| Author | Message | ||
     Pammy |
Painfully true If you are 30 or older, you will think this is hilarious.... If not, send it to your parents. They'll think it's funny. When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill BOTH ways . And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in heck I was going to lay a bunch of stuff like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it. But now that... I'm over (ahem...waaaaay over) the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy. I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia. And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it. 1. When I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the 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 down the driveway 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 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 Play Station video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics. Later there was Video Pong and then 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 was 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 screwed. 8. We had no cable...only 3 stations (maybe) that you had to go outside and turn the antennae to be able pick up or --gasp --rabbit ears on the tv. Later on, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no on screen 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. 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 we 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're spoiled... You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1950, 1960, 1970 or 1980. Regards, The over 30 Crowd | ||
| Ezblast |
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| Mcgiver |
Are you telling me, that you can now make popcorn in a microwave?  Brian | ||
| Jackbequick |
I've finally gotten used to microwave popcorn. It is better than no popcorn at all. Hot air poppers were not that good either. Three minutes and 20 seconds at 70 percent power on our 1000 Watt microwave leaves me with no burned kernels and 30 to 60 unpopped kernels (of course I count them, how else would I know?). If I change to 3:30 or 80 percent, I get a few kernels just starting to get burned. I think I have attained the maximum performance possible. I like a hint of the slightly burned flavor but SWMBO won't eat her half of the bag if she smells burned popcorn. Once I forgot to set the power level down to 70 per cent and went down to the basement for the 3:30 burn time. I came back upstairs to find the time expired and a small but self sustaining popcorn fire going inside the bag inside the microwave. I grabbed the bag with a hot mitt and took it out on the back deck and dumped it for the birds and squirrels. But I couldn't help but wonder if the fire would not have put itself out from oxygen depletion if I had not returned. SWMBO was not home luckily. Squirrels aren't much for popcorn but the racoons of the night will eat anything. Popcorn is one of the benefits of retirement, you can have some whenever you want. Jack | ||
| Ulywife |
That's good Pammy. I too miss real popcorn. When I moved out from my parents house, I took the "popcorn pot" with me. It was a sad day when the handle broke. Phones - we have 4 cordless phones at home. There are days I wish I had a corded phone somewhere. At least I'd know where one phone was in the house! | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
I'm 26 and all that applies to me except instead of Atari it was Nintendo and we did have a microwave. I didn't get a computer or internet until I was in college. Though, I had a couple of friends in highschool with computers and AOL dial-up. | ||
| Jlnance |
So Pammy, are you claiming to be 30? ;) | ||
| Kyrocket |
Ahhh yes... but on the other hand we could stay out past dark and not worry about getting run over or picked up by a stranger. We could ride our bicycles and not a silly helmet. NO CARSEATS OR SEATBELTS! We actually knew who our neighbors were. We could leave the house unlocked for weeks on end and leave the keys hanging in the ignition of the vehicles. But we did have to wait up 'til midnight on Friday night for Friday Night Videos (remember those?) before MTV. I have to admit that I'm now raising three of my own and have caught myself giving the old, "when me and your uncle were your age" speech but I don't stop. If I had to listen to it then by golly they'll listen to it now and be able to tell it when they're almost 35. Ahh the perils of old age. As the saying goes, to be old and wise you once had to be young and stupid. Yes and yes. | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Remember what Bob Dylan once said, the same Bob Dylan who is about 67 now. NEVER TRUST ANYONE OVER THIRTY | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
When we got our microwave from sears, it cost about 20% of the price of the Ford in the drive way. My parents attended a 1.5 hour "seminar" on how to use it. It was the size of a Buick and the lights dimmed when it kicked on. You forgot B&W TVs. My kids can't believe there were TVs that weren't in color. Hey, here's another one. Kids, in the old days, I was the remote control. Every night I would hear "Change the channel for me. No. No. No. WAIT GO BACK. No. Ok that's good." My wife remembers when her sister got a $120 calculator that added, subtracted, multiplied and divided. It was another $40 for the one that printed on paper. In the old days, we had to lock and unlock the doors and roll the windows up and down BY HAND. I remember that my Aunt and Uncle were rich. They had a refrigerator that had ice cubes and water IN THE DOOR. They didn't have a water jug that your dad drank out of and those damned ice cubes that you couldn't get the ice out of. I didn't have a refrigerator with ice in the door until I got married. I did cure my dad from drinking water out of the water jug, though. I applied a nice layer of Mitchum Roll On deodorant to the lip of the jug. Classic. Spit. Take.  | ||
| Road_thing |
Thanks, Pammy! I needed that! Brings back memories of getting up Saturday mornings to watch the coyote try to catch the roadrunner... rt | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
Did anyone else have to "turn the antenna"? I can remember going out in the cold to turn the pole-type antenna while mom or dad yelled out if the picture was getting better or worse. Yeah kids today have it too easy. | ||
| S1wmike |
You're forgetting the rotary dial phones and just remember dialing long distance with a phone number with a lot of high numbers. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I saw a Time Life Phone at a flea market the other day and laughed out loud. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Wow, I'm 25 and remember lot's of that stuff. I'm getting old!!!!!!  | ||
| Mikej |
We could take a hatchet to school for show and tell and not get arrested, and pull out a pocket knife during class to sharpen our pencils. We could ride a bicycle to the store and leave it unlocked outside while we went inside to buy a soda, a candy bar, an apple or a banana, and a jar of fishing eggs and still have change left over from the dollar we earned mowing a lawn. Texting was passing a folded up hand written note during class and trying to not get caught by the teacher. When you went on vacation for a week you locked the front door but left the back door unlocked in case one of the neighbors needed to borrow something. Milk was delivered to the front door and left in glass jars in a small silver ice box by the front step. You left the money for last week's order and the order for next week in the box for the milk man. | ||
| Tank_bueller |
Yep those were the days.. Atari, I always hated space invaders. Ridin bicycles, banana seat?? hell no, it was the "bread loaf" seat. Didn't get cable until after MTV was already on...Headbangers Ball!!! No microwave until 85' And the old rope swing...attracted kids from miles away. Real firecrackers, that would blow GI Joe completely out of existence, and fingers too. The ol' Torino...I could lay in the rear floorboard and prop my legs on the hump, and when I fought with the sister, we got sent to "our side" of the backseat. The International Scout. I'd crawl over the back seat to get beers for dad(he couldn't reach...he was driving) Yep, the good ol' days | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Phones - we have 4 cordless phones at home. True, true, true! We normally just pick up a new set of 4 at Sam's Club because we can never find the silly things. I got roped in to going to a car lot with our middle child to get her a new car and what do we find in the back seat and trunk (yea, that'd be two) of her car? Two missing wireless phones -- and they're were from different sets. I still cook my popcorn on the stove with oil  The microwave stuff sucks. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
I still have some flash cubes and a 110 Instamatic. Gonna take pictures when I'm in a nursing home(35 years from now,I hope) a dazzle all the young girls with it. I don't think I had a color film camera till the mid 70's. | ||
| Mcgiver |
I remember going to the bank and making a deposit. The teller would record the transaction by hand, and at that point you had money in your account. Now with high speed computers, you may not see it for a day or so. Progress? Brian | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons on my parents 19" black and white TV in the early 70's. There were three channels, and we had to go outside and turn the antenna pole to get the third one. Mom and dad used to sit around Friday nights with their friends listening to music from vinyl albums and 8-track tapes. If you had two phones or TVs in the house you were considered well-to-do. Stereo speakers were as big as a dorm refrigerator. Instead of video games, we had a slingshot and a magnifying glass to antagonize ant colonies with (when we ran out of firecrackers capable of blowing a finger off). Bruce Willis actually had hair. If the neighbor caught you up to no good, your parents fully expected them to spank you just like their own children. It was OK to hug each other in school, say a prayer and the pledge of allegiance every morning, and noone thought anything at all about having your pocket knife with you. I remember bringing my bb gun to school in 3rd grade for show and tell and the teacher thought it was a great idea. I vividly getting on the big yellow schoolbus for the first time in 1977 and watching my mom try her hardest not to cry while she watched the bus pull away with her first born. I remember being quite welcome to go to any house on the block and ask for a drink of water or a snack, and be invited to stay for dinner. I remember my father being so proud of his first camera, which was a Polaroid Instamatic that actually took color (but none the less horrible by today's standards) pictures. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
I can remember going to the gas station and an attendant would fill your car up with gas, clean the windshield and check the oil for the price of gas was $0.19 per gallon. I just wish I could buy gas now for $3.19 a gallon! | ||
| Bo_sox |
HEY!!!! You forgot some of the most important things.............. 89 cents/gallon for gasoline $8.99/case for Budweiser $1.69/bottle for Boone's (Strawberry Hill-of course) $2.09/3 pack of Trojans $8.99/CD of whatever crappy music you were trying to impress the opposite sex with $Bullshit/excuse that you were laying on the parents to try and make the above pieces come together $335/Planned Parenthood trip, if one of the above pieces failed or was left in the glove box or wallet These are what I recollect of 1989 pricing when I got my license to drive!!! | ||
| Spdkls |
remember when atm's weren't around. if you didn't have cash you had to goto 7-eleven and buy something, write a check, ask the guy how much over you could write it then hope he had enough money to give back. i haven't written a check in about 5 years. i remember having to sit a tape recorder next to the speaker and play a record to get it on tape. worst recording ever, but i loved it. i had a sharp boom box in the early 80's that played records vertically. it took 12 d cel batteries and lasted about 15 mins.  | ||
| Torquemonster |
I remember when SNL was actually funny. Bass-o-matic, anyone? Great post, Pammy! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I was the computer lab assistant in college when we installed the first Windows program. I still have an affinity for DOS prompts. Then again, there was the VIC-20 and Commodore 64. Cassette Tape Drives. Monochromatic monitors. Dot Matrix printers. | ||
| Danger_dave |
I am REALLY glad it's 2008. The only thing I wish was still like it was is traffic policing. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
i'll be 29 in a few months, and remember lots of that stuff. we always had color tv, but i do remember when we got our first cable box when i was around 5. it had a slider thing that you used to change the channel. you also had to have that adapter thing cuz there was no "cable ready" tv. | ||
| Court |
Skelly Station Cheateau Bridge KCMO | ||
| Reepicheep |
Remember the Juilia Childs SNL skit? Another classic! |
