B34RZ0R

<sigh>
Another victim of the stupidity that is modern life!
</sigh>

Seriously we are rushing our lives for what end? As Howard has somewhat hinted at in the first line take away all the BS (not kids and family but you know) and you are just you. I am so sick of our fast food digital society, I wish we could destroy it all except for whatever it takes to keep the doctors and the sewers in working order and live life like we should as creative loving happy members of this tribe that is the HUMAN RACE! Damnit I am going to go be a hermit

Be Well
*Bear*

lunachick

Dear Howard,

Please don't be so hard on yourself. Change that "Let's get down!" to "You know, I go down" and you'll be back in business in no time.

And as you age, you just need to change your drug habits. Viagra instead of whizz, Propecia instead of hairy-tongued mari-ja-wana, Alka-Seltzer instead of acid.

As for the music, find a new radio station. Open your mind. You don't need no mind-numbing formula corporate "modern rock" station, Howard. You need to find some coooool toons. May I suggest a hip Jazz station? Ornette Coleman. John Coltrane. Charlie Parker. They are all you need.

Tattoos, piercings? Just get a Prince Albert. Your wife'll love it.

And now I would like to offer you one of my favourite poems by Gary Larsen. It's a new genre, called Cow Poetry, and the name of this piece is Distant Hills.

The distant hills call to me.
Their rolling waves seduce my heart.
Oh, how I want to graze in their lush valleys.
Oh, how I want to run down their green slopes.

Alas, I cannot.

Damn the electric fence!
Damn the electric fence!

Rather poignant, don't you think?


Or, if you really would prefer to "rock" whilst woeing about lost yoof, then try this little number from the aptly named band, "The Pursuit of Happiness". I'm an adult now.

Well, I don't hate my parents
I don't get drunk just to spite them
I've got my own reasons to drink now
Think I'll call my dad up and invite him
I can sleep in till noon anytime I want
Though there's not many days that I do
Gotta get up and take on that world
When your an adult it's no cliche it's the truth

(Chorus)
'Cause I'm an adult now
I'm an adult now
I've got the problems of an adult
On my head and on my shoulders
I'm an adult now

I can't even look at young girls anymore
People will think I'm some kind of pervert
Adult sex is either boring or dirty
Young people they can get away with murder
I don't write songs about girls anymore
I have to write songs about women
No more boy meets girl boy loses girl
More like man tries to figure out what the hell went wrong

I can't take any more illicit drugs
I can't afford any artificial joy
I'd sure look like a fool dead in a ditch somewhere
With a mind full of chemicals
Like some cheese-eating high school boy

Sometimes my head hurts and sometimes my stomach hurts
And I guess it won't be long
Till I'm sitting in a room with a bunch
of people whose necks and backs are aching
Whose sight and hearing's failing
Who just can't seem to get it up

Speaking of hearing, I can't take too much loud music
I mean I like to play it, but I sure don't like the racket
Noise, but I can't hear anything
Just guitars screaming, screaming, screaming
Some guy screaming in a leather jacket
Wooah!
(Chorus)


Kindest "old people" regards,
Luna - 40 and still bitchin' - Chick.

Godless Dave

There already is a support group. It's called "everybody" and it meets at the local bar weekdays at 5:30.

auto-da-fe

My wife doesn't let me go to bars

Jobar

So be thankful for your greasepaint, clown
For *you* might wear the crown
Of the Veteran Cosmic Rocker. - Moody Blues

Howard, I used to think it was cool to hyperventilate until I was dizzy. I laughed when I got so drunk I'd puke on my shoes (after I recovered from the hangover, of course.) I bragged about just how many different drugs I could do and still function, and how much pot I could smoke in a week. I thought that laying 3 girls in one day meant I was King Stud Forever.

It took me longer than most grown-ups to get past all that, and realize that after the 4,729th massive stoner binge, or the 194th one-night stand, or the 14th DUI, even pleasure can wear out.

Not putting down massive stoner binges, or one-night stands- and I've been lucky (and careful) and never had a single DUI. But I tell all the younger ones here that you may one day find your partyin' friends shallow assholes, and if you don't want to be one yourself, you have to do other things and make new friends. There's another good old sixties saying that I still live by- "Go with the flow!" That's cool. So at 47, I am as cool as I was when I was 22.

Howard

I can dig it, Mike. But you'll be okay as long as you don't mow the lawn in black socks and plaid shorts.



Yep. And in a society where technological change drives social change, it can only get worse.

I do go down� I just can't remember why.

Quote:

And as you age, you just need to change your drug habits. Viagra instead of whizz, Propecia instead of hairy-tongued mari-ja-wana, Alka-Seltzer instead of acid.

I'm trying to escape the reality of aging, not magnify it.

Quote:

As for the music, find a new radio station. Open your mind. You don't need no mind-numbing formula corporate "modern rock" station, Howard. You need to find some coooool toons. May I suggest a hip Jazz station? Ornette Coleman. John Coltrane. Charlie Parker. They are all you need.

Musically, the worst has happened. I'm into country.

Quote:

The distant hills call to me. Their rolling waves seduce my heart. Oh, how I want to graze in their lush valleys. Oh, how I want to run down their green slopes. Alas, I cannot. Damn the electric fence! Damn the electric fence! Rather poignant, don't you think?

I love it. Thanks.

You speak of this as though it were a bad thing.

Quote:

But I tell all the younger ones here that you may one day find your partyin' friends shallow assholes, and if you don't want to be one yourself, you have to do other things and make new friends.

And I'm sure they're going to listen to you as well as you listened to your elders.

Quote:

So at 47, I am as cool as I was when I was 22.

Not to a 22-year-old.

intjudo

This kind of thing is one of the many reasons my wife and I chose a child-free life. We're in our early 30's, and we still stay up until 3:00 am on the weekends watching TV or cooking or having conversations that go on and on or hanging out with our early-20's friends who still can hang out past 8:30...

I do tend to limit it to two or three beers in an evening but there's nothing about being dehydrated and having a headache that I miss.

Actually for awhile I was hanging out with a friend that was married/kids/early 40's and it worked out pretty well for him. He and his wife traded one night off each week. His night was Wednesday. We'd go out mountain biking at 5:00 or so, then go drink beers until about 10:00. I bet if you could get something like that worked out, it would help.