Old people complaining

SnoopRob said:
I find the anti-Boomer sentiments on Reddit to be pretty funny.

Although I've noticed lately they're starting to come for the Gen X'ers and that is not nearly as funny.
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Better not start ragging on Gen X. Those are my peeps. I'm 57 and not grumpy yet.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
and everything - literally everything - was better back in the day.
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Well, everything is better when you're young. I suppose there are some consolations that come with hoary wisdom, but what 80 year old would've rather be 20 again, since the beginning of time?
 
hedge said:
Well, everything is better when you're young. I suppose there are some consolations that come with hoary wisdom, but what 80 year old would've rather be 20 again, since the beginning of time?
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If it meant repeating my 20th year, you would have to pay me a lot.
 
If I could go back to just being one age all the time, I’d probably go with 30. Not based on what I was doing at the time or where I was in life at the time, but just in terms of how I was physically. Plenty of energy and stamina. In excellent health. No body aches after physical activity (or for no apparent reason). No longer looked liked a kid at 30, but still pretty good looking.

My dad always said if he could choose one age to be, it’d be 50. For him, it’s a combination of where he was in life and how he was physically. I turn 50 this year, bit I’d much rather be turning 30.
 
farce© said:
We ruined the world. We are holding them back in their careers because we won’t retire on a schedule that suits them. We are hoarding all the money. We have made housing unaffordable. It’s our fault they can’t get laid.
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Mad Max Reaction GIF
 
Icky Mettle said:
If I could go back to just being one age all the time, I’d probably go with 30. Not based on what I was doing at the time or where I was in life at the time, but just in terms of how I was physically. Plenty of energy and stamina. In excellent health. No body aches after physical activity (or for no apparent reason). No longer looked liked a kid at 30, but still pretty good looking.

My dad always said if he could choose one age to be, it’d be 50. For him, it’s a combination of where he was in life and how he was physically. I turn 50 this year, bit I’d much rather be turning 30.
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I go with Dads preferred age. To much angst about future earnings etc at age 30 And little rug rats dominating the home life lol
 
Icky Mettle said:
If I could go back to just being one age all the time, I’d probably go with 30. Not based on what I was doing at the time or where I was in life at the time, but just in terms of how I was physically. Plenty of energy and stamina. In excellent health. No body aches after physical activity (or for no apparent reason). No longer looked liked a kid at 30, but still pretty good looking.

My dad always said if he could choose one age to be, it’d be 50. For him, it’s a combination of where he was in life and how he was physically. I turn 50 this year, bit I’d much rather be turning 30.
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When I turned 60, my sister sent me a copy of a study of people who lived to be 100. When asked what decade was the best in their lives, they overwhelmingly chose their 60s. They were "older and wiser", the kids were grown and out of the house, they were more financially stable, they still were reasonable healthy and able to do what they chose, and they were "more comfortable with who they are."

I have a hard time disagreeing since my 60s were pretty damn good, although my 40s were a good time in my life. My 30s and 50s were both more stressful times in my life. Since I have moved around the country quite a bit in my adult life, various ages are associated more with where I lived and who I was friends with in those places more than the physical or financial fitness associated with just being a certain age.
 
When I was a kid, my mother explained to me why my grandfather, her father-in-law, was so kind, gentle, and, understsnding. She said that as people age the various veneers of personality they acquired during life to protect themselves from being exploited by others are gradually stripped away, leaving more and more of the base personalty exposed. So as my grandfather got older and older, he got nicer and nicer. The older he got the more he shed the protective behaviors he a acquired in life/business and became nicer and nicer. I was with him in his final days and he was worried that he was causing too much trouble for those caring for him. That's how I want to go out, thinking of others.
 
bassydude77 said:
My in-laws are 72 (MIL) and 75 (FIL). The last couple of years we've noticed the same thing. Every time they go out to dinner, there is a complaint about something during or after the meal. In general, the conversation is usually slanted toward the negative. My wife and I talk often about trying to stay self aware enough to not let the same happen to us.
Also, anxiety seems to spike as you get older (70+). I'd be interested to hear from others. I can't cook in my FIL's kitchen anymore, because he is so anxious that I'm doing something wrong (place a pot in the wrong place, burn something on the stove, why is the oven on...etc). We're taking a trip with all of the extended family in Feb. The house we're renting requires hiring a private chef. Sounds great, right. FIL is totally freaked out by it...we'll see how it goes.
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That level of anxiety? Sounds like a neurological exam is needed.

I laugh about how my parents are so anxious compared to years/decades ago.

They now fret when an e-mail arrives saying their package has been delivered……and the package hasn’t been delivered. That makes them anxious.

That’s about as anxious as they get.

Mom, who has Alzheimer’s (her neurologist says she’ll die with Alzheimer’s and not from it), gets more anxious and irrational and forgetful than Dad.

If one of my parents was as anxious/paranoid/discombobulated as you describe, neurological exams here we come.

We just scheduled the appointments for my Mom and they included an MRI and then a spinal tap (not that hugely painful one). Diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. Not certain until an autopsy; but, certain.

Someone with a high degree of anxiety needs medical help.
 
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donbosco said:
I just realized one of the things that I most enjoy about the time that I spend in Central America. Sometimes what you describe is quite literally my day there. I outline a task and then set out to navigate the cultural challenges of language, custom, transportation, and time. Just a trip to the market and finding everything you're looking for, spiced up with multiple interactions along the way with vendors and other shoppers, can really make your day.

Interesting to read here about old folks complaining...both my parents lived to be 93 years old with my Deddy passing on three years before my mother. They never complained about much of anything. My Deddy, who lost the fingers on his left hand at 13, especially never whined one time. My mother did pretty much despise republicans and ratface over in derm and complained about both a good deal.

I think I'm the same way for the most part. Tending bar for almost 25 years helped in that regard.
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Your Mom wasn’t complaining about Republicans or Ratface; she was speaking truth.
 
farce© said:
We ruined the world. We are holding them back in their careers because we won’t retire on a schedule that suits them. We are hoarding all the money. We have made housing unaffordable. It’s our fault they can’t get laid.
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It boils down to can’t get laid.

It ALWAYS circles back to sex.
 
hedge said:
Well, everything is better when you're young. I suppose there are some consolations that come with hoary wisdom, but what 80 year old would've rather be 20 again, since the beginning of time?
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Yes, but the problem is that most of these people won't admit that they think things were better because they were younger and healthier and so on. They won't admit that. Instead, things were better because people in general were better - nicer, friendlier, less violent, more patriotic, "respected their elders", not as lazy, blah blah blah. They're saying that society as a whole was better, and given that I was around back then and remember it well I'm very skeptical of that claim.
 
Zoo_View said:
That level of anxiety? Sounds like a neurological exam is needed.

I laugh about how my parents are so anxious compared to years/decades ago.

They now fret when an e-mail arrives saying their package has been delivered……and the package hasn’t been delivered. That makes them anxious.

That’s about as anxious as they get.

Mom, who has Alzheimer’s (her neurologist says she’ll die with Alzheimer’s and not from it), gets more anxious and irrational and forgetful than Dad.

If one of my parents was as anxious/paranoid/discombobulated as you describe, neurological exams here we come.

We just scheduled the appointments for my Mom and they included an MRI and then a spinal tap (not that hugely painful one). Diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. Not certain until an autopsy; but, certain.

Someone with a high degree of anxiety needs medical help.
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He's always been particular, so it seems to be coming from existing personality traits. He was a radiologist. Very intelligent, still very physically active. I think he has too much time on his hands, little social life (partially as a result of the anxiety). You're probably right that mediciation would help, but that's not going to happen and his kids trying to convince him to see someone about these issues will fall on deaf ears (another issue is he could really use a hearing aid, but refuses).
 
What's interesting here is that a large percentage of us here could be considered "Southerners" who grew up in a supposedly more genteel time. Ladies and gentlemen, still with a drawl, would always say and do the proper things. Life was nicer back then, yes?

Except thay'd talk sh*t about whoever to their coterie and wouldn't hesitate to stab you in the back if it profited them somehow.

Then the yanquis started arriving in hordes with a full frontal assault on our Southern senses. Never will be the same.
 
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