Important Ages

[ruaidhri]

Wow! I’m 65 today. Is that old? I don’t think so. I don’t feel old. I don’t believe I look 65 but then maybe I’m just fooling myself. Age is funny. When we’re kids every year is important. Then at 20 we’re out of our teens and at 21 we can get a legal drink. Our next important age isn’t until we’re 25, when we can rent a car and the premium for our auto insurance goes down

After that it’s mostly the decades that we notice, the 30’s, 40’, and 50’s. Oh, there are a few important ages in between, for example 55 (early retirement), 62 (eligible for Social Security Benefits) and, of course, the almighty 65 ( eligible for Medicare and official codger status). Well, I’ve arrived. I’m there. I’m 65 and I don’t feel one bit different than I did when I turned 30.

So, why is age so damned important? Outside of a few benefits based on age, it isn’t. A lot of people are old at 25. I hope I remain young at 65.

Ruaidhri

[Kass]

Happy Birthday!

Fifty is a big birthday because it is the half century mark.

My mom still laments the day her first "You're now eligible for AARP" letter arrived. LOL

[Rapter]

happy 65th birthday!

[PopCulturePooka]

I hit 25 in less than a month. I'm freaking already. A quarter of a century and likely 1/3rd of my life.

[Jay]

Ruaidhri, like you said you're only as old as you feel, so if you feel young, all the more kudos to you, because a lot of 65 year olds are looking toward the future and lamenting that they only have a third of their lives left to live.

Well done on staying mentally and physically fit, and here's to the next 10 years! :D

http://www.fosters.com.au/enjoy/images/img_cougar.jpg

[Lisa M]

In nine days, I'll be turning twenty. I'm kind of freaking out about the new-decade thing, and also because I keep forgetting and then remembering that my birthday is in a little over a week.

[JapaneseLever]

yeah.. i turn twenty in 6 days, which is kind of a big thing here in japan, but i can't exactly share it with my family so...
but it's all good because i can (legally) drink and i have friends to enjoy it with.
also congrats on feeling young. i like how you won't let age get to you; that is something i am aiming for when i am your age.
see look; now you're a role model!

[Kass]

Age matters so little to me, I often forget how old I am. If someone asks me how old I am or will turn, I have to stop and do the math. I certainly don't feel as old as I really am. Most people don't believe I am as old as I am.

I like that too! :)

[Jay]

So how old ARE you? :D

[NERD]

We get as old as the years we tell ourselves. That's how I think. There's the physical age of our body and our mental state, and those two things are separate.

[Zonehunter1]

It's not polite to ask, Jay.

[Jay]

Yeah, well, I'm me, what are you gonna do? :D

[delen]

Congrats, may you have another good 65. :)

[Daisuke]

Wow! I’m 65 today. Is that old? I don’t think so. I don’t feel old. I don’t believe I look 65 but then maybe I’m just fooling myself. Age is funny. When we’re kids every year is important. Then at 20 we’re out of our teens and at 21 we can get a legal drink. Our next important age isn’t until we’re 25, when we can rent a car and the premium for our auto insurance goes down

After that it’s mostly the decades that we notice, the 30’s, 40’, and 50’s. Oh, there are a few important ages in between, for example 55 (early retirement), 62 (eligible for Social Security Benefits) and, of course, the almighty 65 ( eligible for Medicare and official codger status). Well, I’ve arrived. I’m there. I’m 65 and I don’t feel one bit different than I did when I turned 30.

So, why is age so damned important? Outside of a few benefits based on age, it isn’t. A lot of people are old at 25. I hope I remain young at 65.

Ruaidhri


Happy Birthday Old Man ;)

(shh... 40 is creeping up on me...) and "62 (eligible for Social Security Benefits) and, of course, the almighty 65 ( eligible for Medicare and official codger status). " ? Do you think either one will be around when most of these people get to that age? I was hoping to be lucky and have it around when I get there... :eyepop:

Again Happy Birthday and I wish you many more!

[PiccoloNamek]

I’m there. I’m 65 and I don’t feel one bit different than I did when I turned 30.

That's just because the deterioration has been gradual. ;)

I'm 23 and I feel like I'm 80... ugh.

Oh well! Happy birthday!

[Kass]

So how old ARE you? :D

Old enough to know better, too young to care.

[Jay]

Nicely evaded. :(

[ellie]

I'd like to wish you a very happy birthday, Ruaidhri! Cheers!

[fa11en87]

Happy Birthday! I'm really glad you don't seem like one of those old creepy online molestors!

[gyoza]

Well, I suppose I should point out that in other countries, the legal ages for drinking/driving/voting/senior citizen benefits are different, so the 'important' ages would change accordingly.

Though I agree that age isn't all that important besides the social benefits attached to certain ages. I know 60-year-old who are younger at heart than 20-year-olds, and teenagers more mature than people twice their age. There are people younger than me I respect deeply and older people I respect less.

I forgot where I'm trying to go with this, so I'll just wish ruaidhri a happy birthday! :)

[Loc]

Over here 18 is your 21 so I guess I haven't really got much else to look forward to...

My life is over! </emo>

Happy Birthday anyway, hope you've had/are having/will have a nice day :)

[Anders]

As I sang to you over the phone:

May you live 100 years,
May you drink 100 Beers,
Get plastered you bastard,
Happy Birthday to you!

[Praetorian]

I was writing a long post about all the important ages of the Netherlands, but my browser decided to crash.

So I'm just going to post happy birthday! I'm glad you still feel young.

[gyoza]

As I sang to you over the phone:

May you live 100 years,
May you drink 100 Beers,
Get plastered you bastard,
Happy Birthday to you!

A beer a year? That's torture. :(

[bigchris1313]

A beer a year? That's torture. :(

No shit! That is bad.

[The Divine Comedy]

Happy birthday Ruaidhri! I don't know you that well, but I enjoy reading your posts. Hope you have a good time on your birthday! :D

[harper]

Happy Birthday. When I was young, I thought people in their 30s were kind of old. That opinion changed as I got older. I stopped viewing people in their 60s as old when my parents started getting ner that age. My dad turned 69 this year and my mom will be 68 in September. I don't really view them as old.

[Roxie]

I feel old and I'm 22.

HAPPY B'DAY RORY!! HONORARY FATHER OF ALL OP9!!

67 sounds old...

[Trump]

Well, all I can do is wish you a happy birthday!

[Kwiz]

Old people rock, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. :D

Happy birthday, Ruaidhri.

[FOBulous]

It's important as in a sense of reference. Looks are deceiving so it helps to get a better grasp of a person's personality based on age. I'm not saying it identifies accurately, but you know... for reference.

[Psychochink]

Happy birthday!

To answer your question: age is important precisely because it confers another set of rights/responsibilities/societal expectations on you. Look at it anthropologically. The reason that there are traditionally large celebrations upon turning certain ages (18 and 21 being the two biggies for the U.S., I believe) are because in the eyes of society they mark a transition to another stage of your life. It's simply that these days, we use an arbitrary age to confer that status, instead of other measures (e.g. hunting a lion).

At 18, your 'childhood' is over. You are considered to be an adult, with all of the change in status that implies - voting, legal rights/responsibilites, etc. You are expected to comport yourself differently and behave in a more mature way. Others will cut you a lot less slack because you are now no longer a 'child' and are expected to act appropriately. It's a rite of passage, if you will.

Sidebar: I never understood the whole U.S. tradition of 'adult-lite' at 18, and 'full adult' at 21, where you get the responsibilities at 18, and the rest of the rights at 21. As a 'fun fact', the reason the drinking age is 18 in Australia is because the last time we had the draft, there was a big stink raised about the fact that we could send these 'kids' off to war, but they couldn't go down to their local pub for a beer. If you're old enough to kill/die for your country, then you're old enough to be given all the privileges of 'adulthood'.

[Josh]

Happy Birthday Ruaidhri. Now that you can get Medicare you should take up some extreme sport like bungee jumping :). Thats what my grandparents did. Second they hit the big six-five they went sky diving like every month.

[Idlethought]

Hey Rory! Happy birthday! Youre only like 6 or so years older than my pop lol

[Galeros]

Happy 65th Ruaidhri!!!

I am only 17, but I feel like im 70! So I am older than you, ehehe.:clap:

[Langosta]

I really like aging, finishing more and more of my life. But I look forward to being an old man. I have a deep desire to act in incredibly stereotypical ways, I think it would be really enjoyable to tell stories of "how things used to be" included a crapload of random shit I made up.. Or what not like that

[Kass]

Happy birthday!
and are expected to act appropriately. It's a rite of passage, if you will.

Sidebar: I never understood the whole U.S. tradition of 'adult-lite' at 18, and 'full adult' at 21, where you get the responsibilities at 18, and the rest of the rights at 21. As a 'fun fact', the reason the drinking age is 18 in Australia is because the last time we had the draft, there was a big stink raised about the fact that we could send these 'kids' off to war, but they couldn't go down to their local pub for a beer. If you're old enough to kill/die for your country, then you're old enough to be given all the privileges of 'adulthood'.

The raise in the legal age limit to drink was in response to the exceptionally high rate of drunken driving accidents and fatalities in 18-21 year olds. We're not talking higher by 5-10%, but 20-40% more than other age brackets. About age 21, the rate starts to decline. It had nothing to do with with adulthood, privileges or anything else other than there was a public safety issue that needed to be addressed. This is a good, but boring, PDF on the stats (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/mvoi/mvoi-table-alc-legal-age.pdf).

Also, this was a reversal of the decision to lower the drinking age during the Vietnam war, roughly the same time the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. When the drinking age was lowered, many states saw an increase in crashes among 18-21 year olds increase more than 150%.

Military members stationed overseas can buy alcohol and drink legally at 18, so if they are off fighting and dying, they can drink.

[ruaidhri]

Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes. I truly appreciate them.

This evening my wife and I went over to our Son’s (Redbeard) apartment for my birthday celebration. Anders is away at school in another city so he called me a couple of times during the day to wish me Happy Birthday. We had a wonderful cake with my favorite flavor, licorice. Really, it was very good. We went to a new bakery in our village that specializes in cakes and they did a great job. Everyone liked it even those that aren’t wild about licorice.

Yes, different ages are important in different parts of the world. For me personally it has been the great identifiers of age, namely the decades with the few U.S. special ages of 25, 55 and 65.

If you can tell, I believe very much in family. With OP9, my family has extended around the world. I truly value that association between people of all different ages, nationalities, religions, races and opinions. I appreciate the special contributions of Azrael, Kass, Citizen and Meneerdijk for keeping OP9 open and fair to all its members.

Thank you again for the kind Birthday wishes.

Ruaidhri (Rory)

[Jay]

If you can tell, I believe very much in family. With OP9, my family has extended around the world. I truly value that association between people of all different ages, nationalities, religions, races and opinions. I appreciate the special contributions of Azrael, Kass, Citizen and Meneerdijk for keeping OP9 open and fair to all its members.

Cheers, my friend.

http://www.whisky.com/images/bulleit/BB_2_rocks_glasses.gif

[Angelyne]

Happy birthday! :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Trump]

Licorice? EEWWWWWWWW

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it at least =)

[Janken]

"62 (eligible for Social Security Benefits) and, of course, the almighty 65 ( eligible for Medicare and official codger status). "



I agree with you. I'm only 16 (turning 17 6/25) and frankly, I think SSI, Medicare, etc. will be bankrupt by the time I'm old enough for it, but you still may be able to get it..

By the way, happy birthday, ruaidhri! :clap:

[Neon Pink Shoehorn]

err... pseudo, don't you mean... the opposite of what you said?

[Janken]

Yeah. XD

(10)

[Kass]

Glad you had a great one!

[Psychochink]

Fun facts

Makes sense, I guess. I just learned my new thing for the day!

[seiji]

Licorice as in anise-flavored, right? My grandfather loves it too. I'm so sorry entire generations were brainwashed into thinking of it as candy. :knockout: Good thing I grew up with Reese's and Pixy Stix to teach me what real candy is. :D

j/k, obviously.

[Kass]

Wow! I’m 65 today. Is that old?

Apparently that isn't old at all. It can't be that old if women are having babies at age 63! (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/04/britain.mother.reut/index.html)

I can't post this and not say, "WHAT?! Is she out of her mind?!"

Okay, there. Got it out of my system.

[Klilynkun]

yeah.. that was a headline in one of the papers

[EvilFred]

Hey, you're only as old as you feel or can make people believe you are.

Anyway, Happy Birthday. Be sure to hit your friends and fam up for presents.

[Fizban]

Happy Birthday!

[MeneerDijk]

Congratiulations Ruaidhri! I hope you will have many more years to wonder about your age!

[jihei18]

I feel younger now than when I was jailbait. I realized that whatever I'm currently stressing about, I won't even remember a year from now. Perhaps that's why I'm not studying as hard as I should...

[Pierrot le Fou]

Ever since I lost 3 fingers in that unfortunate cheese grating accident, I've started to judge important ages in regards to my new number system. After all, it's hard to count to 10 on seven fingers.

At the age of 30, I was allowed to drink. At 50, I can run for president. At 100, I'll probably be dead. Everything else seems irrelevant.

[NumSkull]

18.
I look foward to the day. May 28th, 2007.


Also, I see a user named gyoza.
Gyoza is the best food I've ever had.
I haven't been able to find *any* good gyoza in america. Dissapointing :(

[Pierrot le Fou]

18.
I look foward to the day. May 28th, 2007.


Also, I see a user named gyoza.
Gyoza is the best food I've ever had.
I haven't been able to find *any* good gyoza in america. Dissapointing :(
Get steamed dumplings or fried dumplings in any Chinese food restaurant. Those are gyoza.

[Kannon]

The Restoration Age was an important age, in my opinion.

[Pierrot le Fou]

The Restoration Age was an important age, in my opinion.
Whereas the Information Age, consisting of the ability to broadcast poor puns to thousands of unwanting forum-goers, was not quite as important.

[Jon885]

Yeah most 16 years olds feel like that, jethrokun. Happy birthday ruaidhri. I don't know you very well but you seem like a reasonable person.

[kilreli]

Wow! I’m 65 today. Is that old? I don’t think so. I don’t feel old. I don’t believe I look 65 but then maybe I’m just fooling myself. Age is funny. When we’re kids every year is important. Then at 20 we’re out of our teens and at 21 we can get a legal drink. Our next important age isn’t until we’re 25, when we can rent a car and the premium for our auto insurance goes down

After that it’s mostly the decades that we notice, the 30’s, 40’, and 50’s. Oh, there are a few important ages in between, for example 55 (early retirement), 62 (eligible for Social Security Benefits) and, of course, the almighty 65 ( eligible for Medicare and official codger status). Well, I’ve arrived. I’m there. I’m 65 and I don’t feel one bit different than I did when I turned 30.

So, why is age so damned important? Outside of a few benefits based on age, it isn’t. A lot of people are old at 25. I hope I remain young at 65.

Ruaidhri


haha i can remember in elementary school, looking up at the oldest class in wonder. "wow, they're so old!" i got to that mark....nope...still felt the same. im 18, still feel the same. just like a kid. im still at the part where im sad to see time go. i still have a lot to live, but its sad to see what i cant experience anymore, and what i missed out on experiencing. sometimes i forget that my life is bigger than the current day/week/month im in :frypan:

[kilreli]

i just thought about it, and im amazed by the age group here. i mean, it was just a few days ago that Pooka called a 12 year old Korean girl a "(insert what i forgot here) Wench" :D
and then we also have our topic poster, who just recently hit 65 (congrats), though as most of us know, age isnt too much but a number(not saying im gonna try to hit up a 5 year old:bang: )
quick, useless thought, by me