I agreed to WHAT??

Our hearing goes. It just does.

So why is the music in restaurants still too loud?

Another irony of aging, a joke on all of us about things that should fit together nice and tight, but don't.

Many people my age, boomers knocking down the doors of Medicare right about now, are suffering the consequences of our loud music in the 60s and 70s. Imagine Santana jacked up to decibel-exploding levels in the midst of lava lamps and interesting smells. It's no wonder so many of us are nearly deaf.

Today we spend a lot of time yelling, "WHAT??!!" across the table or pretending we heard things we really didn't (which can get you in a lot of trouble, believe me), or accusing everyone else of mumbling.

So, into restaurants we go, wishing everyone would JUST SPEAK UP! and the first thing we do is ask the server to turn the music down.

Go ahead, think about that for a minute.

Did you figure it out, because I sure can't. I'm projecting demographically here but in the future, as more and more of us hearing-challenged folks wander in and out of public places, we'll soon outnumber younger people who don't worry about that piped in music because they're mesmerized by their multipurpose phones, complete with ear buds. Which means that we''ll have the advantage of greater numbers and can get some cooperation from the 16-year old manager when we demand that he TURN IT DOWN!

So we can not hear each other talk.

“Keeping up the appearance of having all your marbles is hard work, but important.”
― Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants

Do you think I'm complaining?You haven't heard anything yet......

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/nothing-to-complain-about-my-125-day-journey-to-become-complaint-free

 
$4.99

Adult pacifiers.....

I left my cell phone in my car today.....on purpose....when I visited my friend at her house and then while we went to lunch in a local restaurant.

Gasp!

And it wasn't an easy decision, which explains why I'm bringing it up.

When did it happen that we all decided, no matter what our age, that we are required to be available to one another every minute of every day? This isn't just a young(er) person's compulsion; it seems to span generations, which makes it an oddity. Gen Y (and X or C or whatever the latest age group is called) does it, but so do people my age, the Boomers who are flooding the Medicare rolls. As well as my own mother, who has me by another 20+ years.....she panics if both her cell phone and her house phone are not in working order all the time. What if someone needed/wanted to get in touch with her, for heaven's sake?  There are few things that all ends of the age spectrum agree on, right? This seems to be one of them, though.


WHEN did this happen?

Or more importantly, WHY did it happen? And what happens to us because of it?

All I know is that if my cell phone gets too far away from me...say, if I forget it at home for some reason....I turn that car around and go get it, even if I was making a quick run to the grocery store for milk. Which would take about 15 minutes, max. WHY do I feel that I must be available during that time, to whomever might call me? What if it's an emergency, after all? We seem to live on the edge all the time because of this, the edge of the "what if?" precipice.


One factor, I think, is that people on the other end of that phone get testy if they can't reach you whenever THEY want to reach out and touch. Hasn't that happened to you? "Where WERE you? Why didn't you answer your phone??! Etc, etc, etc." Like I have offended them in some critical way.

I can remember when (oh, no....I can't believe I just used that phrase) the only way to contact someone was by calling them on the phone that was hooked to the wall in their house. There was no answering machine (yes, I've been around that long!), so if it rang and rang and rang, you finally just hung up and thought, "Well, I'll have to try again later." And you did. If it was an emergency, you called someone else or a cab or rescue (there also wasn't any 911 back in the olden days, either) or stumbled out into the street until someone took pity on you and helped. But it got taken care of, one way or the other. No one expected anyone to be available all the time; it wasn't possible, so the expectation just wasn't there.


I try not to get too technical here in this gathering space, but I wondered what others say about this. I found a study about this constant connectivity, as well as other technology use: Heavy Technology Use Linked to Fatigue, Stress and Depression in Young Adults showed that heavy cell phone use showed an increase in sleep disorders in men and an increase in depressive symptoms in both men and women.


These are two points that support what I believe, and have experienced myself, along with the fact that apparently those who are constantly accessible via cell phones were the most likely to report mental health issues. How many nights lately have I woken up in the wee hours and then can't go back to sleep? Or never go to sleep at all? I have cycles of this, some of which I blame on the normal aging process, but maybe some of it has to do with this obsessive connection to technology. (And yes, some folks who know me will attest to the "mental health issues" thing, I bet.)

So, to go back where I started, I left my cell in my car when I visited my friend today. Actually, it wasn't quite that simple. You figured that out, right?

I opened the door, looked at the phone before I got out, stopped, thought What if someone needs me right away?, gave myself a mental shake: NO! Leave it there! They'll leave a message or call back!", and I finally escaped without it.Victory!

When I got back in the car: no message, no calls. See? All that angst for nothing.

And do you know what? My time with my friend was stress-less, because I didn't have to worry about anything anyone laid at my feet, unasked, while I was there. No drama, no gossip, no impositions on my time.The same while we went to a restaurant to have lunch: I left my cell phone in the car, which led to a wonderful time of sharing face-to-face with my friend, something we don't get to do often enough. Got back in the car: no messages, no calls. Heaven.....

Can we all wean ourselves from these instruments of stress, old and young alike, and get rid of these pacifiers of the modern age? Let's make a deal right here: I won't expect YOU to be available to me 24/7 and you won't expect it of me, either. Now go find someone you love (or would like to love) and spend some quality time.

Leave the cell phone in the car.

 The cell phone has become the adult's transitional object, 

replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.

Margaret Heffernan

The cell phone has become the adult's transitional object, replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.

Margaret Heffernan

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/margarethe556954.html#CLbmHUG9E8Trvwkv.99

The cell phone has become the adult's transitional object, replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/margarethe556954.html#CLbmHUG9E8Trvwkv.99

Do YOU think you could go 21 consecutive days without complaining? 
Take the journey with me: It only took me 125 days! 
 Nothing to Complain About: My 125-Day Journey to Become Complaint Free

The cell phone has become the adult's transitional object, replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.

Margaret Heffernan

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/margarethe556954.html#CLbmHUG9E8Trvwkv.99

Looking for trouble......

You know that quirky finger move that expands your cell phone screen, the one that uses the thumb/forefinger action on the diagonal? I hear even some four-year olds have it down, no problem.

Me? Haven't mastered it yet for some reason.

Come to think of it, why would I want to make some of the images in my life bigger, anyway? Don't I have enough to grapple with, even on a good day?

Like last Friday. My accountant swore a couple of months ago that the IRS would repay me the $1500+ overpayment from the first quarter of this year. She even recounted a conversation she had with the nice person she spoke to about that money, the dollars and cents I desperately need right about now. It would only take about eight weeks, they promised.  (Stop laughing....I can hear you through my computer screen, and it isn't comical.)

I opened my mailbox and was ecstatic to get that envelope on Friday, and almost got in my car to take it to the bank right there on the spot. Wait, I thought.....I'd better open it first.

$1.35.   

Yep. Just a tad short, and it probably cost them more than that to mail the darn thing.

Then there are the two cats in my house (out of the three that grace us with their presence) who need either drops in the eye or an antibiotic down the throat a few times a day. Each. The one with the eye problem has proven to be cooperative--for the most part--but the other one? Oh, my.

Picture a baby who doesn't want that yucky orangish-yellow squash that you airplaned into his mouth, no matter what funny noises you make as you stick that spoon in his mouth. He's not falling for it. So, what does he do? He takes that tongue and pushes it right out onto the floor (and you if you sit too close), none of it reaching its destination.

I have had cats let it ooze out of the side of their mouth, or jump down and throw it up as they walk away with great dignity. But never have I seen this. I swear he morphs into a human baby as that tongue starts pushing the food out of his mouth, along with the expensive antibiotic. Fun on a Friday, I can tell you.

Oh, there was more last week, but you get the picture. We all have these days, right? Nothing even remotely looks sane for a 24 hour period, and we wonder what we did to upset the universe. All we want is for it to stop. And, at my age, I know that it has happened before, and it will certainly happen again.

So, you all go ahead and make those images in your life BIGGER. I'd like some movement like that one that diminishes the trouble that seems to find me every once in a while, so if you have any cute devices that accomplish that, let me know.

The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts.”

Bertrand Russell



No rehab for stupidity......

I've learned that years do not equal understanding. At all.

The chalkboard of events that make no sense, are illogical, incomprehensible, and well, let's face it, just plain stupid seems to grow every day. Here I thought some magic genie would start riding on my shoulder at some point (the shoulder that hurts all the time) and whisper words of wisdom in my ear. I was wrong....again.

And some of these things can set me off on a rant with little provocation, probably because they have been so persistently puerile that a mere whiff of them can provoke me in an instant. I know, I know.....what good does it do to get upset? None, but it feels good anyway, doesn't it?

You're trying to figure out what some of my favorites are, aren't you? Maybe they are yours, too.

Why, oh, WHY do I have to wait...and wait....and wait at a red left turn arrow, when all I can see coming toward me is three or more lanes of NOTHING? Is it because there are so many people who learned to drive by playing video games that they can't be trusted to understand that when we actually hit a real car people get hurt? Idiots, in other words, have caused our "traffic engineers" to treat us all that way.

Alert! to all those nefarious persons who seek to destroy. (I started to use the "T" word, but you can get in trouble these days, with guys in black suits showing up on your front lawn if you're not careful.) Anyway, start looking for 75+ year olds to carry your tools of destruction for you. The TSA announced, loud and clear recently, that they had relaxed the rules for older folks at airport security checkpoints. This is equivalent to me taking out an ad with my address in it before I leave on a 2 week vacation. How nice for the bad guys......

Do I really trust a scientific community that studies the sexual frustration of fruit flies?? REALLY??

And, surely we all understand by now that we're supposed to "wait for the tone" to leave a message on someone's voice mail, much less "simply hang up" when we're done? I think we've got it by now, even old geezers like me.

I don't get high, but sometimes I wish I did. That way, when I messed up in life I would have an excuse.

But right now there's no rehab for stupidity.

Chris Rock