When We Were Young

When I was young I thought 35 was old. I thought I would be living in that fully automated house I used to see on Tom & Jerry and that we would be walking around in space suits like The Jetsons. (Diddy already DID that which further proves to me that he has lapped the field...say what you want about dude...his social intelligence is unmatched in this generation. Everyone else is following his urban mogul blueprint.). Man I knew I was gonna be ancient when the 2010 arrived...I mean I was born in 1976...and ten years past 2000 seemed like it was millions of years off in 1987. Michael J Fox only traveled to 2015 in "Back to the Future II" and I don't think Nike has created Jordans that can tie themselves yet. The world I live in looks nothing like the world in that movie.

The government COULD have it's best and brightest working on some new eco-friendly civilization somewhere (it's possible...I've got my fingers crossed) but its more likely they have them working on more efficient ways to control us... imbeding cameras and tracking devices in every object we carry; all the while convincing us that we need internet on our TVs and cameras so we'll rush out and buy this technology with our tax refunds no matter what the cost. Why do we even need internet on our cellphones? Do we even use them to "talk" to people anymore? Has anyone noticed how much easier it is to collect state's evidence? We transcribe ourselves through our text messages, emails, IMs, BBMs, Facebook and Twitter. Skype has allowed them unprecedented access to millions of homes worldwide, thanks to Oprah. Cable companies now offer security service with a live video feed. Do I really want to watch someone murder my family or my children suffer while they are burned to death trapped in a house fire? Tripping the alarm would have been enough to alert the police or fire department, what the HELL can I do from my cubicle at work accept be traumatized. When I call the pizza man and give him my phone number he knows my address. If I dial 911 from my cell they don't need me to tell them my location, even if I've driven off of a cliff. I can purchase an app that can give me the GPS location of every phone on my mobile plan at every moment of the day. If wives and girlfriends suspecting infidelity can track their significant other's movements with an accuracy of a few feet, what makes us think Big Brother can't do it to?

As I approach 35 I began reflecting on my life and the way I lived it and I began to feel depressed because I seemed far too immature for my age. I still will catch an episode of 106 and Park every now and then. I LOVE "iCarly" and play Guitar Hero on XBox 360; holding all the high scoring records and is far and away the best electronic guitarist in my house despite having 13 and 10 year old sons. I still get a little too heated by a conversation on FB and get "rahrah" in my response to them. "Meet me at the bus so I can kick ur ass" could easily close out some of my comments and posts. My top five favorite programs are still animated shows. I love laughing more than I do saving money. I still wrestle with my sons. I don't even sound like an adult to myself. I started to feel sorry for my sons as I wondered when I would ever grow up.

Then it hit me...my father looked and acted a lot like me when he was 35...so I can't be that far off track because my Pops is someone I really respected as a man and breadwinner. I NOW consider a weekend at home without the kids a great date. I have WISHED that some teenager racing to the red light in the lane next to me would turn down his loud rap music or wondered how some random girl's mother LET her out of the house dressed "like that". I go to bed just after 9 and watch or should I say attempt to watch all my favorite shows from the bed. Maybe just maybe being grown and responsible isn't synonymous with Old fart with no life as I so passionately thought all the way into my mid-20s. But what if I THINK I'm cooler than I really am? My father looked rather lame with those colored tube socks pulled up to his knees and those daisy duke track shorts with the white stripe on the side, but he insisted that I "was crazy" and that it "was the style". I can think of several occasions my outfit has been met with the question "Ma...THAT'S what you're wearing" by my 13 year old. Am I that old fart to him? I don't care if I am because 35 just AINT old to me!

UrbanJournalist