Lately, I've been feeling old and it's no wonder. I look at the youth today and see how easy they have it and I've realized, I've been on the planet a long time. I've seen hardship and struggle. I don't know about today's whippersnappers - what will they be complaining about in 20 years? How hard it was to listen to an iPod? Please.
What I'm posting below has been (apparently) flying around the Net, so forgive me if you've already seen it. Or don't. But just remember - I'm so old, I could die soon. And how would you feel living with that on your heads? You didn't forgive an old, dead lady and now you want to try to sleep at night? sheesh But I'm rambling (which old people do and we've decided to find it charming) - read below to see the struggles of my childhood. I'm going to go listen to my mix tape...
1. When I was a kid, we didn’t have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the dang library and look it up ourselves… In the card catalog!! (Do you even know what a card catalog is? Didn’t think so!)
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.
3. There were no MP3’s or Napsters. If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the dang record store and shoplift it yourself. Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up.
4. We didn’t have fancy stuff like Call Waiting. If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that’s it.
5. And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID Boxes either. When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was. It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn’t know. You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister.
6. We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics. We had the Atari 2600. With games like “Space Invaders” and “asteroids” and the graphics were horrible. Your 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!
7. When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating. All the seats were the same height. If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn’t see, you were just out of luck.
8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu. You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on. And 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!
9. And we didn’t have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire … Imagine that. If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing or a pan with HOT oil and Real popcorn kernels and shake it all over the stove forever like an idiot.
10. When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked-in, we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone - not the phone base, the actual phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom - guess what you had to do? Hang up and talk to them later. That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
You kids today have got it too easy. You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980! Regards, The over 30 Crowd
7 comments:
Well crap...if YOU'RE old than I am petrified wood.
Signed:
A child of the 70's
Child of the 70s? Good one, Methuselah.
Old . . . you want to feel old . . . I see your seven foot phone cord and raise you: cars without a/c; only static-filled AM radio; no remote controls; a world prior to McDonald's, KFC, or Burger King; stockings with garter belts . . . no pantyhose; "dishwashers" were your two hands; and . . . . THREE television stations. You . . . old? Not even! :-)
he he he
You WOULD know old, Hag. :)
Remember the phone cord always being in the dog water? What was that about? I'd traipse out to the utility room to talk in "peace" and try not to touch the wet part of the cord on my way. Those were good times....
HA HA HA
Jackie O'Cleaver - I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT!!!
Ok so I am partially a 60's child too - thanks for adding insult to injury. WEEP! Lorri is my new BF btw.
I remember when a thong was a shoe... I remember when we had "party lines" and it didn't involve punch or cookies ( no privacy then mon!! ). I remember when saying something was "bad" meant that it WAS bad.... I remember when presidents were heroes and we didn't know about their illegal dealings, wire tappings or sex lives.... I remember when people were married before they had children and it was frowned upon not to be.... I remember when it was rare for someone to be divorced. I remember when ( yes Lorri! ) you had one tv ( and it was black and white ) and you had one old, old, old car with over 100,000 miles on it ( and for entertainment, your Dad drove around the farm yard when it was at 99,999 to see it "trip" over to 100,000 miles and you thought it was fun ). I remember whenever you heard a firetruck, you would stop and follow it to see where it was and see if you could help your neighbor, I remember when there were no disposable diapers, wipes, baggies or spouses. I remember when a space flight was a day for everyone to stop and watch it on tv and be proud of your country.
I remember when a kind (and yes maybe alcoholic ) friend of your parents drove you to the end of the rainbow; or at least tried to get their with you and your siblings laughing all the way ( ok that one made me tear up...time to get on with my day.)
Thanks for this topic Mama.
I remember when there were no disposable diapers, wipes, baggies or spouses.
LOVE IT!
Thanks for sharing! Those were great.
I miss the slower pace of life, but now thinking back, I don't know that it was truly slower. I think that my family made decisions to slow down - but there were certainly people even then with jam packed lives. It was just more acceptable to opt out of that.
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