Good Tech vs. Bad Tech…

So, 30-somethings, you have seen your fair share of technology changes.  I’m sure many of you can tell the stories have having the Apple Classic box computer that was possibly your first classroom computer.  Do you remember your first e-mail address?  When the internet became big?  Pagers?  Cell phones?

Lots and lots of  technology has come through our lives.  One of my fondest memories is of my family getting our first answering machine.  As a matter of fact, a friend of mine left my house to call my house to see it work.  It was a fun experience.

Going to college and getting my first e-mail address was great.  I can remember wanting to us it, but not having anyone, outside of the school, that had one.  It was like being on the verge of big things, but you just weren’t sure how big they were.  It was like being bohemian in a new digital age.  It was the 1st generation iPhone, before we could even fathom such a thing.

However, it seems that not all technology is good.  In fact, I would go as far as to say that some technology is bad.  It’s the stuff that makes us a little too available.

I talked so fondly about the answering machine, but it seems like only a skip and a jump to cell phones.  Once those were big, there was no getting away from it.  Everyone needed to be able to get in touch with you at all times, even if all they needed was to ask you about how would win in a fight.  (My money is on Godzilla every time.)

I remember when I was given first BlackBerry for work.  I thought that was God’s gift to the work place.  That was until I realized that I could never get away from anything in the wonderful world of work.  It was amazing to see how this gift was a curse in no time.

So, my question to you, 30-somethings, is what technology has been good and bad to you.

 

A few thoughts on Pop Culture…

One of my more prized intellectual things is my “vast” knowledge of Pop Culture.  Now, there are lots of people n the world who knows lots  more  than me.  Still, I pride myself on my knowledge on the subject.

Now, as is the case with many of these posts, I started thinking about it after a conversation I had with some friends.  It was over G.I. Joe, which has been pushed back in the mainstream thanks to the upcoming movie.  (Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Find your closest dork, and they’ll tell you all about it.)  We were  talking about the mini-series which marked the birth of Serpentor, and specially all of the different  military leaders he received DNA from.

During the conversation, one of the folks with us had no idea of what we were talking about, and went to ask why we cared at all.  For the rest of us, it was just part of our childhood and was (at the time) important to us.  Of course I went on to explain that it was part of pop culture, and the response back was that they just didn’t care about that kind of stuff.  (Translation:  Took the wind out of my sails.)

The whole exchange brings up the larger question of why is pop culture important.  Personally, I think pop culture is important to all of us because it serves as a societal measuring stick.  It’s how we can measure what was important at the time, and what’s important now.  Take the pet rock from the 70s, or the macarena from the 90s.  In the moment, they captured the imagination of society and stuck with us.  When we see them years later, there is something comforting about them.

We all collect pop culture, whether we are willing to admit it or not.  Some people who would tell you that there’s not point in pop culture, might be able to tell you about Jon, Kate, their eight, and what lead them to divorce.  Or could name off all of the members of a particular band.  The trick is how they file them away in their mind.  Personally, I think of pop culture of a large topic that contains numerous topics.

I more remember lots of things that happen and connect the dots.  Basically, I’m a geek who likes to remember what’s in the news, movies, television, music, trends, etc. and brings it up at random time.  You can see me call to other pop culture geeks by the way that I make random references in everyday conversations.  If someone gets it, I know that they are in “the Fraternity.”  It’s like a foodie or a wine snob, they’re one of the good people who cares.

I wonder if when people stop caring is like letting go of their childhood or imagination.  Let’s face it, that would be sad…

 

Our shadow selves…

I’m going to talk psychology for a second, so bear with me on this one.  I’m sure everyone has read about Carl Jung’s concept of our Shadow selves in psychology 101.  (Sure you have, just dust off that long forgot knowledge from your first or second year of college.)  For those of you who don’t remember, Jung said that part of our unconscious mind was a repressed section called our “shadow aspects.”   I can hear you know, and no, this isn’t going to get into asking you about your mother.

Our shadow selves represents our shortcomings and weakness, and is most often seen when we are simply exhausted or overly stressed.  It is the part of us that turns the little tiny thing into the huge inferiority that we can’t seem to get over.  It shows up in dreams, as our unconscious mind processes through things.  However, Jung also said that “in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity.”  You know, the  whole, art is pain argument.  How can you sing the blues if nothing bad has ever happened to you?  That old chestnut.  (Here endeth the lesson…)

 Well, I’m not here to dwell on Jung’s concept of shadow self, but more of my own.

Instead, I’m interested in the person that we are when we are by ourselves.  Being in your thirties is a life that is filled with constant responsibility.  Be it work, significant others, children, whatever, the responsibility is always there.  When we are left by ourselves for an extended period of time, how do we act?  That’s a pretty legitamite question, and I wonder how many of you could answer it honestly.

I’ve been married now for over seven year, and have two young children (under the ages of five).  It is a rare opportunity to have a great deal of time by myself.  However, I have been a “bachelor” now for six days, and it’s been interesting.  My wife and kids have gone on an extended trip to visit family, and I’ve stayed behind to work.  Now, at work, it’s pretty determined how I will act, but it’s during the down time that I’ve been studying.

Now, some of you might say, “if I were in your situation, I would live it up like I was single again.  It’s be college all over.”  That sounds great in theory, but when it happens, we quickly remember that we’re not that young anymore.  No, no, my experience has been a fairly interesting tell on who I am when people aren’t watching.

What have I done with all this time?  The answer is simple:  I’ve watched movies and slept.  That’s right, I’ve watched movies and slept.  To be more specific, I’ve watched around 15 movies so far, and have a few more before it’s all said in done.  The truth is, I had about a 72 hour period when I didn’t even leave my house.  That’s right, I was a “bachelor” and I didn’t even leave my house.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done several things with friends, including dinner and poker.  But, I didn’t try to relive college, or any other wild time in my life.  And that’s my point!  There’s something about being in our thirties that when we are left to our own devices that are the wild and crazy.  Don’t get me wrong, we can all have a wild time on occasion, but it’s usually planned out with a little bit of down time for  recovery. 

The fact of the matter is, we’re all a little boring.

The truth of that statement should set you free.  We don’t have to worry about doing anything impressive (translation: stupid).  We can simply do whatever it is that we are interested in.  If you get the chance, see what it is that you would do.  I know that some will party, some will read, some will watch movies, and others will find different things to fill their time.  However, it’s just freeing knowing that we don’t have to live an exciting, jet setting life style.

So, thirty-somethings, find some time to yourself, and see what you would do.  I would be interested to hear the stories.  If you have one, leave it in the comment section.  Until next time, dear reader, stay true to yourself (even if that means being boring)…

 

Father knows best?

You know, fathers get a bad reputation…

 Before I start this post, I know that this is not an original topic, but it is something that has been on my mind for a while, fathers in media.  Now, I realize that women have been consistently portrayed and shown in negative light for a very long time, and I don’t want to take anything away from that argument.  The reality is that most women, on TV, movies, or real life, don’t get quite as much credit as they deserve.  Now, with that being said…

Specifically, I want to talk about the way in which fathers (and men in general) are portrayed in the field of entertainment.  Put simply (and to steal from The Critic), “it stinks!”

I have had several conversation with friends and family about the role of men as husbands and fathers.  This had brought me to do a great deal of think.  It has a lot to do with looking at the more shared roles in marriage that previously had been separated by gender.  In the past, you would classify the man as the bread winner, and the woman as the domestic who is at her happiest cooking, cleaning, and serving her family.  I think a great depiction of this view is the family in A Christmas Story.

The reality is that in our modern world, husbands and fathers are much more involved and share more responsibilities than previous generations.  A great deal of this has had to do with the changing role of women in the world, and just plain what it takes to make a family work.  I have lots of male friends who are tremendously active in raising the children, as well as doing housework, cooking, et cetera.  Personally, I clean the bathrooms in our house.  My wife hates doing it, and I don’t mind.  We, my wife and I, are of the mindset that we are a time and are in everything together.  It is this view that makes the world a better place for us.

Now with all of that being said, these changes in the role of men is not being reflected on television.  As a matter of fact, TV dads are at an all time low.  Just look at the landscape of paternal figures.  Fathers are portrayed as guys who are lucky to have ever lived out of their childhood, much less have gotten married and had kids.  Some seem so inept at everything that you’re surprised when they can even form a sentence.

Fathers, on television and movies, have become a comic relief role.  They are the dumb character that can cause trouble and never understand why it started.  They are the ones that are constantly outsmarted by their kids, boss, wife, family, door-to-door salesmen, and any other potential extra on set that day.  They are incompetent at everything.

Just consider the following television dads:  Homer Simpson (The Simpsons), Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Hal (Malcolm in the Middle), Frank Castanza (Seinfeld), Arthur Spooner (King of Queens), Ray Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond), Herman Munster (The Munsters), Jim (According to Jim), and Al Bundy (Married with Children).  These are all dads that seem to be fumbling their way through life.  Even one of the greatest television father figures of all time, Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, was shown to be the cause of many “problems.”

It seems that most of the great television fathers have come and gone with shows like Father Knows Best, The Cosby Show, The Brady Bunch, My Three Sons, and others.  Now, we have moved into accepting that these men are fools that only serve as a plot device and gags.  And even with the great men/fathers of entertainment past, they still (with the exception of the Cosby Show) did not share gender specific roles.  There was no cooking, cleaning, or any of that.

I put up two modern television fathers to consider:  Hank Hill (King of the Hill) and Michael Kyle (My Wife and Kids).  These are two dads who are sometimes the voice of reason, get into their fair bit of danger/trouble, aren’t always fooled, make mistakes, and can, at times, be the voice of reason.  These are not two perfect characters, like some of the past father figures, but instead have all of the flaws that real people have.  So, here’s to you, Michael and Hank, for not being idiots.

What a sad day indeed…

I’m not sure what to do to change it.  I’ve laughed at my fair share of these figures.  All I can hope to do is to show my own children that men are not what they see on TV (or movies), but are so much more.  So, a challenge to you men, husbands, fathers, let’s show the world how great we really are.

 

“No Laces”: The Legacy of Watergate and Thirtysomething-ness

A month ago I finally watched Frost/Nixon (2008), Ron Howard’s docudrama of the 1977 interviews between Australian TV figure David Frost and former U.S. President Richard Nixon. Being a history major (and a current history grad student) I was allured by the film’s historical subject matter. But being a pop culture buff/film fan, I was impressed by Howard’s use of segues, costuming, lighting and general atmosphere. By the end, I realized that it had become my favorite Ron Howard film.*

Before I returned it to Blockbuster, I reviewed an earlier scene that had especially captured my attention. After Frost and his producer have departed from their initial meeting with Nixon at the latter’s California retreat, Nixon (Anthony Minghella) turns to his chief of staff Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon, who seems to have found a niche playing blunt, square-jawed ex-military men) and comments on Frost’s choice of footwear:

Nixon: Say, did you notice his shoes?

Brennan: No, sir.

Nixon: Italian. No laces. What do you think? My people tried to get me to wear a pair like that.

Brennan: I think a man’s shoes should have laces, sir.

Nixon: You do?

Brennan: Yeah. Personally, I find those Italian shoes very…effeminate.

Nixon: That’s quite right.

In the DVD commentary, Howard’s clothing designer noted that a conscious choice was made to portray Frost and his team (mostly left-leaning newspaper men) in “casual” dress—sport coats, jackets, blazers, shirts and pants of various colors, and hardly any neck ties—while Nixon’s advisers dressed traditionally in blue/black suits, ties and vests, and polished shoes. Frost’s laceless Italian loafers were merely one part of that visual dichotomy.

In thinking about Frost’s shoes—and Brennan’s contemptuous assessment of their wearer’s orientation—I wondered: have we truly entered the Age of Frost? Is casual the new traditional? And what does mean for the thirty-somethings of today, most of whom arrived in the world about the time that Nixon and Frost were sitting down to talk?

Think about the workplace. At one point in the not-too-distant past (the late 80’s/early 90’s?), “business casual”—polo/button-down shirts and slacks, sans tie—was acceptable for Fridays. The other four days of the workweek required the full business dress of black/brown/grey pants, white/blue dress shirts, and tie. Now, “business
casual” is the traditional apparel of Monday through Thursday; Friday is the day for jeans, casual shirts, and tennis shoes. For thirty-somethings, this is so “normal”, so deeply ingrained in our business culture, that we find it difficult to envision anything different.

In the world of shoes, the difference is even more dramatic. In the early- to mid-20th century, men wore their tennis shoes to participate in sporting events; every other occasion demanded formal footwear. Even in the liberated, “swinging Sixties”, most people were inclined to wear Beatle boots, which still suggested a degree of semi-professionalism. Boots might not make a man look like a business professional, but they might make him look like a cowboy; either way, you couldn’t mistake him as being “effeminate”. And boot buckles were, in their own way, acceptable substitutes or laces.

Now, anything (seemingly) goes. Hush puppies and loafers, which once bedevilled Jack Brennan, have given way to crocs, Merrill slip-ons, and other shoes that glory in their conspicuous lack of leather, laces, or any other pretension to professionalism and conservatism. These are the shoes that thirty-somethings wear to practically every social or business function. Indeed, if one were to show up in polished dress shoes, people would take notice.

Of course, while this is true for the world of commerce, entertainment and leisure, it is still not a universal standard. Ironically, the two colliding worlds of Frost/Nixon—television and politics—still cling to the old ways.  Television figures are invariably “dressed to the nines”, if not in suits, then in tasteful, conservative slacks, shirts and ties. And politicians dare not appear before the camera, or even their own casually-dressed public, in anything less than sartorial splendor. Nevertheless, in looking at advertisements, TV shows, and movies, one could argue that the casual image has won the day.

So what does this mean for thirty-somethings?

Well, if the laceless loafers of Frost represent the new standard, the question is:  what will the future standard be?

Recent studies suggest that “casual Fridays” might not be such a good idea, citing reduced productivity, tardiness and dilly-dallying on phones and the Internet as direct results of a “casual” mindset. Yet this is the world we live in. Hardly any modern boss would seriously consider doing away with “casual Fridays” (even though, on occasion, they might be junked for in-office visitors or potential clients), and the suggestion that men start investing in good suits and polished wingtips could be seen as a clueless pretension to luxury, at a time when most paychecks need to be spent on something more substantive.

Still…in the back of our minds, we cannot escape two haunting sayings, spoken by our parents’ generation (the first to “break away” from the traditionalism of their elders):

1. “Dress for the job you want.” Comforting though jeans, tee-shirts, and laceless shoes may be, don’t we all secretly suspect that our more slovenly-dressed peers really don’t have their **** together? Are they to be taken as seriously as those of us who daily put on the traditional garb of the working world? As much as we glory in our rejection of outdated modes of fashion, don’t we still afford them some worth?
2. “Dress your age.” This, I believe, will never go out of style. Isn’t there something faintly disturbing about old people who dress like the very young? An anonymous author once noted, “Old age has respectability, until it pretends to youth.” As thirty-somethings accept that they have left the world of childhood and young adulthood behind, the need to be “age appropriate” will certainly dominate more of their thinking.

But, if “business casual” is traditional, then…how far below this will be the standard of our children? Or their children? Will sneakers be standard-issue dress for business interviews in the 21st century?  Will latter-day Jack Brennans bemoan the disappearance of crocs and Merrills for newer footwear (God knows what these would look like)?  Or will the decline in traditional dress be halted at the present fault lines?

(As an aside: will the Watergate Apartments still stand in that future time?  And, aside from fans of Futurama, will anyone know who Nixon was?)

*The defeated incumbent was 1995’s Apollo 13, another historical drama.

 

Haunted by words…

Have you ever said something you regret?

Sure you have, we all do at some point.  Often times, it’s said in the heat of the moment and tempers are flaring.  At other times, it cold an calculating, but feels a little too planned after the words have left our mouth.  And, as some many college students can attest, sometimes it just slips out in a drunken rampage.  No matter the how, it always seems like afterwords, we wish we wouldn’t have ever said it.

As a thirty-something, I’ve had plenty of times in my life when I have done those, and one time, I might have done all three at once.  All of us do dumb things, it’s just part of the “growth” experience.  I can know say, thanks to my wife and ample opportunity to learn from mistakes, that I have developed a filter.  It may not work all of the time, but most of the time it does.

Let’s face it, without that filter, more of us would be fired from jobs on a regular basis and our circle of friends might not be as big as it currently is.  Like I said, it doesn’t work all the time, but even Superman has a weakness in kryptonite.  Mine, much like college students, is booze.

Strangely, I’m not here to talk about drunk dialing, but instead, to talk about when your words come back to haunt you in a more innocentdelivery method:  your kids.  That’s right, these sweet bundles of joy that start of relying on your for everything and listen to your every word turn on you.

Now, they don’t mean to do it.  I mean, after all, they are our kids, and I’m pretty sure we’ve all done the same thing to our parents.  I have two 4 year olds, and there is never a time when it seems that people aren’t talking.  There are lots of jokes, arguments, laughing, crying, screaming, and just plain talking.  Often times, it all happens at the same time.

(Un)Fortunately, I learned early on that my kids were sponges to my words.  Let me start this example by saying that the phrase “damn it” is a right of passage for the males in my family.  It was for my father, grandfather, and I’m pretty sure great grandfather as well.  It’s not so much cursing, as much as it is a family motto or battle cry.

So, one night before going  to a church function, I was setting up some electronics.  It was a tight space and there around 1000 wires to be dealt with.  Since I was shoved into this tiny space, I didn’t see my son, 2 years old at the time, standing behind me.  Since it is a family battle cry, I let a couple of damn its slip while engaged in electronic combat.  By the time I finished and was getting ready to put everyone in the car, my son was running around the house yelling “damn it” at the top of this lungs.

At first glance, there is something funny about seeing a 2 year old do this, but then two truths sink in:  1.)  This is your kid and not some brat on TV; and 2.)  You’re about to go to church.  Trust me, nothing says, “hey pastor, why don’t you come have a ‘talk’ with our family like your kid running around the place cursing.  Needless to say, I went straight into reprogramming mode and got him to start repeating something more harmless.  It was close, but I did it.

Now, I wish the haunting started there, but it didn’t.  Instead, as my children go older, their minds became like steel traps.  I would hear them talking and use my same speech patterns and phrases.  Some of this is good (because who doesn’t want they’re kid telling them they’re awesome), and some is bad.  If I start lecturing one child, the other can start to chime in with my own speech.  (Which reminds me, I need to spend some time writing some more.)

I’ll tell them not to do things and they’ll rattle back, “because I said so.”  Like I need a reminder that I was becoming more like my parents.  Apparently, I have had the following conversation with my kids so many times that my daughter thinks that it’s part of the bedtime ritual:

Me:  What’s your job?
Daughter:  To go to sleep.
Me:  Are you going to get out of bed?
Daughter:  No.
Me:  What happens if you get out of bed?
Daughter:  You’ll take all of the toys out of my room, close my door, and I’ll cry.

Yep, a little bed time theatre for you.  Now, my daughter repeats that entire scene when I come in to kiss her goodnight.  I don’t even have to lecture.  By the way, just because she knows the script, doesn’t mean she follows it.

Now, I know that I’m not the only one.   My question to you, dear reader, is what are the haunting words that the kids in your life have reminded you of?  Is there a phrase, sentence, et ceterathat you regret ever saying?  Just leave them in the comments.

Until next time, dear reader, be careful what you say.  You never know who’s listening…

 

I am completely falling apart

I’m sure that everyone knows the joke about turning (insert age here) and the waranty just runs out.  Well, I feel like that some times.   Now, I don’t mean that I was diagnosis with some horrible disease or that I lost a limb, internal organ, or even my hair.  No, I mean the little (and sometimes) not so little things.

There was something about when I turned 30 that just changed.  It was one of the first times that I started to feel “old”.  This didn’t come on right at my 30th birthday, but instead was more of a gradual realization.  It was probably the fact that I had an internist, a pulmnologist, a orthopedist, a cardiologist, and probably one or two more that I can’t remember.  In years before, I never went to the doctor, much less thought of going on a regular basis.  Why would I?  I felt fine.

Then came the fateful day, when it all started falling apart.  It first came in the form of high blood pressure.  “It’s the silent killer,” my doctor said to me.  Yes, yes it is, but I feel fine.  So, I took the medicine, because let’s face it, I trust good ole fashion western medicine.  I don’t need to take crazy supplements or any thing like that, a medicine is just fine with me.  (To those of you who do follow that method, more power to you…)

Then, it started up again with high cholestrol.  I mean sure, I eat mostly fried food and lard, but that surely can’t be the cause.  Can it?  Then, I realized my waist had gotten bigger, which can has to mean that my metabolism has slowed down.  (And sure has nothing to do with the menu listed above.)  It was after that, I started watching the drain pipe for signs of hair coming out.  As of yet, it hasn’t, but I still keep my eye on it.

That’s when the questions started:

• Had I always creaked and popped that much when I was in my 20s?
• Why am I tired when I get home from work?
• Should a afternoon of fantasy football make me exhausted?
• Why do I get tired and want to go to bed around midnight on Fridays and Saturdays?

Finally, there was not sleeping, which has to be the greatest of all.  (Translation:  It’s just terrible.)  You never are fully awake, and aren’t sure if you’re coming or going.  I pray that this one is passing, but it’s been close to a year now.  Surely I’m too young for that to stick.  Right?

 

Upcoming trends that 30-somethings have already lived through…

You’ve made it your 30s, and you’ve most likely lived through the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  This means you’ve lived through a whole bunch of trends that have all come and gone.  So, you’ve got that going for you… which is nice.

Living through trends doesn’t necessary mean anything, that is until they start coming back.  Let’s just take a good look at fashion.  Personally, I’m starting to see more and more of the 80s influence on current fashion trends.  If  memory serves me correctly (and it does), it was really a terrible time for looking “cool”.  Don’t believe me, watch the Warriors, the Last Dragon, or  Breakin.  This was a bad fashion time, but trend makers are bringing them back.

Need more proof, I’ll be happy to provide you with more.  All that you really need to do is walk through a toy store, and you’ll think that you stepped into a futuristic version of your childhood.  Children can play with Transformers, G.I. Joe, Strawberry Shortcake, Speed Racer, and  lots more.  For the most part, there are changes to the characters, but they’re basically the same.  I mean, what parent doesn’t want their child to play with the same toys as them.  But, can you imagine if your parents gave you Howdy Doody?

It’s the age of repackaging, and the past is in high demand.  So, I’m here to remind you of trends that you’ve lived through, and can expect to see age:

1. Grunge:  Maybe not the whole over-educated, under-motivated slacker movement, but instead reach deep into the closet to pull out those flannel shirts.  All of these form fitting clothes will have their backlash, and the baggy look will be back.  You’ve lived through and probably still have the silly hat and Frisbee.
2. Rock-n-Roll:  The rumors of it’s death have been exaggerated.  This decade, that has terrible bands like Nickelback, as the highest selling rock groups will soon realize the mistake.  Soon, a new sound or band or movement will push rock back out into the forefront.  It’s true, it’ll be hip again to like rock.
3. Ferbie:  Don’t be surprised if Ferbie looks a little different and is a little bit smarter.  Sure, that cute, battery powered fluff ball was great to teach, but we’ll see a huge draw when they introduce iFerbie.  It will not only learn how to talk from you (which will most likely be in a hybrid text language), but it will recommend music, television shows, and edit your home movies.  Go ahead and start lining up for this one.
4. Boy Bands:  I would love to believe that this would never happen again, but the New Kids on the Block are touring right now.  It’s not that much longer before the Backstreet Boys realize they’re broke and need a reunion tour.  Truthfully, this might be slower, with Lou Pearlman in jail, but there are always boy bands.  Just give them time, and they’ll churn out some annoying, generic pop music.  Trust me, Disney will make it happen because there are tweens out there who don’t have their “boy band”.

So, 30-somethings, consider yourself warned because these will come back.  You can proudly say that you’re ahead of the game.  Still, I know that I’m missing one or two of the trends that will come back.  What am I forgetting, what are we going to see again?

 

We were young once…

So, I was cruising the old social networking sites earlier today.  (Translation:  I was stalking people.)  While I was taking peeks into peoples lives, I ran across some pictures that some of my friends posted.  As a matter of fact, one of them is a contributor here at the American Association of Thirty Somethings.

Specifically, my friends put up pictures from their childhood, early college years, and right after they had kids.  It was surprising to me to see how young my friend looked in these pictures.  Now, the childhood pictures are nothing that surprising.  Everyone is looks young in their childhood pictures.  I mean, we were children, seriously.

No, what was so surprising was the pictures of how young the friends looked in the pictures from their freshmen year.  I’ve known them for several years, about five or six to be partial exact.  We’ve known each other since PK, pre-kids.  Needless to say, I’ve watched them age before my very eyes.

I’m not sure how many of you, in your 30s, have looked back at your pictures from college, but I would challenge you to do it.  You probably think back about them fondly.  I would even bet that you still tell stories about those really wild times.  Now, hold those magical thoughts up against your pictures from the period, and see what you think.

Let me tell you a little about those pictures.  First of all, they’re 35mm, and probably 4 x 6.  Secondly, you had probably been drinking (because, face it, that was the only time that people took out cameras in college).  Finally, you looked like you were a child.

That’s right, I’ve said it.  You looked like a child.  You will feel old, and will old never believe that you were that young.  I looked back on a couple of mine to make sure, and I honestly can’t remember being that young.  It doesn’t feel that long ago in my stories, but apparently it is.  It will make you rethink the whole thing.

Still don’t believe me about looking that young?  I recommend going to a college sporting event/function, and look at the seniors.  They will like like adult children.  All I can say is that it’s amazing what a difference almost a decade can make.

 

A vacation from the vacation…

I recently had the pleasure (and there is no sarcasm in that at all, seriously) of going on a family vacation.  I have to laugh because there are two distinct thoughts that come to mind when I think about family vacations. 

The first, of course, are all the funny family vacations that I took as a kid.  You remember, being crammed into the family car, taken all around the country.  Your sibling sitting on the other side of you “not” touching you.  Or perhaps the even more sinister “no mans land” of the middle of the back seat.  How knows what was at the end of the trip.  I could be family, it could be an “educational” adventure, or it could be something that  was actually fun.

The second is one of the greatest movies of all time:  Family Vacation.  As an adult, I probably have more in common with Harold Griswald than I would like to admit.  The reason?  It’s plain and simple, family vacation fun is hard work.  Everyone has to try extremely hard to have a good time.  Trust me, as my kids kept waking each other up earlier and earlier.  My wife and I were trying our best to hand it off to each other.

The reality is that we needed a vacation from our vacation.  We worked so hard, it was time for a break.  As fate (or great planning) should have it, we had such a thing worked out.  Listen to me, and listen to me well, this is a time to call in reinforcements.  That’s right, grandparents.  They raised you, so they must have done something right.

So, needless to say, the following week was a blissful mix of sleeping in, staying up late, and doing things impulsively.  Stand firm, and call in backup.  Enjoy the vacation from your vacation!