While some people grow older with grace and maintain their beauty, others age like a curse has been put upon them. But, eventually, we will all start to resemble rotting jack o’ lanterns in both appearance and smell. Your pants start to slowly creep up your body and you become increasingly concerned about the state of your lawn. I may, technically, still be a young man but I can sense the passage of time starting to chip away at the best parts of me. I used to go on dates with gorgeous women but it’s probably just a matter of time before I’m sending them creepy anonymous emails instead, like so many of my friends’ dads.
Getting older often means allowing novelty to be slowly superseded by nostalgia. You start talking about “the good old days” which was a time when music was better and people had their priorities in line. It was also a time that never existed. You’re suddenly afraid of new ideas and angry about things that don’t quite fit in with your loose dogmas. You’re worried about keeping a job that makes you unhappy so you can continue to afford living the lifestyle that you’ve grown accustomed to, while expecting the rest of the world to do the everything exactly the same way. This is how wealthy fifty-five year olds can complain about subtle tax increases from the bow of their yachts. It’s an incredible and mystical process.
This might not affect everyone on the planet, but it’ll happen to enough of us to really cause some serious problems. Voters and politicians everywhere fall victim to it every day. There are already a lot of people that are much more worried about their living room furniture than how they treat other people, let alone broad social issues or more complicated philosophical concepts. I know this because QVC and the Home Shopping Network have based their entire businesses model off it. For a lot of us, getting older means not worrying about changing the world anymore. New ideas will be a thing of the past and problem solving will become impossibility. If you know anyone’s parents that own a dog, go to their home and watch how they interact with it. They’ll just yell and yell and the dog will bark and bark. They’ll try absolutely nothing and spend zero hours thinking critically or problem solving. In fact, until a friend or the television offers new advice, they’ll actually claim to have tried everything. So often it seems like anytime someone tells me that they are getting older, they are really just telling me that they’ve decided to start giving up on things. There is no conciliable way that can end well.
There is this culture of cannot that is at the heart of getting old. This is why there are millions of old people that never figured out how to use the internet. That’s sort of criminal because if there ever was a demographic that had a lot of free time and money to spend on online shopping and pornography, it’s the elderly. But they just couldn’t quite figure out that dag-nabbed computing machine. Chemically speaking, your brain actually does get worse and worse at handling dopamine as you age so you derive less pleasure from learning a new skill. But that doesn’t really excuse you entirely from becoming so out of touch that people mouth “wow” to each other behind your back every time you finish a thought.
Rest assured that tomorrow’s youth will always know more than your generation will. While you’re too focused on prime time television and work to bother educating yourself on anything new, they’ll be learning your history while simultaneously mastering the future. You’ll be reminiscing like crazy about how soft toilet paper used to be while the rest of the world is deciding upon which retirement home to put you in. If that isn’t a good reason to stay active, relevant and thoughtful, I don’t know what is. But the worst part about getting old isn’t having food perpetually trapped in the corners of your mouth or possessing a smell that is reminiscent of pee (which we all know probably is pee), it’s the potentially wasted life that leads up to that point.
Some of the best conversations that I’ve ever had have been with an old person over coffee. Sure, you have to deal with the occasional impressively racist sentence, but it’s worth it in the end. After retirement they reacquire the gift of having a real conversation about life, and they always give me the same advice about it. They say not to waste my time working for a big organization, not to let other people’s rules box me in, build quality relationships and consider all time as “my” time. This advice is in direct contrast to almost every single adult I knew as a child and most of the ones that I know now. Nobody has to be trapped in a job they hate, surrounded by mediocre people while their thoughts stagnate in a mental swamp. You don’t have a lot of time to be wasting. So you can take all of those little reminders that you’re getting older and use them to keep yourself motivated or you can use them as an excuse to move into that culture of cannot.
You Monsters Are People. 
As usual, excellent post!
This was so awesome. Your point about getting older and refusing to keep learning is especially spot-on. I’m 35 (either really old or not old at all, depending on who you talk to), and I already feel that frustration of “What are the kids these days talking about?” creeping up on me.
A while ago, I decided that most people stopped learning as they got older because they didn’t want to feel challenged, or they didn’t want to risk failure at that stage of life. I’ve made it this far, they thought. No one respects that, so I’m not going to respect their interests. But it cuts both ways: you have to keep learning to remain relevant and engaged, but you should also respect those who came before you. Which is why I’m especially glad you mentioned the awesome (if slightly racist-y) conversations you’ve had with older people.
You rock. Thanks for writing this.
YOU rock.
I have to agree, everyone has something to offer and I think the problem is that not enough people remember that as they get older. It’s easy to give up on yourself as the years roll on and that’s what I’m hoping everyone avoids.
Oh! The hairs look like ghosts. Happy Halloween, am I right?
I guess so. I mean, you can imagine them to be whatever makes you the happiest.
They do resemble ghosts. Very cute cartoon.
I keep learning and I’m 42. My only real problem is that my youngest neice does all her online posts in Text Messaging lingo and I don’t understand most of it. A few years ago, you could fit all the codes on one page. Today, they need to make a dictionary so people can understand it. When you try to look some of the codes up online, you end up finding obscure business anacronyms instead.
As I enter my 7th decade I am very efficient at aging. I skipped gray and silver hair and went straight to white. Father says he’s getting old. He’s 89. I have given up on explaining that he has been old for a quarter of a century now. He will be voting for Franklin Roosevelt for president. Again.
I think you’ve done some solid work so far. I’d gable the same for your father, nobody lives to 89 without having a damn good reason.
Wonderful post and I have done much reading in my 58 years and just so you know…my dad is 84 and began a new line of work last year. He is now a restaurant owner and is hands on greeting diners and working the till.
One of the things that freaks me out about aging is that time, or your perception of time, speeds up and memories fade away – – there was a Cracked article about how this phenomenon continues to culminate with age, and that being immortal would be truly hellish in that eventually, time is mere seconds and the people (loved ones, friends, family, etc) flash before your eyes.
Yes, I just wanted to talk about Highlander. Great post.
I saw one of my “older” neighbours using a Shop Vac on their lawn once… sometimes life is kind of magical…
This is a damn fine post, Posky!
Thanks. I’m banking on it getting freshly pressed.
Also please tell me as much as you can about your neighbor. Did you ever find out why they were vacuuming their lawn?
I think you’re due for another freshly pressed.
Lawn vacuuming – I think they were vacuuming up the grit leftover from winter… they are the most fastidious lawn people I’ve seen. I blow dandelion seeds their way…
Are you trying to give them a stroke? I love blowing dandelion seeds myself but these poor people clearly can’t handle a catastrophe of that magnitude.
I guess I don’t get lawn maintenance. When I had a home with a yard I always let the back yard grow wild with mint and wildflowers planted decades earlier. I mowed it sometimes but not enough for my neighbors liking. Granted it was a tiny yard in Metro Detroit so it wasn’t a lot of work but… I just didn’t get it.
Wait . . . you are actively trying to get freshly pressed?
Interesting.
They email you before it happens.
Can you turn it down?
Interesting perspective . . .
I can tell you I know many old people who want to, and do, learn new things every day. In fact, I know more curious old people than I do curious young people.
You might also want to read about trends for older people and the Internet (http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Older_adults_and_internet_use.pdf).
I could go on, but you gave me an idea for a post . . . essentially the inverse of your fine offering (and I do mean that; it was a good read). Of course, I have an advantage . . . while you can write of your perspective of older people, me being there can offer even more insight . . . PLUS . . . I know what it’s like to be young.
. . . of course, when I do write it you and other young people will dismiss most of what I will say . . . Mind you, I’m not characterizing that as a trait of youth (although a case can be made for it). No, in my case it spans across age, ethnic, and gender groups.
Again, thanks for an entertaining post, and for giving me a writing idea.
My post wasn’t about actually being old it’s about allowing yourself to start acting in a way and using “I’m old” as an excuse.
That starts the moment you let it and has more to do with society than age.
Hmmm . . . it does not read like how you say you wrote it. Certainly, as an old man, I feel little pressure from society to act a particular way. Young or old, the way I act is all on me. Or are you saying it’s society that makes pants creep higher?
I posit the traits you mention (misunderstood as they are) do in fact derive from being older (age), and have less to do with societal expectations or pressures to conform to a particular way of acting or “letting yourself be” one way or another.
. . . or am I misunderstanding (paraphrasing) ‘ letting yourself ” start acting old?
The one trait you mention I can’t comment on is “I used to go on dates with gorgeous women . . . ” That sounds more of a personal perception issue than getting older. But that’s just my old-man perception.
I will stress, again, I am not criticizing the piece. It’s a fine piece, well written and entertaining.
I just plan to offer a different perspective. Not as a challenge, or angry response.
Rather, being old does in fact alter one’s perception of life, and that has consequences both in behavior and attitudes. Some handle it well, others don’t. In that respect, the old are no different from the young . . . both are a constant source of amusement.
Well I definitely look forward to it. I love perspective because I feel life is a lot like pool, it’s a game of angles. No one perspective is the right one and I like as many as I can get my hands on.
Whippersnapper.
Hilarious post with a lot of truth in it! I felt old reading your post and I’m not 30 yet! Geez…! Maybe I just am way too old-fashioned for my own good. Congrats on being FP!
Thanks. I think it all comes down to feeling old– don’t beat yourself, keep on keeping on.
Awesome post! Funny too, aging…gotta love it right?! Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Great post! At 39, I already need to be reminded of keeping the important things in perspective. But if anyone blows dandelion seeds into my yard, it’s on!
Excellent post!!
Wow-to your face. This is hilarious and true and thoughtful. And anyone who comes up with a new word for vomit (that I will steal and use as my own) that makes me laugh so hard I cry is A-OK in my book–and I’m old! Congratulations on a very, very well deserved Freshly Pressed.
I came up with a new word?
BLORCH! I thought I would fall out of my chair laughing. My whole life is really a cartoon. And I usually end most of my sentences with an exclamation of some type, like Yay! or Barf! So, thank you so much! In fact, just typing the word “blorch” has me laughing at my desk like a mental patient again, and that’s hard to do. If you read my blog, you will see that I have very fancy high standards when it comes to humor. That’s why today’s post was called Free Porn Here!
I’ll give it a look see.
Blorch was just as close to the sound as I could remember.
Well, it works. It’s perfect. Thank you for visiting my silly little blog, it is much appreciated.
One of the things that frightens me about aging is the knowledge that things are changing at a faster rate than they used to. Even just in the realm of technology and telecommunications, the myriad of machines that go obsolete in less than 5 years and the software that’s updated several times each year… it’s not hard for me to see how tempting it is to say, “To hell with these people. I know how to do it this way, and that’s how I’m going to keep doing it!”
I, personally, do not own a smart phone — not only because I think they make most people quite stupid, but also because I do not actually have a true need for one. My personal choice to not burden myself with yet another gadget is honorable in a way, and yet I already feel myself being pulled away from the direction that the rest of society insists on going. They’ll keep texting each other in sentences that are less and less coherent and not be able to find their way out of a paper bag without a GPS. Meanwhile, I’ll keep going writing in complete, unabbrevated phrases and using a map that doesn’t freeze up and shut down at a critical point. And, still, I know I’m the one who will be called “out of touch.”
It happens. You definitely have to pick your battles but missing the boat on a few things is just how it goes. And there are definitely benefits on not counting on smart phones. I’ve lived on both sides of that fence and i’d call it a draw.
Good read. However there are quite a few benefits about being old, all of which are officially unverified but I’ve simply picked up on by watching old people behave in public.
1. Queuing is purely optional and dependant on the time-frame in which an old person has restricted themselves to. Walking to the front of lines is allowable in all cases.
2. A double seat on a bus is allowed to be occupied by one elderly person AND their bag, regardless of whether it’s of unnotable size. If a younger individual requests that they move their bag to allow room for seating, the elderly person may refuse and insist they stand. Laughter is encouraged if this person then loses their balance while the bus driver confidently takes on tricky cornering.
3. If an old couple stop suddenly in a busy public place, the blame of any resulting human collisions or swerving is always shifted from them.
4. An elderly person is allowed to pay for expensive items using the smallest denomination of currency they wish. Any concurrent sighs, frowns, or exasperating emotions are prohibited.
Number one and four sound like pretty great perks. Can you imagine the kind of havoc you could wreak if you were going to take full advantage of those?
Fab post! I felt ancient when I started my blog on here last week, (im 27 and not an old number but it doesnt stop me feeling it) I’m sure had I had a younger person witnessing me rattling around the keyboard and hunting for my “goggles” aka glasses they would have been embarrassed for me ha ha. My knees creak and id rather a puzzle book than a night out lately ha ha. My friend has just found her first grey hairs whilst I’ve dodged that bullet thanks to peroxide – saying that I wouldn’t mind a nice blue rinse and a cuppa….
Twenty-seven can feel as old as you want it to, just don’t let that feeling slow you down.
Very clever posting! I’m only turning 27 next month but already having several of the same thoughts and outlooks on aging as you described here. Better to be prepared I suppose :)
I like comics! Can u show or do more of them?
Probably. There are over 100 on this blog so it ought to keep you busy for a while.
Reblogged this on Tequilasun48.
Quite right, if you begin a sentence with ‘in my day’ you’re an old fart. So, I’m an old fart. My knees snap, crackle and pop when I take the stairs is how I know, I prefer yesterday’s lyrics to ‘mph, mph, mph’ what was that they said? I don’t know what you mean about loose dogmas, but as an old person writing to a young person, let me let you in on a secret – young people are old people in waiting. Hope you feel the same about old age when it’s your turn.
I already agree and I’m really trying to speak to the people who act old more than the people who actually are old. I know a lot of 30 year old’s who are just letting themselves go.
It seems to me that you are stereotyping the elderly without really knowing them which is what stereotyping is. The elderly, by the way, were your age once. You might want to tuck that article of yours away for a couple of decades and revisit. See how you feel then.
You’re right, I did. However, I doubt that I’ll change my thoughts on it being a mind over matter sort of situation. Then again, I could just as easily become a grumpy old sour puss that can’t take a joke.
I know that I am being rude and that you are freshly pressed, (congrats) so maybe I’m on my own in my opinions. I was young once and remember what it was like to know everything and be sure that anybody who disagreed with me was wrong. Now I’m older and know that I don’t know much of anything. People have been talking about the generation gap for, well, for generations. That’s the irony.
Love your apt illustrations!
It took me years to get them looking so lifelike.
Well said sir.
Hello; the title caught my attention, as I’ve been contemplating the addition of another blog on aging while still experiencing it. You’re right, there are many side effects, but as an aging I.T. lady, the part about not wanting to learn anything new – I can’t relate. I can see, however, how a non-technology person would balk at change, particularly with the gadgets we use on a daily basis. The first remote I saw was on a DeForest TV/stereo, when I was about 7 yrs. old, and it looked NOTHING like the ones we use today!
Aging is completely based on perspective and life experiences. If the person was athletic during their life, they will continue to be so. If they were an I.T. whiz like myself, they will continue to follow the industry, no matter what. If they were disappointed by love, they will become a gigolo! Not! No, more likely, a hermit. But, you get my point. We look at what we should’ve done, and then try to do it, rather than surrender to fate, because we are now old enough to know better. Take care; good post.
I agree about aging being based on perspective and life experiences. I believe that everyone has the potential to stay vibrant and sharp forever but a lot of people, usually starting somewhere in their 20s, start becoming complacent. Acting old and being old are two different things– nobody should ever have to defend themselves on being over 60 but everyone should made accountable for saying “I’m too old to __________”
Posky, you are right about accountability. I hope to God I live to get 60 [and beyond], and I’ll let you know! And, until I fix my links, my main blog is http://nowistime2change2012.wordpress.com. God bless.
Loving the illustrations!
At the moment I am trying to learn my boyfriends mother to use a computer. I was in there helping her for ten minutes before I could feel a headache creeping up. Needless to say, it was the hardest task of my life, and I don’t think she even remember any of it.
You know, old people are just like young people: there are cool ones and there are assclowns. When I find an old person who still likes to learn and who still stays open to new experiences, I say yay. I have no time for people who choose to be grumpy simply because they are old and tired.
Can I still be grumpy since I still like to learn?
No, I’m not cool.
I am old and tired though, mostly from all I’ve learned, and from all the current learning I’m doing.
You can be grumpy, but I won’t like you :)
Agreed, Lyssapants. People of all ages can be great or they can be top notch duds using any number of excuses to rationalize it.
Well done. I could not agree more!
I can see why you were Freshly Pressed!
The one thing I love about old people is that they just stop caring. They say what they want, they do what they want. After all those years, why SHOULD they? Having said that, walking away from your puke is a little extreme!
Some pretty deep perspectives presented here – and delivered with considerable style too! The cartoons are great. And yah.. that first white hair. It always feels like a traitor, which is is I guess it is, betraying perceived immortality like that. :)
Great post, Love the comic about grey hairs. I started turning grey at 21 and now I am completely silver. I have just started my second 50 years in September.The truth be known, you couldn’t pay me to be in my 20’s or 30’s again. Old is just a state of mind. To me your post comes across as people letting themselves decay rather than normal aging. I enjoyed it very much!
It really makes me sad when someone talks about the “golden years” and act like the good days are gone. That has to be the worst perspective on life that I can possibly imagine. On the flip side, I am always delighted to hear anybody talk about how much they love their life and that they’ve made it into what they want.
Reading your comment reassured me that you got what I was trying to put across. I’ve got nothing against aging, I’m just afraid for people (both young and old) that allow them to get them down or stifle them in some way.
Not all old people are like what you describe! There are lots of old people that keep learning new things (although at at slow pace). I myself keep learning (almost 50)! I think that the day that I will or can not learn something new will be the day of my death! You start to die the day you stopped learning!
I know that not everyone is like this but enough people over the age of 21 are to make it worth writing about. I’m glad you are one of the people who are on the side of perpetual education, people of all ages need more of that.
:)
Great post. Age is definitely a matter of attitude rather than years. “Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.” Benjamin Franklin
Franklin is a prime example of rocking it non-stop. Awesome point and quote.
Love your humor. Good luck with the aging process!
I love your humor also. My grandfather had a stroke when he was 71. Part of his memory (present-time) was wiped out, and he imagined he was still in Germany in World War I. The doctor told him to stay quiet and not to do anything. He tried for a whole month but one day my grandmother found him passed out in their yard where he had been raking big sycamore leaves. I’m glad he was happy at the end. This always reminds me that every second, every breath is precious. It is my un-ending bliss to discover new things every day to learn on the internet. Regardless of age, I am very glad to be here in 2013. I may keep a bit of a bubble around me, in order to find balance and never become bitter or “tired.” But I do peek out from time to time and assist in the flow… :) I’m glad I read your stuff tonite.
As am I.
If one only being to focus on the physical form then of course
it makes grim reading / as to the mountain tumbling to the sea.
However the reality being you are not your body / your body is
but a form of transport for the spirit / and it the spirit that being
eternal / as has been as it is now as is as was as will always be.
One’s worldly need is to balance the spiritual with the material.
HOW CAN SUCH BE DONE ? Wel its truly very very very simple.
Such spiritual balance is achieved via meditation / in one turning
the senses inward which bringing a unfolding of the spiritual self
in practical spiritual experience in giving clarity of understanding.
WHOM CAN COME TO YOUR AID IN SUCH A NEEDED QUEST ?.
The answer to such question being the “Teacher of Teachers”.
Throughout history of humanity there be spiritual teachers among
all (always) be the “Teacher of Teachers” whom takes as aids one
on their final stage of spiritual development / that be of meditation.
Present times the “Teacher of Teachers” is Prem Rawat / Prem has
dedicated his life to add as be a guide unto all those whom in having
reached the stage of meditation / in their unfolding their spiritual self.
On PC search put (words of peace) or put (words of peace global)
on site a selection of videos in which Prem explains meditation as
your need in knowing understanding the spiritual self / not ideas or
beliefs or a heaven which somewhere beyond the clouds that one
must first die to enter /but that of very practical spiritual experience
of experience that answers all questions /giving one the clarity they
they having always sought in life / in one’s knowing the creator / in
one clearly understanding the purpose of life their knowing creator.
If aging really does mean my appetite for education will stagnate then I must be the curious case of Benjamin Button. When I was in college I partied 8 nights a week; categorically cut any class before 11AM (I mean, c’mon, after being up ’til 6AM how much was I really gonna learn through one blood shot eye?); occasionally prided myself on actually having purchased a text book; I kept going back to 1PM Science of Materials because one time — after three hits of acid and a bongload of opium — I had seen little green men in there and became determined to catch them; another time I showed to a physics test so drunk I passed out for the first half of the test and cursed vociferously in every written response.
Nowadays, though, I can’t stop learning. Maybe maturity is more like a bell curve, finding its zenith in the middle ranges of life and tapering off at either end.
Haha, fantastic :)
Reblogged this on PRavings and commented:
A different perspective on getting old – and a reminder to all involved to “seize the day” ;)
Do you draw all the pictures you use? Funny stuff.
I do.
Good post.
I like Mark Twain’s comment about it: “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
As a newly-retired 62-year old, I’m doing my best to keep my mind active. A first step for me has been to join all of you active Word Press users. My blog is just getting underway. My most recent post describes today’s positive experience with a technology that’s new to me. I hope I never reach the point of thinking I’m too old to learn something new. http://yeatanotherwebsite.wordpress.com
With that sort of attitude I doubt you ever will be.
Your post is funny because it’s true! Hopefully we will all get to be elderly some day. As my 90-year-old grandmother says about aging, “It beats the alternative.”
Congrats on being FP!
Apparently, something at Big Lots triggers body fluids to exit the body in our elders. I once was shopping with a family member of mine there (dont worry mom, I wont tell them it was you) and they accidently messed their pants. It made me laugh so hard, I almost peed my pants!. Maybe its all in the name: BIG LOTS! Thankfully, I still walked out of the store with my favorite funky cereal intact and uncontaminated.
Yeh, and I guess im moving down the foodchain myself cuz I am starting to find men with peppered hair “OK looking”. Im 38 and refuse to do the Demi Moore (Not do Demi Moore, just do what she did u sicko!).
I like ur post..ur as wack as me.
I don’t think we can look down on anybody for doing that, the fact that we were all at Big Lots binds us together in the highest level of shame already.
doing Demi Moore, and vomit and poop in Big Lots! level of shame… good stuff… !!!
I accuse some of my students of being 75 on a regular basis. This aging thing is creeping up sooner and sooner. On the other hand, I know a couple of eighty-somethings who just humble me with their awesomeness. The pants seem to fit the same on both age groups.
Agreed.
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Age is just a number for many of us. We wake up one day and we’re ‘elderly’ as you so nicely put it. I don’t think of myself as old; more like maturing nicely, thank you! We get old when we forget to live and spend too much time worrying that our future is shrinking. I’m looking forward to retiring in the next year so I can learn lots of new things – and blog about them! Aging is mandatory; growing up is optional. And I don’t intend to ever grow up!
Oh I feel old
Don’t let it get to you.
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This is great! But what about the thinning out of hairs? It’s so annoying when hair just falls out, and I know that’s one of those side effects!
Massive layoffs?
I think you nailed it pretty well, Posky, both the drawings and the thoughts about growing old. When the term “blorch” comes up, I hope historians acknowledge you as the originator and yes, it does sound like that. My thought is that if you are rude, mean, crude and ignorant when you are young, you will be like that when you are old. That’s why there are so many oblivious, grumpy (mostly men) people around. It’s hard when you don’t feel old and you want to learn everything in the world and then you look in the mirror and realize you don’t have unlimited years left.
Yeah, you don’t have to be old to be a grump. I couldn’t agree more.
If you want to submit Blorch to Webster’s, I would really appreciate it. I would absolutely invite you as my date to the banquet they probably would hold in my honor.
I would be honored to be your date at your banquet but I have to warn you – I am old. I promise not to blorch on the table and walk away like nothing happened. I once watched an elderly woman drive up onto a sidewalk, knock down a stop sign, back off the sidewalk and drive away. There is a disconnection from the real world at a certain point in time and I think your essay mentions that; it is not just that the old are not interested, it is that they cannot cope with stress of any sort.
Reblogged this on 18 to 24.
Reblogged this on pvmpkin.
This post is outstanding. Very funny. I’ve gotten my daily dose of “remember to laugh out loud” (it’s good for the soul). Being a lifelong learner is key.
This is a great post. Good cartoons too. I was once at Sea World waiting for a seal show to start. I was in the last row and an old lady in a wheelchair parked right behind me. She was kicking us in the back and also had a baby. Then I smelled something bad. Someone took a dump and it stank. I didn’t know if it was the old lady in her pullups or the baby. We got up and left. Your comment in your post about old people smelling like pee made me remember that.
Wow its A.W.E.S.O.M.E !!!!!:)
Absolutely love it! So true. My mom falls squarely into that technological obsolete category. I dread phone calls from her telling me her outlook woes or ‘how do you copy and paste again?’. Vowed to be the youngest old person around one day!!
Awesome post and exceptional sketches. I hit 40 next year and losing my hair faster than I’m losing my dignity (I have a collection of 6 comfortable jumpers) but I will definitely not try to fall into the culture of cannot… Or the casual racism, or the smelling of wee, or the creepy emails to friend’s daughters, or making long grunting noises when I get in and out of chairs.
Nice cartoons, Matt.
Nothing wrong with growing older, and it certainly beats the alternative.
I look at it this way; there’s nothing I can do about it, and in reality, I’m simply exchanging energy for experience.
http://cartoonmick.wordpress.com/editorial-political/#jp-carousel-399
Cheers
Mick
Your post rang true for so many people I know. As a child I never wanted to get old. One day in my early 30s it dawned on me that as old as I got I was always the same person. That moment set me free. I loath ageing but will never grow old. So as I squint trying to make out my keyboard , having misplaced my glasses once again, I say bring on the golden years. Happily I’ve figured a lot of things out.
On point!
I think that was a superb post. Your attitude towards the idea of aging is seriously admirable. Becaue, lets face it, most people shudder when they think about it!!! The most important (and difficult) thing is to be young at heart.. If one can manage that, then ‘age’ ceases to matter anymore.
I really had fun reading your post cos you echoed my views (although in a much more humorous and eloquent manner) on something similar i wrote sometime back. Do check it out if you can:
http://colorfulreflections.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/the-passing-years/
Thank you. You have inspired me. Truly.
Great post and congrats on being freshly pressed!
Hey I am 57 and I have a faster computer than my 28 year old systems analyst son, I blog, I tweet, I play zombie killing first person shooters and I have several avatars on Second Life. I do also have a real life job and a working brain. I have a lot of grey hair now, and my muscles feel the cold more than they used to, but if I had looked after myself better, I would be in pretty fine fettle. So dont worry too much, its not all crap and its not all downhill for everyone past 50…
I promise :)
oh, and by the way, I am female – another kick at the stereotype..
I am always glad to see people living life how they want instead of how a lot of people think they are supposed to. I, frankly, was a little overwhelmed by second life- so you’ve gotten me beaten there as well. There’s nothing that says a woman approaching sixty cannot be smart, sassy, hip and sexy. I wish more people would remember that.
Well, we are doing our bit to help, and that is good ! thanks for the nice repy – you made me smile. Congratulations on being freshly pressed, I gather for the second time! I love your cartoons, and look forward to reading more of your blog. If you ever give Second Life a second chance, let me know and I will take you under my wing.
Love from the sassy old geek lady.
I’m going to abandon humbleness and admit that I’ve been fortunate enough to be freshly pressed more than twice. I do hope you continue to enjoy my work and continue to comment- that’s half the reason I blog instead of just write.
I found Second Life to be very involved and could have definitely have used a guide. However, you seem pretty savvy overall- do you offer any other mentoring services?
Glad to have stumbled on this post, excellent & funny!
I have to agree and disagree. I am 39 and I deal with the boomer generation on a regular basis. For whatever reason they are generally extremely cheap and seem to give off the vibe that they grew up during the great depression when in reality they grew up during the most prosperous time in America’s history. The converse is that studies have shown that the boomer generation control the vast majority of disposable wealth in the U.S.
On the flip side, it’s also been proven that those under the age of 25 in general read far less, watch much more television, know much less about current events, geography, and basic mathematics than any generation in recent American history. Studies have also shown that the “younger” generation show an inablitily to communicate directly and lack social skills that other generations take for granted. Their one bright spot is the ability to use modern technology such as computers and cell phones without a big learning curve.
I like what you said about the culture of cannot. It really is a state of mind; the old people who just give up on learning near the end probably didn’t give new things much of a chance throughout their lives. It just becomes more pronounced and sad when they become elderly because by then, the culture has outpaced them.
Another great post, Matt. It’s good to see such a talented writer and artist getting recognition on WP.
I loooooooooooooooooooove the hair cartoon!
Love it. Was just talking about all this with a friend and sent it her way: the comics especially resonate with us.
And so we made a pact: let’s never get old! Deal? Deal.
The last joke is subtle and funny :)
Great post, I love your art work! The one about the anonymous e-mail gave me an especially good laugh.
Some of the younger lads who drink in my local seem to know alot less than we did at their age. The education system is failing them to the extent that they had to make exams easier to pass. Their clothes are a mess, their music isn’t music by any standards, they’ve never been anywhere or done anything.
I’m not even an old fella either. A moaning git yes but old? No!
Good post, for me is the opposite I getting older but I am trying different things and exploring what I was afraid when I was young. I do find myself saying the good old days but is mostly about kids nowadays are not going outside they are just playing with the ds or iPhone.
Forgot to say cool drawings, like the last one, it is true.
Brilliant & hilarious and oh-so-true!
I love this! As a child I would often tease my mom and call her old. Now, I can relate to the daily short naps and knee aches. LOL
I absolutely love the cartoons. Just died my gray yesterday. Applications DENIED, suckers. Gray hairs can go work somewhere else.
Nice
Wish you’d shown what happens eventually though…
When there’s a lone ‘black hair’ in a sea of Grey
*smile*
Fun to read post! ;) Loved the pictures :P
You can’t see this but I’m slow clapping so hard my hands are about to fall off. Love!
I would be okay with you facebooking me the video.
Interesting post. Allow me to offer a slightly different perspective for your consideration:
http://thewalruscafe.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/the-benefits-of-a-little-seasoning/
Getting old is a much better experience than the alternative, which ends in a newspaper blurb, if you can afford it, and a dirt nap. At least that is what I am told. The number of aches and pains I inventory seems to increase daily. I keep looking for the extended warranty papers that I am sure my well-meaning parents left fro me, but I cannot find them.
You touch on many relevant thoughts I have as I continue to collect moon sightings. I hope to be around for several more and will be back to check out more of your work.
Jolly funny sir! I too have recenlty begun to take an interest in my lawn. However, whilst doing so I ensure Deadmau5 is playing loudy just in case some fit young student girls should walk past. Yeh I’m down with the kids :D
This is classic: “Some of the best conversations that I’ve ever had have been with an old person over coffee. Sure, you have to deal with the occasional impressively racist sentence, but it’s worth it in the end.” SO TRUE!
I loved reading this!
Hahaha..awesome! I love the cartoon.
“They say not to waste my time working for a big organization, not to let other people’s rules box me in, build quality relationships and consider all time as “my” time.”
Golden. ;)
Interesting!
Loved your point of view.. :)
Reblogged this on In Feneba's eyes.
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Ah! It’s so hard to think about your own mortality. It keeps popping up every now and then, causing long, drawn our conversations over wine well into the wee hours of the morning. Now, about those grey hairs…they’re seriously invading my head at the moment and I’m only 26! Having really dark hair will make them more obvious, I guess, but that comic still made me laugh my ass off (and die a little inside as well). But! You have inspired me to remember to keep up with the times and to constantly learn something new, which is what I try to do to the best of my abilities. So thank you! Great post :)
Just remember that we will all probably age as we’re meant to. Don’t fall into societal traps or let yourself get too bummed out.
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Getting old and comfortable with self means also enjoying being with teens, kids, babies and people in every age bracket: a sign that life is a wonder.
Definition of getting old is getting blurred: people do stuff that the same old folks 40 yrs. ago never really considered at all.
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You young people who think you are getting old are amazing!! I am 85 and am still learning to get things going properly on WordPress as i have just been nominated to run the website for one of my Clubs. At 35 I was sure I had it all in hand – then got married! At 45 I was coping with a new line of knowledge and two bright boys. At 55 I was deemed ‘too old’ for my position. Then I took up my biggest challenge in another company changing a culture that was running on ideas that were ‘old’ 40 years before. At 65 i was compulsorily retired and moved away from where we had lived for 30 years after one boy left australia for Brazil and the other started roaming. All required new learning to cope, like learning to cope with being carer with my wife of 5 o years when her health failed. That meant learning to do ALL the cooking 24/7. You will NEVER stop learning. GET USED TO IT!!
This is probably the best comment this post has received.
So well put….my grandad passed away at 80, and he had just left the office. I never ever considered him to be old! Old age is more in your incapability to adapt to various changes in life. If anything is constant in life, it’s change. Maturity should not be confused with old age.
The article was well written and entertaining. I found your concept of aging offensive. I understand from your comments here that your intended meaning was to state that one only gets “old” if they allow it. However, as much I understand, I believe you missed that opportunity in the article. The elderly are walking history; a piece of our culture that we will never get back. Forty years from now someone will point out that getting old means that your pants fall to your knees, in spite of the belt, showing the underpants, and they walk this way somehow. If you stop learning, you don’t get old, you get stale, there’s a difference. I did find the article entertaining; I only fear that too many people believe these words to be truth.
Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.
Reblogged this on nextchapterlife.
hahahahahaha……I´m 55, and what I lke the most about my age is I can pretend to be demented, whenever it suits me. I reality, I´m quite with it. I work full timeish as an artist: I write my blog; I spend time with younger people – albeit over a coffee now, not in a night club.
But give me something I don´t want to do, hahahahahaha………..Daughter: Did you get the bread for me today? Me: Oh, no! I knew there was something really, really, important I needed to do………Daugher: I´m going to put you in a bloody home!
Mmmmmmmm……..maybe I´ll write a blog about this too. As I have always said – no point in getting older if you don´t get craftier.
Congrats on being on fp too……..I really laughed at your article xxx
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I had an encounter with Jaco’s grandad (who is extremely short tempered and has fine, wispy white hair – he’s in his 80’s) a while ago that seems relevant to this post;
We went over for a visit and while we were there he asked Jaco to take him to pick up his dinner at this place that prepares a plate for him without fail every week night. Jaco drives a bakkie (truck) so I stayed behind and made myself some tea and waited for them to come back. As soon as his grandpa comes in the door he yells; “You can’t drink tea out of that mug! It’s the MAID’S MUG!”
Which was super racist and super funny all at the same time.
He’s an accountant and still does everyone in the family’s tax….by hand on fine ruled or block paper. I give him props though.
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Psst, P-OH-skee, do you draw your comics on old-fashioned paper or do you use one of those technology things I have not heard of? Or do you not care to reveal these secrets to your awesomeness?
I use real ink and real paper. I prefer old rotary or dial phones, Standard “full-travel” alphanumeric keyboards, and incandescent lights to their sleeker modern equivalents. However, I do see the advantages to them.
So you scan those inked paper after then. I see. ;) I prefer the old stuff myself in most things, most of the time. Except on experiences. (I rather prefer new ones with that!)
Thank you for answering. I thought I’m the only one still using real paper and ink to draw these days. Ha, I sure am glad I’m not!
Me and my 34 year old daughter loved the grey hair story. Funny
I’m in my 60’s and life has never been better! I’m continually learning better ways to be a writer and through writing I’ve rediscovered my sense of humor. The size, shape and smell of your body is only a physical manifestation of age. The minute you stop wanting to learn, you’re dead and don’t know it. There is so much to learn, so many different flower scents to explore, so much to write.
The good old days? I’ll let go of my computer when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands!
My sister (who is older) took calculus a few years back while taking computer science courses. The prof made the assumption she was going to be the worst student in the class. She made an “A”. I’ve met people in their 20’s who act like you’d expect someone to act when they’re 80. Stereotypes are only good if you’re in a jungle, hear a growl behind a bush, assume it’s a predator and run like hell for your life.
I like what I wrote. I think that’s going to be my next blog.
Excuse me, but I’m 51, have a 29 year-old husband, ride a Honda Fury VT1300, am considered ‘cool’ by kids of 7 to 17 and love life! I refuse to acknowledge creaky knees, fight white hair tooth and nail and tease my husband about driving when he was still in diapers drinking his mother’s milk! I’m up on the latest technology, cause I love gadgets and am willing to try any new thing that comes out. I could care less about age, I hope to die of a heart attack while speeding down a lonely highway (so I don’t hit anybody) on my motorcycle.
I think age is just a number, admit to my age freely when asked, and live life to the fullest every day!
Point taken.
Oh, but I forgot to mention; your blog is wonderful! I love your sense of humour and your cartoons are to die for!
Thanks.
I like that you ride a VT1300.
So funny! You are lucky there aren’t many old people to read it or would even know what a blog is. I’m 60; that’s pretty old in the world of blogging. One of the reasons I’m here is because I love to learn new things. I just wanted to start a blog to talk about aging.
To me ‘old’ is my 91 year old aunt who is way beyond anything you are talking about. She just pees and tells you she’s peeing and she’s mean. She’s a perfect example of “please shoot me if I ever get like that”.
The older you get the less you care about what others think. And I’ve found in the last few years that, yes, I can care even less!
We are shaking our heads behind your backs, too.
It turns out we’re all awful in our own special ways.
Reblogged this on sixty, single and surviving and commented:
found something funny on aging so this is my blog for today;
oh yeah? But I wanna grow old fast.. :)
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