All I did was plug a radio in

Screw it...if I'm gonna get old, I'm gonna do it with class...like her!

When did I get old?  That question has sort of been dancing around in my mind for a few weeks now, but today, it jumped straight up and started screaming.  I'll tell you why.  I plugged in a radio in the bedroom because our bedroom is too quiet.  Barry doesn't like a television in the bedroom and I do.  I like the noise.  I like being lulled to sleep by the flashing lights of the television.  You may remember my discussing the joy of this in this old blog post.  In fact, since I've moved to Ireland, I've had the worst time getting to sleep because my old trusty buddy, TV, isn't in the bedroom with me.  So, I thought the radio would help me sleep if I play it soft enough, so at least there is some noise in the room and not the nails-on-chalkboard noise that Barry provides as he's snoring.

Anyway, I'm getting off track and the TV in the bedroom issue opens up a whole can of worms for me so I won't go in to that now. So, let's go back.  Okay...today, I plugged the radio in and started turning the dial to find a station.  I moved the antenna around until there was no more fuzz on my selected station.  I wondered, do children today even know how to work a radio...tuning into a station and working the antenna until the signal is clear?  I don't know, but I'd say a lot of them don't.  I'm sure my parents thought the same thing as they plugged in their 8-track players.

The station I landed on was playing a medley of old, classic 80's tunes and I got excited because they were so soft and smooth compared to some of the shite that's on the radio now and it took me back.  Back to my childhood and each song reminded me of something different from my childhood.  Then, I remembered times when I was little and I would be in the car with my parents...driving through Marmet or somewhere on the way to Charleston and a song would come on the radio and I remember my parents singing the song.  Of course, it was a song probably from when they were a teenager or whatever and I remembered thinking as I watched them sing and get into this song, Jeez my parents are old.  I wonder what point it is in your life that you just like crappy music? Because, lets face it.  The songs that my parents enjoyed on the radio when I was young, were certainly crappy to a young child.

Of course, now, I still don't know the pivotal point in one's life that makes you start liking crappy music because the music I like now, I certainly don't think is crappy.  And, at that time, the music on the radio that I thought was crappy as a child, my parents certainly didn't think was crappy.

So, yeah there was that (yes, I thought of all this based on the simple action of plugging a radio in) and the fact that I was plugging in a radio!  I mean, who has a radio now?  Most people would just play the radio through their laptop or iPhone, or use their iPod and dock to play music, but no...not me.  I use a radio and suffer through the boring talk that the deejays love to spew and all the commercials because I'm so old, I use a radio.  Yes, I do have an iPod, but I don't use it.  It's too complicated and it takes forever to put music on.  Yes, I do have a computer that I could listen to music through, but it is old and slow and takes a billion years to load up the radio.  And, it's not loud enough because I like my music loud (of course, I teach Zumba classes where the louder the better or maybe my hearing is going because I'm old...I dunno).  And, I did try an iPhone and I HATED it.  I absolutely loathed the thing, so I went back to a BlackBerry.  See, most old people loathe new technology.

So, that was the radio incident that finally made me realize I was old.  A few of the other things that have been hinting that maybe I'm getting a little long-in-the-tooth was the movie incident yesterday.
 
Barry and I went to see a movie and we landed in the theatre...the only ones there.  We took our seat and this squad of little shits (a group of boys about 13-years-old) came in and set up shop in the back row and proceeded shining laser pens on the screen.  They didn't do it through most of the movie, but then towards the last ten minutes they started shining the lights on the breasts and arses of the actors on the screen.  I wanted to turn around and jump across the seats to the back row and throttle them until they cried for their mommies walk up to the back row and politely ask them to stop.  But, I didn't because then they would have proceeded to shine their lights on the back of my head for the remainder of the film.  Of course they would, I know how the minds of these little ones work.  So, anyway, the film ended and I waited until they walked past us in the theatre and I followed them out.  I followed them through the lobby, all the way down the stairs to the main entrance.  I was never more than 5 feet away from them.  Even as they stood in the lobby waiting for their lifts or whatever, I still stood within 5 feet of them.  I knew I probably looked like a creep, but I didn't care.  I wanted to freak them out because of what annoying turds they were being in the theatre with their fancy lasers.  Eventually, after 5 minutes of being hovered over by a 32-year-old weird woman (ahem...me), they left and I felt a small victory.  I thought to myself, we never acted like that when I was their age.  Now, that's a classic, old-person's thought there.

So, how did the theater incident make me feel old? It wasn't really that in particular, but combined with my memories of being up at Foyleside Shopping Centre last week and seeing all of the young ones dressed like horrible fashion tragedies and letting the words, "Look at the way kids dress nowadays," drip out of my mouth to Barry, well that just solidified the fact that, yes, I'm old.  I can remember my parents and grandparents saying to me, "the way you kids dress nowadays is awful."  And, I caught myself saying it...at 32 years old just a week ago.

So, all those things...the theatre and the horrible fashion messes at Foyleside combined with me plugging a radio in this morning, brought me to the stark realization that perhaps I'm ready for an adult diaper. Although, I don't know when it happened and why did it happen to me?  You hear of these happening, but you never think its going to happen to you!  I suppose I should go book my appointment now for my Sophia Petrello hairstyle and just call it a day!

Sophia Petrello from The Golden Girls.