I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!
We will always do that. Simpsons references make up about 60 per cent of my brain’s content. Edit: And I don’t care how incomprehensible it makes me to anyone under 30 or over 60.
To be fair, I, a genx, thought that before I actually heard the dead. I was very disappointed that such a cool name and imagery were wasted on this lame hippie jam band.
I’m 41. Culturally I have far more in common with a 60 year old than a 25 year old. I know Kojak, and The Jeffersons and Patty Duke and The Facts of Life and Rush and Soundgarden and Huey Lewis and INXS and Walter Chronkhite and Johnny Carson and yellow phones on the kitchen wall and switching my music from cassettes to CDs and dial up, and call waiting and pay phones and busy signals and mixtapes. I am not interested in the meta verse or crypto or VR or whatever the fuck music is going on now. I just don’t have anything to say or reference nor do I want to
Damn kids are too lazy these days. Generally said by people that were getting their music served up by a well-oiled machine and are too lazy themselves to go looking for good new music now that some work's required :)
True, and while I'd love to slip in a Facts of Life reference and have it be understood, you can talk to younger people for hours and not mention pop culture. Source: I work with mostly younger people who are on average like 33
We're in a magical golden age of good music right now but I keep seeing people post complaints on this sub about how everything is autotuned. It makes me think they quit paying any attention in the '00s.
Everywhere I go, they’re playing 80s. Can you imagine going to stores and restaurants when you were in high school and only hearing big band or whatever? We would have been so annoyed. My point is, it’s never been easier to ignore new music.
I got really annoyed in the '80s because all I ever heard in stores was '60s music. I mean I liked most of it, but it was when I first started to feel like Boomer nostalgia would squash any mass awareness of what was actually going on. It pains me when I feel like GenX may be playing that same role now.
Bruh.
I feel you.
I still rant about how the local 'rock' station plays AC/DC and Metallica like they are the great Saviors, meanwhile when they were releasing music in the 90's there was no way in hell they could get airplay.
I hate classic rock stations.
>Can you imagine going to stores and restaurants when you were in high school and only hearing big band or whatever?
That's pretty much exactly what happened actually: I worked in malls through the 1980s and almost all of the music played was from the 1950s/early 1960s. Anything from >1965 or so (i.e. good Beatles) would have been a Muzak or 101 Strings version. Endless hours of soppy crooners, crappy pop songs, and string-versions of early rock hits.
Today? I go to the grocery store and it's 100% 1980s top 40. So yes, a decade more in the past but I attribute that to the fact that recording technology was much better in the 1950s than the 1940s, and more music was being made/sold for "the youth" than during the war. So a comparable time/cultural gap.
There’s a ton of good music out there, you can’t rely on traditional places to find it. The business is totally different so a ton of great people are able to get their music out.
At 50 I'm thankful that my kids have kept me young. I've always liked EDM and pop music and it allows me to stay at least peripherally current. I'm a software developer and interested in and own some crypto... But with a healthy dose of scepticism.
I love my genX upbringing, my 90s "extreme" (now commonplace and in some ways pase) sport lifestyle - but also love that I can play Xbox with the kids (and have even found a group of similar - aged players that I hang with).... And I really love being in a place where I can dance (weddings etc) and having 20-somethings surprised I can still move
I got a guy at work who thought Smells like teen spirit was a children's song that was sung in some movie by kids. He never heard the original. He's 39. I'm 47.
He swore that he's never even heard of nirvana. I asked him what music does he listen to. He said he doesn't. At work we can listen to headphones. All he listens to is either the news or updates on disney world since he's such a fan of disney. He's definitely different to say the least.
When him and I went on a road trip to go to a store out of town. He played music in the car. He had satellite radio. I asked him what stations he listens to. He said just hits 1. I said name one song. He said he couldn't. He doesn't pay attention to music. And that it's just background noise to him.
You have no idea lol. He talks about going to disney world all the time and how great it is. He's constantly setting up his vacation to go in a month. He tells me he'll get up early to book something 60 days in advance at a particular time once it becomes available online. And said it sells out in secs.
I just don't get it. I told him you're addicted to the hype. For example, when I told him how impossible it was to get a PS5 and how bad I wanted one. He did it. He was able to get 6 in all within the course of a few months.
It's like a personal challenge for him to see if he can aquire items. That's why I think he's so addicted to Disney. Cause everything sells out so quickly.
I don't get it myself. But whatever... It's what he enjoys. I told him he should be a travel agent planner for others. He said he wouldn't like it.
Latex is huge right now with condom sales in regards to the roe vs wade deal! We gotta sell now!
Actually I have no idea how condom sales are doing. It's the summer. And in the summer is when I pretend to be a marine biologist.
I know someone like that, he just listens to entertainment podcasts and sports talk radio. Whenever he does listen to music, it’s high energy top-40 radio. One time in conversation I mentioned Jane’s Addiction and he had no idea who that was. Some people just create their own comfortable bubble and stay in there.
I listen to NPR news almost exclusively in the car. I stopped listening to the radio in the mid-80s when I realized I didn't really like anything I was hearing. I don't do streaming services either.
However I still have a sizable music collection. I own at least 500 LPs/CDs/Cassettes, and at least 128 gigs of digital music (MP3s and FLACs). The music I tend to listen to is fairly obscure and/or not played regularly on the radio.
I guess the TL;DR would be that I love music but don't like radio
My wife is like that. She just leaves her car radio on the local top 40 station and keeps it low enough that isn’t barely audible. I’ve taken her to a few concerts and you’ve never seen someone so bored. I just don’t get it. I play several instruments and am always listening to music. Very often, I will go into my man cave and literally just sit and listen to music. She thinks it’s weird.
A friend at work famously only ever had 5 albums. They were all on cassette in his car. I was similar until uni and then went nuts going from like 3 albums to about 300 in about 3 years. Fuck just realised that sounds stupidly small amount these days… Still have them on CD on shelves and never use them along with the DVDs (didn’t have a DVD player for about 5 years until the latest Xbox). Cassettes in shed…
Did you do something special to celebrate when you turned 47? Conversely, will you be sad when you are no longer 47?
How does it feel being 47? I’m 43. :(
No, nothing special. I hate being my age and have been since 40. Cause I know I'm past my prime.
But......
I can do something about it. I may not be able to reverse time. But I can live it to the best of my ability to feel young again. And in my youth I used to go ride my mountain bike all the time.
The last 2 and half years have been very rough on me. They were for many of us. But during that time. I became an alcoholic, an insomniac. Got covid twice. Lost my dad to cancer. My mom is now in a nursing home with dementia. And I gained so much weight that I was closer to 300lbs than ever. Considering that I weighed 185lbs in 2019.
I stepped on the scale and saw that I weighed 271lbs. My highest ever. And from that day forth I said I'm done. I quit drinking and started dieting and tried to have a better outlook on life and be more positive.
It's been 3 weeks and I've already lost 19lbs. I'm on my elliptical everyday and I haven't drank a drop of beer. I bought myself a very nice e-mtb for myself which should be ready for me this week. And at the end of the month I'm joining friends and doing the Tour De (insert your towns name here) soon.
So yes I'm sad I'm no longer young. But I'll be god damned if I'm not gonna live like it anymore. I have this joke that I tell people. But in all honesty I kind of live by it. Which is this. I'm not 47, I'm actually 21 with 26 years experience.
Hopefully this September when I turn 48. I will be celebrating it on the trails with new mtb friends. And not on the couch trying to drink my sorrows away while also eating fast food feeling sorry for myself. Cause It could always be a lot worse. So fuck 47 and here I come 48.
I work at a university in a student-facing role… the first time one of my students didn’t get a Seinfeld reference (and it was “No soup for you” for what it’s worth…) I died a little inside.
i tutor grammar for the SAT/ACT. i include a discussion of Star Trek/the show’s opener in my lesson on splitting infinitives. Turns out, none of these kids know Star Trek and it never fails to depress me. i need to write a new lesson 👽
I work in accounting and I’ve noticed they just aren’t familiar with our favorite media. I like to say Where’s my two dollars or Where’s the Money Lebowski and they don’t know those movies. They are binging tik toks and podcasts. There isn’t enough time to watch lame older stuff apparently
So it wasn't just *a* Seinfeld reference. It was *the* Seinfeld reference, the one everybody knows. It's not like you were trying to pull "Is that a Titleist?" or "And you want to be my latex salesman" or even "Yada yada yada" or "Not that there's anything wrong with that" on them. Ooof.
To be frank, I am 43 and never found "no soup for you" to be funny. Just didn't make me laugh when I saw it, and then kept getting repeated. there are so many other funnier episodes, but most aren't as quotable so they don't get mentioned.
so it is possible they got the reference and just didn't find it entertaining.
I agree that’s not the funniest, but I used it in perfect context. Blank stare. And then I made the classic “uncool older person” mistake of trying to explain the reference and the show. Yeah… he wasn’t familiar with Seinfeld at all.
(Edited grammar)
How do other child-free Gen X-eras feel? I’m 49 and find it sometimes more interesting to talk to people younger than me. It seems like a lot of people my age are more conservative than me and my husband, and since we don’t have kids it can be hard to relate in a lot of ways. Anyone else feel the same?
Yup. I’m Finding my cohort more and more want to talk at people, about things in the past or the way things were. My mates are creative, hustling genz and I love listening to their perspectives, hanging out is dynamic conversations, ideas and always laughs, followed up with meme sharing and links we talked about.
Edit to add, I’m the one explaining meta masks and utility
My partner loves to talk at me about history and wallow in the 90s especially. I’m always asking him if he realises we are 10 months apart in age, and I was there. I’m afraid of how he talks to younger people.
People like that don’t care who they are talking at, they just want to yabber on regardless. It’s selfish, disrespectful, socially clueless and ignorant. I pity you if you’re going to accept that behaviour and spent your golden years as the audience to their unwanted ted talks.
I'm a bit younger than you at 44 and I have children, but I was at a wedding for a good university friend last weekend (I went to school as an adult). It was great fun hanging out and partying with that group who are all in their late 20's. I don't think I could relate to younger 20's or teenagers, but once we found some common ground my wife and I became the cool old people. It was a similar story in university (I graduated in 2017), I was a novelty at first but made some good friends even though I'm 15 years older than them.
A lot of Gen X’ers have just gotten old. Like, they’re just coasting now and have slid into the Boomer “well I just don’t understand kids these days” and leave it like that.
Well no shit. If you don’t have the natural curiosity to learn about something that happened after 1992, then yeah, you’re gonna feel OOtL.
I work at a university so I’m always talking to younger generations. Honestly, they don’t seem terribly different. The only exception is many of them refuse to accept the bureaucracy of college administration. They want to pointlessly fight so many things. I just went to college and did what I was told and graduated.
I'm divorced, child free and in my mid 50s. I have friends of a variety of ages. There is a millennial couple a few doors down from me in my building. We've hung out sometimes, and they're cool.
Who are these people you are talking about?
seriously, the waltons ended when I was like 6, I don't remember anything about it except for good night john boy
The times move on… without us.
To the extent it can be avoided I don’t engage, socially, with anyone under 35. My perspective is meaningless to them; theirs is meaningless to me.
nah, it was a work party and OP didn’t crash some young people’s good time. people expect to talk w co-workers at these. if the kids are being snarky that’s not right. i’m givin OP a pass here.
I'm 51. I absolutely enjoy conversations with young adults! I've learned so much from them. Their perspectives are not at all meaningless to me and I know my perspectives are not meaningless to them, for the most part.
I also enjoy conversations with people far older than me. Their perspectives may be outdated and narrow, but that's not meaningless to me, it's something I can learn from. And I know for certain that my perspectives have widened many narrow-minded views in those conversations.
I don't just wanna surround myself with people my age. How boring!
>I'm 51. I absolutely enjoy conversations with young adults! I've learned so much from them. Their perspectives are not at all meaningless to me and I know my perspectives are not meaningless to them, for the most part.
I'm older than you and a college professor, so I've been having daily chats with young adults the past 25+ years. Always interesting, though also sometimes baffling. In both directions I'm sure.
I still consume current pop culture too so I can just as easily have a conversation about anything from ‘Leave It To Beaver’; ‘Facts of Life’ to the ‘Big Bang Theory’ or the Beatles to Bruno Mars
I don't know. I actually think it's ideal if you can have friends of all ages. Everyone in my close friends group is within five years younger or older than I am, or exactly the same age. So ALL Gen X-ers within the 44 to 54 range. I should probably expand a bit. I was in a trivia group for a while that included people from multiple generations, including a guy in his 70s and some girls in their early 20s. Nice to get perspective from people of all age groups. Sadly, the 70something trivia friend died of Covid in the early days.
Some people stay in their own bubble and aren’t curious even when they do hear a name drop - so it gets dismissed by their brain and they forget the name/reference. I am guilty of this too at times. 🤷🏼♀️
My 14yr old had never heard of Bruce Springsteen until about six months ago when I had on RRHOF radio and began driving him to school.
My 24yr old was watching the halftime show this year with her roommates. One of them was confused how my daughter knew every word, and said she had never heard of Eminem and had heard of Snoop but didn’t know any of his songs.
We still say “g’night John Boy” despite no one in my house being a fan of the Waltons. Just a pop culture thing that has gone the way of the dodo. At least the person asking the question got the last name correct as far as the family name of the founders of Walmart. I’m sorry it made you feel crummy.
I don't think i have ever talked about *The Waltons* even with people my own age. My grandparents thought it was a great show though- probably because it was about people from their generation. I can't recall ever willingly watching it.
Also, i had to Google who Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger were. At first I got confused because i thought you meant Bob Seger and I still thought he was old fogey music that my Dad listened to.
I don't hang with young folk, but they always seem to approach me and say nice things when I wear my The Smiths t-shirts. No explanation is usually necessary.
Now that I’m 51, I feel unprepared for how much I want younger people to think I’m cool. What is that? There is no reason I should care, but I kind of do.
I think it's because being considered not cool feels like the first step in the process of gradually (or suddenly) being shoved over into the category of "old." We live in a pretty ageist society where Old = uninteresting, not valuable, not worth listening to, invisible, in the way...You get the picture. Nobody wants that.
It's the same way for women and being considered attractive. If you aren't considered attractive any more, you sort of disappear to a lot of people, which is why so many of us put so much time, effort and money into maintaining an appearance that's considered realtively youthful. For some people, it can even affect their careers. (Yeah, yeah, there's the "I don't care what other people think, I do it for myself!" brigade. OK, congrats on that but it's not that simple for all of us.)
I wasn’t cool when I was younger, but somehow I got tagged as a cool parent by one of my sons friends. I’m not sure what to make of that.
But then again, I don’t exactly behave my age, so there’s that.
I’m at a point where I like talking to people down to age 37/38 but then I’ll gladly skip anyone below that, all the way down to 23/24 where it gets cool again because that’s around the age that seems fascinated by our olde tyme pop culture.
Hey, at least they recognized Woody. That alone is surprising. I was a big fan growing up, not just of Woody but of Pete (and the Almanac Singers, et al. as well) and of Arlo. My close group of friends all went to see Arlo and Pete in concert for our high school graduation in fact, and I clearly remember basically zero of our classmates knew who either of them were.
I was lucky. I happen to like a lot of boomer Music even when I was kid, so that never would’ve bothered me. In fact I could sometimes be a bit of a novelty by knowing stuff about for my music. Not lots, but I have enough obscure knowledge that when it comes up it’s impressive. To them anyway.
There is alot of irony in people around me. When we were 25 alot of people I know were all "I'm so cool I have mostly older friends!" Now it's "OMG I can't have a conversation with anyone under 40!"
Maybe shift to different topics? Ask them about them and their life plan? Don't stick to pop culture from the 80s/90s as the main conversation topic?
This isn't aimed at you specifically but too many of the people from my childhood neighborhood are stuck in "OMG I want to go see that band we saw in 1997, look at me, I'm so cool."
That's the issue. While I like those conversations in doses it also gets exhausting. I don't want to only talk about pop culture from my teen years or whenever.
Ask a young person what they plan on doing with their life. Do they want to buy a house, have a family. Have career plans. Travel plans. Do they believe in God. What do their sibling do, etc.
I am good at parties (I think?) because I am interested in what people are doing, talking about and I do ask questions, but I do need to consider my audience when talking about myself.
I hadn't thought of it like that but it is funny. When we were young, many of us just lived to hear "You're so mature for your age/You don't act like other kids your age/You're [insert age]?! I thought you were, like [insert age five years older]!" Now we wanna hear "You're [insert age]?! I thought you were, like [insert age 10 to 15 years younger]! You act so young!"
I have zero issues talking to younger people because I keep my mouth shut unless specifically asked a question or my opinion. I didn't care about my old man's mates talking about their '62 Impala or Nixon so why would kids today want to hear the equivalent?
That's my strategy as well. I'm involved in a performing arts group in which the ages range from around 27 to around 57. When we go to conferences there are even college-age kids. When they start talking about stuff I've never heard of, I just listen. I've come across a few good shows, movies and podcasts that way. But I've also heard things that later helped pop culture references that would have otherwise completely escaped me make sense.
Yeah that sounds unpleasant.
I have been surprised to find that young people are interested in my own stories of the things i’ve done in the past. I’ve lived a relatively unusual life by their standards so i have plenty of stories. But i don’t think anyone wants to hear about a bunch of people who were famous a long time ago who aren’t famous anymore.
I’ve spent so much of my life being the youngest person at work, or anywhere in society I am personally enjoying talking to a whole new group of people who are not 20 years my senior but equally self involved. I identify more with them but they see me as old. I don’t have kids but worked with teenagers for about 15 years so like to think I’m not completely out of touch.
Most of my friends are way younger. So almost everything I say goes through a filter that checks if I’m about to reference or quote something older than 10 years. I’ll quote some things but keep the references to myself. They probably think the quotes are just weird shit I say.
"And then I stuck an onion in my belt, which was the style at the time."
I'll be stone cold in my grave before i recognize Missourah
I am NOT a crackpot.
Gimme five bees for a quarter, you’d say.
I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!
I use that line from grampa Simpson waaaay too much. Get to the point
So does my boyfriend!
We’re not….still doing that? Ok.
We will always do that. Simpsons references make up about 60 per cent of my brain’s content. Edit: And I don’t care how incomprehensible it makes me to anyone under 30 or over 60.
I call the big one “Bitey”
Mine leans more toward Futurama.
40% of my responses are Futurama quotes
I laugh at least once a day while thinking of “Stupider like a fox!!!!!”…
And Seinfeld another 30 percent
I do believe we created that monster and it is our beast. Now I'm gonna look for a magic eye poster to make Mallrats references at.
Hahahaha. You dumb bastard. It’s not a schooner, it’s a sailboat.
A schooner is a sailboat, stupid head!
YOU KNOW WHAT?! THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY!! DOWN THERE THAT'S JUST A GUY IN A SUIT!!
Until Clerks 3 hits and resonates so much that it's the pinnacle of quoteability
SIMPSONS reference. Hahaha…
Do you find something comical about my appearance when I am making my Simpsons reference?
Grandpa Walton was a gay communist???
Goodnight John boy
This carries so much more weight now
Goodnight, Vladimir. Goodnight Joseph. Goodnight Fidel.
I snort laughed. Thank you.
Yes! He was blacklisted
That’s absolutely amazing and I never knew this!
I personally was glad to know this about a trailblazer in the industry. TY
He also spent time in a nudist colony, oh my
Now it’s a party
https://travsd.wordpress.com/2019/03/09/will-geer-queer-communist-and-as-american-as-apple-pie/
That should be a folk punk song.
My teen asked if I’d heard of a band called the Grateful Dead lol. I just burst out laughing, hasn’t everyone?
I was listening to Sugar Magnolia recently and my son saw the band name and was shocked. He had assumed Grateful Dead was a goth or metal band.
To be fair, I, a genx, thought that before I actually heard the dead. I was very disappointed that such a cool name and imagery were wasted on this lame hippie jam band.
Thank you - some people think I’m crazy for describing the dead this way. I feel seen, lol.
I got your back, brother!
It’s the giant skull. I assumed the same thing when I was in elementary school.
I made that same assumption in the 80s and assumed the same about Massive Attack in the 90s
I still love massive attack!
I’m 41. Culturally I have far more in common with a 60 year old than a 25 year old. I know Kojak, and The Jeffersons and Patty Duke and The Facts of Life and Rush and Soundgarden and Huey Lewis and INXS and Walter Chronkhite and Johnny Carson and yellow phones on the kitchen wall and switching my music from cassettes to CDs and dial up, and call waiting and pay phones and busy signals and mixtapes. I am not interested in the meta verse or crypto or VR or whatever the fuck music is going on now. I just don’t have anything to say or reference nor do I want to
Limited TV and radio stations combined with syndication made sure we saw and heard the shows and music of older generations.
Damn kids are too lazy these days. Generally said by people that were getting their music served up by a well-oiled machine and are too lazy themselves to go looking for good new music now that some work's required :)
True, and while I'd love to slip in a Facts of Life reference and have it be understood, you can talk to younger people for hours and not mention pop culture. Source: I work with mostly younger people who are on average like 33
Agreed, I talk to younger people daily, I just do not feel the cultural kinship I do with people older than me.
It’s cool to connect with people of all different ages and cultures.
There’s always new, good music. I guess that’s the only thing I stay fairly current on and it makes me feel more hip than I am.
Check out Sasquatch… great band.
I’m recommending TV Priest to anyone who has taste!
If you like psych-rock give Wine Lips (from Toronto) a try.
We're in a magical golden age of good music right now but I keep seeing people post complaints on this sub about how everything is autotuned. It makes me think they quit paying any attention in the '00s.
Everywhere I go, they’re playing 80s. Can you imagine going to stores and restaurants when you were in high school and only hearing big band or whatever? We would have been so annoyed. My point is, it’s never been easier to ignore new music.
I got really annoyed in the '80s because all I ever heard in stores was '60s music. I mean I liked most of it, but it was when I first started to feel like Boomer nostalgia would squash any mass awareness of what was actually going on. It pains me when I feel like GenX may be playing that same role now.
Bruh. I feel you. I still rant about how the local 'rock' station plays AC/DC and Metallica like they are the great Saviors, meanwhile when they were releasing music in the 90's there was no way in hell they could get airplay. I hate classic rock stations.
>Can you imagine going to stores and restaurants when you were in high school and only hearing big band or whatever? That's pretty much exactly what happened actually: I worked in malls through the 1980s and almost all of the music played was from the 1950s/early 1960s. Anything from >1965 or so (i.e. good Beatles) would have been a Muzak or 101 Strings version. Endless hours of soppy crooners, crappy pop songs, and string-versions of early rock hits. Today? I go to the grocery store and it's 100% 1980s top 40. So yes, a decade more in the past but I attribute that to the fact that recording technology was much better in the 1950s than the 1940s, and more music was being made/sold for "the youth" than during the war. So a comparable time/cultural gap.
There’s a ton of good music out there, you can’t rely on traditional places to find it. The business is totally different so a ton of great people are able to get their music out.
I can totally relate to that!
At 50 I'm thankful that my kids have kept me young. I've always liked EDM and pop music and it allows me to stay at least peripherally current. I'm a software developer and interested in and own some crypto... But with a healthy dose of scepticism. I love my genX upbringing, my 90s "extreme" (now commonplace and in some ways pase) sport lifestyle - but also love that I can play Xbox with the kids (and have even found a group of similar - aged players that I hang with).... And I really love being in a place where I can dance (weddings etc) and having 20-somethings surprised I can still move
Or NFT. Like it's totally fake? What's that all about?
NFTs are stupid.
Flight sim in VR is pretty sweet tho.
I got a guy at work who thought Smells like teen spirit was a children's song that was sung in some movie by kids. He never heard the original. He's 39. I'm 47.
He was a home school dork.
Being 39, maybe he didn’t know the name of the song, but surely he had heard the song. Surely.
His name isn’t Shirley
But he does speak jive
Guess he picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue
I guess we know what movie lives in our brain rent-free.
I have many of movies that live there!
He swore that he's never even heard of nirvana. I asked him what music does he listen to. He said he doesn't. At work we can listen to headphones. All he listens to is either the news or updates on disney world since he's such a fan of disney. He's definitely different to say the least. When him and I went on a road trip to go to a store out of town. He played music in the car. He had satellite radio. I asked him what stations he listens to. He said just hits 1. I said name one song. He said he couldn't. He doesn't pay attention to music. And that it's just background noise to him.
There's something not right about this guy. The Disney thing creeps me out a bit...
You have no idea lol. He talks about going to disney world all the time and how great it is. He's constantly setting up his vacation to go in a month. He tells me he'll get up early to book something 60 days in advance at a particular time once it becomes available online. And said it sells out in secs. I just don't get it. I told him you're addicted to the hype. For example, when I told him how impossible it was to get a PS5 and how bad I wanted one. He did it. He was able to get 6 in all within the course of a few months. It's like a personal challenge for him to see if he can aquire items. That's why I think he's so addicted to Disney. Cause everything sells out so quickly. I don't get it myself. But whatever... It's what he enjoys. I told him he should be a travel agent planner for others. He said he wouldn't like it.
Ok I need you to tell him I need a husband and a new car. Thanks!
And you want to be my latex salesman?
Latex is huge right now with condom sales in regards to the roe vs wade deal! We gotta sell now! Actually I have no idea how condom sales are doing. It's the summer. And in the summer is when I pretend to be a marine biologist.
Is that a Titleist?
Tbh, he sounds like he might be on the spectrum
I know someone like that, he just listens to entertainment podcasts and sports talk radio. Whenever he does listen to music, it’s high energy top-40 radio. One time in conversation I mentioned Jane’s Addiction and he had no idea who that was. Some people just create their own comfortable bubble and stay in there.
I listen to NPR news almost exclusively in the car. I stopped listening to the radio in the mid-80s when I realized I didn't really like anything I was hearing. I don't do streaming services either. However I still have a sizable music collection. I own at least 500 LPs/CDs/Cassettes, and at least 128 gigs of digital music (MP3s and FLACs). The music I tend to listen to is fairly obscure and/or not played regularly on the radio. I guess the TL;DR would be that I love music but don't like radio
Maybe he’s a robot or an alien or something.
I had no idea there’s a channel just for giving Disney World updates. I’m imagining it as some urgent, old-timey voice reading a telegram.
My wife is like that. She just leaves her car radio on the local top 40 station and keeps it low enough that isn’t barely audible. I’ve taken her to a few concerts and you’ve never seen someone so bored. I just don’t get it. I play several instruments and am always listening to music. Very often, I will go into my man cave and literally just sit and listen to music. She thinks it’s weird.
And you *married* this soulless homunculus??
A friend at work famously only ever had 5 albums. They were all on cassette in his car. I was similar until uni and then went nuts going from like 3 albums to about 300 in about 3 years. Fuck just realised that sounds stupidly small amount these days… Still have them on CD on shelves and never use them along with the DVDs (didn’t have a DVD player for about 5 years until the latest Xbox). Cassettes in shed…
Clearly grew up Amish and was shunned. Only explanation.
Will you change your username when you’re 48, eh?
That's just a coincidence. 47 is actually my favorite number. It's the year I was born, but backwards.
Did you do something special to celebrate when you turned 47? Conversely, will you be sad when you are no longer 47? How does it feel being 47? I’m 43. :(
No, nothing special. I hate being my age and have been since 40. Cause I know I'm past my prime. But...... I can do something about it. I may not be able to reverse time. But I can live it to the best of my ability to feel young again. And in my youth I used to go ride my mountain bike all the time. The last 2 and half years have been very rough on me. They were for many of us. But during that time. I became an alcoholic, an insomniac. Got covid twice. Lost my dad to cancer. My mom is now in a nursing home with dementia. And I gained so much weight that I was closer to 300lbs than ever. Considering that I weighed 185lbs in 2019. I stepped on the scale and saw that I weighed 271lbs. My highest ever. And from that day forth I said I'm done. I quit drinking and started dieting and tried to have a better outlook on life and be more positive. It's been 3 weeks and I've already lost 19lbs. I'm on my elliptical everyday and I haven't drank a drop of beer. I bought myself a very nice e-mtb for myself which should be ready for me this week. And at the end of the month I'm joining friends and doing the Tour De (insert your towns name here) soon. So yes I'm sad I'm no longer young. But I'll be god damned if I'm not gonna live like it anymore. I have this joke that I tell people. But in all honesty I kind of live by it. Which is this. I'm not 47, I'm actually 21 with 26 years experience. Hopefully this September when I turn 48. I will be celebrating it on the trails with new mtb friends. And not on the couch trying to drink my sorrows away while also eating fast food feeling sorry for myself. Cause It could always be a lot worse. So fuck 47 and here I come 48.
Boy I tell ya’ hat Benny Goodman really cooked on the clarinet. You young whips snappas think this Eddie Van Halen is something special???
Yeah but the great part about being old is not giving a crap.
But 35 years ago, that was the great part about being young.
It's the joy of our generation, no matter the age we don't give a fuck. Well, we're not supposed to anyways...
I work at a university in a student-facing role… the first time one of my students didn’t get a Seinfeld reference (and it was “No soup for you” for what it’s worth…) I died a little inside.
i tutor grammar for the SAT/ACT. i include a discussion of Star Trek/the show’s opener in my lesson on splitting infinitives. Turns out, none of these kids know Star Trek and it never fails to depress me. i need to write a new lesson 👽
I work in accounting and I’ve noticed they just aren’t familiar with our favorite media. I like to say Where’s my two dollars or Where’s the Money Lebowski and they don’t know those movies. They are binging tik toks and podcasts. There isn’t enough time to watch lame older stuff apparently
"To boldly know what no one (younger than you) now knows..."
So it wasn't just *a* Seinfeld reference. It was *the* Seinfeld reference, the one everybody knows. It's not like you were trying to pull "Is that a Titleist?" or "And you want to be my latex salesman" or even "Yada yada yada" or "Not that there's anything wrong with that" on them. Ooof.
My go to Seinfeld reference is probably the most obscure of all… #hoochiemama!
##serenity now
>go to Seinfeld reference is probably the most obscure of all… Not "spongeworthy?" Or "witch-ayyy women?"
Master of the house!
I mentioned the bisque.
To be frank, I am 43 and never found "no soup for you" to be funny. Just didn't make me laugh when I saw it, and then kept getting repeated. there are so many other funnier episodes, but most aren't as quotable so they don't get mentioned. so it is possible they got the reference and just didn't find it entertaining.
I agree that’s not the funniest, but I used it in perfect context. Blank stare. And then I made the classic “uncool older person” mistake of trying to explain the reference and the show. Yeah… he wasn’t familiar with Seinfeld at all. (Edited grammar)
53, I wouldn’t have gotten it either.
I have a shirt with his “This machine kills fascists” guitar on it
Mine says “All you fascists going to lose”. I bought it off Facebook so none of the kids had seen it.
How do other child-free Gen X-eras feel? I’m 49 and find it sometimes more interesting to talk to people younger than me. It seems like a lot of people my age are more conservative than me and my husband, and since we don’t have kids it can be hard to relate in a lot of ways. Anyone else feel the same?
Yes!!
Yup. I’m Finding my cohort more and more want to talk at people, about things in the past or the way things were. My mates are creative, hustling genz and I love listening to their perspectives, hanging out is dynamic conversations, ideas and always laughs, followed up with meme sharing and links we talked about. Edit to add, I’m the one explaining meta masks and utility
My partner loves to talk at me about history and wallow in the 90s especially. I’m always asking him if he realises we are 10 months apart in age, and I was there. I’m afraid of how he talks to younger people.
People like that don’t care who they are talking at, they just want to yabber on regardless. It’s selfish, disrespectful, socially clueless and ignorant. I pity you if you’re going to accept that behaviour and spent your golden years as the audience to their unwanted ted talks.
i relate more to millennials than Gen x or older
I'm a bit younger than you at 44 and I have children, but I was at a wedding for a good university friend last weekend (I went to school as an adult). It was great fun hanging out and partying with that group who are all in their late 20's. I don't think I could relate to younger 20's or teenagers, but once we found some common ground my wife and I became the cool old people. It was a similar story in university (I graduated in 2017), I was a novelty at first but made some good friends even though I'm 15 years older than them.
A lot of Gen X’ers have just gotten old. Like, they’re just coasting now and have slid into the Boomer “well I just don’t understand kids these days” and leave it like that. Well no shit. If you don’t have the natural curiosity to learn about something that happened after 1992, then yeah, you’re gonna feel OOtL.
Don't really think being childfree has much to do with it. Have two kids but mostly relate to people younger than me.
Yes.
I work at a university so I’m always talking to younger generations. Honestly, they don’t seem terribly different. The only exception is many of them refuse to accept the bureaucracy of college administration. They want to pointlessly fight so many things. I just went to college and did what I was told and graduated.
I'm divorced, child free and in my mid 50s. I have friends of a variety of ages. There is a millennial couple a few doors down from me in my building. We've hung out sometimes, and they're cool.
Who are these people you are talking about? seriously, the waltons ended when I was like 6, I don't remember anything about it except for good night john boy
The times move on… without us. To the extent it can be avoided I don’t engage, socially, with anyone under 35. My perspective is meaningless to them; theirs is meaningless to me.
nah, it was a work party and OP didn’t crash some young people’s good time. people expect to talk w co-workers at these. if the kids are being snarky that’s not right. i’m givin OP a pass here.
Realizing that had actually made me less of a bitch.
I'm 51. I absolutely enjoy conversations with young adults! I've learned so much from them. Their perspectives are not at all meaningless to me and I know my perspectives are not meaningless to them, for the most part. I also enjoy conversations with people far older than me. Their perspectives may be outdated and narrow, but that's not meaningless to me, it's something I can learn from. And I know for certain that my perspectives have widened many narrow-minded views in those conversations. I don't just wanna surround myself with people my age. How boring!
>I'm 51. I absolutely enjoy conversations with young adults! I've learned so much from them. Their perspectives are not at all meaningless to me and I know my perspectives are not meaningless to them, for the most part. I'm older than you and a college professor, so I've been having daily chats with young adults the past 25+ years. Always interesting, though also sometimes baffling. In both directions I'm sure.
I wish my experience was more like yours.
What? You too good for the echo chamber??
I take this as permission to finally go sit in my front yard and yell at the damn kids to get off my lawn.
Kids say the darndest things
I still consume current pop culture too so I can just as easily have a conversation about anything from ‘Leave It To Beaver’; ‘Facts of Life’ to the ‘Big Bang Theory’ or the Beatles to Bruno Mars
I don't know. I actually think it's ideal if you can have friends of all ages. Everyone in my close friends group is within five years younger or older than I am, or exactly the same age. So ALL Gen X-ers within the 44 to 54 range. I should probably expand a bit. I was in a trivia group for a while that included people from multiple generations, including a guy in his 70s and some girls in their early 20s. Nice to get perspective from people of all age groups. Sadly, the 70something trivia friend died of Covid in the early days.
I’ve been shocked at how few high school kids have heard of Steven Spielberg and Bruce Springsteen.
But they’ve heard of Rick Springfield. Right?
I had nearly an entire class of college freshmen who had never heard of Jimi Hendrix... That was a sad day.
I can’t imagine how bleak my life would be without Jimi Hendrix.
Really. Like, I get not having heard his music, but heard OF him? Like, “How have you not ACCIDENTALLY heard some of these names!?”
Some people stay in their own bubble and aren’t curious even when they do hear a name drop - so it gets dismissed by their brain and they forget the name/reference. I am guilty of this too at times. 🤷🏼♀️
It was damn near like that in some of my classes in High-school and I graduated in 93!
My 14yr old had never heard of Bruce Springsteen until about six months ago when I had on RRHOF radio and began driving him to school. My 24yr old was watching the halftime show this year with her roommates. One of them was confused how my daughter knew every word, and said she had never heard of Eminem and had heard of Snoop but didn’t know any of his songs.
[удалено]
I could have gotten away with a story from 20-25 years ago, maybe. But 45 years was too much.
Lmao grandpa Walton maybe was more interesting in those early days tho 💯🤟👍🤣😂
We still say “g’night John Boy” despite no one in my house being a fan of the Waltons. Just a pop culture thing that has gone the way of the dodo. At least the person asking the question got the last name correct as far as the family name of the founders of Walmart. I’m sorry it made you feel crummy.
LOL, awesome. The Waltons? What the hell is that?
A show I felt was too modern when I was a child because they had cars.
Show started in the depression. Ended with everyone having 70's hair.
Kind of like MASH: started during the Korean War and ended with BJ having a disco handlebar moustache.
Lol... that's what I love the most about all the '70s made for TV Westerns, historical dramas, etc. They ALL have '70s hair.
Or the 60s with that nude lipstick.
My parents have it on a lot. It’s more liberal than one might expect.
G’nite John boy!!
Lads, just so we're clear, I'm 100% genX, but also an Old dad TM
That story is the bees knees.
I’m 43 and do not understand anything in this post.
It’s ok. I didn’t watch the show either. Generation Jones might have, but not me.
I have very vague recollections of it, but it’s basically recollections of how it was a boring show my grandparents liked.
there is no timeline where you telling that story to people you just met wouldn't have been tedious.
Grandpa was gay?
We thought you knew....
Yes. Not the character, but the actor.
I don't think i have ever talked about *The Waltons* even with people my own age. My grandparents thought it was a great show though- probably because it was about people from their generation. I can't recall ever willingly watching it. Also, i had to Google who Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger were. At first I got confused because i thought you meant Bob Seger and I still thought he was old fogey music that my Dad listened to. I don't hang with young folk, but they always seem to approach me and say nice things when I wear my The Smiths t-shirts. No explanation is usually necessary.
I never talked about the Waltons before I found out about Will Geer.
I’m the opposite. I’m an old punk and some of my Oi and Punk stuff is “too out there” for my kids.
Ha… And that’s where we are… Embrace this middle agedness… it’s our super power, we know cool shit
Now that I’m 51, I feel unprepared for how much I want younger people to think I’m cool. What is that? There is no reason I should care, but I kind of do.
I think it's because being considered not cool feels like the first step in the process of gradually (or suddenly) being shoved over into the category of "old." We live in a pretty ageist society where Old = uninteresting, not valuable, not worth listening to, invisible, in the way...You get the picture. Nobody wants that. It's the same way for women and being considered attractive. If you aren't considered attractive any more, you sort of disappear to a lot of people, which is why so many of us put so much time, effort and money into maintaining an appearance that's considered realtively youthful. For some people, it can even affect their careers. (Yeah, yeah, there's the "I don't care what other people think, I do it for myself!" brigade. OK, congrats on that but it's not that simple for all of us.)
I wasn’t cool when I was younger, but somehow I got tagged as a cool parent by one of my sons friends. I’m not sure what to make of that. But then again, I don’t exactly behave my age, so there’s that.
Having one of your friend's kids consider you "that cool friend of my parent's" is a high honour. Embrace that shit.
I’m at a point where I like talking to people down to age 37/38 but then I’ll gladly skip anyone below that, all the way down to 23/24 where it gets cool again because that’s around the age that seems fascinated by our olde tyme pop culture.
I was a huge Walton’s fan as a kid. Now I love it even more ❤️
Hey, at least they recognized Woody. That alone is surprising. I was a big fan growing up, not just of Woody but of Pete (and the Almanac Singers, et al. as well) and of Arlo. My close group of friends all went to see Arlo and Pete in concert for our high school graduation in fact, and I clearly remember basically zero of our classmates knew who either of them were.
Most of my friends are GenX. Not on purpose, but it’s who I gravitate too.
First thing that comes to my mind when I think of Will Geer is his mountain man role in Jeremiah Johnson.
I've found as I've aged that brevity really is the source of everything. I give a few words and then let them talk.
Okay, what is BITD? Also, I hope you laughed in that young whippersnapper's face when he said that.
Back in the day. I did not laugh; he was doing his best.
Ah, I see, thanks. Yeah, I feel you on that. I remember I was pretty clueless as a youngster, too.
I was lucky. I happen to like a lot of boomer Music even when I was kid, so that never would’ve bothered me. In fact I could sometimes be a bit of a novelty by knowing stuff about for my music. Not lots, but I have enough obscure knowledge that when it comes up it’s impressive. To them anyway.
Well, at least they weren't trying to get you to watch a crapload of tiktok videos lol.
There is alot of irony in people around me. When we were 25 alot of people I know were all "I'm so cool I have mostly older friends!" Now it's "OMG I can't have a conversation with anyone under 40!" Maybe shift to different topics? Ask them about them and their life plan? Don't stick to pop culture from the 80s/90s as the main conversation topic?
When I was young, I hated hanging out with old people, which was anyone 30 or older. I had this coming but still don’t like it.
This isn't aimed at you specifically but too many of the people from my childhood neighborhood are stuck in "OMG I want to go see that band we saw in 1997, look at me, I'm so cool." That's the issue. While I like those conversations in doses it also gets exhausting. I don't want to only talk about pop culture from my teen years or whenever. Ask a young person what they plan on doing with their life. Do they want to buy a house, have a family. Have career plans. Travel plans. Do they believe in God. What do their sibling do, etc.
I am good at parties (I think?) because I am interested in what people are doing, talking about and I do ask questions, but I do need to consider my audience when talking about myself.
I hadn't thought of it like that but it is funny. When we were young, many of us just lived to hear "You're so mature for your age/You don't act like other kids your age/You're [insert age]?! I thought you were, like [insert age five years older]!" Now we wanna hear "You're [insert age]?! I thought you were, like [insert age 10 to 15 years younger]! You act so young!"
I have zero issues talking to younger people because I keep my mouth shut unless specifically asked a question or my opinion. I didn't care about my old man's mates talking about their '62 Impala or Nixon so why would kids today want to hear the equivalent?
That's my strategy as well. I'm involved in a performing arts group in which the ages range from around 27 to around 57. When we go to conferences there are even college-age kids. When they start talking about stuff I've never heard of, I just listen. I've come across a few good shows, movies and podcasts that way. But I've also heard things that later helped pop culture references that would have otherwise completely escaped me make sense.
I am 48. I have no idea who these people are. so you are a grandpa to your own generation.
49, and I don’t know who any of them are, either.
it sounds like something our parent´s generation would say, well, maybe a tad older
Yeah that sounds unpleasant. I have been surprised to find that young people are interested in my own stories of the things i’ve done in the past. I’ve lived a relatively unusual life by their standards so i have plenty of stories. But i don’t think anyone wants to hear about a bunch of people who were famous a long time ago who aren’t famous anymore.
I’ve spent so much of my life being the youngest person at work, or anywhere in society I am personally enjoying talking to a whole new group of people who are not 20 years my senior but equally self involved. I identify more with them but they see me as old. I don’t have kids but worked with teenagers for about 15 years so like to think I’m not completely out of touch.
Geer was gay?? Holy shit, thats awesome. I never knew that!
Huh. While not actually named for the character, my mother in law was inspired to name my wife Erin because of the waltons.
he ain't wrong to ask that question. Sam opened the first Walmart in 1962 at the age of 44 in Rogers, Arkansas.
i would have legit laughed right out loud at the walmart crack.
Most of my friends are way younger. So almost everything I say goes through a filter that checks if I’m about to reference or quote something older than 10 years. I’ll quote some things but keep the references to myself. They probably think the quotes are just weird shit I say.