bills she did not pay but was supposed to. I get calls daily from creditors looking for her. Several times I thought I would have to declare bankruptcy. But I take this with a shrug. These problems, these issues, they revolve around money. A thing of man. I will not let some false sense of worth, of value, determine my happiness. I will not let money, or lack of it, determine my sense of security and stability. I will not let this false thing determine my joy. I did that for a few years, and it brought me misery.

So Joey, I say to you that being terrified of the unknown is good.Being timid, though, that is not. Fear is healthy. Timidity is not. I can honestly say that from experience.

See, you can tell Civil is old because of these wisdom bombs he drops on us. ;)

[civil]

Did you go to college to pursue intellectual thought, without an actual career goal in mind? Or did you go with a career in mind and used college to maintain that? Do you have any positive or negative thoughts regarding either path?
Both. I went to study art though didn't know exactly what form it would take (turns out film and sculpture). I knew I wanted to make some sort of art as a career but I also craved the community my school would provide.

Ultimately if I have children and they decide to go to college I'm going to suggest they peruse their passion. I want them to be lovers of life.

[pronounconnoun]

This is spoildered because it's a fucking novel:

I would ask yourself why you're scared. When I was 13 my friends and I made a pact to kill ourselves when we turned 18, life as an adult just didn't seem worth it. No one went through with the pact (though one of use did kill himself but it was for entirely different reasons) and as we started to realize, even at a young age, that our lives were what we shaped them to be life started to feel fresh. Exciting even.

In my 20s, I thought I was going to be rich. A famous artist because I thought myself a unique, creative person who had miles of ideas and loads of talent. But that didn't happen. I didn't make it happen, I thought it would happen to me. I wasn't scared, I wasn't timid. I was lazy. Then I got married, and bless my ex-wife, I started down a path that I thought I should take because I thought it was the thing to do. We had respectable jobs with an amazing combined income. We bought a condo then a two-flat with tenants. Then a brand new car. Soon we would be having children. I was, for all intents and purposes, living the American Fucking Dream.

But it wasn't me. I don't a shit about stuff. About owning property. About owning things. They will fade. I will die. It will not matter what I accrued, what paths I took. In the end I will be an old man with a lifetime of memories. I wanted them to be my memories. Not those of someone who followed a pre-determined path. I had become what my teenage self wanted to kill: A bore. An ordinary man with an ordinary life with ordinary things around him.

I quit my job. I told my wife I wanted to leave (there were many many reasons and we went through years of therapy to try and save our marriage). I started to make art again. I found a new group of friends, some younger, some older, some the same age. But we all wanted to forge our own stories. Our own paths. And I found myself again. I chose happiness. Which, after many years of experience, I realize is a choice not happenstance.

I've lost about 85 pounds. Some nights I'm up until four or five in the morning. Some I'm in bed by 10. I belong to a midnight kickball league that 9 times out of 10 ends with cops chasing us out of the park. I go to shows and bars. I dance every once in a while. I travel. I fell in love, a few times, with women 12, 13 years my junior. I am now living with my favorite person in the world who I not only love dearly but actually like. We have friends over for dinner who are musicians and we stay up until one o'clock playing music and drinking. Life, because I chose it so, is good.

It's not all sunshine and unicorn shit. My divorce left me nearly penniless and my ex has, not intentionally, ruined my credit. In fact last week I was named in a lawsuit for bills she did not pay but was supposed to. I get calls daily from creditors looking for her. Several times I thought I would have to declare bankruptcy. But I take this with a shrug. These problems, these issues, they revolve around money. A thing of man. I will not let some false sense of worth, of value, determine my happiness. I will not let money, or lack of it, determine my sense of security and stability. I will not let this false thing determine my joy. I did that for a few years, and it brought me misery.

So Joey, I say to you that being terrified of the unknown is good.Being timid, though, that is not. Fear is healthy. Timidity is not. I can honestly say that from experience.

Novel:
I guess you kind of hit the nail on the head with that one. I am terrified of the unknown, but I'm trying not to let it affect me.

I'm applying to grad school this year to get an MFA in creative writing. I just kind of fell into writing. I love doing it. After graduating, it seems that all I've been doing so far has been working. When I get home I don't even want to think, let a lone create anything creative.

When I was in high school I was the same as you. I wanted to swim against the current of conformity, but the undertow was too strong. Somewhere along the way I just sort of gave up; I never was a very good swimmer. I guess it also has to do with my parents. My dad is old school and you get a job until you die. He doesn't really understand that I don't want to do that for the rest of my life.

My mother is a little bit more understanding and she supports me no matter what decisions I make, which is good. I feel like I have to maintain a well paying job to take care of her. She doesn't have many years of work left in her; she has arthritis, poor English skills, and a grade school education so she doesn't qualify for very much beyond physical labor. It's sad and I want to help her. She payed my way through college and even though nearly all of it was subsidized, she struggled to pay for it.

I see these kids walking around San Francisco whose parents are probably well off and they're sitting in coffee shops at one in the afternoon working on a screenplay that probably will never get published and I think to myself, I wish I had the time and the money to be a bum and mooch off the ones I love to pursue a failed career in the arts. I'm not so lucky. I wasn't born into that social level. I guess that I'm a little jealous.

Grad school is my "out." Since most programs will fund my education completely, I can go back to school without being a burden on my family. This is my chance to do what I bred myself to do. Failing is scary. Not knowing where I will be next year is scary. I'm taking my leap and I'll let you know where I land.


Dude, don't be scared. You're young, you have your life ahead of you, good friends, and a sweet woman who puts up with you oogling over the Capcom fighting stick. :D ;) Sure, change and the future can be spooky, but you'll get through it. Just tell yourself, the shit that seems terrifying now will be a joke at your white elephant party 10 years from now. :p

Ten years from now, I'm not planning on having birthdays. I'm going to call them "me" days and I'll disappear for the evening. Knowing me, I'll probably go the the movies/arcade and be home on time for dinner.

Don't worry, it's 25 when people arbitrarily start expecting you to be an adult. ;)

Yeah, showed up to work hung over a couple of times and they let it slide. After 25 I'm done for.

[civil]

Joey, where are you applying to? I have a feeling it's somewhere East Coast, no?


EDIT: I identify with you on a lot of points. When in high school I was studying computers (back in the 80s!) and that's what my parents thought I was going to study in college. When I told them the night before registration that I was going to study art instead they flipped their shit. But I grew up rather separate from them so it didn't affect me much. My dad is of the "Job for life" mentality. But in his waning years he's grown to be more of a "Just be happy" person. My mom is the same.

[DeathtollWRX]

I am 23 years old, but I don't feel like I've grown up enough to use that word. :)

Keeping with the tradition; YOU LOSERS ARE ANCIENT! ENVY MY MOTHERFUCKING YOUTH! :p

Oh yeah? Well i'm older and have more insurance!
(someone find that reference)

I can remember being 23.

I was broke as hell and I think I was playing Starcraft to death.

[Karak]

I know I am getting old because...
Fuck it I refuse.
I still stay up many nights in a row, hold huge gatherings for an entire weekend at my place, do somersaults when happy, scream at the top of my lungs when I am happy, play power chords, drive fast.
But I got married. I promised myself I wouldn't do that in my twenties.
I was right.

[Generation ABXY]

Oh yeah? Well i'm older and have more insurance!

"Towanda!"

[pronounconnoun]

Joey, where are you applying to? I have a feeling it's somewhere East Coast, no?


EDIT: I identify with you on a lot of points. When in high school I was studying computers (back in the 80s!) and that's what my parents thought I was going to study in college. When I told them the night before registration that I was going to study art instead they flipped their shit. But I grew up rather separate from them so it didn't affect me much. My dad is of the "Job for life" mentality. But in his waning years he's grown to be more of a "Just be happy" person. My mom is the same.

The only East Coast schools I'm applying to are UMass Amherst and University of Miami. Maybe some others, it's not set in stone. My top choices were USC and Irvine so I could be closer to my family. They miss me. I've nixed USC because they don't have fellowships and I really would like to get some teaching experience.

[DeathtollWRX]

"Towanda!"

I'm hoping it's from the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

I checked and it is


wow

[civil]

Huh. Well, one of the schools I'm applying to is BU so we'll raise the Mexicano population if we both wind up in MA

[chex]

I'm 35 now but constantly date girls younger than me but have never broke the 10 year mark. I was on a date the other night with a girl who is 25 and some how I ended up telling her a story of crowd surfing at a Nirvana concert and as soon as it came out of my mouth I instantly felt old.

The key to dating younger girls is to never mention anything age related but sometimes stuff like that slips out and makes me feel old.
There's nineteen years between my fiance and I, and its never an issue. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I was raised almost exclusively around adults, so I have this sort of "Yeah, I'm actually about 40" mentality. I have tried dating folks my age. Big mistake. I utterly detest being interrupted while speaking because someone doesn't know the meaning of the words I'm using. Its mildly infuriating. One of the boys I tried dating would throw rubbish out of his window while driving, and when I challenged him his response was "That's what people on probation are for..." We lasted about a week and a half.

Ten years from now, I'm not planning on having birthdays. I'm going to call them "me" days and I'll disappear for the evening. Knowing me, I'll probably go the the movies/arcade and be home on time for dinner.
Birthday parties suck. After about ten my parents got to forgetting them, so I've been doing the me-day thing for a while now... Its way less stressful. I just sleep in and get myself a new pair of jeans or a necklace. This past one was my 21st, so I wore a tiara all day. I also pointedly did not get intoxicated. Hangovers also suck.

As for getting old... I've always felt old. Being raised around adults made high school an absolute nightmare. Well, school in general was problematic, as I am very independent, and I would often go off and research topics on my own and contradict the teacher. (I can imagine a few of the resident teachers know my type?)
I've never been particularly capable of relating to most kids my age, nor have I really put forth the effort, I suppose. I don't like the music, I don't like the clothes, and I don't like the attitude.

[Lint of Death]

Everyone is always old.

[MagGnome]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.

How many guys have you knackered so far? Have you bought your first Prada yet?

[MagGnome]

I've felt old ever since turning 25. I'm constantly thinking or talking about how the world is getting worse and how ridiculous kids are these days. Then again adults are not much better.

I've even started to think about how nice it would be to have someone to share my life with, which isn't something I desired at all just a couple of years ago.

I've always felt much older mentally than I am physically, which is a good combination. ;)

[DeathtollWRX]

I just had a great set of battles in Street Fighter IV. No my thumb hurts and I am physically tired. Of course I always felt this way after Street Fighter =)

[JRR1285]

This thread is great. I'm turning 24 in December and I'm going through a lot of transitions and changes. I'm probably going to end up referring to this past summer as the summer of change. Despite that I just keep getting that feeling like I have not accomplished enough although I do believe I have a lot to be proud of, few regrets, and nothing I'm really ashamed about at all. I believe I've begun to discover what will make me truly happy.

On a side note Civil's "novel" is easily one of my favorite posts ever. It was very thought provoking and caused me to reflect on my life, which apparently has been a lot shorter than many of the people in this thread.:D

Deathtoll I feel like playing SF IV now! lol

[Primus]

I'm 55 and every crap I take has the consistency of Yoo-Hoo.

[pronounconnoun]

Huh. Well, one of the schools I'm applying to is BU so we'll raise the Mexicano population if we both wind up in MA

Increase by 1.5, that is.

Birthday parties suck. After about ten my parents got to forgetting them, so I've been doing the me-day thing for a while now... Its way less stressful. I just sleep in and get myself a new pair of jeans or a necklace. This past one was my 21st, so I wore a tiara all day. I also pointedly did not get intoxicated. Hangovers also suck.


I'm getting to the point where I'm too lazy to coordinate things. I think buying a present for myself on my birthday is the most satisfying thing I can do on my birthday. Now I just need a tiara...

[MagGnome]

I would love to see a picture of Joey in a tiara.

[carnage11]

I'm 55 and every crap I take has the consistency of Yoo-Hoo.

Haha, this reminds me...


...I know I'm getting old because...


....it takes a heck of a lot longer to take a crap these days.

[diablopath]

I'm 55 and every crap I take has the consistency of Yoo-Hoo.

You're full of shit.
You're like, late 20s.

I HOPE SO. OTHERWISE MY GRASP ON YOU PEOPLE IS ENTIRELY OFF

[civil]

Increase by 1.5, that is.
Oh yeah, I forgot. You're a halfsie. Applications must be fun.

[MagGnome]

Oh yeah, I forgot. You're a halfsie. Applications must be fun.

Are you just going to ignore my post? :confused:

[pronounconnoun]

I would love to see a picture of Joey in a tiara.

Maybe later. ;)

[Inspector Fowler]

At this rate I may not live to see Duke Nukem Forever...

I chuckled, anyway.

I'm 31. Super old. Death lurks around every corner, waiting to take me in his sweet embrace.

[johnperkins21]

I knew I was getting old the day I turned 25, almost 10 years ago. Having major back surgery and chronic pain from damaged nerves doesn't help either.

Although I did get braces this year, so there's that keeping me young.

[wyeast]

[novel]

Here's my grad school story. I'm sure I've shared it before, but you sound like you could use it.

All through my undergrad, I was setting myself to pretty much become the stereotypical Cold War-era engineer. Aerospace/mechanical. Worked on a prototype shuttle-bound project, the usual quest for glory.

Then the recession hit, and my mentor's company lost a drastic amount of their funding, to the point that he wasn't sure HE was still going to have a job, let alone any of us.

I graduated with zero prospects. No job, no grad school. Nuffin. :eek:

I applied to a couple of grad schools over the summer, looking to make an abrupt change in career direction. That's how I ended up in Grad School. :D Oh, protip - UCI is nice, but parking sucks rocks. Go to campus early so you have time to troll for parking. :p

Where I am now is a long ways off from those days when I was living on friends' couches, wondering if I was going to be an office drone the rest of my life.

Of the people I graduated with, my story seems kinda middle of the road. Sure, there's some people who came into an assload of cash with lucky strikes in the job market. But a lot of us got jobs that are hardly related to our degrees. Some of us even spent time living out of our cars or on people's couches.

It's ok to be scared. Just take it one day at a time, and remember you're not fucking it up any worse than any of the rest of us ahead of you did. ;)

[Disgustipated]

I am not old because I am young, lost, and hopelessly full of dreams and yearning for a better future.

[Lunar Blue]

...the youngings are way too fucking loud for me. Shut the fuck up or I'll call the police! Oh dang you!

...videogames used to be so much better and the internet wasn't full of shit.

...big eyes and fuzzy hair are not enough to keep me interested in generic arschpeegees.

...I have forgotton how fucking horrible most of the videogames have always been.

I'm 23.

[MagGnome]

I knew I was getting old the day I turned 25, almost 10 years ago. Having major back surgery and chronic pain from damaged nerves doesn't help either.

Although I did get braces this year, so there's that keeping me young.

I got braces this year as well! How awesome are we? :D

[Kelegacy]

I was watching tv the other day and I saw a commercial for the Simpson's 20th season. I was in third grade when this show came out I think. It made me feel old.

I remember wanting a "Don't Have a Cow Man!" t-shirt when it first came out. And I got one from my grandfather.

I'm getting older, but I'm so glad I was born in the time I was. I had one of the best childhoods ever. Though I don't think today's world can compare, I hope my new son enjoys his childhood and has great memories as well. I will actively make sure this happens. I am going to buy DVD collections of He-Man, Thundercats, TMNT, GI Joe and other awesome cartoons from the 80s. Today's cartoons just can't compare, IMO. Or, they're "different" than cartoons from those days. I also need to find toy collections on eBay since I no longer have mine. :(

[civil]

Are you just going to ignore my post? :confused:
You really are an attention whore! Yeah, yeah. I turned 41 this year. Suckin' dick, etc.

For the rest of you: In Mexican culture 41 has somehow become the "gay" number. So manly men don't turn 41, they stay 40 for two years. I don't know why it started or when, but all through my childhood that was the case.

Oh, just looked it up and found these two (http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_lesbian_and_gay_studies/v006/6.3irwin.html) things (http://boards.history.com/topic/History/Why-Dont-Mexican/800036504). Huh. Well now I know.

[DeathtollWRX]

I was watching tv the other day and I saw a commercial for the Simpson's 20th season. I was in third grade when this show came out I think. It made me feel old.

I remember wanting a "Don't Have a Cow Man!" t-shirt when it first came out. And I got one from my grandfather.

I'm getting older, but I'm so glad I was born in the time I was. I had one of the best childhoods ever. Though I don't think today's world can compare, I hope my new son enjoys his childhood and has great memories as well. I will actively make sure this happens. I am going to buy DVD collections of He-Man, Thundercats, TMNT, GI Joe and other awesome cartoons from the 80s. Today's cartoons just can't compare, IMO. Or, they're "different" than cartoons from those days. I also need to find toy collections on eBay since I no longer have mine. :(
My son loves he man!

[Panthera]

25ers unite!

Honestly, I feel more fit than I ever have been. I was a nerdy, unhealthy teenager whose only exercise was walking to the bus stop and carrying books to class. Even through college. Now, I bicycle whenever I can and give myself a hell of a workout fencing three or four times a week. It's done wonders for my general well-being. There's nothing that can lift my mood faster than a long ride downtown on a sunny day.

It's almost enough to make me want to try dating again.

[Gorvi]

I was watching tv the other day and I saw a commercial for the Simpson's 20th season. I was in third grade when this show came out I think. It made me feel old.

I remember wanting a "Don't Have a Cow Man!" t-shirt when it first came out. And I got one from my grandfather.

I'm getting older, but I'm so glad I was born in the time I was. I had one of the best childhoods ever. Though I don't think today's world can compare, I hope my new son enjoys his childhood and has great memories as well. I will actively make sure this happens. I am going to buy DVD collections of He-Man, Thundercats, TMNT, GI Joe and other awesome cartoons from the 80s. Today's cartoons just can't compare, IMO. Or, they're "different" than cartoons from those days. I also need to find toy collections on eBay since I no longer have mine. :(
Yeah, today's kids shows just aren't what they used to be. We already bought Muppet Babies on DVD for them, which is hard to come by. Our older son makes me smile because he now as of recently has an obssession with Transformers, which is great. And I mean old school Transformers, none of this newer garbage. :) He came about that all on his own, too.

[Purple Santa]

I turned 41 yesterday and I can honestly say I feel as young and vivacious as I ever have.

Age, number, blah.
Bah. You are a youngin anyway. 41 is half my age ;). I agree though...fuck the word old. If someone wants to see me that way, oh well. I have more energy than some 20 somethings I know.

I guess for me, the receding hairline, the fading memory, the 20 year old daughter, and the fact that I have become very much a recluse over the last year or so. On the plus side, I was propositioned by an attractive 26 year old today and I didn't even have to pay her. I'm not dead yet. :D
Hell, I get a 25 yr old every day propositioning me. I guess it doesn't count if she's my fiancee :).
But damn, good for you if you can have a stranger that young proposition you. I'm hoping some great sex followed :p


This is spoildered because it's a fucking novel:

I would ask yourself why you're scared. When I was 13 my friends and I made a pact to kill ourselves when we turned 18, life as an adult just didn't seem worth it. No one went through with the pact (though one of use did kill himself but it was for entirely different reasons) and as we started to realize, even at a young age, that our lives were what we shaped them to be life started to feel fresh. Exciting even.

In my 20s, I thought I was going to be rich. A famous artist because I thought myself a unique, creative person who had miles of ideas and loads of talent. But that didn't happen. I didn't make it happen, I thought it would happen to me. I wasn't scared, I wasn't timid. I was lazy. Then I got married, and bless my ex-wife, I started down a path that I thought I should take because I thought it was the thing to do. We had respectable jobs with an amazing combined income. We bought a condo then a two-flat with tenants. Then a brand new car. Soon we would be having children. I was, for all intents and purposes, living the American Fucking Dream.

But it wasn't me. I don't a shit about stuff. About owning property. About owning things. They will fade. I will die. It will not matter what I accrued, what paths I took. In the end I will be an old man with a lifetime of memories. I wanted them to be my memories. Not those of someone who followed a pre-determined path. I had become what my teenage self wanted to kill: A bore. An ordinary man with an ordinary life with ordinary things around him.

I quit my job. I told my wife I wanted to leave (there were many many reasons and we went through years of therapy to try and save our marriage). I started to make art again. I found a new group of friends, some younger, some older, some the same age. But we all wanted to forge our own stories. Our own paths. And I found myself again. I chose happiness. Which, after many years of experience, I realize is a choice not happenstance.

I've lost about 85 pounds. Some nights I'm up until four or five in the morning. Some I'm in bed by 10. I belong to a midnight kickball league that 9 times out of 10 ends with cops chasing us out of the park. I go to shows and bars. I dance every once in a while. I travel. I fell in love, a few times, with women 12, 13 years my junior. I am now living with my favorite person in the world who I not only love dearly but actually like. We have friends over for dinner who are musicians and we stay up until one o'clock playing music and drinking. Life, because I chose it so, is good.

It's not all sunshine and unicorn shit. My divorce left me nearly penniless and my ex has, not intentionally, ruined my credit. In fact last week I was named in a lawsuit for bills she did not pay but was supposed to. I get calls daily from creditors looking for her. Several times I thought I would have to declare bankruptcy. But I take this with a shrug. These problems, these issues, they revolve around money. A thing of man. I will not let some false sense of worth, of value, determine my happiness. I will not let money, or lack of it, determine my sense of security and stability. I will not let this false thing determine my joy. I did that for a few years, and it brought me misery.

So Joey, I say to you that being terrified of the unknown is good.Being timid, though, that is not. Fear is healthy. Timidity is not. I can honestly say that from experience.
Dude, you are fucking awesome. I have a tale similar to that. I love your perspective on life.
I am not old because I am young, lost, and hopelessly full of dreams and yearning for a better future.

Well I'm not old either because I think and feel the same. Except i'm easily double your age :D

[Bad Buddha]

I'm 53 and I'm still doing stuff that makes me happy. I just don't heal as quickly as I used to.

My Father always used to say "Pursue a career that allows you to make enough money so that you can do the things that you WANT to do". That always made sense to me. Family always comes before my job.

When I think of "Myself", I always think of me as being around 30 years old. I've never let my age prevent me from enjoying something that I want or like. Once I went into Best Buy and purchased a CD of some new group and the checkout guy asks "Is this for you?", "Yeah...", "Cool!" he responded. I like to be unpredictable.

This summer I went on a 4200 mile motorcycle camping trip through Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, California and Oregon. I had a great time! Blew out my left knee halfway through the trip, but I didn't let that impact my fun... too much. Now that I'm recovering from surgery, it's time to get out the maps and figure out where I'm going next year! Always wanted to ride to the Arctic Circle!

I'm a firm believer in the old adage that you're only as old as you feel. As long as I feel like getting out there and doing something fun, I'm going for it!

And pajamas at 9:00pm? Who wears pajamas?

[Backseat Killer]

I know I'm getting old... just saw that a new co-worker was born IN THE 90s. The 90s! I graduated from high school in the 90s...

And it take me a full day to recover from a hangover.

I don't feel old though.. just a bit wiser. I still do crazy shit, I just think about the outcome before I jump in. :)

I also have been celebrating anniversaries of my birthdays rather than my actual birthday - this year it was the 5th anniversary of my 27th! Maybe next year I'll be 29?

[Bad Buddha]

I know I'm getting old... just saw that a new co-worker was born IN THE 90s. The 90s! I graduated from high school in the 90s...
One thing that pisses me off:

When I go to one of those age-restricted websites, It takes forever to scroll down to 1956! :mad:

[pronounconnoun]

I'm a firm believer in the old adage that you're only as old as you feel. As long as I feel like getting out there and doing something fun, I'm going for it!


I approximate my "feel" age as 76.

Edit:
Here's my grad school story. I'm sure I've shared it before, but you sound like you could use it.

All through my undergrad, I was setting myself to pretty much become the stereotypical Cold War-era engineer. Aerospace/mechanical. Worked on a prototype shuttle-bound project, the usual quest for glory.

Then the recession hit, and my mentor's company lost a drastic amount of their funding, to the point that he wasn't sure HE was still going to have a job, let alone any of us.

I graduated with zero prospects. No job, no grad school. Nuffin. :eek:

I applied to a couple of grad schools over the summer, looking to make an abrupt change in career direction. That's how I ended up in Grad School. :D Oh, protip - UCI is nice, but parking sucks rocks. Go to campus early so you have time to troll for parking. :p

Where I am now is a long ways off from those days when I was living on friends' couches, wondering if I was going to be an office drone the rest of my life.

Of the people I graduated with, my story seems kinda middle of the road. Sure, there's some people who came into an assload of cash with lucky strikes in the job market. But a lot of us got jobs that are hardly related to our degrees. Some of us even spent time living out of our cars or on people's couches.

It's ok to be scared. Just take it one day at a time, and remember you're not fucking it up any worse than any of the rest of us ahead of you did. ;)


Yeah, I was considering not going, but in the end I decided to do it anyway. Even if I become a secretary again, I'll be a secretary with a Masters and will probably get paid more. That's fine with me.

[Kelegacy]

Yeah, today's kids shows just aren't what they used to be. We already bought Muppet Babies on DVD for them, which is hard to come by. Our older son makes me smile because he now as of recently has an obssession with Transformers, which is great. And I mean old school Transformers, none of this newer garbage. :) He came about that all on his own, too.

That's awesome. A friend at I at work talked about how cool it would be if our kids got into old-school stuff and went to school with a retro metal lunch box for Voltron or Thundercats or something. The other kids would have no 'effin idea what they were.

[Squidbot]

I'm 53

:eek:

I had no idea you were that age, Buddha, you certainly come across as much younger. And I mean that in a good way.

[Purple Santa]

:eek:

I had no idea you were that age, Buddha, you certainly come across as much younger. And I mean that in a good way.

He just says that to get the young hot chicks ;)

[wyeast]

My Father always used to say "Pursue a career that allows you to make enough money so that you can do the things that you WANT to do". That always made sense to me. Family always comes before my job.

An interesting corollary to that is my dad's POV. I remember when I was younger, I asked my dad why he seemed to pick chronically underpaying jobs with minimal potential? He replied that he likes his job because he wasn't chained to his desk. If he wanted to take a long lunch to come home, or take an early afternoon off, he could do that. He chose flexibility over money... so long as it was enough to get by. This shows in my current part time gig. It's not the best paying, but if I have to ditch to go volunteer at my kids' school, I can do it. :)

So I suppose between us it's pursue a career that allowed you to make enough money... and have enough time to do the things you want to do. :D

[wyeast]

Even if I become a secretary again, I'll be a secretary with a Masters and will probably get paid more. That's fine with me.
I found I wasn't going to be paid more because of the masters.

However, I was being paid more because I knew how to tear apart office computers and had a wicked WPM rating. :D

[BigJonno]

Okay, here goes responding to a bunch of different stuff that has come up here.

I'm 26, married and have a son (technically a stepson, but the biology doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me) and I've just started doing the things that I was supposed to have done 8-10 years ago. I'm learning to drive, going to the gym and starting a degree. I've realised that I'm doing all of these things now because I have good reasons to do them. I actually have need of a car now; I regularly need to get to places that I can't get to by walking or via public transport, or I need to transport the wife/sprog/large quantities of food. I want to get in shape for my own satisfaction and to improve my health for the sake of my family, not because I feel the need to look a certain way to attract girls. I'm studying because I'm interested in the subject and I want to improve my career prospects to make a better life for my family, not because it's what is expected of intelligent young people leaving school.

The way I see it, I've got the important stuff sorted. Everything else is just fluff; things that I want, not things that I need.

As for the proper education of your offspring, my little 'un is regularly subjected the best of the 80s. I have a few cartoon boxsets and loads of classic movies. He absolutely loves them and would be over the moon with a retro Transformers or Thundercats lunch box. He's already a badass rocker outsider at school, disdaining modern pop crap in favour of classic rock and heavy metal. I doubt there is a seven year old looking forward to Brutal Legend more than he is (ever wondered who those language/gore filters were for? :cool: )

[Squidbot]

He just says that to get the young hot chicks ;)

Worked on me.

Wait, what?

[Bad Buddha]

:eek:

I had no idea you were that age, Buddha, you certainly come across as much younger. And I mean that in a good way.
At least I've still got all of my hair! It's got kind of a steel and silver look to it, but it's still full and thick!

My kids are aged 24, 21 and 19. I raised them all through the TMNT, Thundercats and old-school Transformers era. Got them started on classic 70's Rock. My daughters were held in high regard because when they each went to college they both had David Bowie posters for their dorm rooms.

I played null-modem multi-player DOOM! with my son and used to paint and play Warhammer with him and his friends.

I used to sing Joe's Garage and Billy The Mountain by Frank Zappa to my oldest daughter when she was in the womb.

♫ "It was a Stratocaster with a whammy bar!" ♫

[MagGnome]

You really are an attention whore! Yeah, yeah. I turned 41 this year. Suckin' dick, etc.

blah blah what a homo blah blah

So what if I'm an attention whore? Are you trying to say that you are not? :p


25ers unite!

Honestly, I feel more fit than I ever have been. I was a nerdy, unhealthy teenager whose only exercise was walking to the bus stop and carrying books to class. Even through college. Now, I bicycle whenever I can and give myself a hell of a workout fencing three or four times a week. It's done wonders for my general well-being. There's nothing that can lift my mood faster than a long ride downtown on a sunny day.

It's almost enough to make me want to try dating again.

Good for you man! I feel the same way - I'm in far better shape than I've ever been before. I actually weigh less than I did in high school, and I'm in much better shape. I recently started biking and working out with a buddy of mine, and I'm already noticing the results.

When are you going to grace us with a picture of you in the Colonizer's thread? You can just PM me one if you're shy. ;)


Edit - Buddha, will you be my dad?

[chex]

Increase by 1.5, that is.
I'm getting to the point where I'm too lazy to coordinate things. I think buying a present for myself on my birthday is the most satisfying thing I can do on my birthday. Now I just need a tiara...

Well... I swiped mine from my high school when we were doing a play... But I know you can get them on the internet...
As for buying your own presents, at least you get what you fucking ask for. My parents have been all over me the last couple years to make wish lists. So I do, and then they ignore them, because I'll expect the things on the wish list. ... You made me waste like two hours, just to blow it off? I hate wasting time.
Pfa.

Also, today; I saw a picture of the daughter of a friend of mine... I helped name her, and I had never seen her... She's almost six now. Whoa.

[SilentScreams]

I'm 23, and I can honestly say that I feel exactly 23.

I have reached a point where I can see what the future holds and also what I need to do to change it. I think I'm at a kind of golden age. I'm young enough to do what I want with my life, and old enough to assess all the options carefully.
Looking back, I certainly wasn't mature enough to know what was best for me at 16, when you're seemingly supposed to know what you want to do with your life. 23 seems much more like it to me.

As BigJonno is doing, I want to start doing the things that I feel I should have done as soon as I finished High School but did not have the insight or motivation to do at the time. I want to go to college and then University, I want to learn to drive and I need to figure out where I want to be in 10 years time.

With that said, I'm not unhappy with my life as it is. I have a reasonably well paying (and secure) job that I have held down for just over 4 years, I have good friends, and I have plenty of time to myself after realizing that relationships were the one thing in my life making me unhappy. I think I was made to be alone. :)
Any changes I make will be because I want to make them, not because I need to make them.

[Bad Buddha]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/774/oldage.jpg

[Purple Santa]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/774/oldage.jpg

Where's the bionic knee/leg? ;)

[BigJonno]

Does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that Buddha came in here talking about feeling young and not doing things differently, but just HAD to mention his knee going? What's next, complaining about the weather or kids these days?

:D

[Nameless]

I feel like I'm getting old when I sub for a 9th Grade class and realize that all these kids were born after Kurt Cobain died.

[Bad Buddha]

Does anyone else find it incredibly ironic that Buddha came in here talking about feeling young and not doing things differently, but just HAD to mention his knee going? What's next, complaining about the weather or kids these days?

:D
Pffft! You call this weather? It's nothing like the weather we had when I was young! And the irony? Our irony had a true juxtaposition of what was, or might have been, expected!

I did say that I was doing things slower, but I'm still doing them. The knee had to be mentioned because it's the center of my painful little universe right now. It's one thing to feel and act young; however, it would be stupid to ignore the reality of an aging body.

What's next? Installing the new footpegs on my motorcycle and planning next year's trip! :D

[BigJonno]

And the irony? Our irony had a true juxtaposition of what was, or might have been, expected!

Absolutely brilliant!

In all seriousness, I think it's great and, as someone planning on growing old disgracefully, rather inspiring. My personal ambition is to end up something like Michael Caine's character in Children of Men.

[Bone]

My personal ambition is to end up something like Michael Caine's character in Children of Men.Heroically riddled with bullets? Would that we could all go out like that :)