Friday, July 11, 2008

Generation X-Lax: How old am I? Gather 'round children and I'll dance around the question till my Buster Browns wheeze like an old jalopy


It’s official. I've gotten to the age where I don’t want say my age anymore. Okay, I’m lying. I crossed that line years ago. Now I’m at the age where I run every cultural reference I might utter through a “Will This Date Me?” filter and where every mention of AMC Gremlins and “The Bugaloos” risks baring my (well worn) bottom.

So I remind myself that old is relative and there’s no better way to put my wrinkles in perspective than to compare stuff I’m old enough to remember with stuff I’m too young to remember. So without further 23 skidoo, here’s my cleverly titled list of:

“Things I Remember and Things I Don’t Remember”

I remember: Jimmy Durante impressions
I don’t remember: Jimmy Durante

I remember:
Coke spoons
I don’t remember:
“Reefer Madness”

I remember: Girdles
I don’t remember: Petticoats

I remember:
Richie Cunningham
I don’t remember:
Opie Taylor

I remember: The cutest boy in the world, Donny Osmond.
I don’t remember: The cutest boy in the world, Rudolph Valentino.

I remember: Nixon’s assurance, “I am not a crook”
I don’t remember: Anyone believing him

I remember: Eight-track tapes
I don’t remember: Being able to endure “Ben” just to get past it on the track to hear
“Dancin’ Machine”

I remember: Percolated Maxwell House
I don’t remember: Anyone liking percolated Maxwell House

I remember: Josie and the Pussycats
I don’t remember: Any other G-rated use of the word “pussy”

I remember:
Eastern Airlines
I don’t remember: Anyone who answered to “stewardess” and said “Coffee, tea
or milk?”

I remember:
AMC Pacers
I don’t remember: Anyone in the government saying, “Isn’t that a lot of glass to be encased in when you’re doing 50?”

I remember: Everyone wearing $5 Adidas T-shirts
I don’t remember: Anyone wearing $40 Adidas sneakers

I remember: Refundable 32-ounce glass soda bottles
I don’t remember: Refundable 32-ounce glass soda bottles without dead bugs in them

I remember: The evening newspaper
I don’t remember: Reading the evening newspaper

I remember: Looking forward to the day when I would grow up to be as beautiful as
Cheryl Tiegs.
I don’t remember: Rhinoplasty

I remember: Free drinking water
I don’t remember: Drinking any water without first adding a whole cup of sugar and the form of FD&C red dye No. 5 marketed as Kool-Aid

I remember: Billy Beer
I don’t remember:
Billy, with our without beer, coming within 100 miles of the Whitehouse

I remember: Hitchhikers
I don’t remember: Picking up hitchhikers

I remember: Jokes about Studebakers
I don’t remember: Studebakers

I remember: Sego brand low-calorie diet meal-replacement drink
I don’t remember: Drinking Sego without ice cream blended in

I remember: People with a strong work ethic
I don’t remember: Listening to the lectures of people with a strong work ethic

I remember: Junior high school
I don’t remember: June in high school

I remember: Bobby Vinton
I don’t remember: Why anyone watched
Bobby Vinton

I remember: E-ticket rides at Disney World
I don’t remember: Ever having enough E-tickets

I remember: “Well-marbled” steaks
I don’t remember: 76-year
life expectancies

I remember: Jordache
I don’t remember: The mirror ever confirming that I had acquired the “
Jordache Look

I remember: Harvey’s Bristol Crème
I don’t remember: Keeping down Harvey’s Bristol Crème

I remember: The
Yugo
I don’t remember: Dating anyone who drove a Yugo

I remember: Milli
I don’t remember: How or why I blocked out Vanilli

I remember: Sonny Bono the
hippie
I’d rather not remember: Sonny Bono the Republican
congressman


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4 comments:

Mignon said...

Excellent! I'm with you on the Jordache, Bugaloos, and percolated coffee.

June Casagrande said...

You look too young to remember percolators. So I'm glad that someone who looks as young as you is in the same boat with me!

Lori said...

You are SO my age. I knew it when I got to the Donny Osmond reference (who still IS the cutest boy in the world - don't tell my husband). The Gremlin, Pacer, and Jordache convinced me.

Welcome to my age group. :)

June Casagrande said...

When I was 15, I had two prized possessions in all the world: a pair of Jordache and a pair of Sergio Valentis. They got stolen off the clotheline in my apartment complex.

A few days later at school, I noticed girl who lived just a few doors down wearing an identical pair of Sergios. I confronted her, and got all my jeans back, with an apology.

I had forgotten all about that till now. Funny how people our age forget things, huh?

: )

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