Let’s face it – after 10 years of working online I’m TEN years older.
I know, it’s not exactly rocket science, but it just dawned on me today that I’m not the same person I was ten years ago. Every day (or night or weekend) when I’m working here at my desk I feel just the same. I still enjoy my job and I even enjoy maintaining this blog and a myriad of other things I get into online. So I don’t feel any older day-to-day. Sure, it’s harder to keep up with the kids and every year my new glasses look more and more like an old-lady pair (according to my husband). But I don’t feel like I’ve been here, at my desk, for a decade!
I should have seen it coming. I’ve had to ask a younger co-worker about being Rickrolled, about WoW and MMORPG, and she’d even given me a heads up to the pirates vs the ninjas meme because she knows I’m old and looks out for me. Sure, I’m aware of MySpace, and I even have one, but the attraction with it, for me, is just not there.
But none of that really clued me in to just how old I’m getting.
Instead, it t was two totally harmless jokes I saw/received today that led me to this grand epiphany. So for fun, I’m going to share them here.
First, I saw this cartoon…
over at a blog I like to check out once in a while called My Interesting Files. I love the premise of the blog – the idea that all those emails she’s keeping in her archives might be of interest to others, too. Be sure to check out the rest of the Computer Humor Cartoons.
But how did seeing that cartoon make me feel my age?
Well, I like to multi-task (which is good since I really have to just to survive in my day-to-day world). My washer and dryer are downstairs in the laundry room and when I saw that cartoon I got more excited than I should have. My mind raced…
Man, what a difference THAT invention would make in my life. If I didn’t have to commute downstairs to do the laundry I could just rotate loads right here while I’m working! I have front-loaders, it could work. What a time saver… and what else could I re-arrange, maybe the kitchen sink and oven could be closer, too. If I just moved my computer into the kitchen I could…
I did manage to regain my senses and my desk is not in the kitchen and my washer and dryer are still downstairs in the laundry room. But then I quickly realized there’s just no way a young, hip person would have ever gotten that entranced at the idea of having the washer at her left hand and the dryer at her right while sitting at her desk.
Then tonight my mom sent me an email with the subject: My Living Will.
All of a sudden I felt really, really old and there went the “old-lady-mind-cycle”…
Has my mom just sent me her living will attached to an email? Is there something I should know? She’s not old enough to need a living will! I’m definitely not old enough to have a mom who’s old enough to need a living will… Then I remembered, she already has one. And I am old enough to have one, too!
Depressed, and feeling even older than before, I opened the email and saw this:
Laughing keeps you young, right?!
Laughter is inner jogging – at any age. As a senior, let me say that it creeps up on you without you ever noticing it. In a perfect world you’ll go on laughing and living a quality life without noticing you’ve suddenly become older – cause what you feel inside is the all determining factor. Love your Mom’s humour and that cartoon is just ‘cool’ – do they still say bitch – thought that had gone out of fashion last decade. Mmm perhaps I’m not as old as I thought, except the birth certificate says …..
The email your mom sent to you was really funny. Eight years ago my friends I met online and were talking and they asked me if we will still be doing what we were doing online (mostly chat – I was a former addict)10 years from now.
It’s been more than 3 years since I left the addictive chatrooms, and I don’t miss it at all because I am busy blogging. But one time I asked myself if I will be blogging for another 10 years?
That did make me chuckle. I’ve been using computers for 20 years now and I was no spring chicken when I started! When I first realised that I had passed the 20 year mile stone I did feel old – just for a second. :O)
Yes, I feel the same way at times. I feel young but when people say “blog themes,” I don’t even understand what they mean…but I am learning. It is not true that old dogs can’t learn new tricks. Let’s show them that we can still keep apace with them. Keep the posts coming. Happy blogging.
I LOVE the cartoon!! LOLOL! Could be me in the near future. 🙂
So maybe it’s the milestones that make you feel the age.
Thank you all for the comments. I’m looking forward to the next ten years of working at home and hopefully legitimate telecommuting and telework opportunities will continue to grow.
I’d like one of those desks with a washer and dryer! 🙂 Preferably in my clinic so I could do the laundry while seeing patients.
I’ve read a lot over at your blog, you’ve found work/life balance in a profession where you see patients (which I think is pretty darn cool)!
But why stop with having the washer/dryer combo desk when you’ve got the clinic… set up that washer and dryer in the waiting room and let people waiting to see you rotate the loads.
Course, it’s not like you could trust some of those delicates to strangers. But the concept is entirely amusing. 🙂
From all this it is easy to make a conclusion and that is – the internet is highly addictive, but sometimes I wonder – what is not. Tremendous blog, thanks for sharing. P. S. I am also a comics addict.
Those are both great! I can totally see the advantage of that first one. Although, I have to admit that when I saw it, the first thing I noticed was how fat her butt was. That’s one thing that keeps me remembering that I’m getting older. Working on the computer hasn’t helped…