When my students (high school juniors and seniors) had never heard of M*A*S*H or the Rolling Stones.

The next milestone: When celebreties younger than me start dying (of natural causes).

Today at church I talked to a lovely young lady whose family had moved away a few years ago...I first encountered her when she was a baby and lay on a blanket watching her mom give piano lessons to my son.

Jonmc, to me you are still a puppy. But I am seeing fifty advance on me from a distance, so there's that.

I will say that once you get used to the idea one is no longer a young punkasaurus, it really is cool being this age. I loved my forties, and will be sad to leave them. But I am looking forward to the next decade, as I have discovered that age, she is only a number, and can be defied somewhat.

(as for age marker, I AM OLDER THAN BARACK OBAMA. )

Jonmc, to me you are still a puppy.

I can dig that bunny. A few years back a (incredibly drunk) woman refferred to me as a 'hot young guy,' but I also had a co-worker a few years back refer to a song that I loved in junior high as 'her favorite oldie,' so I'm in some kind of demographic netherworld, but I'm definitely tipping over to the old fart side lately.

That a presidential candidate was born in the same decade as I.

I'm STILL getting carded!

I thought I would be settled once I bought the condo, but it's been five years and I'm still not.

Yeah, the whole being a parent thing. Me and Jamie-Lynn Spears, bonding at last!

Today, my son's girlfriend innocently asked me what "Get Smart" is. She had never heard of the television show. Neither had my son. Sigh.

I feel old when I look up a person that I think is neat or interesting. It's always a little disconcerting to discover they were born in the eighties.

At work, it's really nice to see how "old" people hang out together, carry on and have fun. What makes me less fearful of getting old (I really don't have much fear about aging to begin with) is knowing that I will have a peer group that is in the same boat, and I'll still have fun.

Last week at work I was talking to our 22-year-old intern from U of F that has been with us since the end of May. We were talking about a study regarding advanced age of fathers have an increased risk of having autistic children. We discussed how old our fathers were when they had their first child. I then mentioned I was 27 or 28 when I had my first child. He said, "Wait a minute! How old are you? I thought you were 27 or 28!" I've been floating on that remark since that day.

The kids in stores. . often they will have the Beatles on and I mention that I was younger than them when this music was first played in my school cafeterias at lunch.

And here they are, digging it.

One of my fave lines, from Gibson, is: "I have a pair of shoes older than you, so what should I expect YOU to know?" (and it's true, actually)

Pffft the 30s are the new 20s!

For me it's talking to the university students at church. I realized not long ago that I really am old enough to be their mother.

The irony is that I've been meeting them in the knitting circle.

(but I still get "I thought you were just around my age!")

Oof, and speaking of Beatles. The only difference between the "oldies station" and the "classic rock" station is which Beatles songs they play.

I can't write, that should be, fathers of advanced age

Also,

I always think of the super cool, smart, awesome people that are older than me and I look up to. It gives me hope.

it really is cool being this age. I loved my forties, and will be sad to leave them. But I am looking forward to the next decade, as I have discovered that age, she is only a number, and can be defied somewhat.

I hear ya. I still feel young at heart, but I almost relish the thought of AARP discounts and yelling at those miserable kids to get off my lawn!

Mrs. Doohickie and I are anomalies I think, in that we had our kids relatively early and they will be old enough to leave us empty nesters before we reach 50. They're already old enough to be on their own for extended periods.

As it works out, my wife and I both have business trips to Orlando this week. My teenager is at camp and my older son is home keeping an eye on things. So for the first time in who knows when Mrs. Doohickie and I had a nice dinner and stuff with no kids within a thousand miles to think of. Reading this thread makes me realize that was probably the first of many similar liaisons we'll have sans children.

How cool!

And for the record, I thought this thread was going to be about crusades and knights and such.

I thwap my head into the brick wall of "Holy CRAP I am old" on a daily basis, since I'm in my mid-50s but work with college students, and mostly socialize with a wide assortment of on-line folks who are almost all 20-30 years younger than me.

Two random age-related reflections: the deterioration of the body is something that, trust me, no matter how hard you work to stave it off, will indeed show up eventually, and no matter how enlightened and philosophical you think you will be about it, is going to hit you harder than you anticipate.

And also: I was thinking recently about getting a cat, now that I am finally employed and settled, and then it struck me--if I got a kitten now, and it lived to be 15 or so, as most of my cats have done, this hypothetical cat would be part of my life and household until I turn SEVENTY.

It took a fairly large glass of wine to regain my composure after that little insight. (Although I had to limit myself to one, because more than that, nowadays, and I don't sleep at night. See: deterioration of body, aforementioned.)

Over 50... I told you all before that I was born the day James Dean died; also the day the Ohio Turnpike opened and the weekend before Captain Kangaroo debuted on TV. I'm OLDER than the (maybe) next President for the first time. I bought Beatles albums when they first came out (how DARE that "songs you should never play in a bar" include EVERYTHING by the Beatles). I was just the perfect age to appreciate Bullwinkle, Yogi Bear, Beany & Cecil, Astroboy, Classic Doctor Who... and the perfect age to NOT appreciate Scooby Doo. Entered the "prime demographic" in 1980, left it in 2005.

Had a teenage rebellion against teenage rebellion around '71-'72. - got into Big Bands and Old Radio Comedy - still admire Jack Benny above all. The Pretentious Progressive Rock of the '70s cured me of that - I still say yes to Yes. Briefly associated with KROQ Radio in LA in '84-'85, when I was ALMOST too old for it (except half the DJ staff was older).

Never dressed fashionably. All surviving old pics of me are headshots. It's still a shock to me that Bullwinkle is almost 50 years old and I quit radio (the first time) 30 years ago. If I hadn't lost my oldest archives, I could celebrate 10 years of blogging next year - and I knew I was too old for it in 1999.

I remember when Nolan Ryan was the only good thing about the L.A. Angels and when Happy Hairston was the most underrated NBA player (because he was on the same team with West, Chamberlain and Baylor - but then, they're even forgetting about Baylor these days).

I remember when Cable TV and touch tone phones were new, and the original COMPAQ 'portable' computer was a heavy suitcase with a five-inch screen.

I remember getting the FIRST Global Warming warning from James "Connections" Burke in 1989. (He should've sued Al Gore for plagiarism)

I remember all that, and not much else. Who are you kids and how did you get on my... HEY! What happened to my lawn?!?

I'm in the computer industry so old age comes fast. I've mentioned to co-workers that I started out programming on paper punch cards my first year of college (1982) and they look at me in disbelief. Then I tell them that there was no e-mail or internet either and they walk away shaking their heads.

I went to grad school a few years ago when I was in my late thirties and was at least 15 years older than most of my classmates and kept hitting age difference stuff. One I remember was when my team-mates had to tell me to stop putting two spaces after the end of sentences when contributing to group papers. I had to explain that I had learned to type on a typewriter and they didn't really understand. You mean typing directly on paper?

Two random age-related reflections: the deterioration of the body is something that, trust me, no matter how hard you work to stave it off, will indeed show up eventually, and no matter how enlightened and philosophical you think you will be about it, is going to hit you harder than you anticipate.

My fingers are in my ears, lalalalalal I CAN'T HEAR YOU....

(thanks God for spin class and healthy denial)

I started feeling old when coworker's first concerts were shows that I worked as a merchandiser. "You put up those posters? I tore two of them down and had them in my room!". And then it starts to sink in that I was in highschool when they were born. And just recently I've had more interaction with people that were born when I was in college. It just seems incredibly weird!

I'm not reading the obituaries yet, but I do notice the ages of celebrities that die and notice how much closer I am to their ages than I used to be. That's a little weird.

But with all of that said, I've really enjoyed getting older. I'm in my early 40's and am digging it quite a bit. Sure, my bones are a bit creakier and I don't have the all-night party endurance I used to have, but the trade-offs are worth it.

I work with teens and early-twenties types. It seems odd when their mothers come to pick them up, and I am even 15-20 years older than Mom.

I was flying back to L.A. from Scottsdale today, and in the row behind me a young lady was exclaiming to her seatmate about how her internet service had been out all weekend. "And all I could think to myself was GAWD, 20 years ago, THIS IS WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ALL THE TIME!!!! I mean, what did everyone DO without the internet? How did you talk to each other or figure out what movie to see????

"And all I could think to myself was GAWD, 20 years ago, THIS IS WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ALL THE TIME!!!! I mean, what did everyone DO without the internet?"

I think something akin to this all the time. I remember conversations, sometimes quite heated ones, about disputed facts: was Burgess Meredith in that movie? Was Dreyfus convicted during his second trial? How do you make gremolata? Are tigers indigenous to SE Asia?

I remember how, unless you happened to have the relevant reference book on your shelf, a dispute like this could go on all night, with two or more parties equally certain.

I remember how, unless you happened to have the relevant reference book on your shelf, a dispute like this could go on all night, with two or more parties equally certain

Actually, I read a fascinating article about this, but in regards to TV Trivia shows, and how they researched the questions.

Oh, my most recent middle-aged moment:

In a boutique downtown, I passed by two stylish young women browsing at the jewelry counter. As I walked by, one of them looked up and blurted out my name excitedly.

It was my niece and her good friend. The niece who was a tiny baby once, and the good friend whose shoes I've almost certainly tied, and whose knees I may well have bandaged after her toddling little legs went thump-go-boom.

I goggled as only a maiden aunt can goggle, in utter astonishment.

But... but... they're just babies. Tiny tiny babies.

Yeah, the whole being a parent thing. Me and Jamie-Lynn Spears, bonding at last!

I just came in here to say "I lol'd."

Just wait until your arms are too short to allow you to read anymore.

arse:

Just wait until your arms are too short to allow you to read anymore.

That's hysterical!

In the past year I've started to do some weird performance art when I read - I move what I'm reading farther, then closer, I tilt my head up and down a few times, and then I act like I'm cleaning my glasses, when really all I'm doing is making sure I'm actually wearing MY glasses. I need an eye test in the next few weeks, but I already know that I'll be getting bifocals this time. My hearing is pretty bad, especially in one ear (Hey you youngsters, wear earplugs if you go to a lot of concerts!!!), but I'm not ready for bifocals AND a hearing aid.

And all I could think to myself was GAWD, 20 years ago, THIS IS WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE ALL THE TIME!!!! I mean, what did everyone DO without the internet? How did you talk to each other or figure out what movie to see????

....and WHAT did people do when they couldn't contentedly babble away on their cell phones while they were driving? :-P

I remember when Cable TV and touch tone phones were new,

Oh come Wendell... take it back a little further than that: You're older than I am, and *I* clearly remember watching ads for TV shows, "Now In Color" on a black-and-white TV and wondering when our TV would magically begin to receive these alleged colors. And I remember party lines on the telephone.

octothorpe- On the other hand, some of that old technology comes in handy. The big company I work for still keeps oscilloscopes with green CRT readouts in calibration; I'm using one right now for some testing. The younger techs at the test lab think I fell out of some kind of time warp.

True story from a couple of years ago:

My partner and three friends of ours went to see Marilyn Manson here in Atlanta. I was at the end of our row, and next to me was this EXTREMELY cute fella with his girlfriend. While we were waiting for the show to start, I noticed he kept watching our little group, and I wondered what was up. Finally we started talking a little bit, and he asked, "Have you been a Manson fan for long?" I told him I had been. "That's really cool," he said. "I don't think many guys your age listen to this kind of music."

Cue the sad trombone. That's just NOT what you want to hear from a hottie you've been checking out for the last twenty minutes.

I remember being at a Smashing Pumpkins show with Mrs Slack and talking with a couple by the bar for a while and we were really hitting it off. And then the woman asked us where we're meeting our kids after the show - it dawned on me that they were there to chaperone their kids and assumed we were doing the same with our kids. Once we said we there for the show they looked as us like we were weirdos. The oddest thing is that we were still in our early 30s. That's not old at all!!!! Sheesh.

Pregnant women are younger than me and I often find them beautiful and glowing. While I'm not going to get pregnant, I theoretically still could, but I'd be a freakishly old, high-risk pregnant person that people would wonder about. That wierds me out.

I remember the NBC leadings for the color programs. . the peacock. My grandfather had the first color TV I ever saw and we used to ooh and aah whenever the color show started and the peacock unfurled its plumage.

jon and pips - I know you two watch Cops. It's them. Those boys who can't even shave yet and they're carrying guns. The mind, she boggles. The local cops seem to be a bit older.

I've also had rainbaby's thought - I could have a baby (not gonna!), but I'd definitely be an "older" mom. And those adults. I'm old enough to be their mom!

In two days I turn 39. Bought an issue of Cosmopolitan and realized that none of the advice whatsoever was directed at me ("Anne, 29, says that she like to pick up men by going to a bar and...). All the SNL cast is in their 20s. My favorite actresses like Jamie Lee Curtis are no longer box office draws because they're too old (tho Harrison Ford seems to be doing just fine). And the cops are BABIES.