age

Share Your World — 05/13/2024

Fandango11 Comments
Share Your World

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her questions for this week.

1. Have you ever lied about your age?

Not since I was a teenager (17) and made myself a fake ID that had me at 21 so that I could buy beer and alcohol.

2. Is there any time in your life you would like to relive?

I think I’d rather reflect back on (relive) my life through my memories. The reality of reliving a part of my life probably wouldn’t be as pleasant as the memories of it.

3. Do you own any antiques?

Not any more, but when we lived in a Victorian styles home build in 1898 back in Massachusetts (pictured below), our house was full of antiques.

My wife and I would regularly go to antique stores and fairs to shop for furniture and lights and other stuff for our house. I would buy antique light fixtures on eBay and rewire them and hang them. We also used to get replicas of antiques when we could find real antiques, but at least 60% of everything we owned in that house were genuine antiques. When we finally sold the house in 2013 after moving to San Francisco into a contemporary condo, we hired an auction house in Massachusetts to auction off all of our antiques that we had in that Victorian home.

4. Would you like to know some of the history of places you’ve visited?

Whenever we went on a family vacation, I would study up on our destination and the stopping points along the way so that I could make sure I had enough knowledge about the places and their histories to share with my kids. I thought that would give them a better understanding and appreciation for the places we visited.

Sunday Poser — Age Old Question

Fandango9 Comments
That’s me on the far right!

For today’s Sunday Poser, Sadje wants to know…

How do you feel about your age? Do you like the age you are now? Do you feel you’re at a better place now than when you were younger?

If Sadje had asked this question 14 months ago my answer would have been very different than it is now. Back then, before I broke my hip and my arm, I very much liked the age I was at. I didn’t feel my age and I didn’t think I looked my age. Flash forward to today and I not only feel older, I look older.

But that’s because I stupidly fell off a ladder last January and busted a hip and an arm. So now I need a cane to get around and I’m limited in both the distance and time that I can walk without pain and fatigue.

It’s funny that in my dreams I’m always younger and able-bodied. Then I wake up and have to reach for my cane in order to hobble to the bathroom. So my answer to today’s Sunday Poser is that I AM OLD and I wish were — or at least felt — younger.

Let’s get philosophical about age for a minute.

About a decade ago, in July of 2014, one of the WordPress Daily Prompts said “age is just a number” and then asked whether it’s a number we care about or ignore.

I responded to the prompt on my old blog with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek post about the wonderfulness of senior discounts. Don’t get me wrong; senior discounts are great. But I avoided answering the question.

What I am finding out is that, while age may just be a number, it is also a label. It labels me as part of a group. I’m a Baby Boomer. I’m a Gen-Xer, a Gen-Yer, a Millennial, a Gen-whatever.

I’m a child. I’m an adolescent. I’m a young adult. I’m middle aged. I’m a senior citizen. My age categorizes and classifies me as something. But is that really what I am? Is that all I am?

Okay, so based upon my age, I actually am a “senior citizen.” But what does that tell you about who I am? What I believe? How I’m supposed to behave?

One blogger on whose posts I comment frequently was blown away when he found out how old I am. He had no idea that I wasn’t around his age — and he’s a whole lot younger than I am. I mean, seriously, a lot younger.

That made me feel good, but at the same time, it saddened me. I guess the expectation is that because I’m a senior citizen, I’m supposed to act and sound and even write my age — simply because I am that age.

But while my hair may have turned gray and then fallen out never to return to its former glory, and while my vision isn’t as good as it used to be, and while my hearing is not as acute as it used to be, and while I have wrinkles where my skin was once smooth, and while I can’t run as fast or sleep as well or eat all the crap I used to be able to eat without repercussions, in my mind I don’t feel a day older than I did when I was a “young adult.”

But because of my age, because I’m identified as a senior citizen, people’s expectations of me are different from those for people who are a different age than am I.

And I guess, just as I do with my tinnitus, my failing hearing, and my balding head, I will just learn to live with it.

Age is what it is — a label to which people attach meaning.

WDP — People Bore Me

Fandango33 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What bores you?
View all responses

Well, okay, not all people. Just certain types of people.

For instance,

  • Trump supporters who try to persuade me that Trump is the second coming of Jesus Christ and that his election is the only way to save America.
  • Democrats who complain that Joe Biden, who is only four years older than Trump, is too old to seek reelection. Yes, he’s old, but would you rather have an old man who behaves like a vindictive, narcissist and a petulant child in the White House or an old man who is sane, thoughtful, and cares more than just about himself?
  • Religious people who tell me that, as an atheist, I am condemned to eternal damnation if I don’t accept Jesus Christ (and/or Donald Trump?) as my personal savior so that I can experience salvation and be saved.
  • Most Repugnican politicians whose unenlightened self-interests and quest for power and wealth surpass any desire on their part to help out their constituents.

There are probably a few other types of people I could include on this list, but I’m getting bored and I’m sure you must be too.

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — July 28th

Fandango7 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Flashback Friday post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (28th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on July 28, 2014 on my old blog.

It’s All About the Discounts

Today’s WordPress Daily Prompt suggests that “Age is just a number.” But it then asks, “Is it a number you care about, or one you tend (or try) to ignore?”

In some cases “the number” is 55. More often than not, though, it’s 60, 62, or 65. But whatever “the number” happens to be, the important thing is that when you reach it, you can start to get those well-deserved senior discounts.

I can, for example, ride the Muni, San Francisco’s vast bus system, which can get me virtually anywhere in the city, for only 75¢ (as opposed to $2.00 for younger riders).

I get a couple of bucks off the price of movie tickets. I have a Senior Pass for America’s National Parks that gets me past the gates for free. I get “senior rates” at hotels. There are even special airfares for seniors.

I’m sure there are other senior discounts that are out there that I’ve forgotten to mention or haven’t yet taken advantage of. But as someone who has managed to cheat death for a number of years, I feel that I’m deserving of any and all of the discounts that are thrown my way.

And best of all, I’m in relatively good health. Oh sure, I have my share of minor aches and pains that come naturally with age. But overall, I am not having to deal with any debilitating or disabling conditions, my mind still functions effectively (most of the time), and I am living independently. I even still hold down a full-time job!

And as long as this continues to be the case, age is just a number.

But it’s an especially good number after you’ve reached the age at which all kinds of senior discounts are available.

2023 Update: this post was written nine years ago today. I was in my sixties, still working full time, and, as I wrote back then, I was “in relatively good heath” and “not having to deal with any debilitating or disabling conditions.” Sadly, none of those things is true anymore. Physically, with my busted hip and arm, this has been a very bad year for me and I can no longer claim to be not feeling my age. But I’m still here and am slowly on the mend and will yet, I hope, have a few good years ahead of me. And I’m still thankful for those senior discounts.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #211

Fandango92 Comments
FPQ

Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

Yesterday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he would be seeking a second term as president and will be running for re-election in 2024.

When Americans go to vote in the general election on November 5, 2024, Joe Biden will be 81 and will turn 82 just 15 days later. He already is the oldest person to hold the Office of President. And if he’s victorious in winning his second term, he would be 86 at the end of that term.

Donald Trump, who is leading the field of Republican candidates, is 76. If he succeeds in winning their party’s nomination, and, God forbid, wins a second term, he would be 77 on Election Day and the second oldest president in history behind Biden.

The United States sets a minimum age for someone to serve as POTUS, which is 35. But there is no maximum age to run for that office. My provocative question this week is:

Do you believe that Joe Biden, at 82 shortly after Election Day 2024, is too old to seek that office. What about Donald Trump at 77? Most important, do you think there should be a maximum age set for an individual to run for President of the United States?

If you choose to participate in Fandango’s Provocative Question, you may respond with a comment or write your own post in response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.