old 7 times over

more please

Old is when:
(1) you look at your brother's new born kid and imagine instead an 18 year-old teenager looking back at you.
(2) your parent(s) starts needing diapers
(3) your peer starts telling you about his retirement plans in australia ("ah, BBQ on a weekday night, and when you are free, go fishing.")
(4) someone from your schooldays and your other peers are announced in the papers as the new PAP candidates
(5) if just one more problem, one more demand on your time/money/attention/love crops up, you feel you have exhausted your resources
(6) you think of a "must-do-once-in-your-lifetime" list and wonder where did the past 4 months of the year go
(7) you feel more tired on a Sunday night than before the weekend started.

When I grow old I wanna be an old womanWhen I grow old I wanna be an old woman
An old-old-old-old-old-old-old-woman
When I was young - that is, teenager young - this was one of my favourite Michelle Shocked songs. I guess I liked how the inevitability of aging is made into a personal choice, somewhere between a reality and a dream. But that was when I was young. ;P

Comments

wahj said…
I think we're all hitting that age where thoughs of bygone/foregone youth begin to weigh heavily on the mind ... =)
7:55 am
Tym said…
I remember you singing that song all the time. Either that, or Suzanne Vega.

I think old is when you realise that you probably have fewer years left with your parents than you've already spent with them :|
12:47 pm
monk said…
i'm afraid marriage does this to everyone :)
3:54 pm
ampulets said…
wahj - just as heavily as the inconsistencies and indulgences of youth - which have not passed...and none of that elusive wisdom which growing older is supposed to bring.

40c - hey, I was thinking you might just say that! ;> ok lah, not forgetting all the upsides to marriage, of course. you know, in a strange way, all that General Elections news is making me feel old, and maybe i echo tym's latest post in this regard. the elections are one depressing affair - and there's no drama in that! despite the happy material gains all round, it only reminds me of poverty in all the material, spiritual, intellectual, social sense of the word. i guess the cure is to just stop reading the newspapers - at least one particular section.

tym - yah, i really like that song!!! haha, i still sing it sometimes - poor J/TOHA has to tolerate it (oh, speaking of the up/downside of marriage!). and that maths with parents...very true.
5:24 pm
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