Signs you're getting older (plus milestone)

[Andrew]

As some of you have probably noticed, I've just hit 30,000 posts which seems a lot for our community but as we all know, pales in comparison to some other boards where 30,000 posts is just another month for the most enthusiastic participants. Nevertheless, I briefly considered doing a standard celebration/shoutout post but those have become cliche and overdone. Suffice to say, I appreciate all the support and will be around for a while yet.

This particular mark certainly makes me think about how long I've been doing this and how it only seemed like yesterday that I discovered the NLSC myself and instantly became a fan, but that was actually ten years ago. I've found myself doing that a bit since I've turned 23, realising that it's been nearly six years since I finished high school and been out in the real world, in the workforce. I'm sure a lot of our older members would chuckle at the idea of a 23 year old feeling "old", but there are a few things that make me feel that way these days.

A few prominent examples come to mind:

Organising a night out on the town or getting a few friends together to hang out becoming an event you need to work out a week in advance. When I was in my late teens and just out of high school, catching up with friends once or twice every week was pretty simple and usually could be organised on the same day. A few years on, it requires a bit more planning and careful scheduling, especially with a few friends now out of town.

Family members and close friends' family members who you always picture as kids are suddenly 18 or older, leading one to think if that's how old/"grown up" they look, I must look even older.

More and more people who were in your year at school are engaged, married or have kids, something that's really driven home when you have close friends getting married in the near future as I do.

You actually find yourself using the phrase "Kids these days" or some variant with the same sentiment, and you're not using it ironically.

You have to think for a moment when someone refers to a specific birthday party, New Year's Eve party or Christmas celebration, not because of the alcohol you consumed but the years are starting to go by so quickly that they're all running together.

You have favourite songs that have been around for more than ten years (and you were around when they first came out) and your favourite sporting moments and television episodes are from the same era.

So, for members in a similar stage of their life to me, our older members who find the idea of a 23 year old feeling his age amusing and perhaps even our members in their latter high school years or have just started uni/college, what (if anything) makes you feel old or acts as a sign that you're getting older?

[Not Me]

You actually find yourself using the phrase "Kids these days" or some variant with the same sentiment, and you're not using it ironically.

i say that quite a bit.

- My friends getting hitched one by one

[Patr1ck]

My bones. I've never had to crack my back in my entire life as much as I have in the last several months. A simple turning of my wrist makes it crack and pop.

When buying beer, I am never asked for my ID.

People just a few years younger have never heard of some of the music, movies, and shows I was interested in.

Play a much older console/game in front of some kids and they will be horrified with the graphics.

Some of the people who had kids when we were in highschool are now raising teenagers.

It doesn't feel like it was too long ago that the millenium changed.

I have a portable cd player that plays mp3-cd's, and people say "Isn't that kind of BIG?" That of course results in my witty responses about just how BIG it is, especially if a girl sais it.

There is like no such thing as a cassette player anymore.

[Andrew]

When buying beer, I am never asked for my ID.

That's one I forgot about, though I've never been asked for ID when buying alcohol. I do find that I'm asked less when going to clubs and when I was younger, occasionally security would approach us when we were having a meal in a pub and ask to see our ID which doesn't happen so much anymore.

[J@3]

Strangely, I've been asked for ID more now at 22 than I did when I was 14... I have no idea how it works, apparently you see alot of giant under 18's trying to buy cartons of Toohey's Extra Dry every week so they need to ask. Evs.

I feel old constantly, generally because I am completely out of touch with anyone under 17... they just confuse me and at times make me want to hurt them. I saw some little Asian kid who thought he was Italian (don't ask) doing some bizarre shuffle dance at the train station, I wanted to throw him onto the tracks.

Then there's the kids walking around playing some God awful techno music on their phones and thinking they are really cool because everyone wants to hear the garbage they bought on iTunes with the $20 gift card their grandmother got them for their birthdays.

And congrats.

[shadowgrin]

More and more people who were in your year at school are engaged, married or have kids, something that's really driven home when you have close friends getting married in the near future as I do.

You actually find yourself using the phrase "Kids these days" or some variant with the same sentiment, and you're not using it ironically.

You have favourite songs that have been around for more than ten years (and you were around when they first came out) and your favourite sporting moments and television episodes are from the same era.

People just a few years younger have never heard of some of the music, movies, and shows I was interested in.

Play a much older console/game in front of some kids and they will be horrified with the graphics

Mine's a different situation, they are horrified that an "old" guy like me can own them in videogame matches.

I have a portable cd player that plays mp3-cd's, and people say "Isn't that kind of BIG?" That of course results in my witty responses about just how BIG it is, especially if a girl sais it

Don't flatter yourself.

It doesn't feel like it was too long ago that the millenium changed.

I was just thinking how businesses were conned by the industry about the apocalyptic terrors of the Y2K bug. Turns out it was just hype, but more money to the businesses that specialize in "fixing" the bug.


All of those quoted, I'm guilty as charged.
Don't feel old Andrew, as long as Sauru is in the forums we'll all feel young.

[Platinum]

does it help that when i hear the phrase "10 years ago," my mind subconsciously thinks of the year 1990?

[el badman]

At 27, stores only ask my ID for booze when I'm shaved, they never do when I have a beard, which is quite often since I'm lazy as fuck.

I feel old when I don't even feel like getting out of the house or partying during the weekend, just feel like playing on my PC or not doing shit at all.

Pdub's examples about bones would apply to me too, especially since I have pretty bad back problems that could apparently leave me in a wheelchair at some point. I wake up with a very sore back, it's even worse when I got to bed, I can't really play bball or any sports anymore because of that. That makes me feel like a broken grandpa too.

[Matt]

friends off getting married/engaged or setting up families.....it feels like it was yesterday that we had no responsibilities.

[Sauru]

i agree with just about everything in your list andrew, and what others have added. i will repeat some of them here but a few things for me are...


getting married

having children

getting tired after only 2 hours of basketball(used to play 6-8 daily).

no longer giving a shit if its friday night or not

not being able to work the controls for console games like i used to. infact i avoid some games if the controls are too complicated lol

constantly being called old man on these forums

i lived long enough to see the sox win a world series and i fully understood how much it really meant

[Fitzy]

apparently you see alot of giant under 18's trying to buy cartons of Toohey's Extra Dry every week so they need to ask. Evs.

that sounds like me

im 18 and i hardly get asked for ID, but its great cause the bouncers at the pubs are pretty much the same every week and after a while they just remember who you are

[Andrew]

If you're a regular and you're doing a good enough job of walking upright and haven't acquired a reputation for causing trouble you do tend to get let in without showing ID more often. Of course, it's when you hardly go out anymore but still don't have to show ID that you realise you're getting older, though at 23 it's not such a bad thing.

no longer giving a shit if its friday night or not

That's another good one. Friday nights for me have become less about the countdown to a night out and more about time off from work.

[Donatello]

no longer giving a shit if its friday night or not

That's another good one. Friday nights for me have become less about the countdown to a night out and more about time off from work.[/quote]

Yeah, man. I don't want to go out when I'm off work. I have to deal with people all day at work... I want quiet time at home when I'm off.

When I registered on this forum, I was 21 with either no job or a crappy one (something along the lines of Wal-Mart). No serious relationship, nothing to my name. Lived with my mom in Missouri.

Now I'm 25, happily married, happily employed, living in the pacific northwest.. have a brand new car, everything I want, and own a house with my wife. What a difference a few years makes.


Congrats on the milestone, Andrew.

[Andrew]

I think being married is a good enough excuse not to go out every week. My excuse is pretty much I can't be bothered and I'm over that whole scene. It's fun when you're 18-20 because it's (usually) new and it's something you can now do with ease once you're a legal adult, but after that you find yourself dealing with other, more important affairs of adulthood.

[Donatello]

Heh, even if I hadn't gotten married... after work and everything else that needs to be taken care of, I just want to turn off and relax, not deal with social interactions (even if they are positive).

[Andrew]

I know what you mean. Beyond daily NLSC stuff, I don't feel like going out unless I'm meeting some friends for dinner or going to one of our friend's gigs (though even then, that's usually at the weekend).

[Drex]

Congrats Andrew


- It's so hard to get out of bed in the mornings now.

[Andrew]

The snooze button is my worst enemy on any day where I'd like to get up early, but don't necessarily need to.

[Indy]

It doesn't feel like it was too long ago that the millenium changed.

That's one I was talking about with some friends the other day. When I hear the year 1998 my instinct says that was 3, 4 years ago. When I hear 2001 or 2002 I think last year.

When I actually realize that 1998 was 10 years ago I am in disbelief every time.

[Null17]

Congrats Andrew!

Anyway, for my part I'm in between. For some reason other people treat me like a kid. I was even asked about my age when I watched knocked up when I wasn't asked before when I was watching R-18 movies when I was 16.

At the same time, I've been asked if I have insurance yet or credit card by salesmen even before I start working. I don't know if I look too old or too young for my age.

On the flip side, I've been dealing with real life issues like a job, paying rent and all that shit and thinking about my future but at the same time, my mind are on video games and toys and I still constantly still make immature sex jokes. Lol.

P.S. I just turned 22 last month.

[GoHornets]

I always think about things that happened in the beggining of this milenium as "new things".
Im agree with Indy and Pdub

Beeing named the captain of my basketball team. That means that Im the oldest guy in my squad

[Chaser7]

Aw.. you guys are making me depressed. I'm nearing the end of high school and I already feel "too old" . I'm super pumped for college, but at the same time, sad that childhood is basically over...

[Lamrock]

I'm one of the forum's youngest active members at 14 (Don't tell benji that! He'll get pissed if he realized that he has been arguing with a freshman in High School on a semi-regular basis), but this thread is telling me to make these next couple years last.

Holy shit, I joined the NLSC nearly three years ago!

[Drex]

You joined at 11? You're going to jail buddy


I joined about 7 or 8 years ago. Damn, does time fly fast or what.

[Lamrock]

12 actually, though I didn't really start posting a lot until about a year and a half later (before that time I had about 50 posts and the most retarded username ever).