Let’s Talk Age!

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-29 01:35:39

When was your favorite age, and why? Any age groups you clash with? General thoughts on getting older?

Imipolex G · 2014-05-29 01:47:42

I was happiest the year I was 13, oddly enough. That was the last year before I became aware of the Big Issues. I played a lot of video games

I clash with all age groups.

Getting older is a bizarre and fascinating process, and also completely terrifying.

Obā-san · 2014-05-29 01:51:13

i don't have a favorite age, i dislike children and am not too fond of young teenagers, getting older is neat i guess, though some do it with more grace than others

Tachyon · 2014-05-29 01:53:50

I'm not wild about teenagers but I don't particularly clash with anybody

all the years I can remember were mostly unpleasant, though my gap year was probably the worst in terms of spending most of it feeling miserable and accomplishing nothing whatsoever

getting older... I don't wanna

Sredni Vashtar · 2014-05-29 01:55:04

Some children are quite sweet, although being one was... well, one of those things that should have been better than it was. There were some lovely parts and some really awful parts.

Teenagers kind of suck, but not always. But then, so young adults can suck just as much, although on average they seem less awful. 23-43 seems best, as far as not being a terrible person in a terrible life goes.

Misery · 2014-05-29 01:56:23

Favorite age? Dunno anymore. I clash mostly with people younger than or the same age as me. Growing up is really scary.

Tachyon · 2014-05-29 01:57:49

the worst thing about getting older, for me, is reflecting on all the things i've had time to accomplish, but didn't

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-29 02:03:17

I think that applies to most if not all people. Regret is like, the universal human experience

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see that's my point exactly

Princess Alice · 2014-05-29 02:03:51

Tachyon said:
the worst thing about getting older, for me, is reflecting on all the things i've had time to accomplish, but didn't

Yes, this.

Imipolex G · 2014-05-29 02:04:37

but of course

Tachyon · 2014-05-29 02:06:05

well, of course, there's also the growing spectre of death, but that seems like a peculiar thing to fixate on at 24, even though you're not invincible at any age

Imipolex G · 2014-05-29 02:06:56

I fixated on death at 14, personally

Obā-san · 2014-05-29 02:07:06

...i guess im not a very accomplishment oriented person

i just like learning new things and getting cool stuff and also romance

Obā-san · 2014-05-29 02:08:43

im not scared of death on a rational level

though if i don't pay attention my reptilian mind gets the better of me and then i go AAAHH IM GONNA DIE and then i go "oh wait yeah that's not actually scary shut the fuck up brain"

Yarrun XIX · 2014-05-29 02:14:48

Part of me wants to end up at 28. Like, immediately.

I assume that, by then, I'll have something resembling security (a place of my own, a job, disposable income) while still having something resembling youth.

Part of me occasionally gets hung up on death, but we just try to ignore it.

Tachyon · 2014-05-29 02:16:16

I'm hopeless at just enjoying things 'in the moment'... it's the expectation of future accomplishment that really keeps me going.

Which I guess is why death scares me like it does, really. It represents the point after which I can't accomplish anything, and which calls the purpose of any prior accomplishments into question since at this point I've more or less given up on the idea that any amount of new information will improve my life

so aging is highly unsettling

Obā-san · 2014-05-29 02:18:48

i guess that makes sense

i do have goals, but they are attainable and process oriented

i want to get some cool duds, settle down with a nice dude, get some comfy furniture and make an album i can be proud of.

buttercrispy · 2014-05-29 02:31:51

my favorite age is the one I am currently because life feels tumultuous, but it's like a tumultuous WITH A PURPOSE. Which is different than basically any other time in my life because even if I don't have a whole lot of control over what happens, I do have a considerable amount more than I did at 5 or 15.

I butt heads with middle schoolers over classroom discipline, but little else. Similar vein with the 4-5 year olds I teach piano to, but that's more frustration at myself than at them.

I like growing older because it gives me some perspective on situations I didn't understand when I was younger, or experiences my parents told me about that suddenly click with context.

Sredni Vashtar · 2014-05-29 03:36:23

Yon Assassin said:
i guess that makes sense

i do have goals, but they are attainable and process oriented

i want to get some cool duds, settle down with a nice dude, get some comfy furniture and make an album i can be proud of.

I have similar goals.

I really want to make an album that I am truly proud of and have it be popular or well-distributed enough to reach the people to whom it would truly matter. Not necessarily a lot of people, maybe just a tiny number, but people who would love it and make music that they love making because of it. I don't care if I'm frightfully obscure or a cult hero; I just want to be listened to by as many people like me as possible. And there aren't a lot of them out there, to be frank.

In love... I have you. For now, that is much more than enough.

Beholder · 2014-05-29 04:02:21

Dread getting older, as in, to my 30-40. 25 now, and feeling way too old

Strangely enough, looking forward to the actual old age, that is, about 60, the age of retirement. Then I would no longer be pressured by society to work, to be pretty or to give a damn. I'd be a cranky old lady who eats what she likes, dresses how she likes, does what she likes, dyes her hair an outrageous colour and shouts at everyone to get off her lawn.

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-29 04:29:34

My only real goal is to not be a failure but I think I already failed? idk

Morven · 2014-05-29 20:38:45

Beholder, from personal experience as a 41-year-old, you start getting eccentricity passes at about this age.

Beholder · 2014-05-29 22:07:33

But you still have to work, be professional and successful. Heck, you are supposed to buy that proverbial midlife crisis car

Anonus · 2014-05-29 22:36:35

On "settling down":

Are you supposed to do this? I guess prizing stability isn't a bad thing, I do it myself, but I'm thinking about how John Kricfalusi never seems to have "settled down"...

(I know he has a "grumpy old man" reputation but he's still got energy!)

Sredni Vashtar · 2014-05-29 22:40:38

Anonus said:
On "settling down":

Are you supposed to do this? I guess prizing stability isn't a bad thing, I do it myself, but I'm thinking about how John Kricfalusi never seems to have "settled down"...

(I know he has a "grumpy old man" reputation but he's still got energy!)

Well, you don't have to, but having a base to come back to and not having to slave-drive yourself with your work is something that a lot of people like the concept of. And you can "settle down" domestically without abandoning your ambitions, as Colin Newman has demonstrated.

Section42L · 2014-05-29 22:56:49

Whenever I see age-related discussions, I think of how Robert Pollard didn't get his big break until he was 36 years old. Before then, he was just a normal guy toiling as a fourth-grade teacher, banging out tunes with his friends in hopes of getting people to notice him.

He is one of the most potent examples of how life isn't over if you're not a superstar by age 25, like many seem to think is the case.

You just need to keep working on your goals, and never give up hope. I know that's easier said than done, but it does have to be done if you're going to get anywhere in life.

Obā-san · 2014-05-29 22:58:17

Edward Hopper didn't get his big break until he was in his mid-40s iirc

Sredni Vashtar · 2014-05-29 23:00:32

There's this Mississippi gospel-blues singer who released his first LP earlier this year. He's been working clubs in his home town since before (or was it shortly after?) WWII.

Imipolex G · 2014-05-30 01:53:44

Getting seriously started in writing seems to be not uncommon around middle aged-ness. William S. Burroughs being one example.

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-31 02:15:50

Any opinions on these 30 under 30 / 20 under 20 trends? Anyone think they're exacerbating the general belief that one must find success as young as possible or resign themselves to mediocrity?

Miss Miko Mayonegg · 2014-05-31 02:41:36

I ate poutine today for the first time. My life is already a success.

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-31 02:43:19

waaaaay ahead of you okimiko

Imipolex G · 2014-05-31 02:44:11

I have never eaten poutine

Anyway, like all sane people, I ignore trends if at all possible

Justice4243 · 2014-05-31 02:44:52

^^^ Best Post.

I guessing my favorite age is whatever I happen to be at the time, because my life just gets more hilarious and bizarre the longer I'm on this planet.

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-31 02:46:34

b-but that doesn't coincide with my aging = bitterness theory! ;_;

Obā-san · 2014-05-31 02:48:29

aging merely brings you closer to someday possibly attaining something resembling a fraction of Iris Apfel's nigh-infinite swag

Justice4243 · 2014-05-31 02:51:47

Manly McMacho said:
b-but that doesn't coincide with my aging = bitterness theory! ;_;

I'm a 30 year old dude who's married, has a daughter, and writes MLP:FiM fan-fiction, there's probably a lot of theories I don't coincide with.

Princess Alice · 2014-05-31 02:51:55

It doesn't matter what age I am, because the people who are the same age as me will always have accomplished more than me ._.

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-31 02:52:50

Yon Assassin said:
aging merely brings you closer to someday possibly attaining something resembling a fraction of Iris Apfel's nigh-infinite swag

IIRC aging brings you closer to stabbing somebody

(I know it's not ↳Talk but wow that is an ugly sentence

like not the content or anything, just looking it, it is a particularly aesthetically unpleasing sentence

huh)

Obā-san · 2014-05-31 02:52:53

see? aging makes you awesome

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-31 03:37:42

so my choices are fashion icon or murderer

I was kind of gunning for the latter but I guess the other one's not so bad

Beholder · 2014-05-31 04:46:59

That's how I want to look when I'm old. Only fatter. Thing is, I want to already be there, skipping the 30-50

And yes, I do feel that if I am not moderately successful at 25, I fail at life, period. So, I already did

Manly McMacho · 2014-05-31 04:50:25

Are you on drugs? Are you homeless? Are you in jail? Are you a degenerate whore? If not then you haven't failed in the eyes of society yet so there's always that.

Sredni Vashtar · 2014-05-31 05:38:01

Failing at life requires failing all the way down the line. You have not done so, and you seem like a good person. Plus, you've still got all those years to get things right and have what fun you can where it's not.

Let’s Talk Age!

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