Old School, Always

(A picture of she-ra used to be here. She was slowing my computer down. Sorry)

I'm really feeling my age this morning. Now, before you go all "you're not that old" on me, let me tell you, I recognize that my age is not so great as some. I know that I am really not old. I am a healthy, vibrant young person. I just don't feel that way sometimes. I'll tell you why.

Most of the people I work with are teenagers, or in their very early twenties. Nothing wrong with this, its the nature of the business. It is disturbing, though, sometimes to think that I am the oldest person on our crew. And while the staff are very sweet, sometimes they unwittingly do and say things that make me feel ancient.

For example, my 26th birthday, I think it was, I went into work the morning after. I was tired and crabby because I had been up late. I was slightly hung over. I was feeling the after-effects of my birthday party. I went to get a drink and one of our younger servers looked at me and said "rough night, huh?" I nodded and she smiled encouragingly. "It could be worse, my sister went out for her 25th birthday last night. Can you imagine being that old?" I looked at her and answered drily, that somehow I could.

Another great moment in the history of me being old to my co-workers: we dress up for Halloween. I love it. It gives us a chance to express ourselves and show our personality. My second year I worked at Casa Bueno I went as Rainbow Bright. I wish I had the pictures, because you would appreciate it. I got a blone wig, did the pigtails and cut it to look like her hair. I had the million inch tall white leather boots, the blue dress, the arm warmers, the leg warmers. I did my makeup. I even had my Sprite dolls from when I was a little girl. Everyone over 30 thought it was awesome. I made bank tips in the bar that night. No one I worked with knew who I was.

One of the girls comes up to me and says "Cool outfit. So are you like, one of those 70's roller skater chicks?"

I blinked. "No, I'm rainbow bright." (duh!)

"I don't know who that is..." she looks uncertain.

"Come on! Rainbow Bright? Cartoon from the 80's?"

She looks blank.

"He-man? She-ra? The smurfs? Any of this ringing a bell?"

I say smurfs and she lights up. "Awesome!" She exclaims. "Vintage cartoons!"

Vintage? Vintage? I prefer to think of myself as "old school" but its whatever. Irun into the same problem with the radio at work. We listen in the back to various stations, but most afternoons we listen to what the local station calls "old school lunch hour" basically, its all the fun stuff from the 90's.

I was totally rocking out the other morning to something I had listened to when I was 17 or 18. One of the guys grinned at me, and asked if this was soemthing that I had listen to as a kid, like him? I told him I used to listen to it every day on my way to school when I was a senior in high school. he frowned slightly. "I listened to this when I was like, 7." Great.

Other moments, too, bother me. Sometimes I think its because there isnt anyone that appreciates history. But it might just be that I'm old. You tell me. I came in on the day of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, which also coincides with the forming of the Bosnian state - although not in the same year....I was trying to talk to my co-workers about it. Not only did they not remember it happening, they didn't understand why it was important! I mean, maybe our school systems are failing us, but how could someone not know? How? I pressed- did they remember when Princess Diana died? When Bill Clinton got elected? Did they even know about the little blue dress from the Gap? How about the first Iraq war? (Desert storm)Nope....nothing. Honestly, right up until 9/11 most of them didnt seem to know crap about modern american history.

Or Pop Culture! Larry Bird? Rodney King? Oprah before she was a mogul? The original lets make a deal? Bob Barker asking you to get your pets spayed and neutred? The Boxcar Children? Where's Waldo? Prince before he changed his name? Neon? Spandex leggings? Oversized sweaters? Slouch socks? Scrunchies? Big Wheels? Skip-its? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I don't think most of them realize that disco ended in the 80's not the 70's.

Am I boring? Or am I just old?

I don't know. There are other things too....I would have been slapped senseless the way most of these kids talk to and about their parents. I never had the freedoms they did. Now, I grew up in a strict home, but I know for certain that my classmates didn't enjoy the freedom these kids do.

The more time passes, the more I feel it. The more I wonder if I am out-dated and out-moded. Its killing me. Seriously.

I'm off to work soon, to express to them again, just how boring and old I am. What fun.

Someone tell me I'm not alone....
AGxx

Incidentally, I do not own any of the cool "vintage" stuff I mentioned above. Of course I don't. And if anyone is curious why I chose She-Ra, it was my nickname in high school. Yeah. That's right. I'm the Princess of Power.