How to Know You're Old

When a movie you saw in theatres as an adult is considered a classic.

And those old theaters were always downtown I remember seeing one with three screens on some blockbuster movie way back when, reminded me of the old Paris opera house and half-expected to see a masked phantom peek from behind a curtain. My wife remembers meeting a girlfriend downtown Dallas (went by city bus) for one of those in the fifties. I think the theater was called the "Palace." Now you have a cookie-cutter 10-screen monstrosity in the suburbs. No thanks.

When Blockbuster and/or Jumbo Video used to be the way to get your movies.

Rotary phones. 'Member those?

I had something bizarre happen regarding rotary phones a couple years ago. I had to call some government agency, I think it was Motor Vehicles. And I got the automated system. The recording said, "If you are calling from a push-button phone, press 1. If you are calling from a rotary phone, press 2."

Looks like someone's having a hard time adapting to modern times.

Drive-ins, that's my memory of movies as a kid. Often it was two movies, and a cartoon, and an intermission where you could go swing on the swings by the snack bar.

When I was a teen we stood outside the car at the drive-in, looked up at the full Moon and talked about the men that were up there right then.

Drive-ins are mostly flea markets now if the asphalt still exists.

Night_Writer said:

Rotary phones. 'Member those?

Click to expand...

Texting on those was a bitch.

Chris P said:

Texting on those was a bitch.

Click to expand...

That’s hilarious.

...When you not only recognize, but can sing most of the lyrics from the Top 100 Songs from the 1950's

When you choose not​ to eat or drink something because you know it'll not be worth the aftermath later...

When you can't sleep every wretched night between 2:30 and 4o a.m. but don't have anything worthwhile to worry about because you are freaking retired, have money in savings, your idiot kids are grown with idiot kids of their own to bedevil them and you don't care if you get fat or if your shoes don't match tomorrow's outfit.

Worse there is enough food and goodies in the fridge to make a giant midnight snack and ice cream to chase it but heartburn has made you a coward. --s6

When you wake up at 5:30, fix breakfast, and about 8am you decide to go back to bed. I'd stay there but my wife wakes up and the honey-do's start. Then about 2pm I'm down for a nap (luckily she took one too).

Oooh! Oooh! Mr. Kotter--I do that morning nap thing too. It is especially embarrassing when I am substitute teaching. --s6

PS--porlock, your deck looks like my deck only it looks like you have applied the sealer. Last evening I unloaded all the furniture, planters, potting table etc. The kid next door said he would mow at 6 p.m. So I loaded up the deck again and waited. No kid. It is now 10:24 a.m.--still no kid. Just watched him leave for baseball practice. The temp yesterday was 106* so I doubt he is coming today and I cannot put down the water sealer because of the temp. I like this kid, have known him since he was in diapers. He's a good ballplayer. I probably won't say anything because I know what it is like to be 12 in the summer. BUT You know you are old when you feel yourself turning into Mr. Wilson instead of Mrs. Wilson!

I built that deck several years ago with help from a neighbor but no haven't sealed it yet. It needs repair, one of the days I'll get around to it (after a while my wife gets tired of nagging and anyway it's too hot - Texas, 97deg yesterday). I hired a local good ol' boy to mow and weedeat. Like the kid, he doesn't always show up when he says he will but he's cheap. I like nature, as long as I'm sitting in front of the TV watching it. The dog, by the way, is a blue heeler mix; lost him last year but still have fond memories. He loved his walks.

Lots of Blue Heelers here. I lost my Jack Russel a few years ago. Now I am mom to 4 cats. My deck seems to attract them--s6

I remember being able to put air in my tires for free.

I remember being able to get out of a chair without grimacing.

MaeZe said:

Drive-ins, that's my memory of movies as a kid. Often it was two movies, and a cartoon, and an intermission where you could go swing on the swings by the snack bar.

When I was a teen we stood outside the car at the drive-in, looked up at the full Moon and talked about the men that were up there right then.

Drive-ins are mostly flea markets now if the asphalt still exists.

Click to expand...

I think you're thinking of Grease.

You lost me Cornflake. I never even saw Grease in a theater let alone a drive in. I was older than the disco era.

But I do like the Bee Gees.

MaeZe said:

You lost me Cornflake. I never even saw Grease in a theater let alone a drive in. I was older than the disco era.

But I do like the Bee Gees.

Click to expand...

You've never seen Grease?!?! But you seem like you're alive and everything...

Here, look. It's only 2 minutes but you'll get what I was saying, what with the drive-in, swings, snack bar...

cornflake said:

You've never seen Grease?!?! But you seem like you're alive and everything...

Here, look. It's only 2 minutes but you'll get what I was saying, what with the drive-in, swings, snack bar...

Click to expand...

OK, I get it. My brain was going to 'me at the drive-in', not 'the drive-in in movies', a sign of an aged brain.

I've only seen parts of Grease, never watched the whole movie. That's a horrid song, never saw that part of the movie. But yeah, look at that, the swings and the little cartoon: "Let's all go to the lobby."