You know you are getting old when:

[GHT]

Legendary German comedian Jürgen von der LIppe made a famous joke about presbyopia.

You should see Billy Connolly's hilarious gag about mastubation and presbyopia, actually he called it, going blind.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I regularly used Scotch cassettes in the 80s for archiving broadcasts, and going on forty years later I've never had one fail. I can't say the same for other brands.

Listening right now to other cassettes, bought by my father in 1987 in GDR-Intershops, including Scotch, BASF, etc..

We played these cassettes countless times in the car. Still going strong!!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Right now running a Certron pro60 cassette.

"USA Components Hand Assembled In Mexico"

EDIT:
Broken, haha. But it looked already shoddy.

 

[Turnip]

...when you do some minor plumbing and getting up from the knees on the feet is the hardest part of the job.

Everything (but the Fenix light) made and assembled in Germanski.

 

[Tiki Tom]

You know you are getting old when Bay Watch hunk, David Hasselhoff, turns 70.

 

[Trenchfriend]

You sit down on Mr. Ceramic and your left knee does a nice crunch...

 

[Trenchfriend]

When the generation "Youtube" is discovering my good old Bee Gees.

 

[tonyb]

… you come to the realization that for much of your life you’ve kept regular company with what most other people would consider marginal characters.

It’s certainly isn’t that I sought out these, um, colorful personages. (I harbor little good will for people from comfortable backgrounds who go slumming.) It’s just been my upbringing and much of my work life that had me hanging with drug addicts and hardcore drinkers and hookers and generally the sorts of people who live hand-to-mouth and tend to die young.

The stories of their lives might have their compelling aspects, but only the truly misty-eyed would find glamor there. The romance of living in SRO hotels (which hardly exist anymore) and owning nothing that can’t fit into a couple of stolen pillowcases quickly wears thin.

Last night I totaled up the number of people I’ve known who deliberately killed themselves: seven, for sure, and maybe others whose overdose deaths might not have been accidental.

I was on friendly terms with a couple of guys who became murderers — one who shot dead a fellow whom this coworker of mine determined had ripped him off for the only substantial sum he’d ever see (his wife’s inheritance); and the other a drinking buddy who in an alcohol- and cocaine-fueled rage beat a hooker to death with a lug wrench.

I smoked and drank and partook of illicit substances to excess myself until a health crisis 16 years ago brought all that to an end. My fear of needles (and whatever unknown concoctions they might be delivering) played a significant part in my being here to tell about it.

Thing is, though, after having walked in the straight world as well, I’ve concluded that these marginal friends and acquaintances are/were on balance no more or less virtuous than the run of humanity. They’re just typically imperfect humans whose individual choices and the choices made for them had unfortunate results.

And hey! At the very least they aren’t compulsive gamblers and heavy drinkers and smokers who feel it their place to attach their names to tomes with titles such as “The Book of Virtues.”

 

[belfastboy]

… you come to the realization that for much of your life you’ve kept regular company with what most other people would consider marginal characters.

It’s certainly isn’t that I sought out these, um, colorful personages. (I harbor little good will for people from comfortable backgrounds who go slumming.) It’s just been my upbringing and much of my work life that had me hanging with drug addicts and hardcore drinkers and hookers and generally the sorts of people who live hand-to-mouth and tend to die young.

The stories of their lives might have their compelling aspects, but only the truly misty-eyed would find glamor there. The romance of living in SRO hotels (which hardly exist anymore) and owning nothing that can’t fit into a couple of stolen pillowcases quickly wears thin.

Last night I totaled up the number of people I’ve known who killed themselves: seven, for sure, and maybe others whose overdose deaths might not have been accidental.

I was on friendly terms with a couple of guys who became murderers: one who shot dead a fellow whom this coworker of mine determined had ripped him off for the only substantial sum he’d ever see (his wife’s inheritance); and the other a drinking buddy who in an alcohol- and cocaine-fueled rage beat a hooker to death with a lug wrench.

I smoked and drank and partook of illicit substances to excess myself until a health crisis 16 years ago brought all that to an end. My fear of needles (and whatever unknown concoctions they might be delivering) played a significant part in my being here to tell about it.

Thing is, though, after having walked in the straight world as well, I’ve concluded that these marginal friends and acquaintances are/were on balance no more or less virtuous than the run of humanity. They’re just typically imperfect humans whose individual choices and the choices made for them had unfortunate results.

And hey! At the very least they aren’t compulsive gamblers and heavy drinkers and smokers who feel it their place to attach their names to largely ghostwritten tomes with titles such as “The Book of Virtues.”

I got my first job working in the carnival at 12. For the next 11 years I spent 6 months of the year being mentored by the men in the carnival life.....gamblers, pimps, thieves, drug dealers, ex cons and general roustabouts. I was smart enough to realize their's was not a lifestyle choice to emulate but I was also astute enough to observe and emulate that which was good about them. There truly is 'honour among thieves'...at least in this particular subset. I learned how to swing a hammer, how to show up and do a solid days work, they showed me how a man earns respect and in many ways they taught me manhood. I had relatives that were appalled with my chosen milieu but to me it was my tribe and it served me well. The season after my first year of uni when they asked at work one day what was my area of study and what did I plan to do with it. I told them I was seriously contemplating not going back and making the carnival my work. They told me in no uncertain terms if I came back here next year having quit they would kick my ass off the lot. If you quit they said then you are not as smart as we thought you were. Give your head a shake, son.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
Part of me regrets never having been a long-haul trucker. But a bigger part of me knows the novelty would wear off after a year or two. And I strongly suspect that the real truckers, the career guys and gals, would detect that I was just vacationing in their world, and might rightfully be a little resentful of it.

 

[Who?]

Join the Army, and go Infantry, or better yet become a Jarhead.

That will get it out of your system early in life, so you can move on.

 

[belfastboy]

^^^^^^
Part of me regrets never having been a long-haul trucker. But a bigger part of me knows the novelty would wear off after a year or two. And I strongly suspect that the real truckers, the career guys and gals, would detect that I was just vacationing in their world, and might rightfully be a little resentful of it.

I have had a lot of jobs in my life ....so far.....long haul trucking was never on my 'todo list'. My wife and I did buy a large motorhome in which we toured the US west for 5 years (prior to Covid). I have to admit it was an initial thrill to climb up into my rig and hit the highway. But then we had a rule to only drive 6 hours a day....max...... and be parked, set up and drinking G&T's by 4:00pm each travel day. We did see a great many overweight truckers at Flying J truck stops....living on coffee, Big Gulps and deep fried food to realize it was not a healthy lifestyle.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Yeah, same with in-city driving — taxicabs, courier cars, delivery trucks, and now Uber and Lyft, etc. Sedentary but stressful, living on fast food and coffee, and in some cases not knowing how much you’ll take home (or to the bar) for your efforts.

 

[belfastboy]

^^^^^
Yeah, same with in-city driving — taxicabs, courier cars, delivery trucks, and now Uber and Lyft, etc. Sedentary but stressful, living on fast food and coffee, and in some cases not knowing how much you’ll take home (or to the bar) for your efforts.

I did get my cabbie's license, drove for a few days.....long enough to realize it was not for me.....and this was back in the days when traffic was light.

 

[tonyb]

Join the Army, and go Infantry, or better yet become a Jarhead.

That will get it out of your system early in life, so you can move on.

And you gotta get those people early in life, while they’re still up to it, physically and emotionally.

 

[belfastboy]

And you gotta get those people early in life, while they’re still up to it, physically and emotionally.

I am pretty sure I am here in this life because my father was rejected as 4F and ineligible for the WW2 draft.....bad back and couldn't see so they decided he was not prime fodder. Looking possible that the USA may have to institute another draft....recruiting is in the tank.

 

[tonyb]

I was greatly relieved that conscription ended shortly before I was eligible.

But you know how things look differently depending on where you’re standing? These days I’m far more receptive to some sort of compulsory national service. So few of us have any skin in the game anymore. And the military is less representative of the population overall than it would be if we had a draft that didn’t let the richer and arguably savvier kids off the hook.

We are far less likely to demonize people we get to know.

 

[belfastboy]

I was greatly relieved that conscription ended shortly before I was eligible.

But you know how things look differently depending on where you’re standing? These days I’m far more receptive to some sort of compulsory national service. So few of us have any skin in the game anymore. And the military is less representative of the population overall than it would be if we had a draft that didn’t let the richer and arguably savvier kids off the hook.

We are far less likely to demonize people we get to know.

In my Uni days we worked with many draft dodgers and deserters that fled to Canada. We ran a more modern underground railroad. There were distinctive class differences between the dodgers and the deserters we dealt with.

 

[Fandorin]

I got my first job working in the carnival at 12. For the next 11 years I spent 6 months of the year being mentored by the men in the carnival life.....gamblers, pimps, thieves, drug dealers, ex cons and general roustabouts. I was smart enough to realize their's was not a lifestyle choice to emulate but I was also astute enough to observe and emulate that which was good about them. There truly is 'honour among thieves'...at least in this particular subset. I learned how to swing a hammer, how to show up and do a solid days work, they showed me how a man earns respect and in many ways they taught me manhood. I had relatives that were appalled with my chosen milieu but to me it was my tribe and it served me well. The season after my first year of uni when they asked at work one day what was my area of study and what did I plan to do with it. I told them I was seriously contemplating not going back and making the carnival my work. They told me in no uncertain terms if I came back here next year having quit they would kick my ass off the lot. If you quit they said then you are not as smart as we thought you were. Give your head a shake, son.

First post, and impressed with what's quoted above. Expand more, maybe a new thread, 'Early jobs, what I learned' or some such. This was a traveling carni? Canada only? Very intriguing this. 60s, 70s?

 

[Who?]

I was greatly relieved that conscription ended shortly before I was eligible.

But you know how things look differently depending on where you’re standing? These days I’m far more receptive to some sort of compulsory national service.

Perhaps you shouldn’t wish something on others that you weren’t willing to do yourself.