An ancient monument
I sometimes wonder if I’m too old for this lark.
I met up with a group on Friday to do some filming. That in itself was fine. I don’t mind cameras, except that I always sound like a total wanker in the final film.
What struck me for the umpteenth time was that I was a fish out of water.
Sitting here up the mountains, it’s just me , the laptop and The Other Fella doing the typing. I can forget about the world at large.
But then I meet up with the people who also blog and comment on this site and I feel bloody ancient.
When I was their age, none of them had even been thought of.
In the bad old days, when I was a grunt in an office, it occurred to me that most of my colleagues hadn’t even been born when I started in the organisation back in the seventies. That is a very scary thought.
So there I am, sitting in a group who know what an iPod is and can work their way through an Xbox. This is the Twitter generation I’m mingling with. Can you seriously imagine a pensioner at a student party?
To make matters worse, I get home and there is a big fluff going on about a fourteen year old blogger who probably knows more about the game than I do. I am old enough to be Tommy’s great-grandfather. Fuck!
Maybe it’s time I went back to the old fountain pen where I belong? Maybe I should be meeting up with the local pensioners instead of hanging around with the young folk?
What the hell am I doing here?
Spot the odd one out
I reckon a lot of us wonder what the hell we’re doing here sometimes. I really enjoyed Friday, brief as our meeting was. There’s a certain “something” to helping out someone just because he does the same thing that we do. That’s the element of it I most enjoy.
You could get one of those digital fountain pens that will upload everything and convert it to type? That’s what I want for the next birthday…
Darragh – I completely agree about helping out. I thoroughly enjoyed myself [though you may not have thought it]. I was very happy to be there, though you must remember that I think of myself as a thirty year old. I just wonder sometimes what other people think when they see this old fart coming in? 😉
I like the photo; nothing wrong with it.
Except wait….no, I get it. There’s NO PINT on that table. What happened?
K8 is the odd one out in the photo. She is the only she as it were 😉
Old age is relative – I’m 30 – I was at a 21st last week and felt ANCIENT. But then i realised that we’re all just people – Fuck that – make the most of life.. Keep in touch with everyone great-grandad-dude – you’re pretty cool.
Friday was fun if a little early for me. Next time there will have to e pintage.
I’m looking forward to the Premier.
Hey, what you have is the wisdom none of those youngsters have yet. And that’s what they all need more of (myself included).. 😉
I know nothing of Twitter or Flickr or any of the other stuff.
It’s nothing to do with being old, but I do agree with the whole fish out of water thing.
That same picture is over on H’s site, who is that knob gobbler wearing the tinted glasses indoors?
Susan – It was at the crack of dawn, and they weren’t serving pints at that time. I’d never get used to the ways of the city. Uncivilised!
Robert – Actually you are wrong. Kate is masculine and the fella the other side of me is feminine. I have to write about that sometime. 😉
Joe – You called me ‘cool’!! That’s a young person’s expression. I’m honoured.
Lottie – Much too early. I generally don’t come to life until midday, and Friday was a particularly dopey morning. As you say – pints are in order.
Tricia – Are you sure you are reading the right site? Wisdom? Where?
Maxi – You must be older than you look? I know the picture is on H’s site. That’s where I stole it. I don’t know who the knob gobbler was. I didn’t dare talk to him.
see it was ok till you went and got famous – now you have to mix with the youngsters – be careful you don’t pick up their bad ways (or pass on any of yours)
Bad thing is you look older than your site picture. “The guy with the blue wooly hat.”
Ha! I don’t give a stuff about old age. Hanging out with younglings keeps you fresh. I don’t Twitter – can’t see the point in announcing the minutia of my very boring existance but I Flickr and Facebook and Blog – And you sound lovely!
Wait now. Isn’t that the guy from ZZTop? Or is it Radovan Karadzic? It could be Rasputin and it could also be Bin Laden.
No. Wait. I have it. He’s the Archbishop of Canterbury.
I hope you got his autograph.
Kate – Do you think that is where all my bad language came from? I wasn’t always like this….
TT – I must have aged a bit since that was taken??
Baino – I don’t give a stuff about it either. I’m just wondering what all those young ‘uns make of it all. The only reason I’m on Facebook these days is to buy and sell people. I’m worth over $7 million!!
Bock – Fucking hell!!! First it was Gerry Adams. Then Osama bin Laden. Then Harold Shipman. Now the Archbishop of Canterbury. At least he isn’t a mass murderer that I know of.
Warning: Ramble coming…
Feeling unconformable as hell? Feeling left behind? Not understanding at least 1/3rd of what they’re talking about? I know those feelings well enough myself even though I’m a few years younger. But yet you’re as much a part of the group as they are, now aren’t you?
You don’t have to Twitter, know about or use an IPod or iPhone (I don’t even own a cell phone myself). It doesn’t matter that some fourteen year old understands as much or more about the game than you do. Be glad that they do. It lets us know these “young-uns” will build on what we started and all that we worked towards for so long won’t come to a grinding halt when we pass on due to lack of interest.
The Blogosphere knows no age nor age group. It’s made up of anyone and everyone who cares to create some sort of online website of a bloggish nature and can use a keyboard and a spellchecker (but not all succeed though). And as long as you remain behind that keyboard when associating with other bloggers you’re as close to ageless as you’ll ever get…
…but it’s when you get to together with a bunch of these other bloggers in person, at the same time, that it gets to be a real pisser.
So there’s only one thing that you can do at this point…
Quit your whining, put away the quill and realize that you’re lucky to be a part of the whole thing in the first place. Right? Right!
As a matter of fact, I should take my own damn advice as I’ve been feeling the same way of late. And in that regard, you’re one of the very few I can actually relate to. How the hell am I supposed to leave a comment on a piece of paper if you go back to ink and quill?
You’re damn good at what you do and you’re older than dirt…so deal with it. All those youngsters will be feeling just-like-you-do soon enough. 😛
Your friend,
The old(er) (mentally?) disabled idiot.
Oh, and by the way…K8 is not only the odd one out but she’s the best looking one there by leaps and bounds.
*blush*
🙂
K8,
Hey, I know good lookin’ (and class) when I see it. 😀
You have plenty of wisdom to share, even if it’s cloaked in strange/twisted humour sometimes. 😉
Kirk M – I read through your coment/essay and nodded sagely as I went. Until, that is, I came to the bit about me being sorry for myself. No. I’m not sorry for myself in the least. Why should I be? I’m just a bit bemused at the idea of the old fart amongst the young ‘uns. But as you rightly say – they’ll be my age sooner than they think!!
You are far from an idiot, Kirk M, and if you really fancy K8, then drop me a private mail and we’ll start negotiations. I’d be honoured to have you as a son-in-law.
😉
Tricia – I wish someone would point it out to me. All I can find is irrelevance and irreverence.
Grandad,
Oh hell, I know you’re not feeling sorry for yourself, I just figured it might catch you off guard. You should know my sense of humor by now.
About K8: (I’d sure be an old(er) son in law.)
But would she have me? And I suppose my wife might have a thing or two to say about that as well. Still… 😉
Kirk M – I’m sure she would have you [as the saying goes – where there’s a will, there’s a way 😉 ]. I’m sure your wife would understand too. We live in modern times after all?
I don’t have an iPod or an Xbox. I don’t look at YouTube. I have a twitter account but don’t know how to use it. I don’t read books. I don’t watch TV. I don’t like art… Or culture…. Or politics, and I still only listen to the same 5 bands I liked when I was 14 years old.
Being clueless isn’t strictly for the wrinklies. I feel as out of touch with some of that shit as you probably do!
H – Bloody hell! What do you do?
*wanders off wondering what life would be like without books*
I’ve got kids.
Boys.
Do I need to elaborate?
H – You have my sympathies.
It was great meeting you on Friday (and K8 too, of course). A few pints would have made it go far more smoothly. Next time…
Is that K8? Holy hell, Thrifty’s right, she’s a fox! What happened there?!
What was this meet-up and where was my invite? And why in the holy hell would you try to do something like that without alcohol?
Grandad, the great thing about blogging is that it gives you a voice. when someone expresses their opinions with clarity and skill, then people become interested in reading it. But you know that. From what I can make out the vast majority of bloggers in I reland are aged between about 22 and 30, which is what makes people like you, B’dum B’dum, Grannymar and Tommy so appealing to people. You don’t fit in the standard bracket and you all do what you do extremely well.
Personally, I care not a whit for Twitter and suchlike and I imagine i’d get far more enjoyment out of sitting down for a pint with you than I would with many bloggers of my own age.
Darren – A few pints are essential for a meeting like that. But there again, a few pints are essential for just about everything?
E Mum – I confess I strayed, but I never told her mother.
Andrew – Why, thank you! Maybe we old dogs do have something to offer then?! 😉