Conference back40::soapbox

    
    Everything up to and including the age of 15 was a complete write-off.
    

The firsted thing to go is your mind. I fergit what's supposed to happen
next.

>    So, what age was hardest for you to deal with?

Hasn't happened yet. Life's been good to me so far...
    
>    Is the mid life crisis real?  When is midlife?

I'll let you know when I grow up.
    
>    What's the best thing and the worst thing about getting older for you?

About the onliest thing I've noticed is that partying in the middle of
the week is something that now has to be scheduled. 

TTom

>    We are all getting older

Speak for yourself, Michael.

    All I want to know is: What happened to my twenties??
    
    ...Tom

>    All I want to know is: What happened to my twenties??

You spent them.  All you have now is pocket change.

    That's because they don't make 40's   :)
    
    
    ...Tom

    
    re: .3
    
    Jack,
    
     Seems we covered this on Aug. 11???
    

    
    
    I was wondering about that portrait of a somewhat older looking "Lucky"
    Jack Delbalso that was hanging in your abode, Jack.(or should that
    be Dorian?)

    	I have found that I've grown more successful, more confident,
    	healthier, and more content as I've grown older.  Maybe since
    	I'm only 37 and I haven't hit midlife, I'm not an appropriate
    	participant in this topic.

    
    well Joe, you will in a year or to.

    well, someone declare a "mid-life crisis" age range...

    Don't know,
    
    Midlife crisis age keeps getting moved further out.  I usta say it was
    35, then I hit thirty and it became 45, now I think it must be closer
    to 50. 
    
    meg

    I am still a Toys R Us kid so I dont think I seen a mid life crisis
    .......yet, I am still waiting for it.
    
    
    Lynne:-)

    
    
    I have found that at 35, I'm getting more contemplative on certain
    matters regarding life, deat, family, etc.  I don't know if it's mid
    life or not, but seeing as the men in my family die fairly young (my
    father just turned 60 and he's had 3 heart attacks in the last 2
    years).  I don't know that it's a crisis (I haven't had the urge to go 
    buy a red sportscar (no offense Dr. Dan) or anything yet), however it
    is a point in my life where I'm taking inventory and evaluating where I
    am.
    
    Mike  

I was in Stowe Vermont this weekend. There is a place called the "Malt shop"
which is a '50's type place (burgers & fries, Malts, etc.) 50's music
Poodle Skirts, lots of people my age :-} 

while having diner a bunch of college kids came in, ordered supper, and 
started talking to us. During the course of the conversation we talked
about "The Malt Shop" and why they liked it. One kid said he felt it
was a chance to "see colonial America in action".

  I suddenly felt OLD! :-}

Amos

Perhaps we can pinpoint the current age for start-of-midlife-crisis by asking
Dr. Dan when he purchased his Mustang.

    
    I started to feel old when I started to think that kids these days wear
    really stupid things, like tennis visors upside down with the brim off
    to the side.
    

    I just assume that my midlife won't start until I'm 70.
    
    ...Tom

    My midlife musta been a while ago, 'cause when I was young I thought
    I'd never make it to 40...

    
    re: .17
    
    >really stupid things,
    
    How about those ridiculous baggy jeans, where the crotch (of the jeans) is
    about 6 inches off the ground!!

    
    Joan, you're not old - that IS a stupid thing to wear 8^).
    
    

    i remember when i thought 25 was old...and it's just around the corner
    now!!! :<
    
    
    and when you think about it, you aren't going to know when you mid-life
    was til after you die...
    
    
    

    A young-un!
    (grin)

    
    
    	a young babe at that....:*)
    
    	jim 

and you won't even know then!

     re:    
    
    
    25... just around the corner...
    
    
    Someone smaq that kid!!!
    

    Regarding the jeans with the crotch 6" off the ground, those types of
    jeans are "Hip Hop" jeans.
    
    I seen a kid with green hair over the weekend in Rockport. YIKES!
    That is another trend with the kids.
    
    
    I know I am approaching mid life when I go into a music store, look at 
    the top forty and know maybe 2 of the artists.  Then go to the oldies
    to look for 70's and early 80's music 
    
    

	Years 12-22

	I hit my stride around 26 ...

	The first few months of my 33rd year have been a bit rough, but
	things are slowly improving.

    >>I hit my stride around 26 ...
    
    you mean i have hope?!?!?!
    
    
    :>
    

    {smaqs} all around for raq for not having creaking joints yet!

    
    I'll have a freaking joint, mannnnn.
    

	raq, only if you live that long !

	I nearly didn't ...

    
    	lived wild and reckless until age 19. Then I got married, had two
    kids, and basically became Mr. Responsible. Now my days and nights are
    filled with work, school, and family. There's no time to be bad......:)
    
    
    jim

    I'm still in the immortal stages !!! young, free and single, living
    life on the edge but not pushing it too far.
    
    Sorry.

    Gawd, my world must be skewed.  Most of my friends are into 
    the settle-down-with-one-person-cohabitate-maybe-get-married-after-
    three-or-four-years bit but they're all in their early-mid 30's.
    
    I have friends who have just bought their first house and are expecting
    in February, he's about 33, she's 42.
    
    I also have an aquaintance who I swore was an undergraduate in college
    until I found out she was 35.  Others are similarly amazed......
    
    Mid-life?  50? 60?  I guess whenever you decide that you're old. 
    You can come to a turning point in your life without it being a
    crisis......
    
    Lisa

    re 520.16 -- it is not repeat NOT a midlife crisis symptom.  It is,
    pure & simple, a second childhood symptom.  A childhood, might I add,
    when I can AFFORD the toys I couldn't during the first outing.
    
    So THERE.
                             ...^^..::
    NyyyaaaaaahhhhhHHHHHHH!!  .,...,...;..++
                             ...::;;::;;;;;..
    

    .37
    
    Mid thirties?
    
    Mistaken for a college undergrad?
    
    Where do I sign up?

    
    i'm basically trying to live the forties as i did my late teens.
    

    ya mean getting drunk and layed every night ?

    Get a divorce. Go out with a gorgeous woman 10 years younger than
    yourself...
    
    
    Nah, that was a dream. Hey, what is that lipstick on my collar...
    
    

    hey, i ended a relationship about with a woman about 7 years younger
    than me. i met a woman 7 years older than me (about 10yrs ago). i
    married her... never been happier!

    MaxYougerThanMe: 7 years (I feel like such a cradle-robber)
    
    MaxOlderThanMe: 10 years (she was)

    >I'm still in the immortal stages !!! young, free and single, living
    >life on the edge but not pushing it too far.
    
    Hey, I'm still in the immortal stages and I' 44!
    
    ...Tom

    
    Age is just a number, some of us are old at 25, some at 90.  My father
    eloped to Las Vegas at 72 years of age and I had an Uncle who eloped at
    80 (lived 15 more years, very happy.)

    I went through my midlife crisis when I was 30, and got it out
    of the way.  I felt great upon reaching 40; I'd *earned* it. :-)
    I got rid of any minor trepidations by going out and buying a
    couple of "toys".
    
    You want to talk about a tough age?  How about adolescence?
    You're not a kid, in fact (if you were like me) you were supremely
    pissed that you weren't a kid anymore (I *liked* my childhood,
    even more than I'm liking my second one), and you're not an
    adult yet with the freedoms, money, and perks that come with it.
    It was frustrating as hell.
    
    I'm convinced that a lot of adolescent attitude and misbehavior
    has its roots in anger and confusion over lost childhood, but
    they either don't realize it or wouldn't admit it.
    
    Chris

    
    
    >>{smaqs} all around for raq for not having creaking joints yet!
    
    
    i didn't say that...
    

    Bad joints at 24???
    
    It's all downhill from here, raq...
    
    (nice hair!)

    
    excuse me??  what do you know about my hair????
    
    

    (ducking)
    
    I said it...(duck)...looks...(dodge)...nice!

      I've given this some thought and here they are:
    
      I'm 37 years old so please make allowances for any lack of
      intellectual ability!  ;-)
    
      I thought to divide the aspects of 'realization of middle age'
      into three categories:
    
      1) the opposite sex
    
      2) awareness of one's own mortality
    
      3) athleticism - physical ability
    
    
      First, women.   I have come to terms with a temptation that I
      have and I often think in terms of absolutes.  I have come to
      realize a certain sinful propensity.  I desire virtually every
      woman who appeals (or could potentially appeal to me - as I haven't
      personally come accross every woman in the world) to me to consider 
      me to be an absolutely essential part of their life.  It is a shame-
      less temptation which I try to resist.
    
      I would estimate the total number of such woman to be perhaps
      one billion, maybe a half billion.  Whats the world's population
      anyway?
    
      With respect to this category, middle age is that time when I have
      fully come to grips with the fact that the above desire is
      irrational.  It is also that time when you realize that women in
      their physical peak have little to no interest in you as a 
      potential partner.
    
      I guess I'm not there yet!  But, I'm getting there.
    
    
      Mortality.  When you really realize you are going to die.  In spite
      of my spiritual beliefs, I'm not there yet.
    
      
      Athleticism.  When full court basketball is no longer worth it and
      when while you cover a person in his late teens to early twenties,
      such a person scores on you before you realize he had the ball!
    
      I'm not there yet, but I hurt after athletics more than I used to!
    
      Well, I guess I'm not there yet.  May I mentally age gracefully!
    
    						Tony

================================================================================
Note 520.43                   Aging/Midlife crisis                      43 of 52
WMOIS::GIROUARD_C                                     3 lines  18-AUG-1995 07:32
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    hey, i ended a relationship about with a woman about 7 years younger
    than me. i met a woman 7 years older than me (about 10yrs ago). i
    married her... never been happier!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It bummed me out though as that meant Chip became my brother-in-law!
    								;^)
    
    
    I think how you feel about yourself all comes down to where you are in 
    your life (in relation to where you expected to be) at any given age.
    I'm 45, closing in on 46. At 34 I was divorced, no kids, never owned
    my own home and had basically nothing but a job and an apartment. I
    was bumming. Met my current wife a couple of years after that, got
    married 7 years ago and my life just gets better all the time now. I
    have two step-daughters who've become like my own (ages 21 and 26
    respectively) and my oldest just had her first child 3 months ago so
    I'm kinda-sorta a Grampy (to the most handsome, intelligent, and
    perfect baby boy ever born (no bias here!)). :^)
    It's never bothered me getting older (I run, bike, stay in shape pretty
    well and and am healthier than I ever was in my hard-drinking 20's) but
    for some reason, when I hit 43, I was bothered for a few months by the
    fact that I WAS getting older. That 60 was a lot closer than 20. But,
    it went away and I'm sailing along again.
    I forget who originally said it but I like this quote:
    "If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you be?".
    

    -1 who you kiddin'... that wa the luckiest day of your life! :-)

    >Bad joints at 24???
    
    Hey, I remember bad joints at 19, I just never bought from that guy
    again.
    
    ...Oh you mean joints like knees and such??!! 
    
    Never mind!
    
    ...Tom 

    Ref: 47 and 52
    
    Very well put, I'm just 3 months shy of 40 myself. I relly feel
    my best days are ahead. I believe you start to make your peace with 
    a lot of things. All the possibilities in life become more precious,
    because there is a realization your time on earth is not infinite.
    
    Phil

    Well I consider my-self one of the youngest employees at Digital. I was
    told so recently. I think I am having a mid-life crisis. Maybe I am in
    my second child hood or something. The other day I wasn't even carded
    for cigarettes. Very unusual for me. I was called Mr. and sir just the
    other day. I am only 20 yers old going on 21 in a few days. I hurt my
    back the other night getting out of bed. Boy do I feel old.
    
    
    								Trev
    

    
    	I started at Digital 2 weeks after my 19th birthday....I was
    interviewing when I was 18. One of the women I worked with last year
    started when she was 17yrs old. 
    
    	You think you feel old now, see how you feel after 7yrs in Digital.
    :*)
    
    
    jim

 Or go through a day like I did yesterday :-O

    
    	good one, eh Jim?
    
    

 Yeah, a real good one :-/  However, the negative effects are quickly
 wearing off as I contemplate not having to return to work until
 after Labor day :-)



 Jim

    
    
    	take the time off.....you'll thank yourself for it. :)
    
    
    jim

Oh, I'm takin' in alright ;-)

    Crisisisisisis change as you get older. And as you get older, they
    become more noticeable. That's all. That's my theory, my theory number
    3, which is mine and which I claim sole ownership of. My theory that
    is.

    -1 right on. as you get older the "GAS-meter" seems to get much more
       sensitive :-)

    
    If it's too loud, am I too old?
    
    jc (who likes loud music...from time to time.)
    

    > If it's too loud, am I too old?
    
    Not necessarily.  You just haven't destroyed your hearing by listening
    to too-loud music.  So turn it down and enjoy.

        > If it's too loud, am I too old?

    yep!

    -b (who's listening to a particularly cacophonous selection from the
        new king crimson album as he types this...)

    
    TURN THAT RACKET DOWN, old man!!
    

    Guess I'm mid-life; have a least 1 crisis a day whether I want it or
    not.  Not going to tell you my age, let's just say I'm older than
    EC but younger than Mick Jagger, you do the math :-)
    

    
    51
    

    
    middle age is where the narrow waist and the broad mind begin to
    change places.

    <---- Wow, there's a lot of truth in that one!

    Mid-life crisis?  What the hell is that?
    
    I read a few of the replies to this note and it seems alot of you are
    wondering where your 20's went.  Some of you, in other notes, reflect
    what you were doing in the 70's.  Some of you talk about "old songs and
    TV shows".
    
    Um, let's just say...I'm still in my 20's, I don't remember what I was
    doing in the 70's since I was too young to have a memory, and "old
    songs and TV shows" are shows from the mid-1980's for me.
    
    Am I dating myself here?
    
    Love,
    
    Gail (who still has 36 more years til I can retire!)
    

    
      20's ?  Please explain this word "twenties" ?
    
      bb

They're what ATMs spew out.

    re: .76
    
    >They're what ATMs spew out.
    
    Now, THAT'S the kind of spewing I like!
    
    Bob
    

    The 20's are that age when people still know everything.

    -1 based on no background or experience

    I will be 44 on 09/06/95 but I feel more like 34. I think my activity
    level is what is making the difference here. Sure I have the joint
    problems but Bally`s hepls me through that and then theres the
    community involvement with the fire department that lets me feel good
    about me. I don`t feel like I`m at my mid point yet. 

    
    Ah yes, mid life.
    Being 42 I guess I must be there.
    Truthfully, turning 30 bothered me more than any other age.
    Having seen my father buy an incredible sports car in his mid 40's
    I suppose the midlife crisis is a real thing. 
    Then again, when my mother backed into it, I saw a REAL crisis take
    place. He also deciced to live in Harvard Sq. for a while, eventually
    rejoining the family.
    For me, nothing radical has really happened......yet.
    I do find myself becoming disillusioned at times as we seem to
    be just getting by and these are suppose to be my peak earning
    years. Probably the results of being a one-income family with 2 young
    children in the 90's.
    
    The worst thing....wife is starting to look like mother-in-law.
    The best thing.....my vision is getting worse.
    
    							Hank
    
    I do find

    
    
    RE: .82 :')
    
    
    

    Shoulda known you'd guess it Bri :-)
    
    
    Give the lad a gold stars and a
    slap on his bad wrist :-)

    mid-life schmid-life, it's all in your heads. ain't no such thing 
    unless you believe in it :-)
    
    actually, it has gotta be caused by being soooo responsible over the
    years and simply needing an escape (even if it's temporary). i don't
    think it has anything to do with chronology exclusively.
    
    me, i won't have any of it. i'm in better shape now than i was in my
    20's. well better physically. my 20's nemesis was in better partying
    shape fer shere...

    Isn't your sex life at it's peak during your mid-life era?  
    
    Come on guys, I can hear your smartass answers already!
    
    

    hm, i thot it was more like they get occasional peeks at it....

    re: .87
    
    I see you've been dating the wrong guys, again.
    
    Bob

    On a DATE?  She NEVER!!
    
    :-)
    

    touche, bob :-)

    Most of you guys are old enough to be my dad!
    

    Daddy?  Is that you?
    

    
    Hello Jennifer,
    
    Let me introduce my self I'm Dan Killoran...
    BTW if you're not careful, you may find out why they call me
    
    Kirby.... :-)

    Suddenly you don't sound so much like dear old dad...

    .85 has it.

    Yabbut, whotheheck is/was his "20's nemesis??"  Might it merely be a
    pagefaulted "20's counterpart" or "20's self" or "20's alter ego?"
    
    Inqyryng mynds & all that
    
    

    the devil within...

    That's the first theory that actually supports the original word... :-)
    

Gettin' too old to snarf...

    basenoter has nads of mid life crises...hehehehehehe