"The Death of the Grown-up"

[Miss Neecerie]

As a man who wears luminescent sports clothes to work every day, i can understand the impulse to wear them on a saturday.

bk

To me...the very nature of the fact that I have -gone- to work on a Saturday signals that I am adult enough to realise that I needed to. At that stage..who the heck cares if I am wearing a tutu.....if I am in on -my day off- doing -their- work......

A "non grown up' wouldnt give up that day off to make sure the work or project got done.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

A "non grown up' wouldnt give up that day off to make sure the work or project got done.

Well said :eusa_clap

.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Gee whiz. You mean there's jobs where you *aren't* expected to work Saturdays regularly? What'll they think of next??

 

[scotrace]

I invite Paisley to come live in Chile, where middle-aged men still "act their age" the Golden Era way (worn down with stress, family burdens, lack of exercise, huge debts, excessive scotch-drinking and extramarital "expenses" -- but hey, at least they wear suits and ties everywhere, and don't listen to heavy metal anymore.)

.

My name is Scott, and i am an adoptive Chilean. lol

 

[Feraud]

Gee whiz. You mean there's jobs where you *aren't* expected to work Saturdays regularly? What'll they think of next??

8 hour days??

 

[scotrace]

who the heck cares if I am wearing a tutu....

You could certainly sell tickets to that.

 

[Starius]

The music taste argument is a strange one. I'm finally beginning to understand 'metal' (a friend of mine edits one of the better metal magazines). We went to see him DJ the other night and i was impressed. There is something very different about metal. The harmonised power chords at absurd velocity and never-predictable changes in time signature are at least interesting. I'd say it's far more accessible than the more 'arty' jazz or classical music, but this doesn't make it any more or less "adult".

As a man who wears luminescent sports clothes to work every day, i can understand the impulse to wear them on a saturday.

bk

Metal gets a bad stereotypical rap, more than it deserves. There is a lot of metal music out there that is very intelligent and adult. Personally, I am fond of European progressive metal. In particular, I would suggest to anyone to listen to Ayreon's "The Human Equation" album. It is a excellent human operatic drama of life, love, betrayal, childhood abuse, and salvation. It also utilizes elements of many world musical genres, and is intelligently done (as are all Ayreon albums really).

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My name is Scott, and i am an adoptive Chilean. lol

No kidding, Scott: for the first two or three years, I dug the "Golden Era-ness" of Santiago de Chile. Men regularly wear suits, ties, and even some fedoras there; women dress up to go to the supermarket. Velour sweatsuits are never, ever seen. Good grooming is a given.


But you know what? After several years of all this, I started to feel ... bored. Having grown up in heterogenous L.A., I began to dislike the homogeneity of Santiago ... the conformity of it. The sense that one lived in a box with no windows. I wanted -- heck, needed -- to see people who dared to dress, think, and act differently.

.

 

[GeniusInTheLamp]

On the subject of arrested adolescence:

I recently read Dr. Robert Epstein's The Case Against Adolescence. In the book, Epstein argues that adolescence unnecessarily prolongs childhood and fails to prepare children for adulthood. He also argues against "teen culture" and its effect on the development of young people. Although some of Epstein's proposals are a bit radical, and he makes some apples-and-oranges comparisons, I would recommend the book.

 

[Paisley]

To be fair, I said that some of these things are enjoyed by responsible adults and aren't any crime, but they struck an odd chord in me. Can't something strike me as odd? [huh]

 

[Miss Neecerie]

To be fair, I said that some of these things are enjoyed by responsible adults and aren't any crime, but they struck an odd chord in me. Can't something strike me as odd? [huh]

Sure you can, but since this is a discussion, we can tell you why we find you finding it odd....odd.

 

[Twitch]

Paisley, I think we stop mentally aging somewhere just past 30. We mentally imagine ourselves at that point always. So when we see the birthdays of all the rock 'n rollers in the mid to late 60s it is kind of a shock. We can be 65 and watch a 65 year old singer and it doesn't compute in our brain that WE look just as old and wrinkled as he or she does!lol lol

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

It seems to me that some sweeping statements have been made here, and all I can really say is-to each their own. I don't think it matters what music you are into, or what clothes you wear. I have known 20 year olds who were a million times more mature than some 40 year olds that I know. If they listen to metal and play video games but are still productive members of society, then it seems to me that they aren't hurting anyone. Should I be judged as juvenile because I am 36 years old and wear saddle shoes, listen to music that was gone from the charts before I was born, and love screwing around and giggling with my friends? I also have raised a teenager, been a single mother and put up with spousal abuse at a very young age. Mature is when you have to calmly admit your own daughter to a behavioral heath center at her own request because she thinks she might hurt herself. Mature is making the choice between paying for gas or paying for food and taking the bus instead. So if I want to listen to Metallica really loud sometimes, or make a silly spectacle of myself with my girlfriends, I can say that I have earned the right to do it. You know why? Because before I go out and be juvenile and not "act my age", the stuff at home is taken care of first. Seems to me that taking care of your own business is what is important.

 

[Paisley]

All of your posts have given me much food for thought. I think I know why this subject hit a nerve in me; I will keep my own counsel on the reason, though.

Earning your daily bread is a type of maturity. It's not easy to get up and go to work every day, especially if you weren't raised to do so. I'm glad there are so many hard working FLers; I respect your doing something useful. It's not easy being a parent, either; I don't know how people do it, especially on their own.

Yet there are people who work hard enough to make six and seven figure incomes but cannot live within their means. I know parents who go from one drama to the next, never wiser for the experience.

All of these are types of maturity, or lack of it, but not what I meant. I'm not sure what I meant now. What do our sensibilities mean? We're all here because we share a lot of the same sensibilities.

 

[Paisley]

Paisley, I think we stop mentally aging somewhere just past 30. We mentally imagine ourselves at that point always. So when we see the birthdays of all the rock 'n rollers in the mid to late 60s it is kind of a shock. We can be 65 and watch a 65 year old singer and it doesn't compute in our brain that WE look just as old and wrinkled as he or she does!lol lol

lol

Oddly enough, my 78-year-old mother thinks, even more so than I do, that it's time many of the more mature performers left the stage.

The irony that I love to dance in a crowd of mostly 20-somethings isn't lost on me. I'm always concerned that I'm a little old for it, and I really don't want to turn into a middle-aged woman who looks like she's fighting her age tooth and nail.

 

[Roger]

I tend to believe it's this entire welfare state mentality. People pay for their kids rent and mortgages when they're married because "I don't want them to start their marriage out struggling" or "it's so hard for young people now, I want them to start their marriage out right":eusa_doh: Well, if they stay married it's not going to get any harder for the rest of their lives, and if they divorce, oh well. Then you have people who don't take care of their elderly relatives, but move money and assets around so that they can claim the elderly relative is indigent and thereby qualifies for Medicaid.:rage: and leaves us taxpayers with the bill.

 

[Samsa]

People pay for their kids rent and mortgages when they're married because "I don't want them to start their marriage out struggling" or "it's so hard for young people now, I want them to start their marriage out right":eusa_doh:

Who are these people, and do they want to adopt a 24 year old male?