A letter from the "over 40 crowd"

White Rhino

SANDBAGGER!!!!!!!
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To all of us who can read this letter and chuckle:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways. yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!


1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!


2) There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!


3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!


4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!


5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?


6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!


7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.


8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!


9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!


10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were out of luck when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your *&!#?/ and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!


11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!


12) And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!


13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970 or any time before!


Regards,

The Over 40 Crowd
 
Ahhh, remembering the good old days.

I hated recording songs off the radio! Once in a while the rock station would do album sides.

I remember the first TV remote I saw. It didn't turn the TV off and on, it only changed the channel. And only UP! If you went past the one you wanted you had to go all the way through the channels to get back to it. Not that it was a big deal since we only had the three network channels, one PBS channel and one or two independent channels!
 
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I just turned 25, but I hear this loud and clear. When I was growing up we did have a microwave but no remote for the TV. The internet was born in my life time along with texting, emails, social networking, the works. Look how much things have changed just in the last 20 years. It's almost scary to think where we'll be in another 20.
 
Hey WR, I think you nailed it all except for the 10 feet of snow we had to walk through. I'm guessing you didn't have that one. :act-up:

Ah the old 8 track tape and a match book to adjust the tracking.
 
"10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were out of luck when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your *&!#?/ and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!"

That one is the best!

I am 43 and when I was a kid I WAS the remote control!! My parents would even yell at me from the other room to come change the channel for them!
 
Hey WR, I think you nailed it all except for the 10 feet of snow we had to walk through. I'm guessing you didn't have that one. :act-up:

...to school, uphill, both ways!

That's a great list WR! :thumb:
 
LMAO!!! All the sudden my 46 feels oh so old...


Was talking to the 21yo intern in my office today who was complaining about importing autoCAD drawings into an acoustical computer program about how when I started in this business (26 yrs ago) I had to use a protractor, compass, and "gasp" my knowledge of log10 to figure out how much area a speaker system would cover and how loud it would play.

He asked me what a protractor was. seriously...
 
LMAO!!! All the sudden my 46 feels oh so old...


Was talking to the 21yo intern in my office today who was complaining about importing autoCAD drawings into an acoustical computer program about how when I started in this business (26 yrs ago) I had to use a protractor, compass, and "gasp" my knowledge of log10 to figure out how much area a speaker system would cover and how loud it would play.

He asked me what a protractor was. seriously...

Ah youth!! They don't know :poop:
 
LMAO!!! All the sudden my 46 feels oh so old...


Was talking to the 21yo intern in my office today who was complaining about importing autoCAD drawings into an acoustical computer program about how when I started in this business (26 yrs ago) I had to use a protractor, compass, and "gasp" my knowledge of log10 to figure out how much area a speaker system would cover and how loud it would play.

He asked me what a protractor was. seriously...

Ok, as I said I'm 25 and I know what a protractor is. That guy must just be dumb. Or ignorant. Probably both.
 
Here's an old one. It has some of the things listed previously.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

  • First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
  • They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
  • Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
  • We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
  • As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
  • Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
  • We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
  • We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
  • We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
  • We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
  • No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
  • We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
  • We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
  • We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
  • We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
  • We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
  • We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
  • Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
  • The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
  • This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
 
I'm going to file this away for when I turn 40 in a couple of years.....
 
I'm going to file this away for when I turn 40 in a couple of years.....

I'm 37, so just around the corner. It's funny when you look back out how much things have changed. I think my pops still trumps me with the "no lights" and "no indoor plumbing" thing though.
 
The BF is quite familiar with this...just the other day I asked him what an 8-track was :D Heck, I even used a protractor in elementary school...oh such a long time ago!

I'll be 30 in a few short weeks :crying: So this is creeping up on me :(
 
huh? you have 10 years before you're 40!!! how is that creeping? maybe at a glacial pace. lol

The BF is quite familiar with this...just the other day I asked him what an 8-track was :D

I'll be 30 in a few short weeks :crying: So this is creeping up on me :(
 
huh? you have 10 years before you're 40!!! how is that creeping? maybe at a glacial pace. lol

At the way time is flying by...it'll be here before you know it :tongue:
 
Funny stuff.
 
and its funny, when I'm old and I'll have kids, I'll be complaining about only having Email, internet, Ipods etc. :D
 
A protractor, Isn’t that the thing they use when you have a colonoscopy?
 
The BF is quite familiar with this...just the other day I asked him what an 8-track was :D Heck, I even used a protractor in elementary school...oh such a long time ago!

I'll be 30 in a few short weeks :crying: So this is creeping up on me :(

HAHAHA, right there with you GC. But like i tell my wife. Ive got the mind of a 14 year old and, since i played so hard, the body of a 60 year old. So 30 is just a number to me at this point!!!
 
A protractor, Isn’t that the thing they use when you have a colonoscopy?

Nawww man that is what the doc uses when men get their prostate gland checked.. I'm lucky in that respect... I don't have to get that damn thing checked anymore. hmmmmm no sir!!!!!!!
 
The BF is quite familiar with this...just the other day I asked him what an 8-track was :D

Ha. I remember the first 8-track player my parents bought when I was 8 years old. Along with it, they bought Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Don McLean, and Elton John tapes. Of course, it got really interesting a few months later, when I discovered a "John Loves Mary" tape, with a plain light green label on it, hidden behing the bar. (Note: my parents names were not John and Mary.)

To this day, I still can't believe that my first introduction to pr0n was via 8-track...

Kim
 
The BF is quite familiar with this...just the other day I asked him what an 8-track was :D Heck, I even used a protractor in elementary school...oh such a long time ago!

I'll be 30 in a few short weeks :crying: So this is creeping up on me :(

30......Really? You thought time was flying by before, your about to hit a whole different gear my dear!
 
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