I think music and odors are perhaps the most evocative reminders of our past and hence of our present age. Having graduated from high school in 1955, I'll let you figure out where I fit in.

Well, a couple years ago, I was on my way to a meeting in the Hyatt Erawan, here in Bangkok, and I was in the lift. The piped music took a while to penetrate my conciousness, but the very memorable tune drilled through my meetig preparations and I realised that I was listening to Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols, no less.

30 years ago,they were banned by Aunty Beeb and here I was getting it piped to me in the lift of a top hotel.:eek:

Time flies... You can't. They fly too fast.;)

Love it when you mention places I've been, Gavin. Even though I was only in BKK for a week, I loved it (but didn't stay in the Hyatt).

Ah yes, we baby boomers who thought we'd always be 'hip'.

Now we're needing hip replacements.

Er...where did you stay?

Or is that not for public consumption?:D:D:D

Just kidding. Interesting talking about age/time going by. The first time I went to Saigon, in 1990, I met this Vietnamese lass who was a "tad" older than I. She claimed to have been a junior clerk on Westmoreland's staff. My face probably read: "yeah, sure...", so then she took me (in the best context, naturally) back to her place and got the pic albums out. I was completely blown away by this. There she was at various "do's" and functions and at the "office" (MACV), sometimes with Westmoreland in the pic too. Vietnam was something I saw on TV when I was about 7-11 years old (still remember the last day clearly), and here I was sitting with someone who was not only there, but there at the higher end of the game. She did 8 years in a "re-education" camp. Unreal.

I was about 26 then, but I felt like I was about 12 after meeting her.

I honestly don't recall -- It was a hotel owned by a subcontinental asian; I had stayed in one like it in Karachi with the same portrait on the wall. Wasn't far from a river bus stop about 3 stops up from the Hyatt. My main business had been at Suranaree U of T in Ko Rat, but I also had business at Chulalongkorn, Thaksin, and the Asian Institute of Technology. Great time, but hotter than hell.

Don't talk to me about getting old! Just yesterday I opened the envelope from the Government that contained my Age Pension Card. Since I have a private pension plan and invested my severance package when I was retrenched 15 years ago, rather than blowing it on a world tour etc, my means-tested Government pension is A$56 a month.
Still, it comes as a great surprise to me that I'm still here.
I plan to live forever; so far, so good.

Ummmm, yeah - gov't pension - mine started about a year and a half ago and it ain't gonna pay for any world tour either.

Gov't pension - getting paid for not dying.... Not sure I see how that's in their best interest!! :rolleyes:

Well, now that you mentioned it, it is people.. err.. over a "certain age" that vote the most and have a greater effect on who gets elected.. see a connection;)?

Wise beyond your years.

I just pay attention in class... We learn this stuff in Civics :D
Who knows, maybe there's a reason they're teaching us that.. ;)

In my younger days the popular wisdom was that if voting changed anything we wouldn't be allowed to do it. :D
Oh, and it's election day today (Saturday). Just voted. Even though the parties are at each other's throats the people handing out the "How to Vote' cards for them were socialising between customers. Very civilised.

That's the main reason behind the "electoral college" here in the US, which actually determines the outcome of the Presidential election. However, I enjoy deluding myself into to thinking that my vote counts. Probably another symptom of ageing.

The US system of government was never intended to be a democracy, either in the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution.

Winston Churchill once said "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." (from memory, so wording may not be precise)

Another way to tell you're getting old. When you've got no idea how to fr4g a n00b.

As a n00b in many areas, I often feel fr4g'd.

Is this the thread where we figure out who's way older than we thought? ;)

Had a patient tell me many years ago, and I've now adopted his line:

"Sonny, I'm so old, when I fart...
dust comes out."

I'm getting a kick out of what I guess to be the age of the posters to this thread -- unless I miss my guesses, most are younger than my eldest (45) and many are younger than my youngest (39), which makes me twice as old as most of you.

Hey NS,
How does it feel to have your kid turn 40?
My eldest comes up for the big "Four Oh" in 2009 and I'm not looking forward to it.
Bad enough being "old" without feeling it as well.