Or I have always been such a stick in the mud? (I can just see Cindy’s improvisational mind preparing a smart-ass comeback for this.)
I’ve never considered myself as someone who is so “by the book” I can’t have any fun in life. I’m someone that stole a pirate flag from the beach club, at night, and hid it from the security patrol by stuffing it under my shirt so I looked pregnant. FYI – I had just turned 29 years old. I also walked off with several bottles of liquor after a big event thrown by one of the biggest organized crime bosses in the county. That same night, I also wove a tale of woe and spousal abuse and cried crocodile tears into the very same O.C.B. That was when I was 28.
And if you’re shaking you’re head… yeah, I know I was an idiot adult, but I regret neither incident. That and I can blackmail my partner in those crimes for the rest of his natural life. *Insert evil, maniacal laughter here*
Ok, that aside, I’m finding I have little tolerance for people, actions, ideas, and philosophies I thought I’d had more tolerance for in the past. Did I grow up and mature? Is this a side effect of hysterectomy induced menopause?
So what sort of things bug me?
Violent, slasher movies – I watched a good portion when I was younger, but I can’t really say I ever liked them like I enjoyed the Hammer Films. I never felt the need to get all upset over them. I’m appalled by what’s out there as far as violent, torturous movies go. So bugged that I’ve signed petitions and even added my voice to other residents who were angry about an unrated version of The Hills Have Eyes that was going to be shown at a local theatre.
I don’t have kids, so really… why should I care what they can and can’t see? Or even adults. Let them rot their brains on such tripe, right?
Commercials aimed at kids – All the fashion commercials that are showing up right now, before the start of school, really piss me off. Over and over again, the message is, if you dress right you’ll be smart, popular and pretty. Of course, all the kids are acne-free, slim, athletic, have perfect teeth and are just so damn cute! Hey, how about some chubby kids in those commercials? How about some kids that look like real school kids with glasses, bad hair, etc.?
Lastly, but not leastly (don’t correct me!) – a distinct lack of appreciation for for things gone by.
CDs over records. I happen to own a few of those black, vinyl disks that sound ten times better than digitally enhanced music. I’ve a recording of Enrico Caruso’s voice that is completely without scratches and on a good stereo, it’s unmatched to a CD.
Books over eReaders. It’s a tough fight, but I do think the appreciation, the love for books will die when the next generation of techno-babies are adults. With the exception of school, when is the last time you can say you’ve seen a young person savoring a book they’ve chosen to read just for the pure joy of it? I’m seeing too many kids plugged in and tuned out that appear to not even know what the inside of a library looks like.
It just seems that when I was younger, I didn’t care. Live and let live as long as it doesn’t bother me, was my attitude. So, maybe I am getting old. Let me just grab my cane and whack you about the ears with it, sonny jim.
Just to throw my two cents in…I’ve grown more liberal and open as I age, and I’m not sure how I feel about THAT. Things I used to be indignant over, I’m realizing life is too short to think about, especially if it is solely in regard to other people. I’ve always loved zombies. :)
Chiming in here, too…although at 45, some could say I’m pushing at the “old” barrier. Slasher movies do hurt me – they hurt me when I have to deal with the insensitive gits who find blood, gore, and gratuitous torture entertaining. But the thought of censorship scares me even more. Not sure what the answer is to the escalating violence in movies barring censorship.
Commercials aimed at kids? Heck, commercials in general. It’s no wonder we’ve got such a consumerist society, we start indoctrinating the kids into the concept of buying your way into health, wealth, and a good sex life before they’ve even started kindergarten!
Give me a paper book over an e-reader any day, and I make my living on computers, writing documentation that will probably never see a sheet of paper. We need another J.K. Rowling to get kids and teens into reading the way the Harry Potter books did.
On vinyl vs. CD’s, well…I disagree with that. I’ll take my CD’s and my very good sound system, and my carefully chosen library of music any day. You just have to be careful that the CD’s you buy, especially of released that started on vinyl, have been properly remastered rather than just flattened.
You aren’t getting old. Just cranky!
I don’t think you’re getting old, I just think that maybe you’re getting wiser, and I guess that happens with time, which means you happen to get older concurrently???
Oh hell, what do I know, I’m a narrow-minded, irresponsible medium-young adult (really).
That said, I’ve seen a “rated” version of “The Hills Have Eyes”, and even that was quite appalling…
I am going to leave the subjects of menopause and hysterectomies out of my response. Being a male, I fear the response from women if I happen to have the wrong opinion on those two subjects. Having said that…
I have found the older I get, the more conservative my views have become. An awful lot of that happened in the last three years with the birth of my daughter. And I agree with you on the slasher movies and the ebooks. I have tried to read an ebook, and just couldn’t do it. There is something about holding a book ( a real book) in your hands…
Oh Jayne, much of what you say resonates with me. I’ll take my old records with their scratches and chirps over sanitized CD’s. As for hysterectomy and it’s side effects…or adverse effects…and “hysterectomy induced menopause”. There is no hysterectomy induced menopause. Menopausal women have hormone responsive sex organs that are intact and functioning their entire life time. The effects of hysterectomy are not menopause. Surgical menopause is an oxymoron. Unlike naturally menopausal women, hysterectomized women have surgically shortened vaginas and they cannot experience uterine orgasm. If their ovaries, the female gonads were removed, they were castrated. Among the effects of hysterectomy and castration are diminished or loss of female genital sensation, loss of uterine orgasm, loss of the structural integrity of the pelvis and compromised lower back and skeletal structure, fatigue, irritability, personality change, 7 times increased incidence of heart disease, and more. For the complete list of what women report after hysterectomy go to http://www.hersfoundation.org and click on “Adverse Effects Data”. Then click on “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs”, a new 12-minute educational video that is essential for every woman and girl to see before she is told to sign a Hysterectomy Consent form.