Things I Miss (AKA the Old Fart Thread)

[murdoc]

There's not too much I honestly miss other than free time, but there are things that I am disappointed that my kids won't be able to experience to the same level I did.

[Soln]

1. Normal weather.  Tolerable hot in Summer, nice Snow in Dec for holidays.  Not the seasonal apocalypses we have now.

2. Inflation I could see.  Not statistical lies.  Not stuff that's hidden and that I only find in my grocery store bill, my toddler's new clothes, or my wife's college tuition.

3. Being able to ride my bike in safety around the neighborhood.  This one really bothers me for my son.  I want him to be able to explore without risk of abduction or road accident.

4. Games that weren't serious but just fun.   All games everywhere are now serious business.

5. Music that didn't include sampling, auto-tuning, or were basically just three chord copies or "homages" of a previous demographic marketing campaign.

I could go on about career stability, and the financialization of everything, but that's enough.

[Teleku]

I miss the previous version of Facebook.  It worked great and was intuitive.  Now there's all this double column timeline bullshit and lots of ad's.  I mean, what gives?

[ghost]

I miss the previous version Facebook.  It worked great and was intuitive.  Now there's all this double column timeline bullshit and lots of ad's.  I mean, what gives?

 

[Shannow]

3. Being able to ride my bike in safety around the neighborhood.  This one really bothers me for my son.  I want him to be able to explore without risk of abduction or road accident.

I don't think has changed, just our perception of it has

[Draegan]

I miss arcades too. Trying to beat the high score on Off Road.
I miss summers where nights were spent BBQing and chasing fireflys. That was every weekend.
I miss my parents being younger (but they're not that old now).

I miss not having to worry about my place in life.
I miss life before the internet. I don't really, but there is a nostalgic feel to just worrying about school, saturday morning cartoons, and getting home before dark.
I miss when the internet was really just the local BBS I dialed up to to play Tele-Arena and send (E)lectronic Mail to people.

I miss being able to eat and drink whatever I wanted (damn acid reflux).

However, I'm soon to be a father for the first time and I look forward to reliving a lot of this all over again through my daughter's eyes.  *tear*

(7000th post yay)

[Ingmar]

I miss being able to eat and drink whatever I wanted (damn acid reflux).

Omeprazole, man. It's a goddamn miracle drug.

[Draegan]

I miss being able to eat and drink whatever I wanted (damn acid reflux).

Omeprazole, man. It's a goddamn miracle drug.

I'm on some generic purple pill and the only thing I can't do is drink a lot of coffee or eat a lot of raw tomato. Sometimes soda does me in as well.

[Rasix]

My acid reflux laughs at omeprazole's attempts to halt reflux from alcohol.  One drink and I'll enjoy the taste of bile for the rest of the night.

I don't really miss drinking.  I never had any tolerance.  

I don't really miss a whole lot. 

Arcades maybe.  I was decent at fighting games.  
Sleeping in.  
My rib that was removed.

[proudft]

Are we going to need a Recommended Medications (AKA the Old Fart Thread)?   

[Reg]

Man, I ate a package of Rolaids every day since leaving college but discovered Pantoprazole a couple of years ago and haven't taken a Rolaid since.  It's miracle drug.

fake edit: Hah probably. feel free to move my post there if it actually gets created.

[MahrinSkel]

I miss being able to stay out until 3, roll out of (hopefully someone else's) bed at 7, go out and do it again another two nights in a row, then show up for work Monday without skipping a beat.  Now if I party on Friday, I'm lucky if I feel 80% by Monday morning (the someone else's bed hasn't happened in a long time, but between being married and then effectively homeless....) and two nights in a row can wreck me for a week.  I'm on the last narrow window of middle age where I can still do pretty much everything I used to, I just pay a higher price for it.

--Dave

[01101010]

I miss playing in the hose on a hot summer day in the backyard.
...      waking up on a really snowy day, pinned to the radio listening for the school closings. (then celebrating when I heard my school, or being completely outraged other schools were off but mine wasn't)
...      candybars were a quarter at the corner store.
...      hot summer nights spent at the neighborhood ice cream stand with the rest of the neighborhood kids who just happened to be there.
...      riding bikes down to the city park just to go tearing through the trails down by the river, then stopping to catch crayfish in the rocks.
...      big wheels + piece of plywood + rocks = ramps for flying
...      tree climbing with friends.

[Bzalthek]

I miss being a kid and mostly irresponsible.  Other than that, not a god damn thing.  I remember being fucking bored.  All the time.

[Der Helm]

-Not have to wear an ID at school.

What ?

-Be able to actually carry my bookbag between classes instead of going to a locker.

What ?  

[MahrinSkel]

-Not have to wear an ID at school.

What ?

-Be able to actually carry my bookbag between classes instead of going to a locker.

What ?  

Yeah, these are both a thing now in most high schools in the US.  The latest version has an RFID chip in the ID, so they can track every student as they move around the school.

--Dave

[Ginaz]

I miss my hair.

[ghost]

3. Being able to ride my bike in safety around the neighborhood.  This one really bothers me for my son.  I want him to be able to explore without risk of abduction or road accident.

I don't think has changed, just our perception of it has

For a lot of people it has, particularly those living in mid sized towns that have had all the modern neighborhoods crop up.  It's tough for kids to play anywhere but in the street now.  Thirty years ago there was a lot more green space planned into neighborhoods.  The houses were on bigger lots and there were fewer fences.  Now everyone has their own private castle with a fence in the backyard.  Good luck finding woods to play in.

[Ruvaldt]

-Not have to wear an ID at school.

What ?

-Be able to actually carry my bookbag between classes instead of going to a locker.

What ?  

Yeah, these are both a thing now in most high schools in the US.  The latest version has an RFID chip in the ID, so they can track every student as they move around the school.

--Dave

As a person who taught for a few years very recently in a high school I can vouch for the ID thing, but we still allowed backpacks.  I haven't heard of any ISDs around here banning them.

[rk47]

Bigger portions at fast food places.
I don't know where you live, but stuff are shrinking and prices are increasing.
Burger King used to be kinda big - but now... it's pitiful.

[Bzalthek]

Oh wait.  I do remember something I miss.  Lawn Darts.  Fucking whiners with lobotomized kids ruin everything.

[proudft]

I never saw a Lawn Dart, but BB gun wars were all the rage.  By "we", I don't mean me and my brother specifically, since we only had one BB gun, but many of our schoolmates did during that highly dangerous junior-high period, and the bruises were often shown off at school, and the small punctures from when the pump-limits were violated. 

Also, put me in for the 'it's actually way safer now, it's just national news that frightens people' camp.  Though I can't say I'm fond of hearing shrieking children running around, it's better than having them drop dead at 35 from diabetes complications and/or become terrified shutins that fear everything in the world except their own physical deterioration.

Also, get off my lawn.

[apocrypha]

I miss the feeling that the world was getting better.

I know it was just naivety but when I was a kid people genuinely believed that technology was improving our lives and making the world a better place. When the first home computers started coming out it was revelatory and people felt they were living in incredible times.

Now the technology had become commonplace and I have realised that technological and scientific achievements will always play second fiddle to social & political ones.

[MahrinSkel]

In all truth, I miss the 90's.  Not just because I was in my twenties and having fun, but because it truly was a golden age in so many ways.  It was like in1989, sanity broke out all over the world, and for a little more than a decade, things were great.  And then we got over it.

--Dave

[apocrypha]

I do miss all the drugs and nightclubs and bands in the 90s, but I also miss being physically able to do that stuff.

Old people miss being young, who'd a thought? 

[Spiff]

- I miss walking into a bar and being one of the young dogs (and I'm not old or gray enough yet to be one of the wise geezers and get my drinks bought for me).
- I miss being somewhere, anywhere and no one at any point pulling out a phone.

[satael]

I miss sitting down in a pub for a drink and to smoke a pipe (with good pipe tobacco)

[Numtini]

I miss looking up at the moon and thinking about the people up there and what they're doing.

[Chimpy]

I miss mechanical devices that were built to work for more than a few years at most. I also miss stuff like film projectors that you could actually figure out how the "magic" happened with a bit of observation and curiosity.

I also miss not having a bald spot :(

[Merusk]

You can still get those mechanical devices. You just have to be willing to pay an arm and a leg because the companies are few and far between and need to make money on the few they sell.

Care and maintenance also matter.  Something I note most of my generation is lacking in thanks to absentee parents never teaching them how.   When's the last time you cleaned out the coils on your fridge, for example?

[Oz]

I'll third the I miss having hair...
 

[Surlyboi]

I took a lawn dart in the hand when I was 10 after the douchebag neighbor kid threw it at me. God I hated Florida.

I miss being irresponsible and there being no serious consequences.

As others have said, I miss predictable weather.

I miss the naivete of my youth, where I thought everything was going to turn out fine for everybody.

I miss playing video games on my college campus while all the New Order I'd queued up played on the Jukebox.

I miss being able to swim 10,000 yards a day and then eat like food was going out of style.

I miss the feeling that summer was full of endless possibilities.

I miss not getting hung over.

I miss not having the internet everywhere.

I don't miss being single. Which is something I never thought I'd say. So, there's that.

[Ghambit]

I miss Transformers that were made of metal (mostly Lead).
I miss calling my BBS and yelling that my (mom's) phone bill was too high after playing an all-nighter of Realms.
I miss the secret-ink hint-books that got me through a lot of those damned Sierra games.
I miss Blockbuster nights on my parent's giant wooden rear-screen projection TV and teh Dolby surrounds!
I miss going on neighborhood adventures with my brother. "I DARE you to knock on that creepy house's door!"
I miss watching Reading Rainbow and then promptly riding off to the library on my Beachcruiser.
I miss music that was more positive, lively, intelligent, and hopeful.  (queue 80's-early 90's music)

[Lantyssa]

Also, get off my lawn.

But my lawn darts are in it...

[Numtini]

When's the last time you cleaned out the coils on your fridge, for example?

Ours aren't accessible, they're fully enclosed.

I miss Taco Flavored Doritos. They came back last summer and I gorged, but now then they disappeared again.