Just eighteen

[ticklebug101]

Hey gang. So I was thinking about this poem the other day from the musical Blood Brothers, and I was wondering, has anyone ever felt this way before, like they wanna stay the same age? I used to, growing up, then I kept having those damn birthdays 😉 Read it over, lemme know whatcha think.
Bug 🙂

there's a few bob in your pocket
and you've got good friends,
and it seems that summer's never coming to an end
young, free and innocent, you haven't got a care,
apart from decidin' on the clothes you're gonna wear.
the street's turned into paradise,
the radio's singing dreams
you're innocent, immortal, you're just fifteen.
and who'd dare tell the lambs in spring
what fate the later seasons bring
who'd tell the girl in the middle of the pair
the price she'll have to pay for just being there.

but leave them alone, let them go and play
they care not for what's at the end of the day
for what is to come, for what might have been
life has no ending when you're sweet sixteen
and your friends are with you to talk away the night
or until mrs wong switches off the chippy light
then there's always the corner
and the street lamp's glare
an' another hour to spend, with your friends, with her,
to share your last cigarette and your secret dream
at the midnight hour...

... at seventeen

it's just another ferry boat, a trip to the beach
but everything's possible,
the world's within your reach
an' you don't even notice the broken bottles in the sand
the oil in the water and you can't understand
how living could be anything other than a dream
when you're young, free and innocent...

... and just eighteen

and only if the three of them could stay like that forever,
and only if we could predict no changes in the weather
and only if we didn't live in life, as well as dreams
and only if we could stop and be forever,
just eighteen

 

[Mash]

Well, I probably fit into the generic, 'Well, I just want to grow up real fast-like' mindset that most young-folk have. I doubt I'll be happy with my age until I'm in my late twenties, at earliest.

 

[ticklebug101]

Yay first reply, thanks mash 🙂

 

[Mash]

Haha, no problem. I'm sure everyone else will start replying once they get back from work and such.

 

[Chris Prime]

I feel the same way too sometimes Bug. 🙁

Still nice to recite a Poem though. 🙂

 

[Inverse]

I actually have a real fear of aging, it's an irrational stigma for me. Yet it has less to do with nostalgia, and more to do with me seeing less of a connection to the age groups the await me. This is probably a case of maturity lagging behind, but it still terrifies me to think of the things that I love becoming irrelevant or obsolete for me. Was a beautiful poem, and reminded me of good times. I won't call them simple, but good...yes. <3

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

If it wasn't for the pain and loss of youthful beauty...I wouldn't mind growing old.

 

[kopfhorer1]

I'll go a few degrees off-topic here...

Is it me, or do a lot of my fellow baby-boomers just seem to be gettin' stodgy and stagnant, focusing on their past? I find myself identifying more with people in their 30s and 40s than with folks in my own age bracket.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

Is it me, or do a lot of my fellow baby-boomers just seem to be gettin' stodgy and stagnant, focusing on their past?

Well there is nothing really wrong with nostalgia. ^_~

I find myself identifying more with people in their 30s and 40s than with folks in my own age bracket.

Funny. I find myself identifying more with people who were born in the 80's. Probably because the 80's were wonderful. Well...except for Regan.

 

[rivers121]

I wish I could've stayed 26 forever. Still young, but old enough to not be looked at like a kid. I'm 28 now and I feel like I'm quickly reaching the exit door of youth. I relate more now with people in their 30s than people in their early 20s. I am finishing off my degree and I feel like an old man surrounded by people in their early 20s. It's funny though because a 38 year old wouldn't feel old around a 31 year old, but a 28 year old feels ancient around 21 year olds. I guess it's because you go through so many changes in your 20s decade.

 

[Mash]

I rather like how I am now. I feel that I have the perfect mix of cynicism and satirical comments.

 

[Inverse]

But you have no hair, and you're like, always drinking. 😛

 

[idiot756]

My first thought upon seeing the title...

Quagmire: Hey, Meg. 18 yet?

Meg: No.

Quagmire: Hey, Chris. How are ya?

Chris: Well I...

Quagmire, walking out of the room: All right!

 

[waddleman1]

Eh, I don't really care at this point. I'm in my late twenties now and the only age I ever cared about was 21 so I could finally buy my own drank. I don't mind getting older, but that probably has more to do with the fact that I'm married, stay in shape, still have a crowd of like 10-15 people that drink like we're in college, and generally don't feel any different (physically anyway) than I was when I got my first real job. I'm sure once my body starts crapping out on me I'll regret aging, but for now it just feels like a new number and a day I get a few nice gifts from friends before massive partying ensues.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

But you have no hair, and you're like, always drinking. 😛

can't...breath...laughing...taking...up...needed...oxygen...

 

[tickle_fan031]

Good thread bug. 🙂

Well, I probably fit into the generic, 'Well, I just want to grow up real fast-like' mindset that most young-folk have. I doubt I'll be happy with my age until I'm in my late twenties, at earliest.

I fit into that category too.

I'm 25 now and I still can't wait to be older and have done since the age of 12. But I know as soon as I am older, like in my 40s going into 50s I'll regret it (not saying that 40 and 50 is old!) and I'll be wishing that I was 18 again. Actually 18 was rubbish, 21 was definately my year. So I think I'll always wana go back to being 21 again. I've always got on better with people older than me and I grew up/matured faster than my friends did. People older than myself seemed to be having a better time so I guess I focused on that.

 

[Johnny lea]

It's interesting reading this because I had a conversation this weekend with friends who commented that they were feeling old over the whole clubbing scene. The conversation of music came up, where one one of my friends commented how they could name most artists at one time and now didn't have a clue who was playing. I guess we can kinda get a bit boxed off in our ways.

I'm 27 right now and try mix with all ages. I sit in a bar somedays with people in their
50s or 60s and talk all sorts and listen to their experiences, some people my age look at me kinda of weird for that but its an education. At the same time I have a young nephew who I always quiz about what him and his friends get up too or what he's into right now. I have no general fears over aging or dying, it's the only promise you come into the world with. As long as I can keep an overall feel of the times I'm more than happy to travel this road of life.

 

[Slaver123]

(I'll try to keep this short but don't count on it)

Never wanted to stay a teenager, never wished I could go back except to rectify some of my stupid mistakes. I always wanted to remain 23 forever; healthy and really alive, before a lot of horrible things happened, the age I am in my dreams- then I wake up to 41-year-old aches from various injuries.

I'd love to keep the 23-y/o body forever, but there's NO WAY I'd ever go back to my younger personality. At 41 I'm only just beginning to get things straightened out, even some of the colossal scars from earlier life. I would NEVER want to be who I was just ten or twelve years ago, let alone my teens...

 

[ticklebug101]

Thanks guys.
And Helen, I don't care how old you get, you'll always be my lee 🙂

 

[Slaver123]

The conversation of music came up, where one one of my friends commented how they could name most artists at one time and now didn't have a clue who was playing. I guess we can kinda get a bit boxed off in our ways.

e.

No, music all sounds the same today; I blame ClearChannel.
[CAUTION: RANT AHEAD!]

Pop music especially has been stuck in a dead-end for a decade; it's like artists aren't allowed to have a unique sound, they have to be defined by their genre. I can't tell one female vocalist from another (except Rihanna because she's SO awful) Same dance beat, same pitch-corrected vocals, same almost bored-sounding lyrics, etc. (I'm being overly harsh; there is some experimentation going on in the production side- even the blandest pop songs have some innovative sounds buried behind the singer)

It's not just 'pop' either; every Black Metal band sounds the same, same with Death Metal; it's like it just STOPPED around the time Lamb Of God came out and metal's never progressed a notch since. Modern C&W? I call it "City and Eastern"- like most R&B, the C&W I hear on the radio is over-produced soulless garbage.

We used to joke in the 90s that all alternative 'eclectic' music sounded identical; bland singer in a green striped shirt, strumming an acoustic guitar and claiming "you can't pin my sound down to any one genre; it's eclectic." Yeah, so 'eclectic' it's GENERIC.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MUSIC? It's like it all died! Years ago Jazz split into 2 "camps"- smooth Jazz (easy listening) and straight-ahead ultra-traditionalist combos; what happened to all the experimentation of days gone by?

Maybe it was inevitable thanks to recording technology; maybe music really is a dead art. Maybe money finally killed it. Maybe it's just a symptom of mankind's general malaise, since human expansion HALTED 40+ years ago with the Moon Landings...

 

[Breygon]

Certainly don't wanna get any older than I am, really.

But, TBH, I want the World to go back to when I was 18; back when we didn't have 2(+) wars, ~88% unemployment, and big holes in NYC where the twin towers previously stood.

 

[ticklebug101]

Woohoo I got a 3rd page! Now I'm gonna act like I'm 18! lol, thanks Breygon

 

[tickle_fan031]

Thanks guys.
And Helen, I don't care how old you get, you'll always be my lee 🙂

:lol Naaah you'll get bored of me :stickout

Woohoo I got a 3rd page! Now I'm gonna act like I'm 18! lol, thanks Breygon

What's been your excuse the rest of the time???? :stickout:cool

 

[Inverse]

Might need to call an ambulance for that burn that just happened. XD

 

[Slaver123]

Certainly don't wanna get any older than I am, really.

But, TBH, I want the World to go back to when I was 18; back when we didn't have 2(+) wars, ~88% unemployment, and big holes in NYC where the twin towers previously stood.

But all that stuff was ABOUT to happen....I'd rather move to a 'Star Trek' future where the underlying problems are solved- where mankind (especially the Islamic world) has gone through a full-blown Enlightenment and abandoned its barbaric ways.