It seems like every day, I feel older and older. On different messages boards and other places on the 'net that I frequent, when I mention something from when I was a kid ; a favourite cartoon, tv show, movie, etc, hardly anyone knows what I'm talking about. I try to explain, but no matter how deeply I get into whatever it is I'm talking about, they just don't get it. Has anything like this ever happened to you ? At first, it starts out small and slow. Your favourite songs start playing less and less on the radio. Then, the commercials you used to really get a kick out of are just "blah", the same as any other commercial. Then, you stop enjoying the movies you used to like as much as you used to enjoy them. Suddenly, all if not most of the toys/games/movies/music you think is so cool is considered lame by the uninformed. When it really starts hitting the fan is when "your" videos and music are now playing on the classic stations and channels. Since when did Bon Jovi and Guns & Roses become classic rock ?

That made me feel real old when, one day, I was rocking out to Welcome To The Jungle and went silent when the station bumber came on and said that they played the classics of yesterday. Classics of yesterday ? That made me feel 100 years old, when I heard that. When you were younger, there were countless cartoons, music, and movies that you just loved and would watch almost every day. Even if you already owned the record or videotape, if the movie or song was playing, you'd sit and have fun. You and your friends would spend hours talking about your favourite characters and bands. But as you got a little older, you find that there are less and less people that won't make fun of you because of the things you like. Probably in a tie with having your music on the classic/soft station, is watching Mtv. It really hits you when you turn on Mtv and have no idea of who any of the VJs are anymore.

None of the people that were on when you originally watched are there anymore ; Tabitha Soren, Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn, Downtown Julie Brown, Bill Bellamy, Kennedy, Doctor Dre & Ed Lover, etc. Do kids nowadays even know who these great VJs are ? I seriously doubt it. They wouldn't know a real VJ if one came up and bit them on the backside. At least Matt Pinfield is still working.



When you get older, you're expected to like more "grownup" movies and tv shows ; bloody, gory thriller types. Now, don't get me wrong. Every once in a while, I like to watch movies like Friday The 13th and Stephen King movies.

Movies like that are just fine. And you may enjoy them, too, as well as discussing them with your friends......when what you really want to do is put on some Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Smurfs, He-Man, Voltron (a personal favourite of mine), or Transformers, grab a huge bowl of really sugary, fattening cereal with absolutely no nutiritional value whatsoever and geek out for a few hours, remembering when you were a kid. No responsibilities, no job, nowhere to go. Ah, those were the days !



Go into a store these days, all around the toy aisles you'll see a lot of the toys and games you played with as a kid with labels like "An update of the time honoured classic", "Classic Edition", etc., and you'll instantly feel like heading for the Geritol and Ben-Gay.

When I see shows like I Love The 80s, listen to really cool music only to find out it's a classic station, or when I get up or sit down and realize that I make the same "old man noises" that the really old men in my family make. Most people would say that 26 is still very young. But when I sat down to write this all out, and thinking about all this, I feel almost ancient.

Is 26 old ?

ps. please forgive the crude-itity of this article. It's my first. Hopefully my next will be better.....but probably not.