On Getting Older

The other night my buddy Molesky and I played Call of Duty online. I'm sure if there had been a camera in the room you'd have laughed yourself silly watching my figure out how to play my PS3 online. I had no clue and had Mo not been able to create the connection, I'd still be trying to figure it out. I like to consider myself pretty savvy, I even know how to turn my ipad on, but in the end, I'm beginning to realize that technology is on an evolutionary advance plan that at some point is going to pass me by.

Yesterday I got to go see the Doctor. Nothing major, they just wanted to check me and to figure out how one guy gets this good looking. Or that's what I told myself.

But waiting in the waiting room I realized there were roughly 25 of us and 3 of us didn't have gray hair. Well, I guess I should qualify that because I'm bald so that makes me old too. Let's say that only 3 of us did not qualify for AARP, a social security check and anyway....

I listened to one group of three talking about faith. One of the guys was a retired preacher and he was talking about his church. Their talk eventually transitioned into the fact that one of the other men liked Joel Osteen.

On a sidelight I learned that no matter your age, conversations about Joel O are never dull.

There was another older couple watching the TV in the waiting room and they spent the time bemoaning the fact that TV ain't like it used to be. Turns out Andy Griffith was the pinnacle for TV. Originally the one lady was adamant it was Andy Williams. Once the figured out it was Griffith they moved on to the problems with TV.

Now, I agree, TV isn't all that edifying often. But that's not the point of this post. But if you are wondering , the Real Housewives shows are stupid.

Here's what I've taken from the last 48 hours. We all get old.

In our own way we age, and at some point our methodology, theology, preferences and attitudes stick on a particular set and stop moving. We find that thing that brings us happiness and everything for the rest of time gets measured against that. Our knowledge base gets exhausted and we spend the rest of the time wondering why things aren't like they used to be. At some point whether it's a laptop, a cell phone, the microwave or the ignition for our car, we wonder how to operate the darn thing and why they have to make it so technical. At some point we start using something in its most basic way while ignoring all of the "extras" that it now comes with that those young whippersnappers are raving about.

My grandma used a microwave the same way every time until she died. She put whatever it was in there, typed 5 minutes and watched it till she was happy with the level of defrost, cook, melt or nuke she saw. She didn't need a defrost, a popcorn, a keep warm or a turntable button. She needed a 5, a 0 and a start button.

Some peoples TV need a power button and a channel and volume up and down. DVR? Never heard of it. Program guides? That's why they buy TV Guide. Pay Per View movies? That's what Blockbuster is down the road for. You get the point.

Don't you think all of "them" said the same thing "we" are saying now? "I'll never get old, I'm never going to be like them." Yeah, let me know how that works out for you. Just remember to call me on my rotary phone because I don't know how Skype works.

So what's the point of this post? I don't know. I guess it is to recognize reality. It's to make myself aware that there are some things that I want to keep changing as I get older. Some things can stay the same. But I DON'T want to keep thinking and acting the same way I do right now up until I take my last breath. When it comes to video games its not a big deal. But when it comes to my attitude and perspective on things that DO matter, I think it does.

So here's to staying young. Now I need to go fire up my dial up connection so I can put this thing on that WWW thing.