Something obscure that makes you feel old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 52, and have no idea what "air cards" are, either.

At any rate, what makes me feel old is putting numbers of years in context with respect to pop culture. For example, music popular in the year 2000 was popular 23 years ago, right? I graduated high school in 1989, and the music from 23 years before that would have been from the 60s -- which I would have considered ancient. Yet 2000 feels like yesterday. I have the same thoughts about fashion, often -- how totally "out" something from 1979 would have been in '89, yet I'm probably wearing things from way more than 10 years ago and looking ridiculous and just not aware of it.

My daughter pointed out the song "1985" by Bowling for Soup, which is about a middle aged woman (who takes Prozac, has a CPA husband, and two kids) being stuck in the 80s due to being in denial of time passing by/settling down before living out her ideal life, was released in 2004. 19 years ago. Today's equivalent would be a song about a middle aged woman being stuck in the year 2004. Made me feel really old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going into a hospital and seeing all these doctors in their late 20s and early 30s. The guy doing my vasectomy is a decade younger than me!

I took my daughter to the pediatrician the other day and we were seen by the resident. First name: Madison. Since when are girls named Madison old enough to be medical residents?!

[Anonymous]

My daughters wear Mom jeans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who are dying who are younger than I am.

Me, too, and I’m 43.

[Anonymous]

I remember Hat Racks under the seats at movie theaters.

Men always wore their hats when on a proper night out. The seats in movie theater had slots to hold hat upside down during movie under seat so did not get squished.

If you look under an old movie seat and you see like two metal rails or slots that is what it is for.

I also remember smoking on the plane and train!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember Hat Racks under the seats at movie theaters.

Men always wore their hats when on a proper night out. The seats in movie theater had slots to hold hat upside down during movie under seat so did not get squished.

If you look under an old movie seat and you see like two metal rails or slots that is what it is for.

I also remember smoking on the plane and train!

I don't remember hat racks, but I definitely remember smoking on planes. There was a period—maybe all of the '80s?—when planes had "non-smoking sections." Guess how well that worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Knife sharpening truck

Heck, there used to be an old man who walked the streets of upper NW with his knife-sharpening equipment on his back! He was like a 19th-century peddler. It was a big deal when he came up our street in Cleveland Park, a major social occasion when everybody brought out their knives. I can't even believe I mean this unironically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember Hat Racks under the seats at movie theaters.

Men always wore their hats when on a proper night out. The seats in movie theater had slots to hold hat upside down during movie under seat so did not get squished.

If you look under an old movie seat and you see like two metal rails or slots that is what it is for.

I also remember smoking on the plane and train!

I don't remember hat racks, but I definitely remember smoking on planes. There was a period—maybe all of the '80s?—when planes had "non-smoking sections." Guess how well that worked.

Yes, and watching all the people in the non smoking walking to the back of the plane to smoke.

Planes had smoking sections well into the 90s. I think they finally ended around 96 or 97. On family trips to Europe in the early to mid 90s planes still had smoking sections because it seemed like we always ended up in the rows just before the smoking section began.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember Hat Racks under the seats at movie theaters.

Men always wore their hats when on a proper night out. The seats in movie theater had slots to hold hat upside down during movie under seat so did not get squished.

If you look under an old movie seat and you see like two metal rails or slots that is what it is for.

I also remember smoking on the plane and train!

I don't remember hat racks, but I definitely remember smoking on planes. There was a period—maybe all of the '80s?—when planes had "non-smoking sections." Guess how well that worked.

Yes, and watching all the people in the non smoking walking to the back of the plane to smoke.

Planes had smoking sections well into the 90s. I think they finally ended around 96 or 97. On family trips to Europe in the early to mid 90s planes still had smoking sections because it seemed like we always ended up in the rows just before the smoking section began.

Yup, and I seem to remember an early-90s Lufthansa flight where the smoking section was half the plane back to front, divided by the center aisle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my then-young DC called our elderly neighbors’ sedan an “old fashioned car” and looked on in wonder every time he saw it go down our street. It was similar to the first car I drove in HS in 1989.

I told my son about how we used to crank car windows open and shut. The look on his face was this priceless mix of horror, disgust and pity. It was like I told him about not having indoor plumbing or something.

The auto lock on my passenger side door no longer works, and the door must be opened and closed manually. My teens often tell me to let them out. I'm always confused. Why must I always tell them that all the car doors can be opened manually, they do not need to wait for me or someone else to unlock the passenger doors for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember Hat Racks under the seats at movie theaters.

Men always wore their hats when on a proper night out. The seats in movie theater had slots to hold hat upside down during movie under seat so did not get squished.

If you look under an old movie seat and you see like two metal rails or slots that is what it is for.

I also remember smoking on the plane and train!

I don't remember hat racks, but I definitely remember smoking on planes. There was a period—maybe all of the '80s?—when planes had "non-smoking sections." Guess how well that worked.

Yes, and watching all the people in the non smoking walking to the back of the plane to smoke.

Planes had smoking sections well into the 90s. I think they finally ended around 96 or 97. On family trips to Europe in the early to mid 90s planes still had smoking sections because it seemed like we always ended up in the rows just before the smoking section began.

Yup, and I seem to remember an early-90s Lufthansa flight where the smoking section was half the plane back to front, divided by the center aisle.

I remember this. I always wondered -- how is one row up from smoking really making a difference when the back half is smoking like chimneys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I turned 50 this year and despite the enormous amount of time that's passed, I still feel 'young'. I'm watching this Netflix documentary about this crime ring and they're spending a fair amount of discussing air-cards. I remember when they came out and how game-changing it was for work and now they are no longer. I think that hit me more than CDs and landlines because the lifecycle was so short in reality. Just a random observation.

? I don't even know what an air card is and I'm your age.

Pretty sure that's what we call the "card" that plugged into our laptops so we could work remotely away from the office where we'd use an ether cable. I think it used a cell signal. We didn't have smart phones, so the concept was new. Where I worked you really had to have a need for one (e.g,. you weren't allowed to plug into your client's system), because the devices were pricey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Knife sharpening truck

Heck, there used to be an old man who walked the streets of upper NW with his knife-sharpening equipment on his back! He was like a 19th-century peddler. It was a big deal when he came up our street in Cleveland Park, a major social occasion when everybody brought out their knives. I can't even believe I mean this unironically.

ROTFL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Knife sharpening truck

Heck, there used to be an old man who walked the streets of upper NW with his knife-sharpening equipment on his back! He was like a 19th-century peddler. It was a big deal when he came up our street in Cleveland Park, a major social occasion when everybody brought out their knives. I can't even believe I mean this unironically.

There are still trucks that do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Telling my DC about the FCPS-approved outdoor Student Smoking Lounge. Provided so that students wouldn’t smoke their cigs in the bathrooms. The Cool Teachers would stand out there with students instead of smoking on the Teachers Lounges inside.

Gone by 1985.

Slight detour: I don't want to encourage smoking or vaping, but it is out of control in the HS and some MS bathrooms. Maybe schools should bring these back, so that those who actually need the bathrooms for their intended purpose can do so. Right now, so many kids avoid them all day.

Speaking of which ... remember the song lyrics "smokin' ain't allowed in school"?