We all age. If only because we don't like to even think about the alternative.
In some respects, I have always felt that I'm staying "with it" pretty well. In a recent transaction, my bank wanted some documents and the woman on the phone was carefully explaining how I could take them to the branch, and they would scan them and send them to her. So, I said, I guess I can scan them myself and send them to you? Pause. Why, yes, she said, you could do that. I know the surprise was because she assumed, or had reason to doubt, that I'd know how to do that. But overall, I've kept pretty current on the digital age, at least in areas that matter to me. We all pick and choose what those are.
In general, entertainment is not one of those areas for me. I don't follow movie stars and often am unable to say who was the lead in that movie I saw last week. Current pop music is not my forte. Even less so are the "celebrities" who are "célebre' only because they have done utterly inconsequential things on social media (which I also don't follow).
Still, it was a bit of a surprise to me when I read recently about someone doing a re-make of a Broadway musical called "Chess." It turns out that Chess premiered in London in 1986, and two years later in New York. I had never heard of it, so this news really drove home to me how old I'm getting. When they're reviving a musical, and you've never even heard of the original, well ...
By yet another coincidence I discovered today a section of my local newspaper from January 1, 2018, which I had set aside. It contains the typical annual list of what's "in" and what's "out" for the new year. Now, a lot of the items on these lists are there not as true exemplars of modishness, but more because they demonstrate how clever the list-compiler is, or how excessively with it he/she is. Again, though, it can make you think when you don't recognize either the "out" item OR its new "replacement."
Here are a few of the pairs I found:
The Pauls/The ShibSibs
Mushroom coffee/Cheese tea
Daily fantasy/Esports betting
The Reckoning/Consequences
Ginger/Gingers
Phil Kessel/Amanda Kessel
I could go on, but no need. Lists like these often make me glad I'm a "senior" and feel no need to keep up with the Kessels. Whoever they are.
I remind myself too, that I shouldn't feel amused or scornful when I find today's thirty-somethings don't remember the musical "Oklahoma," or the Viet Nam war ... let alone the more esoteric blasts from the past like Ma and Pa Kettle (the 1940's equivalent of the Kessels, perhaps?), Mrs. Calabash, or Ishkabibble. Your memories define your generation, so each new generation needs new ones.
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