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getting older is annoying

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by mark

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In the last couple of months i have tried
to work late into the evening and have found
that it's not so easy to do ;-(

I remember in my early twenties when i did shift work i was able to go 3 to 4 nights without sleep

About 7 years ago when i migrated to
coding i would be able to work through the night
put in a full day at work the next day and then work the next nite

i took about a 2 year hiatus from code (coz i wuz brned out he he he i couldnt stand the thought
of writing yet another "select * from customers"

to my dismay i have discovered over the last couple of months that im am unable to work any where near as much as i used to be able to
most nights im finished by 8 at night !!!!!

i cant even do an all niter playing quake any more

IT SUCKS GETTIING OLDER ;-(

42 replies

by mark

getting steadily younger

drinking more beer, staying up past 08h00

hmmm tough choice ;-)

by maecuff

you've found a way to reverse time, the only alternative to getting older is to NOT get older. You know, by dying.

by j.lupo

I remember those days too and now it is nearly impossible for me to get in a good 18 hours a day.

by it cowgirl

Aggrevating and tiresome are much better. Speaking of tired..... I am. After 3pm I am tired at work. By 6pm I am shot. Really SUX. Now with weekend nites for network projects.
When did I get so fricking old? Man just shoot me now...

by neil higgins

I could write ten lines of good code by lunchtime,patch dozens of mistakes by late afternoon,and install ten servers before supper.Now I just want to drink a long,cool beer,stare at the bible-sized manual for twelve hours,then head to the bar for another beer,to digest the manual.Yep,growing old disgracefully is thirsty work alright.

by btljooz

Only the word(s) I'm 'thinking' are a BIT stronger...use your imagination ;) I know that's work at this age. But we can still use THAT (our imagination! :D ), at least.

by woodie_88

I remember those days too, when I could not get enough of coding now its all about conceptualizing and letting someone else code.

by dawgit

Now I'd need arms 5 ft long to read any documentation. I have to use 'reading' glasses, just like what 'old' people used to have to do. But, worse than that, I keep forgetting where I put them. Really a terrible situation.

by dmambo

THEY"RE ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD.

I used to laugh at my mother walking around the house looking for her glasses when she had slid them up on her head. There could be 6 of us in the house enjoying that little spectacle (ha ha), but now the humor is lost on me because I do the same type of thing.

I've also noticed that they moved the floor farther away over the past few years. :D

by j.lupo

glasses too right? one around the neck, one on the head, one in the left pocket, one in the right pocket....

by btljooz

Oh, YES!...the floor/ground...

I used to ride horses (still do once in a great while when a friend of mine has a mild mannered one for me) and trained them, too. Once in a while I'd have one manage to get rid of me, throwing me HIGH in the air before I hit the ground and bounced right back up to get back on that horse AGAIN (repeatedly if necessary)...to teach it a lesson, or two, along with some MANNERS!!!! ;)

Now, about a month ago I dropped something on the floor next to my computer chair. When I reached down to pick it up the chair rolled out from under me...on hard wood flooring!!! I landed with a 'thud' and just lied there taking 'inventory' of what may or may not be broken. I'm STILL feeling the effects of that incident...guess I'll have to 'break down' and go to my chiropractor and have him 'beat me up' to take care of this. :(

BTW: All the 'beating up' (including a broken leg) I took from all those horses waaay back then still has it's affects, too. That's one of the many reasons I'm on a first name basis with my chiropractor! :D :D :D

by sandeleh

I didnt need readers until i was about 42 - now, several years later - I have about 6 pair, which I leave in convenient spots around work and home. I'm never very far from a pair.

by btljooz

their POINT is: They keep FORGETTING where their glasses are. With SIX pairs laying around, they'll have an even HARDER time recalling where they all are if they can't even recall where the ONE pair is! ;)

by jdclyde

if you plan on staying up all night!

I have twin boys that just turned 14, so for their birthday they each had 8 friends join us and we did an all night lan party.

One kid and one of my buds crashed around 4am, but everyone else kept going strong. About 6am I started dropping my head, so a quick walk and a "bawl" energy drink later and I was fine until the party ended at 8am.

Nothing like when I was 20 and twice a week I would pull a 36 hr between my two jobs. did that for a few months, and then quit the day job.

Or better yet, used to drink with my bud, playing pool and throwing darts, as well as putting away a fifth of gin until the sun started coming up. oops! time to get to work! ;\

the good old daze.....

by dmambo

Also feeling good that you only have to get up once in the middle of the night to pee!

by jdclyde

to have elevated a good crap to that high on my "to do list".

Happiness is a blue moom ice cream cone! :D

by jack-m

I'll always think of the winter of 2005-2006 as the year I got older. I couldn't tell you why but I can't do today what I could 1 year ago. Could be all in my head but my aches and pains tell me differently. I can no longer kneel the way I used to. I can no longer bend the way I used to. It's a real pain in the neck, literally sometimes. BTW, I'm 59. Maybe it's looking down the barrel and seeing 60 at the end.

by ontheropes

I haven?t finished my second cup of motivation to think yet so I just don?t get it. I think I'll just go lie back down and think about it later.

----
When I was younger I remember putting in 6 miles running every other day before work, rain or shine. The worst wake-up call happened about 10 years ago when some college girl passed me WHILE shuffling a soccer ball between her feet. I bought a mountain bike that afternoon just in case I ever saw her again. EAT MY DUST girlie.

Now, if I don't injure something just from putting on my walking shoes I'm satisfied.

by jardinier

[I turned 65 in April, 2006]

[b]1. Wisdom.[/b] I have learnt from my mistakes and VERY rarely do anything that I later regret.

[b]2. Acceptance (1).[/b] The world is what it is. There is much suffering and injustice. I cannot change the whole world, which I believed I could as an idealistic young man.

[b]3. Acceptance (2).[/b] I do not judge other people. I do not bear grudges. I have learnt the error of being vindictive.

[b]4. Outlook. [/b] My body can't do what it used to, but my mind is sharper and clearer than ever. I have no emotional baggage. I have left all pain, guilt and anger behind. My approach to life is totally positive.

[b]5. Memories.[/b] I do not dwell on the unpleasant things of the past. I relish the memory of the many good things that I have been blessed with.

[b]6. Compassion.[/b] My own suffering, and harsh lessons regarding my personal limitations, make it easy for me to accept all people equally.

Well I could go on but I guess you get my drift. I cannot do many of the things I could when I was young, but the things which I do do, I do better and with fewer errors.

I have had a very stressful but full and varied life. If I were to die tomorrow, I would consider I got very good value from my 65 years.

by it cowgirl

I agree with every point you made except for one. In my case the mind is no longer sharp but intolerably forgetful. I used to spell perfectly, but now cannot remember how to spell simple words. sux.

by btljooz

Ya know, God DOES have a sense of humor...a TWISTED one (more refined than the twist on mine ;) ).

He made us in a way that when we're young we're DUMB!!! By the time we GET 'smart', we're too old/weary/broken up to be able to put to BETTER use than we do!!!

THINK about that ;)

by maxwell edison

It gets harder to see the print in the newspaper, but easier to see what it all means.

It gets harder to hear what people say, but easier to hear what they are saying.

It gets harder to tie your shoes, but easier to tie everything together.

You might drive a little slower, but you get to your destination a little faster.

Instead of being sure about the right way to do things, you're sure about how it should have been done in the first place.

Instead of making memories, you're forgetting them.

You understand the sentiment that youth is wasted on the young.

And in most cases, living to a ripe old age is probably better than dying at a young one.

by mark

hmm

dont worry dude im doing just that

despite all the moaning and groaning

i wouldnt change a thing

by tig2

But it is the only game in town. :)

I try to concentrate, not on the fact that I am ready to sleep earlier and earlier, but rather on what I can get done in the course of the day.

Not as much as when I was younger!

What I am finding truly irritating is the fact that I have to keep a leash on my readers... and I wear bifocals! But the bifocals age WAY too quickly.

ARRRGH!

by tig2

All different.

I have bifocals for most things- driving, cooking, basic functioning. I really hate them as the trend is these tiny little lenses and that is a lot of vision need. I'm going back to horn-rims!

I have single vision magnifyers for scrapbooking, jewelry making, bead work- anything that requires a bit sharper vision.

I have computer glasses for seeing the monnitor. They are supposed to reduce eyestrain.

This is what I get for being advanced- over forty vision by 37 or 38 and steadily declining every year.

*sigh*

Edited for typo... again!

by dr dij

as I get older I realize this. they sit around and watch tv and play bridge. Oops, many young people do the same if you substitute 'drink beer'. and some very young people are very annoying as the old people are not supervising them.

stupid kids have been throwing clods of dirt into our fountain, not out of spite but out of sheer stupidity-not-watched-by-even-stupider-parents. and leaving things such as balls and scooters in paths where people will trip on them. I blame retarded parents for this. (and real retarded people are actually usually nicer than these idiots)

I've found that those 'old people', when they are active, are way cooler than many young people, as they know more, had more experience and have a mellower outlook on life, and concentrate on serious things rather than stupid things.

They take up gardening, do outdoors stuff, go on hikes, volunteer & help people and are not doing stupid young people stuff like driving recklessly or shooting each other.

Why would you even want to code all nite? as you get older you should be getting smart enuf to realize burning yourself out is not the brightest thing to do. especially if it is for work, not your own project, and even MORE especially if you are not getting paid OT for it.

Get a life and enjoy yourself and you'll get older slower.

by btljooz

True dat!!! But with economics the way they are today there are some (not necessarily the author of the original thread) people who have no choice economically but to keep on doing the 'keeping on going' thing. :|

>(and real retarded people are actually usually nicer than these idiots)<

You been watching too much Carlos Mencia???

"Dee-dee-dee" ~ Carlos Mencia

:D :D :D :D D:

by tink!

Kids really make you watch time. They just grow up way too fast, thereby making you feel older beyond your age. And when you can no longer pick them up, or give them piggy-back rides, you really feel old.

Boy do I remember wishing I was older, and now I wish I wasn't growing old quite so fast.
Tink

by btljooz

First, all you have to do is find other ways of playing with the kids. 'Teaching' games?...for instance? Pass on some of your KNOWLEDGE/WISDOM!!! THAT is a waaaaay more important legacy to leave behind than simple piggy-back rides while they do add to pleasant memories. ;)

A story for you: I once had an old cat. I had to keep him away from all other animals because he was born with a chemical imbalance in his brain which made him SUPER territorial and aggressive. He stayed this way to a large degree despite having him neutered. I even had to harness and tie him like a dog to keep him from getting chewed up by some other animal (he'd attack) ...wild OR domestic... or becoming 'road pizza'. I had a neighbor who dubbed him "p_u_s_s_y on a rope"!!! LOL! :D (But it is sad that TR can't recognize __CONTEXT__ of a word!!! That word was once a synonym of __CAT!!!__ :| ) He was a 'house cat' but was allowed to come and go in and out of the 'house' ON his rope as he pleased unless it was night time or there was inclement/extreme weather.

Several years before I had to have Leo euthanized, I took in a female cat who was left out in the winter with temps in the teens and over a foot of snow on the ground. (Misty's original owner died and the relatives abandoned her while emptying the old lady's apartment.) By then Leo had settled down to the point where I could 'train' him to tolerate other animals in 'his' (MY) territory. From a four week old, when I found, him I had instilled that __I__ was 'Alpha cat'!!! :D

So, he learned to tolerate Misty (as I named her) since I could not, for the life of me, find another good home for her at that time. I took her in in the first place because we had way too many feral cats around and once they 'go wild' they eventually die horrific, heinous deaths (...entirely another subject; not for here). I didn't want Misty to die of hypothermia and frostbite which domestic cats are extremely prone to. I also didn't want her getting pregnant, perpetuating the feral/pet overpopulation problem. What I didn't know at the time was that, evidently (as you'll see below), she had come into heat just as she was abandoned (yes, cat's have a 28 day cycle just has humans, horses and some other animals have) and she had already 'done the deed' before she found me.

While trying to find her a home, I thought that she was only gaining weight because I (have always and always will) free-choice feed all of my animals. WE eat WHEN we are hungry, why shouldn't they?...unless there is the human table-scrap obesity problem going on (yet ANOTHER subject). Anyway, after a couple of months (the gestation period for cats) it finally DAWNED on me that she was in deed 'with SURPRIZES'!!! Three of them, all females. I did manage to find a home for one but not the other two. I did so by allowing one (taking turns) at six weeks old (the PROPER time to wean kittens, puppies, foals and most other domestic animals) to ride on my shoulder every time I went out so a lot of people could see them.

So now (in this particular time period) I have Leo, the 'old man' and Misty, the 'poor waif' ...who had become a mother with two younguns remaining at home...a total of FOUR cats in a __900 square foot__ two bedroom apartment with me and my husband!

NOW, my POINT: Through learning to tolerate Misty and her kittens, Leo started perking up. So did my sickly husband! Leo became playful with the kittens who, once I could trust him with them, relentlessly 'attacked' him and pestered him into 'submission' :D !!! Unfortunately, by then, he was old enough that with about two years of that, as you said the 'kids' had worn on him a bit. BBut NOT Larry, my husband!!! Pepper and Squeaks...especially Squeaks were especially 'touched' cats!!! Larry LOVED playing with them and watching their CRAZY antics. Squeaks could really come up with some 'doozies'!

At this time, the plot THICKENS! I'm in school and putting in 60-80 hours a week in on school work. At the end of my first semester I had exactly five ...FIVE (5)... DAYS to recoup when Larry has to have surgery. I spent the summer nursing him back to 'health' and THEN __I__ have to have surgery!

Two weeks before I go into the hospital I find a whole litter (of FIVE!) kittens DUMPED in a remote area where I like to go to unwind and commune with nature. It's 105 degrees in the shade and very humid with no rain in sight! So I again, as usual, am 'The Rescuer'! I immediately find homes for FOUR of the kittens ...to my relief!

BUT the fifth (the runt of the litter) was originally found with his eye 'glued' shut and swollen to the size of a garbanzo bean on a head tinier than a golf ball! He fit in the PALM of my hand (while his siblings were twice his size). SO as soon as I saw his problem (when I first found the litter) I did on the spot triage to find out if this poor little creature even STILL had an eyeball or if I would have to have him euthanized AT FOUR WEEKS old!!! THANK God I did find that eyeball, but took him to my vet anyway to have the infection cleared up. We could only wait to find out if he could see with it. The infection was GONE before I went into the hospital for my surgery (which blew my second semester of school clean out of the water). YES, it's a 'Miracle'!...He can see quite well! :)

Upon, returning home from the hospital I found my husband's health going down hill...FAST!!! I made the decision to quit school so I could find a job. (I had this deep 'feeling' that Larry wouldn't last much longer and I [like Misty] would find myself fending for myself and my kitties.)

Through a 'recently' formed local area cat rescue organization, I reluctantly managed to find homes for Misty, Pepper and our 'special' Squeaks. This allowed me more time to take care of Larry and the baby kittie while looking for work.

I was left with only had Leo who was self sufficient, other than having to clean his 'box', and baby Corpsy (pronounced Corey. I found his litter on Army Corps of Engineers land while I had a friend with me who is an ACE Officer. I was showing my Officer friend the remains of some deer that had been poached). Corpsy was still too young to allow out of his 'nursery box'. So I had my hands full looking for a employment, taking care of a sick and dying husband and raising my 'replacement' for Leo (whom I thought would go LOOOONG BEFORE Larry). I wound up burying Larry the day before Halloween 2004 instead of Leo as I thought would happen.

So poor Leo 'NOW' has yet another YOUNGSTER to put up with!!! Even though his hyperthyroidism was starting to affect him more and more he somehow knew what was going on and helped me train Corpsy. Once he was sure Corpsy could go it without him (May of 2005) he gave up just as Larry did before him. I had to take him to the local Humane Society and have him euthanized. I couldn't even bring him 'home' to bury him as I had done with so many pets before him since I had no place to put him. Larry went into a plot his parents left behind when they went to Ohio and died and were buried there. Larry was 61. Leo was 18.

At 48 and with some slight disabilities which force me to try to break into a new vocation, I am STILL looking for 'job $ecurity' of some sort. A good friend has taken ME in (WITH Corpsy...of COURSE!) Corpsy will be three in July. HE is the one who keeps ME going now. (I have no children of my own. Larry's kids are grown, have kids of their own and could care less if I live or die.)

So you see 'youngsters' CAN keep you going even though they take more energy. They FORCE you to keep the energy up...which is a GOOD thing!!!!! :)

by tink!

You definitely had some rough times there. Hope things are looking better for you.

I think kids, human and animal definitely do keep you going. They give you a reason to smile and laugh as well as to find the good in the world. I know when my kids are grown and my husband gone [i](he's 21 yrs my senior, so expects to go 1st although there's a remote chance I may beat him to it since I've got PKD) [/i] I'll have a houseful of pets. I'm hoping Rose (our lab) and Sammy (our new [b]official/b] housecat- declawed and spayed as of last week) will live as long as I do. And I'm sure I'll be rescuing animals as well, I've got a soft spot for em.
Tink

by firstaborean

You don't like getting older? There's only one alternative, you know.

If you do choose the alternative, be sure to have made arrangements for your disposal afterward.

Don't like that alternative? Then join the rest of us and enjoy getting older! I've been doing that since probably before your father was born.

by old guy

I've said for a long time now that I've worked hard to get this old and I love each year. No way I would ever want to go backwards.

Of course, too, I don't mind the alternative, though I don't want to hurry it along, because I know where I'm going and I truly look forward to that.

by sleepin'dawg

Sometimes even twice if I don't fall asleep first. If you don't mind a few hours of recovery between sessions, you can do that and still wake up to start the day off with a bang. :^0

The middle of the night problem thankfully hasn't taken hold yet. There are exercises you can do to prevent the problem and there are natural supplements, like zinc and saw palmetto in combination, to keep your prostate healthy and to eliminate any need for Viagra. I started on that routine a few years ago and as far as I can tell, it works. I wasn't having any problems but figured this would be like adding a can of STP to a carthat has over 100,000 miles on it. Who knows if it's effective or not but there have been no side effects and to date my prostate tests normal.

BTW, it is supposed to be one of those things, which if you don't use it, you will lose it; at least that's what "they" say, whoever "they" are. :( :_|

It's alright to have a floppy as long as you are referring to a diskette and not your appendage. :^0

[b]Dawg[/b] ]:) B-)

by vanessaj

...maybe it's the boredom thing. Maybe you can't code, work or quake all night - not because you're old, but because you're just bored with it all already. You've been there and done that. How many 4-nights-in-a-row of shift work can be interesting after you've done it a few times? You do it, have the experience, and it's done. Often the mind and body wants to move on.

You can only last until 8? I'm surprised that you have that much interest in it anymore, especially after a serious burnout. Maybe you're doing really, really well!

In fact, we might even be able to blame poor eyesight on the realization that we've already seen it all and just want something new, already. Maybe we don't hear so well, because, well, WHY, really? What are we expecting to hear that we haven't every day for the past 30-40 years?

I know how excited I become when going on a really cool trip or vacation - I'm a totally different person. And yes, I CAN dance all night. It may just be a matter of (u)interest(/u).

It sounds like you are probably really good at what you do. And it probably serves you well to spend your time in it. But be adventurous - find out what really moves you today. It can be something different today than it was yesterday. And see if you don't just spring back to life again. Maybe not as fast as when you were younger, but I suspect there's more life left in you if you can find it. Good luck.

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