"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Friday, February 8
I Am, I Am, I Am An Old Man
Last night my wife went out with some friends, so while waiting for her to get home I spent an hour or so surfing nothing but blogs. After seeing so many points of view on so many websites, I have come to an inescapably conclusion:
I have the most conservative tastes on the Internet.
Sure, I listen the Puddle Of Mud and The Strokes on the radio, but the last album I bought? Paul McCartney's Driving Rain. Not a bad album, but hardly cutting edge.
My taste tends towards old things, or at least old things made new. I loved swing music even before the Great Revival of 1998 (I had already seen the Glen Miller Orchestra twice, though, sadly, not Glen Miller himself). I thought Brian Setzer was cool when he was still with the Stray Cats. As for movies, when I'm not watching Casablanca or For Whom The Bell Tolls, it's Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The house I live in? Built in 1932.
I also admire the values of those days. Back then, so many people worked their dead-end jobs, went to church every Sunday, had a beer and watched the game on TV, then did the same thing all over again. They weren't rich, and knew they never would be, but they lived right, sent their kids to college, and were generally members in good standing of the Upright Citizens Brigade. When they got old, they turned into the fuddy-duddies that teenagers laugh at. I myself, at age 33, have been accused of being an old fuddy-duddy (actually, I aspire to be a curmudgeon, but I'm not old enough yet, so I'm just whiny).
Which brings me back to my point. As a husband, father, and employee, on of the things I pride myself on is dependability. When people need me, I'm there. This kind of life is not interesting. I don't have adventures. I like to plan ahead and be prepared, which tends to stifle spontaneity. So, I'm boring. And proud of it.
