Ok. I know I'm not old, old. However, making the decision to go back to college when I was 28, and take a part-time job at a frozen yogurt store has a way of making me feel like a fossil just months away from my 30th birthday. And even though the 17-21 crowd always tries to reassure me that I'm not old, they say and do things that directly contradict their claims. For example:
One day at work, someone had brought a little radio to listen to in the back so he wouldn't have to listen to the Muzak on the sound system. The station was playing songs from the 90's that I loved during highschool. I was in heaven: Bush, Third Eye Blind, Tool, etc. It was awesome! I sang along to every song. I asked what station it was. His response, "It's 107.5. They play all the classics at this time everyday." Huh. The classics.
On another occasion, I was walking across campus with some of my classmates. We were talking about our goals in life. It was the usual talk of places we want to travel, what we want to accomplish with our careers once we're done with college. Then the conversation turned to marriage and family. Let's pause here. When I was their age I though I would be married with a couple of kids by now. I have several friends who are married with 2 or 3 kids. I also have friends who are very established in their careers and/or who have traveled extensively. I had been in a relationship for 7 years, and had a very successful and still promising career until I decided to go back to school. It isn't as if I've been a bum up to this point. I just changed course. Back to the story. One of the girls then said, "I just hope I'm not pushing 30 and not settled down with a husband and a kid. I don't want to be that old and alone." Yep. Ouch.
I said "rad" once in front of one of my coworkers. He asked if I really just said that. I told him that indeed I did and that I said it all the time when it was a cool word to say. He asked, "Wasn't that, like, a hundred years ago when that word was cool?"
I have lots of little stories like that. But this one really got to me. I have a coworker who is still in high school. One day we were talking about movies. I brought up Indiana Jones and he has only seen "The Crystal Skull" and thought it was awesome. I told him he must watch the original movies. Then he dropped a bomb on me. Here's the conversation in script form.
Coworker: I just saw Titanic for the first time the other day.
Me: (quite freaked out) You just saw Titanic??? Where have you been?
Coworker: I don't know. It came out a long time ago, so I just never saw it.
Me: It wasn't that long ago! I saw it 3 times in the theater. Everyone saw it multiple times.
Coworker: It was a long time ago.
Me: Wait. How old are you now?
Coworker: I'm 16.
Me: And I'm 29, so you're 13 years younger than me. It came out when I was 16, so you were...3. Damn. I'm old.
So that's the big story. That's why I'm old. My joints also get stiff when I've been sitting for a long time. My dad was 25 when I was born. So he was 30 when I was 5, which is about as far back as I can remember with any real clarity. He used to always complain about his old bones back then. Now I know he wasn't lying.
So it's official. I'm old.
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