Home › blogs › Fructuous Frederick's blog

Ages of OlyBloggers?

Thu, 08/02/2007 - 11:04pm — Fructuous Frederick

I've been trying to figure out the approximate age of several OlyBloggers based on the content of their posts. To be honest, I'm having a hell of a time with some of you. One day, you sound like you're twenty. The next, you sound like you're old enough to be one of my grandparents. I'm in my mid-20s, so I had the joy of spending some of the '90s as a teenager. (Generation X. Hooray.)

I guess I'm just curious as to what the median age is, here. I think it would help me (and others) to understand where some of you are coming from with your viewpoints.

Comments

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:54am — Anonymously Larry

Ok...this is officially bothering me....

 I'm over 51 and I don't give a damn....or is it "I don't give a hell"?

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers

Thu, 08/02/2007 - 11:42pm — enpen

the poll

How old are you?
10-15
16-20
21-25
26-30
31-35
36-40
41-45
46-50
51-who the hell cares?
See Results
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 6:00am — stevenl

Nice poll, enpen, but-- who

Nice poll, enpen, but-- who the hell cares?
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 12:08am — Robert Whitlock

Actual Birthday

If you check my user profile you will find that my actual birthday is listed for the year of 2020. I'm just sort of iffy about publishing my actual birthday online. - or even my actual age. Age and birthdays are a great tool for identification. I'm sure that I am readily identifiable based solely on my first and last names and by performing public internet searches. But I am still not comfortable posting my birthday... Am I crazy?

In the Course of Events

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 6:28am — Sarah

Not crazy

You are wise to keep your actual birthdate to yourself.

 

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 6:33am — Anonymously Larry

I was born...

 On February 30th

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers

Sat, 08/04/2007 - 8:29pm — oysterpreserve

me too!

I was also born on Feb. 30th
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 7:49am — Merwyn Haskett

If you were a teen in the

If you were a teen in the very early 90s then you'd just barely make the tail end of Gen-X, like me. I started "getting it" too late when Courtney killed Curt.

We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned. There's only room for one or two, we can't have Heaven crammed!

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 9:02am — Anonymously Larry

Age differences

 Mark Twain:  When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.
 

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 9:51am — Guglielmo

Hmmm...

Perhaps you can ask about our ethnicity using a poll like this:

o White

o Who the hell cares?

I mean, really now.

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:15am — Merwyn Haskett

Shit, some people are so

Shit, some people are so goddamned oversensitive it's not even funny.

We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned. There's only room for one or two, we can't have Heaven crammed!

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:25am — Guglielmo

Hold on...

 

My dear mother is 75. It would hurt her feelings to see a poll like this. Some people are not particularly sensitive to these matters, so I pointed it out. But perhaps you are correct: We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned.

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:30am — Merwyn Haskett

Did you ever stop to think

Did you ever stop to think that the poll wasn't saying "who cares about old folks", but that it was from the point of view of "none of your damn business what my age is"?

My ex-wife's Grandma was mortally offended by the song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". Oversensitivity.

My parents are on the top end of that poll too. I'm sure they won't need to go to therapy should they see it.

We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned. There's only room for one or two, we can't have Heaven crammed!

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:48am — Guglielmo

I see

You're one of "those" people. Okay, you are right. I was over sensitive. I'm glad you could straighten me out.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:53am — Merwyn Haskett

Uh, what exactly would

Uh, what exactly would "those" people be? Because from my POV you are one of "those" people.

We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned. There's only room for one or two, we can't have Heaven crammed!

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:23am — Guglielmo

I guess we're all "those" people then

My apologies for my multiple offences.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:27am — Merwyn Haskett

Did you read Janet's

Did you read Janet's response? Now, I'm only guessing since I'm not privileged to be inside her mind, but her attitude and mind-set might have been a laughing tsk-tsk, or it might even have been minor annoyance, but she was able to admonish Enpen (mildly or seriously, it doesn't matter) without comparing his poll to white supremacy or challenging his acceptance of the elderly.

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:38am — Guglielmo

Did you read Janet's comment?

I'm not sure what's in her head either (though I’ve heard rumors), but she admonished enpen without suggesting he was "goddamned insensitive." That's a good approach don't you think?
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 11:56am — Merwyn Haskett

Point Taken. Similar to my

Point Taken. Similar to my point up above. I'm the whitest black pot I've ever seen.

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 4:18pm — Guglielmo

"fractious specimen?"

Wow. How charming.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 4:39pm — Merwyn Haskett

Ah, you read my other blog!

Ah, you read my other blog! That's alright, I checked out your flickr photos.

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 4:54pm — Guglielmo

I'll create a special flickr set

just for you.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 4:56pm — Merwyn Haskett

Seriously, you've got some

Seriously, you've got some really beautiful pictures there. I especially liked the ones with the coyote.

Plus any friend of Josh Carbomb can't be all that bad.

Sat, 08/04/2007 - 5:36pm — Guglielmo

Yeah

the Josh “Bomb of Awesomeness” is a good guy.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 5:10pm — jlw

Here's one thing that's in my head

Boy, there was a day when no one would have foreseen ME being pointed to as a model of restraint with respect to internet admonishments. Maybe I AM getting old!
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 9:53am — Guglielmo

But I do like the

"Action for Alzheimers" link in the poll results.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:39am — jlw

Excuse me!

Ahem. Why are half-decades suddenly less significant after the age of 51? enpen, enpen, enpen... there are a lot of disappointed young people over the 51 out there today. Someday you'll understand.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 2:06pm — enpen

mmm...sorry...?

Yeah, I can be a bit of a disappointment. I was aiming more for the idea that at a particular age people stop really caring about age except to say, "kids these days." For example, I can't imagine a question about OlyBloggers ages coming from anyone over 30. I only included the poll because I thought the chance of people answering increased with greater anonymity.

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 5:20pm — jlw

Never!

You are so not a disappointment. I'm afraid I have to disappoint you, though... We older people still stratify ourselves according to age. For a while I took a Tai Chi class, and I was, like, the youngest one, and it was so awesome! There were like a few people in their 90's, revered as elders, and the core group in their 70's and 80's, and a few middle-aged people in their 60's, then the young people in their 50's, and finally me, the kid, being given lots of advice, and looking forward to someday attaining wisdom and maturity and grace. I think there's also an element of feeling a kinship for people of one's own "generation," as well, and believe me, when I find someone else about my age and we get going about how the Baby Boomers got all the attention, blah blah blah, and what it's like to live in their shadow, you can bet a half a decade of age still matters!
Sat, 08/04/2007 - 5:48pm — Guglielmo

Yeah...

What Janet said. It matters.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 2:13pm — Norm

Why should it matter to you?

Why should it matter to you? You're what, 27? 28?
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 2:58pm — enpen

why should what matter to me?

Whether or not people would answer the question? I just wanted to help facilitate a more active discussion (you never know what you're going to get).

What people's ages are? It doesn't.

Whether or not somebody is older than 50? Here's where I made the mistake in language. The way I wrote it, it looks like "who the hell cares" how old the person responding is. Not at all what I was shooting for right before crashing for the night. I really did want to capture the notion that at some point in people's lives we typically stop getting hung up on it, and it usually coincides with people feeling removed from the youth cultures. To me this typically happens in the 50's, so that's where I put it. Unfortunately I was careless in my language and now it just makes me look like an ageist. Stupid words...

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 3:03pm — Guglielmo

You're not ageist

Your poll is simply a product your own haste and our youth-oriented culture. Like my snarky fake poll on ethnicity is a product of...well, you know what I mean.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 3:03pm — Norm

errr

I was actually trying to give Janet a compliment there.

why the hell should she care? She is only what, 27? or 28?

ie Janet is a young looking woman........

Sat, 08/04/2007 - 7:31am — Anonymously Larry

I'm waiting, Norm

 Don't I look 27 or 28?  Is this a sexist thing?

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers

Sat, 08/04/2007 - 1:17pm — Norm

I haven't run into you yet

I haven't run into you yet Mr. Wilford Brimley.
Sat, 08/04/2007 - 4:53pm — Anonymously Larry

Seeking a compliment, not truth

 You need not be accurate when complimenting me.  By the way, I grew a goatee, therefore Wilford Brimley is past tense.

Maybe you can join EG and I for coffee and take a tour of the real Larry, live and in living color.

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers

Mon, 08/06/2007 - 11:28am — Norm

I'm game for coffee....if I

I'm game for coffee....if I hug you cause you remind me of Grandpa though, I apologize.
Mon, 08/06/2007 - 4:28pm — Anonymously Larry

Sure thing...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

"There is only one race, the human race" - The Neville Brothers

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 3:04pm — Merwyn Haskett

Not everyone automatically

Not everyone automatically assumed you made an agist statement.

By the way, how long has it been since any of us added "and a half" to our age?

We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned. There's only room for one or two, we can't have Heaven crammed!

Fri, 08/03/2007 - 5:22pm — jlw

I like there to be lots of boxes after the one I check

That way I feel like I have lots of time left.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 5:21pm — jlw

Shucks

29 again. Or something like that.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:42am — Rob Richards

Merwyn's right Fred your not

Merwyn's right Fred your not a gen Xer, not that it really matters. I was born in 78 and I'm not considered one technically. Gen Xers were born in the mid to early 70's. When I was starting high school, they were in or graduating from college.
Fri, 08/03/2007 - 10:56am — Merwyn Haskett

Technically I don't consider

Technically I don't consider myself Gen-X, or at the very least a hanger-on at the end of it all. Too young when the main Gen-Xers were growing up, too old for the baggy pants hip-hop crowd.

We are the precious chosen few, let all the rest be damned. There's only room for one or two, we can't have Heaven crammed!

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.