January 28, 2008
I’m SO OLD
So, normally I don’t blog about my children, because really, who wants to hear about them? (even if they are the most hysterical things walking the planet) but I have to tell you. My son came home from school on Friday with his report card…and something that made my heart just SINK.
A booklet that said “Welcome Class of 2012″ 
Not ONLY is my child going to high school, they, like, already know what graduating class he’ll be in. OMG
*Sob*
He even put that he wanted to major in Engineering, and we’ve talked about him going to summer school to get a jump on his credits (and keep him from getting bored/in trouble). THEN I popped in at Lipstick Chronicles where they were discussing just how much high school had changed. Then I ran across this gem.
I’ll give you some highlights……There’s also some real gems in the class of 2010 
# What Berlin wall? (that’s sad)
# Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public. (note from me…and a sign of penis issues PUHLEEZE)
# They never “rolled down” a car window. (Unless their mom drove a 89 Escort)
# Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
# They have grown up with bottled water. (which now they’re saying is awful for the environment because of all those bottles in the landfill. Thanks Ozarka!)
# Rap music has always been mainstream.
# “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
# Music has always been “unplugged.”
# Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
# Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.
# They grew up in Wayne’s World. (this is Pre-Elvis but we’ve seen it and he LOVES IT–of course he does, he’s a guy)
# They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”
# Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names. (and it annoys me to no end!!!!)
# Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.
# Fox has always been a major network.
# Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
# Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
# They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
# Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
# MTV has never featured music videos. (I REMEMBER WHEN MTV WAS NEW!!! AND COOL!!!! AND DID SHOW VIDEOS!!!!!!)
# They’re always texting 1 n other.
# They never saw Johnny Carson live on television. (Wow how sad)
# Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities. (haaaaaaa haaaaa I even I know this)
# The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
# Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.
# Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.
My Gawd life does change at the speed of sound!
So, what do you remember that’s now obsolete or otherwise considered “lame”? 
I remember reading that one school conducted an experiment, and placed an old telephone with a rotary dial in the counselor’s office…
Not a single kid knew what to do with it.
And I recently had an emergency on the road, and went in search of a phone booth.
Ha! Superman would never be able to change into Clark Kent if he had to find one of those babies.
And you know you’re getting old when movies you saw as a kid are being re-made, and clothing styles are coming back (sorry, kids, we did the bellbottom pants already).
Tick, tick, tick babe…
Raine I noticed the phone thing a few years ago. I er forgot to pay the electric bill and my local pharmacy had taken out the phones located just outside. I nearly DIED!
As I’m reading this I can’t help but think about how cyclical our thinking is. My parents (and yours probably - or maybe Grandparents) went through the same thing. In college I had to do a linguistics project about slang, where I had to ask three different generations about certain words. I my parent’s generation, grass meant grass, gay was happy, streaking was running fast, etc.
For these kids, you could always sit in a chair and change the television channels, the radio stations, etc. When typing, the sentence has always automatically wrapped around to the next line. For them, space travel is the norm and somewhat boring. (I know, that just aged me). Freddie Prinze has always been a “junior”. The only Fonda they know is Bridget. They have no idea what Polio is, and smallpox is something that happens occassionaly. Police and Fire Companies have always had women working with them. Sporting teams have always been desegregated (I know, just aged myself again).
God I feel old . . . .
We saw a rotary phone in a movie and th boys are like, “What’s up w/ that phone” GAW I remember being so pissed when my finger would slip out of the “wall-mounted rotary” phone at my momn’s and I had to start ALL OVER
and our first cell phone was almost as big as out first child’s diaper bag
I actually asked my kids if they knew what records were. They did and they were not amused.
Bailey…..our kids have also never known a world without AIDS
Common sense, logic, taking responsibility for your actions, the sun being responsible for climate change, and long division. :)
Hmmm…I can’t really think of anything but I’m sure I will sooner or later. Has to be my age. I can’t remember anything.
Mine will graduate in 2012, 2014 and 2017. Can you imagine that? I graduated in 1990 and they say I am ancient…
Well mine have already decided what they want to do.
#1 a chef
#2 play for the texas long horns then be a super star in the WWE
#3 wants to be a sniper…starting by sitting on the roof and shooting his brothers..
If you want a blast from the past, Wil Wheaton posted a link to 1983 MTV http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2008/01/three-hours-of.html.
My kids will graduate in 2018 and 2021. My kids have been on a PC since the age of 2. I told them the other day that no one had a PC in their home when I was 2 and that we didn’t have a PC in our house until I was 17. Now we have three computers not including Daddy’s work laptop. Granted I just bought a new laptop and haven’t given up the old one yet.
In car, movies? We had to listen to our tapes on headphones if we wanted entertainment on a long car drive. I remember our first VCR and taping movies off HBO. You know, back when that’s all HBO played was movies.
Ruby LMAO@#3. I’m not surprised!!!!!!!
Amanda……..NO VIDEO GAMES!!!!!! LOL
I had an Atari 2600 when I was 8 or 9 maybe. I did go to the library to play my 5-1/4 floppy disk (which was actually floppy) on the Apple IIC they had. Oh, and I programmed in Basic.