What A Drag It Is Getting Old

Yeah like when your looking for a lp or cd and can't find it ...or you go to the thrift and find cds ....find a great one and buy it onmy to fond out you have not one but two copies of it....omg.

At 85 (86 in a couple of weeks,) I think my mental faculties are still pretty sharp, but my parts are all  wearing out.

Cat Ballou Speaks

The exact same thing happened to me except it was the washing machine and I didn't put enough water for a full load.  You were very lucky and figured it out in time, I had to redo my laundry.  

I thought this thread was gonna be about how great it was to be on Medicare.  Most of the world is gonna be pretty darn old in about another 15 years.  Nursing homes Will be taking over old hotels.  So plan ahead and make reservations well ahead of time.

@waytoomuchstuff  “Just yesterday”

Thank you for offering up your scrambled memory recipe. The trifle of growing old.

Today….

and relevant to @slaw ”Getting old ain’t for pussies”

My partner was watching a David Attenborough wildlife TV documentary when l was reading it, and l blurted a snort and laughed out loud. The problem was, just as a kill was made by a pride of lionesses. Not a well timed very sensitive thing to do out of context by her reaction, and it didn’t go down as well as the meal the big cats were having.

l have done similar things comparable with your case. More than once l have soldered up a new RCA connection to a cable and think l have made a very good clean and tidy job, only then to see l had forgotten to put the screw up plug end onto the cable first.

The hunt is on, l am catching you up fast

Just yesterday ...

.. I was doing some performance mods on a pair of speakers for a customer.  I just finished one and ready for the second.  Since these were "mirror imaged" speakers I made sure I had them set up correctly on the speakers stands and moved them into position.  Grabbed the second speaker, put in on the bench, and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y removed the screws mounting the woofer.  (Woofer surrounds are very unforgiving when introduced to sharp tools).  After extracting the woofer and removing the fiber fill, I realized this was the speaker l had just completed.

When the number of moving parts is reduced to TWO, and you still get it wrong, you must be getting old.  (75 next month)

I’ve forgotten my multiplication tables which I knew through most of my life.

But having memories of the ’64-’65 NY World’s Fair with the excitement of being a young boy is nice. As evil as Robert Moses was I'll always thank him for that.

What A Drag It Is Getting Old

But it's still better than the alternative   

+1 Mr. decibel, moving speakers and amps around is a great invitation to injury. I used to call it working out now I call it rehab.

The beauty of being 68 is that your speakers don't have to go up to 20 kilohertz.

How About Trying to run a Music signal thru a Power Amp that isn't plugged into the AC outlet. Since the Power Amp Pilot light LED burned out a month before and you had it on your to Do List but later forgot you were going to do it and had unplugged it the month before but never did it.

Then one day You decide to Listen to some "Pink Floyd" and everything is on (YouThink) and for 20 minutes you play with all the knobs and switches to make it work. 

Then you light up a cigar and sit back in frustration and some Neuron in your brain finally connects and your realize I better check the rest of my body parts to make sure there still there and then plug in the Amp

The ability of moving heavy objects, such as speakers and power amplifiers, that at one time, was easy....not any more

I am only approaching “mid life” (whatever that means) years, but I occasionally have moments like this. It’s funny though, it was much worse a few years back when I wasn’t taking good care of my health. It helps that are brains are rather 
malleable, even as we get up there in years. Creatine and Vitamin D supplementation works wonders. 

"Old is actually when it is too hard to play an LP in the first place".

For $20, What is...what you find turning the corner of 64?

I’m there. But I’m physically active, and that truly helps. My attitude is good. I turn in towards it, like the wind. You can’t change it. The only thing you can change is your attitude. And be as fit as you can be so you can stay active.

@fuzztone ... plus one.  Love to see your posts, Fuzz!!

A couple of weeks ago, I was installing pair of Super Zeros to a smaller system that is in a fairly large room. The speakers have binding posts that face downward at a slight angle, which is off the beaten path to start with. When I turned the system on, the sound seemed OK at first, but then I noticed something just didn't sound quite right. The system itself (amp/preamp/tuner/CD) was an amalgam of a couple of new pieces and one piece from a behemoth setup that I was downsizing.

I wasn't sure where to begin on solving the poor sound issue, but decided to start with the basics, which in my book is checking the connections to the speakers. Turned out that the binding posts on the Zeros are oriented exactly opposite of most speakers - looking at them from the rear, the right channel is on the left and the left on the right. I had wired both speakers out of phase, which was easy to do because I had been working in low-light conditions when hooking them up, and the right-channel binding post is a dark red that can look almost black under those circumstances. I felt kind of dumb for making such a rookie mistake, but gratified that I had solved the problem so quickly. Things like this happen when Harry Truman was still president when you were born.

@slaw 

Not entirely accurate on my part.

Sam Elliott said a line in “We Were Soldiers” answering Lt. Colonel Hal Moore’s question about how did Custer feel after realising he’d led his men into a slaughter. 
 

“Sir, Custer was a pussy. You ain’t”

@mylogic , I knew I'd heard that line somewhere 😁.... still funny.

@slaw ”Gettin’ old ain’t for pussies”

Your not Sam Elliott (in disguise) are you?

@mapman In true Moody Blues fashion.

”l never thought l’d live to be a hundred…… Justin Hayward.

”Wait and see”

“The last whispered wish of age is to to live it all again” -The Moody Blues  

All I know is....when I was young, I wanted to be older. Now that I am old, I want to be younger.

Gettin' old ain't for pussies 🤫

@mylogic you are aptly named indeed!  👏👏

@mapman ”Why is it..” Old v Young

I think the answer is simple….

Old people (myself included as over the hill) think more often about how many years they have left, so the age thing is always in the front of their minds.

Youngsters think far less about age, view the long game with how many years ahead are left on the clock, so the age thing is at the back of their minds.

Why is it old people love to talk about being old but never a word about youth from the young folk?

When in doubt, visit your local Walmart. Upon exit you’ll feel much better about yourself.

@celtic66 soundest advice so far!! 😂😂🤣

Watch out tho, they'll beat you up in the parking lot for tweek money

@chayro Forensically breaking down your missive, you show strong cognitively.  No split infinitives, sound punctuation, clear organized communicative structure.  You are good to go.

When in doubt, visit your local Walmart.  Upon exit you’ll feel much better about yourself.  Cheers

I have never EVER had such a great time on an Audiogon forum.

I have never laughed so much, nor been so impressed with such good hearted wisdom about aging and continuing on in our lives with our beloved hobby. 

At a mere 67 years old, I feel so lucky to be in this community.  Thanks all. 

Now, time for my nap.

@chayro +1.  Essential to stay engaged. As Clint said, don't let the old man in.  I find as I get older that simple DIY projects I could once do in my sleep somehow involve an injury much more often these days.

Like you, I've been in various forms of the law (and gov't) business and I've retired a couple of times. Most recently, I negotiated myself into working for no pay. As you suggest, that's not a great match for this hobby. Not a lot of pro bono in the audio dealer community.

Minister: Do you believe in the hereafter?

Me: Yes. Every time I walk into a room I ask: What did I come in here after?

Just to jump back in- for me, that’s why I think it’s important to have an objective measure of your mental and physical health, because it’s hard to assess yourself. I retired from full-time law practice in 2021, but after a year, I took a part-time job, also in law.  I figure if I can take the subway to work 3 times a week and do a good job at work, I can’t be that bad physically or mentally. The money doesn’t hurt either, especially in this hobby we’re in. 

@ howardlee

+1

I just had a long discussion with my best friend... we became friends at 15... I'm not 73. We both claimed to have the worst memories and sited examples over our nearly sixty years as friends. To my compete surprise... he won! 

Hmm, now what did I go upstairs for?

@iovi66 

+1

so many of us "older" folks can certainly relate to this...i do things like this everyday, memory loss is very scary when older, .....but I'm always reminded of what someone told me many years ago....

"the only thing worse than getting old is not getting old"

....so many of us never had the chance to "get old"... we're all so lucky to be alive at any age..... but wow, I never thought getting older would be this hard at times.... that's for sure!....luckily i can still hear well enough to enjoy my tunes and appreciate my system's high level of fidelity that took so many, many years to finally realize!

Hell, I could leave my keys in the freezer when I was 20......

I rarely remember my dreams.

When I do, I tend to sit up on wake and go 'wha....."

@whart ....'Walk-In Cremation'....now. That's funny.  I can see the vid-ads already...

" Have that last toast, and come on in for the Roast!"
Precisely why I've asked to be dissolved. (Yes, it's real...but you have to remember to go look for it....;)  )
No headstone for a dog to lift leg apon.... +
No dead flowers...only a gesture not appreciable by the recipient....
Told spouse in a short while I'd be everywhere if dumped into the French Broad, or even the Swannanoa....in vengeance....  It blew it's chance.
She could go out in a good downpour and vent 'one more time'...
 @mapman ...."Hot bodies" still fall into 'fun to look and appreciate' but one learns not to drool or get grabby....spouse would incinerate you in some disturbing means on the spot.  Still pleasant when one's existence is responded to.... ;)

The Next Plane, Out ?  Try this, from the new 'kids' in town....😏

@kerrybh

Isnt that the truth.  My father was an engineer and  he always outsmarted me when I did something wrong. No matter how hard I tried I could never beat him in chess, unless he let me win!!   

FYI there is no meds that improves memory!! Prevagen et al has properties that helps attention but not memory. Obviously if you don’t or can’t pay attention then recall will be limited. That being said paying attention to your favorite music or new music will definitely help your attention span and therefore your recall for that particular music. So rather than focusing on memory and aging, consult with an audiologist! Just saying 

@mapman- funny. For a while, I was getting these direct mail solicitations about "buying" cremation services in advance--offering a discount. I was tempted to call them and ask if there was a special price if I just walked in and they did me. 

Q:  What’s the secret to having a smoking hot body as a senior?
A:  Cremation.

3 old guys sitting on a park bench:

1st guy: "It's windy today, isn't it?"

2nd guy: "No it's not, it's Thursday!"

3rd guy: "Me too! Let's get a drink!"

@chayro 

I think that’s an easy mistake to make.

Don’t worry about it. But you might be a little far-sighted. ; )

Two old friends in their 70's met on the street one day. One guy says to the other, Hey, that's a really nice watch you have there. What kind is it? The other guy says, It's 2:30.

Airplane       Leslie Nielsen asks the stewardess when do we land. She says I can't tell. He says you can tell me I'm a doctor. LOL

@ael2955 

Early '60s Turquoise Admiral Clock Radio for me.