You know you are getting old when:

[GHT]

If you were old....You'd ask what's a mp3-player.

It's a device that stores and plays songs in a computer format (called MP3) for creating sound files that are much smaller than standard sound files.

I looked it up and still, I'm non the wiser. There again I overheard, at work, someone has something called: 'Alexa.' Everyone at work seemed to know about it, I hadn't a clue, so I searched for that too, and this is what I found.

Alexa is Amazon's cloud-based voice service available on more than 100 million devices from Amazon and third-party device manufacturers. With Alexa, you can build natural voice experiences that offers a more intuitive way to interact with the technology that we use every day.

That conjures up an image of a guy in the sky, leaning over the edge of a cloud, talking into a loudspeaker megaphone, calling me some sort of dumb-ass for not having an inkling. Neanderthal? Who me?

 

[Trenchfriend]

Easier description:

mp3 (or WMA) music-playing memory stick OR mp3-playing CD player.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

“What are the three P’s?,” asks an older woman playing a would-be customer.

“Price, price, and price,” says Jonathan. “A price you can afford, a price that will never increase, and a price that fits your budget.”

So Jonathan, just WTF is the difference between the first P and the third?

If only "two" rhymed with "p"... And consider, three is one of the magic numbers (e.g., The Three Stooges, Three Blind Mice, Three Wise Men from the East, Cinderalla's three wicked step sisters, how many companions did Dorothy collect on her way to Oz?...)

 

[GHT]

If only "two" rhymed with "p"... And consider, three is one of the magic numbers (e.g., The Three Stooges, Three Blind Mice, Three Wise Men from the East, Cinderalla's three wicked step sisters, how many companions did Dorothy collect on her way to Oz?...)

There were three Bronte sisters
Three witches in Macbeth
The three-piece suit
Scrooge is visited by three ghosts.

But the rule of three can have an altogether different aspect:

A little girl was walking through the park when she saw three dogs lying by the pathway. Being an animal lover, she approached the dogs and proceeded to pet one of the dogs on the head.

She said to the dog, “How are you? Are you happy? I wish you could tell me your name.”
The dog suddenly spoke up, “My name is Moe and I had a great day going in and out of puddles.”

The girl was amazed and said, “You can talk?! Do your friends talk too?”
The second dog also spoke up, “My name is Larry and I had a great day going in and out of puddles.”

The girl was pleasantly surprised to hear two dogs speaking to her so she approached the third dog and said, “Now let me guess – your name is Curly and you had a great day going in and out of puddles?”

“No,” the third dog said. “My name is Puddles and I had a lousy day.”

 

[tonyb]

If only "two" rhymed with "p"... And consider, three is one of the magic numbers (e.g., The Three Stooges, Three Blind Mice, Three Wise Men from the East, Cinderalla's three wicked step sisters, how many companions did Dorothy collect on her way to Oz?...)

It’s fortunate, then, for the more poetic memoirists living along the Utah/Arizona border that “five” rhymes with “wives.”

One of the rules a visual artist learns and then learns to disregard is that arrangements in odd numbers are generally received more favorably than arrangements in even numbers. Which is not to say there’s nothing to that rule.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

All television insurance advertising should be banned, along with pharmaceutical and ambulance chasing shyster ads.

Pray tell why? Freedom of speech and individual tele channel, program, choice commerce.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Which makes it all the more difficult when your living depends on your ability to "please everyone." You may not be able to suffer fools gladly, but you still have to suffer them.

Totally agree Lizzie, and suffer we do.
I spent 43+yrs taking care of sick people in the hospital. Gave far too many soles their last breath before their beyond.
People ill, hurting, feeling poorly, pondering life from a new perspective, worried loved ones, rarely are at their best, often at their worst.
Often those caring for them feel the brunt of their situations yet must remain detached professionally to remain functional.
Their true selves frequently can’t help but be displayed, understandably.
A detached thick skinned yet courteous demeanor required dealing with ‘suffered fools’ is a lesson in humility.
Every once in awhile, say a handful in 40 years, a bright shining light appears ironically in the most sorry of cases that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, where the absolute best of the human spirit “suffers” us as the fools, making us the patient, unmasking the thick skin and reattaching our faith in mankind and we are a better person for them.
We revisit the roots of our humility.
Those….those are the days that make suffering fools worth all the other days.
Wish i’d have known this before i “got old”.
B

 

[GHT]

Totally agree Lizzie, and suffer we do.
I spent 43+yrs taking care of sick people in the hospital. Gave far too many soles their last breath before their beyond.
People ill, hurting, feeling poorly, pondering life from a new perspective, worried loved ones, rarely are at their best, often at their worst.
Often those caring for them feel the brunt of their situations yet must remain detached professionally to remain functional.
Their true selves frequently can’t help but be displayed, understandably.
A detached thick skinned yet courteous demeanor required dealing with ‘suffered fools’ is a lesson in humility.
Every once in awhile, say a handful in 40 years, a bright shining light appears ironically in the most sorry of cases that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, where the absolute best of the human spirit “suffers” us as the fools, making us the patient, unmasking the thick skin and reattaching our faith in mankind and we are a better person for them.
We revisit the roots of our humility.
Those….those are the days that make suffering fools worth all the other days.
Wish i’d have known this before i “got old”.
B

You have just described, in a most eloquent way, a day in the working life of my wife, Tina. Retired now, she spent her working life in the ambulance service. My paramedic lady often said that she could deal with patients trauma, but to rude, loud mouth relatives, she gave them both barrels.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Better to be 20 in the 70s than 70 in the 20s.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Always astonishing to me, how small "small kids" are. I'm 1,80m, that's not tall, but in that moments I seem to be a giant!

 

[Tiki Tom]

I’m always astounded to see how YOUNG people look. “Really, you are the pilot of this aircraft? You look like you are about 18 years old.”

Of course, I knew I was in trouble when I had professionals working on my staff who were born after 2000. (All the while, remembering that my generation had spent about 20 years joking that the world would end in the year 2000.)

 

[GHT]

I’m always astounded to see how YOUNG people look. “Really, you are the pilot of this aircraft? You look like you are about 18 years old.”

Of course, I knew I was in trouble when I had professionals working on my staff who were born after 2000. (All the while, remembering that my generation had spent about 20 years joking that the world would end in the year 2000.)

This lady, a professional model, name of Cindy Joseph is 63. You can tell from the appearance around the eyes, the neck and her hands, she's not had enhancement surgery. Her comment is simply put:
"you are in the driver's seat of your life. It is what you make it, and what you think of it. You make the judgment calls — no one else does. If you are living according to what others think, you will never be truly confident or happy."
Whatever she's on..................I'll have the same, thank you.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The surgeon's scalpel cannot erasure time but only alter its effect; sometimes horribly so.
Vanity trespass across the glass hand mirror held Venus can exact joy from life.

 

[The one from the North]

I’m always astounded to see how YOUNG people look. “Really, you are the pilot of this aircraft? You look like you are about 18 years old.”

Of course, I knew I was in trouble when I had professionals working on my staff who were born after 2000. (All the while, remembering that my generation had spent about 20 years joking that the world would end in the year 2000.)

Some years ago I had to drive all night. While having a coffee brake at around 3 in the morning I noticed this around 12-13 years old girl hanging around in that 24/7 service station. While i was thinking that kid that young shouldn't be there alone at that time, she calmly walked to her car and drove away... And the driving age here is 18. I truly understand what you are talking about!

 

[Trenchfriend]

When you still can smell it!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Getting 40 this year, actually no presbyopia in sight.

 

[EngProf]

Better to be 20 in the 70s than 70 in the 20s.

You are 100% right (at least)!
I fit both categories, and being 20 in the 70's was like living in another world.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Born in 1984, I would love to see all the Andy Gibb-Girlies on the dancefloor grooving around, in the late 70s!

Shadow danciiiin, Baby you do it riiiiight...

 

[Edward]

I’m always astounded to see how YOUNG people look. “Really, you are the pilot of this aircraft? You look like you are about 18 years old.”

Of course, I knew I was in trouble when I had professionals working on my staff who were born after 2000. (All the while, remembering that my generation had spent about 20 years joking that the world would end in the year 2000.)

Oh hells, yes. I'm at that point now where I have very experienced colleagues who are twenty years younger than me - some of them I supervised at PhD level, or taught them at postgrad, or even - horrors - their undergraduate classes. It is now only a matter of time before a student approcahes me and says "you used to teach my mum!", at which point I will crumble into dust and blow away like I drank from the wrong grail. I actually used that reference in front of some undergraduates this year, and then I had to explain it. The realisation my go to reference for being old was a movie that was released over thirteen years before some of then were BORN.... final year undergraduates. I make a point nowadays to tell them their youth disgusts me. They think I'm joking.

Getting 40 this year, actually no presbyopia in sight.

Enjoy it while it lasts! I made it to a month shy of 49 before I had to give in and order myself some reading glasses. I've not yet cracked and been cajoled into varifocals, though. I'd rather have half a dozen pairs in both prescriptions than two pairs of varifocals for the same price!

You are 100% right (at least)!
I fit both categories, and being 20 in the 70's was like living in another world.

My earliest memories go back to the Spring of 76.... a different world indeed. I'm also darkly amused by how very different to my lived experience is the eighties nostaglia indulged in by the Stranger Things generation. Mind you, my own parents look at me in askance in the same way when they see me come in wearing my latest bit of fifties repop....

 

[Trenchfriend]

When there are the kids, not comprehending Al Bundy's backhanded chicken-jokes...

Then you feel OLD!