The Plight of a Once and Former Agist

It's no surprise that the end of every year always brings about thoughts of aging, achievements or lack thereof, and reasons we start to notice our age getting the best of us. Having said that, here is a short laundry list I like to call, "You know you're getting up there when..."

(1) The first version of the Prius is starting to look angular.

(2) Your favorite radio station always claims to play the "best of the 80s, 90s, and today." But today, it dawns upon you that in a little less than two weeks, they'll likely have to say, the 80s, 90s, and ____??? This is the end of another decade. Fuck.

(3) You realize that the term "turn of the century" now applies to your generation and not only when people hearken back to the Victorian age and the Magnificent Ambersons.

(4) Boyz II Men is considered retro. Enough said.

(5) 2D-animation is confusing to little kids--and by confusing I mean foreign--and by foreign I mean they only know from Pixar and Shrek.

(6) You try and try but you cannot remember the seven digit landline phone number you had as a kid.

(7) You have nieces or nephews (or children of your own) that were born after 9/11.

(8) During a power outage and/or the loss of internet access, you spend your afternoon seriously trying to remember life without google. How did you get anything done?

(9) " " " " life without GPS. How did you get anywhere?

(10) 2012 will mark the fourth time you are able to vote in a US presidential election.

If you're not in in your mid-late 20s, I know what you're thinking. If you're older, you're thinking you have a whole list that makes mine look like the whiny little generation Y-er you have always deemed me to be. If you're younger, then you don't fit half the criteria. But to all of you agists, and you are all agists--even if only in the way you judge yourself--welcome to the club.

Thus begins the need for optimism. As long as you're not down for the count, you can rest easy in these last 10 days.

Bring it on 2011.