Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fifty

jacquesmattheij.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 118 posts

Re: Fifty

#31

Post by saiya-jin »

elorant wrote: post #24
cstross wrote: post #8

I hit 51 next month, and that's ... well. These decadal anniversaries seem to get more onerous each time. 20? No problem, it just means you're not a teenager any more! 30? Okay, you're officially a grownup, but you can still party! 40 was pause for concern, but it isn't what it used to be, the threshold of middle age: that's 50. Oops ... Well, as Terry Pratchett observed, inside every old man there's an eight year ol…

On the contrary, I’m on my early forties and my physical condition is way better than it was twenty years ago. I exercise a lot, eat much healthier food because now I know whilst on my twenties I’d eat any crap that came my way, I have a steady sleeping pattern trying to wake up early each morning so I can make the most of the day and generally speaking I feel like I have at least another twenty energetic years ahead…

>The only thing I find harder as I grow up is to fall in love. It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it just doesn’t happen with the frequency and the easiness it did twenty years ago. But then again that might be a good thing, not to fall in love with every gorgeous woman that crosses your path.

I don't need to be even near your age to know for sure that love is a term used for something different than this. Much deeper, much longer-lasting and resilient. If you keep falling in love literally every time hot chick passes along, you've never fell in love. I know both states well enough, and they are worlds apart

Re: Fifty

#32

Post by marincounty »

I hit 50 two years ago. I didn't mind turning 50. It was the constant stereotyping that society(at least in the U.S.) that finally got to me.

I recall hitting 50 and not giving it much thought, but it seemed like when ever I turned on any from of media, I was reminded of all the pitfalls of getting older. It's so depressing, I am thing about getting rid of cable. I'll still watch movies on my devises, but I need to tune out the commercials, and warnings? And yes, I got it tobacco causes cancer. I smoke one, or two cigarettes a week, and been around people who smoked; yes--I got it. I raised my chances of getting cancer. Enough?

I have been kinda neurotic/hypochondrical my entire life; I don't want to be reminded daily I'm going to die. Oh, those cancer center commercials? I don't care how sick I was I would never go to one of those centers--just on principle. I really hope that company goes bankrupt. Actually, I wish we could ban all medical/Pharmacutical advertisement.

As to getting older, I don't like it. I had better ideas when I was younger. I guess because my testosterone is startling to go down, the world is definetly lets say-- a little less colorful? My sex drive is way down, but I'm kinda ok with that. I can focus on boring stuff better than when I was younger. And I find web developement boring! Sorry, I don't get excited about this industry. I'm drawn to it, but never got the romance some of you have for the industry? I am just a web developer, self employed, and always needed to do other things to make a living. Maybe that's why? Or, maybe I've never been totally in love with anything I've done? I have a ton of interests, but I never fell in love with any of them?

The one thing I really wished I did differently is I wish I made friends with people younger than myself? I know it sounds selfish, but it seems like so many people I knew are gone? For some reason, I didn't really like my generation. I found I had more in common with people who were 15 plus years older than myself? I had some really good friendships. Friendships that were solid. Friends that I could trust with my innermost secrets. I don't have that anymore. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, but don't do what I did. It's lonely.

That's about it. Oh, yea, if you have an anxiety disorder, getting older does releave some of the symptmology. When I was younger, I just couldn't relax. I still can't, but I'm better than I was?

If you ever bump into me, please don't call me Sir. I am still not my father, and don't think I will ever turn into him. I'm still scared, and don't have confidence. I still look at the rest of the world, and still don't feel I'm one of the grown-ups? I am not one of them! I've never fell like I'm entitled. I don't demand respect. I know I need to earn it. I don't understand mean/narcisstic individuals. I like some rap, but don't get Kayne, or Beaver? Don't think I ever will? I think tattoos are fine, but never got one. (I never got one because I thought they looked like bruises, and reminded me of people who had liver disease.(platelets not forming as they should?). In other words, I'm not really that different than the young man I used to be, just look older.

I sure miss my dogs! I wish they lived as long as we do?

Bye!

Re: Fifty

#33

Post by crusso »

Nice post, Jacques. Luckily, I'm only 47.5. I've got a long time before I have your concerns of being 50.

I've found that the hardest part of getting older is the work you have to put into your mind and body just to slow the decline of age. You go from being in your 20's and eating all the donuts and burgers you wanted to.... to being in your 30's where you start having to watch what you eat and limit some portions... to being in your 40's where now I'm pretty strict with what I eat and how much. I hardly ever eat sugar or bread, much less the holy combination of the two in a donut.

One of the most disappointing aspects of getting older is my disillusionment with medical developments related to aging. When I was in my 20's, I thought that a lot of problems with aging would be solved within my lifetime. Surely, I figured, by the time I was 50, they'd have eradicated cancer, cured baldness, and developed other general techniques for rejuvenating the mind and body. No such luck, I guess. The older I get and view medicine through the lense of how it can help me with various aging problems, the more I realize that medicine is really still in its infancy. Medicine is fumbling around like the blind men feeling the elephant who don't know what they're touching. At the rate things have been progressing, fundamental medical miracles aren't years or decades away - they're perhaps centuries away... but I hope to be proven wrong.

That said, there are things I enjoy about getting older, like watching my kids turn into young adults. I hear that having grand-kids is fulfilling, although I hope to avoid that pleasure for at least another 10 years.

Re: Fifty

#35

Post by [deleted] »

greggman wrote: post #15
cstross wrote: post #8

I hit 51 next month, and that's ... well. These decadal anniversaries seem to get more onerous each time. 20? No problem, it just means you're not a teenager any more! 30? Okay, you're officially a grownup, but you can still party! 40 was pause for concern, but it isn't what it used to be, the threshold of middle age: that's 50. Oops ... Well, as Terry Pratchett observed, inside every old man there's an eight year ol…

I'm in a similar place to the OP. I turn 50 in a week. I get told often I look in my 30s. The majority of my friends are in their 30s. Hung out for 6 months with 28yr olds forming a startup last year, they asked me to join them. With few exceptions I don't fit with people my age. What I find frustrating is the society at large won't let me ignore my age. You get categorized all the time. Some meetup or dating event i…

[deleted]

Re: Fifty

#36

Post by vinceguidry »

greggman wrote: post #15
cstross wrote: post #8

I hit 51 next month, and that's ... well. These decadal anniversaries seem to get more onerous each time. 20? No problem, it just means you're not a teenager any more! 30? Okay, you're officially a grownup, but you can still party! 40 was pause for concern, but it isn't what it used to be, the threshold of middle age: that's 50. Oops ... Well, as Terry Pratchett observed, inside every old man there's an eight year ol…

I'm in a similar place to the OP. I turn 50 in a week. I get told often I look in my 30s. The majority of my friends are in their 30s. Hung out for 6 months with 28yr olds forming a startup last year, they asked me to join them. With few exceptions I don't fit with people my age. What I find frustrating is the society at large won't let me ignore my age. You get categorized all the time. Some meetup or dating event i…

They tell you that kind of stuff when you're younger too, that you're not X or Y because you're not old enough yet. One's just more inclined to ignore it out of sheer bull-headedness.

Re: Fifty

#37

Post by CmonDev »

cstross wrote: post #25
elorant wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, I’m on my early forties and my physical condition is way better than it was twenty years ago. I exercise a lot, eat much healthier food because now I know whilst on my twenties I’d eat any crap that came my way, I have a steady sleeping pattern trying to wake up early each morning so I can make the most of the day and generally speaking I feel like I have at least another twenty energetic years ahead…

On the contrary, I’m on my early forties and my physical condition is way better than it was twenty years ago. It's a crap shoot. I got hit by metabolic syndrome -- extreme hypertension and type II diabetes. I exercise, I weigh less and am in better shape than I was 20 years ago, but I'm still on a cardiology professor's frequent-flyer list and gobbling meds by the double-handful. Meanwhile, my wife is a four year ca…

Isn't that hereditary? Isn't it possible to look at relatives and parents and guess own future?

Re: Fifty

#38

Post by CmonDev »

skrebbel wrote: post #10

> When I’m in a group of people my own age I feel as though I’m around old people, I can’t help it. This one really rings with me. Unfortunately, many old people act like old people. I once worked at a software agency where even the more ambitious young people acted like old people. Age is just a number, but the only one who decides to fully favour the comforts of the known to the appeal of the new and risky is you.…

iPads are dumbed-down PCs effectively. Even cats can use them for games (to an extent), not to mention humans of any age.

Re: Fifty

#39

Post by vixen99 »

Happy Birthday! Prompted by your comment I found this from the Association of American Publishers: 'In the first three months of 2015 they (e-books) have plummeted 7.5% from the same period last year. Meanwhile paperback sales have increased by 8.9% giving further credence that people are switching back to print in greater numbers than originally thought'. I hope so.

Re: Fifty

#40

Post by skrebbel »

jacquesm wrote: post #22
skrebbel wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, Jacques, I'm really curious about that story about not working for Eckart Wintzen. He died just when I started getting into the software industry at all, but his writings are very inspiring and he's been a force of positive change around me even after his death. Did you write that up anywhere?

No, but I can write it up here and now. I got to know Eckart because we both invested in the same company ( http://www.infocaster.net/ ) and one day after a shareholder meeting we decided to have a follow up with just him, my business partner Joyce and myself. Eckart outlined his vision about the things he wanted to do now that he had a 'full toolbox' and lots of time and we saw eye to eye on so many subjects that it…

Thanks for the writeup!
Post reply on HN