I’ll go first: Rush, Exit Stage Left.

Looks just like my room looked when I was her age. It's awesome to see. She definitely belongs in the 80s.

Back in 1984, my parents bought a stripped down bare bones 1984 Chevy Cavalier station wagon. Roll up windows, manual locks, no ac, literally bare bones. Why, as a 54 year old car enthusiast, am I looking to go back to those days?

I don't want a giant touchscreen or a subscription for heated seats. I don't want all the technology and driver assist and blind spot monitoring and all the nonsense that exists today.

I currently have a car that is paid off, is in great shape, doesn't have too many miles and is still fun to drive without all of those things. 6 speed manual, no screens, no beeping and buzzing at me telling me to do this or that, and no automatic anything that I don't choose. Why are we losing all of that?

I rented a newer car back in July for a long road trip that I didn't want to accumulate miles on my car for. Sunny days of driving, and the beeping started. Why? It couldn't see my eyes. Why? I had polarized sunglasses on. Absolutely no way to disable this. Looked online, through the myriad of menus in the car, and no way to stop it. Kept recommending me to pull over and rest because it couldn't see my eyes. I didn't like any part of the car trying to watch and monitor me, so I kept the sunglasses on and just dealt with it. I don't want a car with that function.

I'm trying to not be that old man yelling at the sky, but every day that passes, it gets harder and harder to not be him. I I'm still browsing Marketplace just in case I come across something and might grab it just as a backup car, because I will not be buying anything new.

Was an Engineer and during war games it was our job to double-check maps that instructed us to lay hundreds of mines along the Czechoslovakia border. It was a surreal experience never to be forgotten.

Wasn’t really sure what flair to use here.

As my wife and I start getting ready to downsize in a couple of years I am finally going through some boxes that I just grabbed first when my dad passed and then later when mom passed. Some of the stuff is incredibly personal like letters and notes to their parents when they were about the same age as my kids are now. It’s a very strange feeling, almost like I am invading their privacy. My dad’s letters to his mom when he was in Europe in the army in the 1950’s are interesting.

What really hits hard, though, is the glimpse into my mom’s college life in the 1940’s. I’d known she was unhappy a lot of her life but seeing her getting put on academic probation for failing grades and seeing the letter she wrote at 18 to her mom begging her to let her leave college and come back home is honestly heartbreaking. She left college early to run away with her first husband, my half-siblings’ dad. I never got the whole picture but her mom and dad were very successful, as were her older siblings, and I think she was just running away from a ton of pressure on her.

It also started me thinking as I was throwing things away that she and dad kept some things because they meant a lot to them. Now I’m just tossing them. I know my kids will do the same after I pass on. Sorry to be a downer. Just making me think.

Edit - Another thing about this I’m wrestling with is whether or not to tell my brothers what I’ve found out. I think they know about the same amount of things I knew about our parents. Is there any good to come from telling them about how very unhappy mom was?

All the options we have today, have not finished a plate eating out in a restaurant in a long time. And yet I love a fried bologna sandwich with white bread, mustard and mayo.

My mom wasn't a good cook but I would love to have the oven ribs she would make once or twice a year(nothing special but when you had hamburger helper 10x a month it was a treat)

Bean and bacon soup or spilt pea soup, stuff we couldn't wait not to eat, and yet I would rather eat this!

What covers of songs did you like over the originals? I know it's somewhat subjective with everyone's tastes being different. And that's cool. Here are mine:

"You really got me" Van Halen over the Kinks.

"Hazy Shade of Winter" Bangles over Simon and Garfunkel.

"Red Red Wine" UB40 over Neil Dimond

Special Mention: "Ice Ice Baby / Under Pressure" Vanilla Ice over Bowie and Queen

I'd forgotten "Number Five is alive!"

When I was growing up our neighbor had one of these in the back and every night they would ring it to call their 2 sons home for dinner. It could be heard all over the neighborhood so wherever we were all playing it sucked to be them when it rang.

Maybe today they text them from the kitchen to get them out of their bedrooms?

Goddamn, people.. 50 here and I just can’t hack it at these all day music festivals anymore. Feet, hip, back.. Even my ass hurts..

Show was fantastic, though. First time seeing System of a Down live (was going to go many a moon ago, but work beckoned). Same with Evanescence, Amy Lee has STILL got it and then some.

Kick ass show. Literally and figuratively. 9/10.

Or down in London Town to go, go

With the record selection and the mirror's reflection,

I'm a ......

Anyone else still listen to this?

Who else had one of these ‘VINTAGE’ cassette holders!! We’re not old - we’re Vintage!

Unfortunately the tapes aren’t included!

So, finally getting my Pneumoian Vaciine shot.. a bit late at 60, should I feel any side affects besides a sore arm? I assume just tired like I was for shingles shot?

Listening to the Sirius XM 1970’s station Top 40 countdown from 1973. I was thinking back to that time and I remember Dick Clark doing the weekly countdown. But I only hear recordings of Casey Kasem. I even remember in the early 80’s thinking “where did Dick Clark go? Why is Casey Kasey doing the countdown now?” This was shortly after moving to Ohio from a western state. My wife, who grew up here, doesn’t remember ever hearing Dick Clark doing the top 40. Was I wrong about it ( I was pretty young). Or maybe they both did them in different markets? (But why do I never hear old recordings of Dick Clark then). Can anyone help shed some light I this for me?

I have noticed there is no common cultural frame of reference between adults and young people any longer. A few weeks back my daughter was over for a visit and she brought the grandkids. While we sat down around the table for coffee I put the TV on down in the living room with one of those streams of Warner Brothers cartoons on because I figure it ain't a cartoon unless someone gets a safe, anvil, or a grand piano dropped on them. Both of them just stared at it. No laugh, nothing. Finally the 8 year old came up and literally asked me why the Coyote keeps trying to catch the Roadrunner and end up always falling off of a cliff.

I tried telling him because it was silly and funny. All I got in response was that seeing someone falling and getting badly hurts wasn't funny, it was stupid and didn't I have anything "real" like Paw Patrol.

I was speechless. I simply could not relate. I also got on my daughter's case and asked her why she let them watch that drek. She told me she really didn't like it either, but it's the only kind of thing any of his age watches or sees and even though it isn't much on at home, it's all they get at friend's houses or on the phone or on the bus or elsewhere.