In our thirties

Jon pointed this out to me yesterday. One of his seminary professors has a link to this guy's blog on his blog (Mike Wittmer's link to Zach Bartel's blog). I almost cried by the end when I realized how true I find the statements. I've added a few of my own to the end of the list.

It's quite poignant, especially as I consider my impending birthday.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Getting older...
I'm thirty. No, that's not old in years. It's still pretty young. But old has several definitions and one of them indicates a state of mind. Some people, at thirty, are still more or less like they were in college (and still living more or less the same kind of life). Others are consumed with the daily grind or raising a couple of tweens.

Now, I haven't much thought about it, but in the back of my mind, I think I've always just assumed that I'm on the "younger" end of things for a thirty-year-old. I mean, I still listen to hip hop and punk music from time to time. I watch a lot of movies and can follow most pop culture references. But upon further inspection, these are not nearly enough to hold me back from my relentless and apparently passionate pursuit of boring-old-guy-ness.So what are the signs? Well, here are a few:

• My favorite cereal is no longer Cinnamon Toast Crunch or even Honey Nut Cheerios. It's Special K. That's right; if I could have any cereal on a given morning, I'd always choose Special K.
  
• When I go to a concert, I don't want to mosh. I don't want to dance. I don't even want to stand. I paid good money to sit here and listen and that's what I want to do, thank you. Down in front.
  
• When I read Calvin and Hobbes, I get a far bigger kick out of Calvin's dad (heck, I am Calvin's dad) than I do out of Calvin himself.
  
• I think of ten-year-old songs that were popular during my college years as being more or less "new." (I seriously can't believe that Time of Your Life and Iris are actually a decade old; heck, the Coolio song in my last entry--the one that Erin and I used to crank in my car--is thirteen years old. How did that happen?).
  
• In addition, I couldn't name one song that's on the top forty right now (if there even is still such a thing) and when I happen to hear said current pop music, I hate it 95% of the time.
  
• So I pretty much just listen to podcasts of financial and theological radio shows. Wow, when I write that out, it's just... man, I'm old.
  
• I frown when someone tells a dirty joke.
  
• I wear a tie just about every day. And I like it that way.
  
• I'm far more excited about watching everyone else open Christmas presents that I bought than actually opening presents myself.
  
• I'd rather play Pac Man on my Palm than learn how to play some new photo-real, adrenaline rush video game. On second thought, I'd rather play cribbage or backgammon than any of that stuff.
  
• When I employ slang whilst talking to the youth of my church, I can see them exchanging sidelong glances and trying not to snicker.
  
• More often than not, the thought of going to a party drains me, rather than exciting me.
  If the subject of music, television, fiction, newspaper funnies, shopping malls, etc. comes up, my first instinct is to begin a diatribe about how it used to be so much better.
  
• I don't yet have the old-guy-up-at-dawn-ready-to-go thing down just yet, but I want it more than anything.
  
• And here's the real nail in the coffin of my youth (at least by this particular definition)...I drink decaf at night now. Decaf. If my 19-year-old self could have a meeting with me, he'd beat the tar out of me for my own good.

Beth's additions:

• Jon and I have a regular Saturday morning breakfast place. We've been going for about 3 1/2 years, our waitress knows us so well she got us a housewarming present, and she can generally put Jon's order in without having to talk to him about it. Oh, and we prefer to be there before 7:00--our waitress arrives around 6:00, and we like to be there when there are virtually no other patrons present.
• I'm leasing a "practical car" rather than a "kick ass" car.
• I don't text. I don't send picture messages. I don't IM. Hell, I don't answer the phone if I don't absolutely have to.
• I think the mailman has delivered more bills than Christmas cards this year.
• We eat dinner at 5:00 pm, sometimes a little earlier. If we go out, we're frequently the youngest people in the restaurant by about 20 years.

Anyone have anything equally or more pathetic? (Please!?!?)