For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

snapperbait

Vice Admiral
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
5,754
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious<br />diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what<br />with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH<br />ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda<br />And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way<br />I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I<br />had it and how easy they've got it!<br /><br /><br />But now that...<br /><br /><br />I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and<br />notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy!<br /><br />I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!<br /><br />And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!<br /><br /><br />I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet.<br /><br />If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and<br />look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!<br /><br />There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter ...<br />with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put<br />it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!<br /><br /><br />There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music,you had to<br />hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you<br />had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd<br />usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!<br /><br /><br />We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone<br />and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!<br /><br /><br />And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang,<br />you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your<br />boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just<br />didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!<br /><br />We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with<br />high-resolution 3-D graphics! ! ;We had the Atari 2600! With games<br />like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked!<br />Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your<br />imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just<br />one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept<br />getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! ...<br />Just like LIFE!<br /><br />When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium<br />seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old<br />broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were<br />just screwed!<br /><br />Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15<br />channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had<br />to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!<br /><br />You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get up<br />and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was<br />no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday<br />Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for<br />cartoons!<br /><br />And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up . we<br />had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ...<br /><br />imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop<br />thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.<br /><br />That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too<br />easy. You're spoiled.<br /><br /><br />You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />-The 30 Something crowd!
 

KRS

Banned
Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
2,383
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

did you carve this out on stone tablets first and then type it on the computer?
 

POINTER94

Vice Admiral
Joined
Oct 12, 2003
Messages
5,031
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

How about, when I turned 16 I wasn't "entitled" to a car. I still actually use a bicycle. Just not as often.
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Yeah!!<br /><br />And besides that. . . . Oh, never mind. :rolleyes:
 

Dunaruna

Admiral
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
6,027
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Originally posted by snapperbait:<br /> <br /><br />There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music,you had to<br />hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you<br />had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd<br />usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!
:D <br /><br />I'm 43, still got a draw full of CASSETTES with music taped of the radio..........
 

Haut Medoc

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
10,645
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Yeah, well how many 8 tracks do you have?... :D ...JK
 

Dunaruna

Admiral
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
6,027
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

I'm not THAT old :p
 

snapperbait

Vice Admiral
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
5,754
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Dunaruna.... I have boxes of cassettes in my closet... Right next to my LP's.... :D Still have a record player and cassette player too.... :D <br /><br />Had some 8-tracks too.. all those are long gone... <br /><br />Just say no,to DISCO!.... :eek:
 

Dunaruna

Admiral
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
6,027
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Don't laugh too loud, some of those LPs' are worth $$$$ these days.<br /><br />Couple of years ago my MIL passed away. In the inevidable house cleanout (God I hate that),we found thousands of records, mainly 78s'. My wife sold the lot - paid for a nice little tropical holiday :cool: .<br /><br />MIL, if your watching, thanks.
 

jinx

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 25, 2003
Messages
739
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

I bought my first hand-held electronic calculator in 1973. Cost me $99.00! Heck, I could have bought a new car for the price of less than 2 dozen of them.<br /><br />Jinx
 

TD_Maker

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 31, 2005
Messages
564
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

I am 46 years old, and I too have wondered the same thing.<br /><br /> We did not even have Atari like you guys. On a good day, we had 3 TV stations, and one of those was a UHF channel. Outside antennas or rabbit ears were the norm, and the picture generally sucked....but we did not know it.<br /><br />I used to cut my neighbors yard for three dollars, and that even included trimming with those hand trimmers that look like sideways sissors. Weed Eaters? Yeah right. My hands were weed eaters. You did not cut grass on days that you had to pitch a little league game. Your hands were full of blisters. <br /><br />Bad parenting? Was not even thought of. If you were dumb enough to do it, and you got hurt doing it, then too bad. You would not do it again. We had block parenting back then. If another Mom had to whoop your bottom, you knew it was going to be worse when you got home. My Mom used to grab me by those short-hairs on the back of my neck and twist. She is 4'11 inches tall, and to this day, I would never back-talk my Mom.<br /><br />Time out? Yeah right. My Dad took time out to whoop my behind when I needed it; yet he was a gentle man otherwise. If our Football coach told us to do something, we simply did it. No questions were asked unless you wanted to be grabbed by your face mask and thrown to the ground. We hated, yet respected our coaches. Yet my memories are all good of my Coach.<br /><br />Yes, I took a gun to school. It was a shotgun that I used to hunt with. No one cared, it was a part of life.<br /><br />Good god, look how much I have written over nothing. I am sure my Dad could write about how good I had it. It will always be this way I guess.
 

heycods

Captain
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
3,941
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Im 57 what bothers me is all the things we could do and they cant do.
 

Haut Medoc

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
10,645
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Ah yes....."Youth wasted on the young".....I AGREE!.....You never know how good you have it until you don't!.... ;) My friend wants me to go skiing in West Virginia....I said, well what happened to Killington & Copper Mountain? He said, "The're to hard"....I said,You're gettin' crusty"....."Well, after three years in Florida, dodging hurricanes, my knees are shot! So we're just gonna go to Vegas in February....After I get back from Sun Valley.. :) ....JK
 

Haut Medoc

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
10,645
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Dunaruna, I had a great 8 track selection.....I also saved all of the matcth books that made them work!.The "Quadrophenic" ones were the best!...Esp. "Deep Purple" (Machinehead) & "Darkside of the Moon".(PF)....JK
 

blade_x

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
99
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

I just turned 50 and I think the best part of my life is just starting. Yeah of course the health was better as a kid but just for pure enjoyment today has yesterday beat all hollow. Heres how I spent my 50th birthday a month ago:<br /><br /> http://darkhalo.zapto.org/cruise/ <br /><br />It was a gift from my girlfriend and was the best birthday ever. I hope that todays kids have it as good as I do when theyre my age.
 

mattttt25

Commander
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
2,661
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

nice adaptation for us 30 somethings. god, first time i used that. big 30 was yesterday. :(
 

lark2004

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Messages
1,080
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

My Dad used to catch the tram right across Melbourne when he was a kid, by himself, at the age of 8, to see his grandparents.<br /><br />I used to go everywhere on my bike when I was a kid, it was safe. There wasn't the threat of being kidnapped by some wierdo.<br /><br />Now with my kids, I won't even let them go to the corner shop by themselves. There is no age of innoscence for our kids today.
 

dolluper

Captain
Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Messages
3,904
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Hey I went back to the old days and got Antenna Vision,got sick of being screwwd by the cable co, having to pay extra to get one channel with drag racing in a package of 7 that weren't worth the time to put on like the fruit loop channel and the woman's network {sorry ladies] GEEZ!!!!
 

Ron G

Commander
Joined
Apr 28, 2005
Messages
2,905
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

i had to work after school,i had to pay for my own car,and i have boxes or lps.rode the bus to school.and rode bickles or walked everwere.I had one of them sears knockoff atari on a black and white tv,i thought i was somebody,and we werent allowed in the house to sit and watch tv either if weent working we were playing outside in the woods.
 

KaGee

Admiral
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
7,069
Re: For the "30-something" crowd... the old farts can look too

Nice C&P Snapper!<br /><br />You forgot... "And we had to walk to the bus stop in 3" of snow"<br /><br />That was adapted from when I grew up we heard... "and we walked a mile to school in a foot of snow".<br /><br />Oh, wait a minute, you're in Florida.... nevermind!<br /><br />Maybe you could adapt it to something like... "we walked to school in Hurricanes". :p
 
Top