OT: Back in my day
 

When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious
diatribes about how hard things were when they were
growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning
uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards
carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room
schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average
despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where
they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their
family from starving to death!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in
heck I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that
on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But....

Now that I've reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I can't help but
look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so friggin' easy!

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a god-damned Utopia! And I
hate to say it but you kids today you don't know
how good you've got it.

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet--we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the goddamned library
and look it up ourselves.

And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter--with
a pen --and then you had to walk all the way
across the street and put it in the friggin' mailbox and it would take
like a week to get there.

And there were no MP3s or Napsters. You wanted to steal music, you had
to go to the god-damned record store and shoplift it
yourself. Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and
the DJ's usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

You want to hear about hardship?

You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to
buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! It was
either that or snap one off to the lingerie section of the JC Penney
catalog. Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting. If you were on the phone
and somebody else called they got a busy signal. And
we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either.! When the the phone rang,
you had no idea who it was. It could be your boss,
your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know... You
just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600...
With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked
ass! Your guy was a little square! You had to use
your imagination. And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was
just one screen forever. And you could never win, the
game just kept getting harder and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium
seating!
All the seats were the same height. A tall guy sat in front of you, you
were screwed!

And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20
channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to
use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on.

And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday morning... ...D'ya hear what the heck I'm
saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little bastards!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too
easy.

You're spoiled, I swear to God! You guys wouldn't last five minutes
back in 1984!

That's funny as chit, Wally! :D:D:D

I, by no means, consider myself old or even "All grown-up" but I swear, the more I look around, the more disheartening it is to watch these silly little punks meander through life being so damned clueless. Things are handed to these punks that we had to work hard at achieving.

Just the internet alone has transformed the world almost in it's entirety for business and such, I can only imagine what doors it opens up for kids who can't and don't have to leave the house.

They have the world at their fingertips and all we had was a bike and "20 channels" on tv.

I used to tell my kids about how I walked through 15 inches of snow to get to school but they never would buy it because they knew I grew up in the Los Angeles area.:rolleyes:

You're absolutely right. Todays kids have it real easy.
Or at least the have more forms and choices of entertainment.

You talk about 1984. Try going back to 1974 or 1964 for that matter.
In 1964 we still had BLACK and WHITE TV's.

Cable TV?....HA!!
You had an antenna on the roof and if you were lucky you got 6 channels.

The only means of outside communication, besides writing letters, was the telephone. Hell, we didn't have touchtone service till 1969. Up till then we had a rotory dial.
Forget about dialing 411 for information. If you wanted a phone number you grabbed the phone book and looked up yourself. If it wasn't in the book, they didn't have a phone. No such thing as an unlisted number.

Convenience stores?
The original meaning of 7-11 was their operating hours. They were open from 7am to 11pm, closed on Sundays and holidays. Not 24-7-365 like they are now.

Enough of that.

Atari 2600 ????
 

Lucky you,,, We stared out with PONG !!! 8 white lines and A white DOT !!!, we didnt get cable until 1987 !!!

At 27 I complain about "The youth of today" That just isnt right. What about the fact that High school kids now dont look like they did when I was in school. No wonder all they guys are on drugs. I wouldnt be able to walk up to one of these new and improved 11th grade girls that look like a 25 year old going to a night club without getting stoned first. The world is changing too fast.

That's some funny chit...:D :D :D :D

Aint that the truth!!! My graduation year of 91 the freshman class all looked like they skipped a few grade and came straight from 4th grade they were so small!! Its got to be in all these preservatives and chemicals that are in the foods now a days! My parnets never let us have any junk food...."You want icecream?....here have some frozen koolaid in a dixie cup!!!" :eek: McDonalds?.....maybe once a month if wer behaved! now its normal to bring home fast food cause no one has any time and its just too convienent... Oh well...the time they are always changing! Wonder what the kids growing up today will be complaining about the kids of the future? :D

Wally.... your on fire today!!!.... LOL
But it's all the truth!
Damn Kids! :D

Check this out...I do The SoCal thing of Going to the Coffe Shop every morning at 7:00. (You Know Latte's and Mochas...Coffe aint what it used to be either) anyway, All of the "High School" girls come in at around 7:45. First of all, what the hell does a high school kid need coffe for. Shouldnt they be drinking Hot Chocolate or Tang. WTF? Secound, They look like whores! and thats being nice about it. Boobs and Butts hanging out for the world to see. All I want is a morning pick me up and I end up feeling like Joey Buttafucco buy the time I leave there. So help me God if my little sister ever dresses like that Ill throw a boat cover over her before she makes it to school. Dont parents give a sh%$t. I dont think these kids are buying there own clothes? Oh my God! Im turning into my father! :(