On the plus side, it means I'm one step closer to retirement

[slipjig3]

The thing about feeling old is that it sneaks up in circumstances you don't expect. This morning, I had to explain to rafaela what the vertical and horizontal hold knobs on a TV set were for. Like I said: feeling very, very old. The fun part, though, was trying to describe what happens when said holds go blooey, and the frustrating-as-f*uck tightrope walk of trying to get the vertical hold juuuuust right without overshooting and starting the screen rolling in the opposite direction. Hated, hated, hated that. (Those of you too young to understand, just nod politely and move on.)

As long as I'm babbling, y'know what else I haven't seen in a long time? Those "EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, PLEASE STAND BY" placards that TV stations used to put up when somebody spilled soda on the control panel or something. I should do some research and see if anyone on the Web has posted an image collection; I remember MTV had two, an early silhouette shot of a New Wave dork with a guitar and a later animated one of a post-rock apocalypse, but the dozens of others have escaped memory, perhaps for the best.

All right, let's wrap this up and have lunch before the words "good old days" escape my keyboard, forcing me to commit hari-kiri.

Comments

[maverick-weirdo.livejournal.com]

Did you also have to explain why back then there were 2 station dials VHF and UHF? And the only remote control was your little brother.

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

Heheh, I still have "go change it to channel 2" flashbacks from time to time.

[daev.livejournal.com]

There was a meme quiz a while ago asking which obsolete skills you had mastered, things like matching volume levels on a mix tape, or making a double-sided floppy disk using a hole punch. I don't remember if "wizard of the vertical hold knob" was one of the options. It disturbed me how many of those skills I had prided myself on being good at.

Speaking of nostalgia, the Mother/Honcho Overload/Moon Seven Times show is tonight at the Blind Pig. Wish you were here!

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

ugh...you just made all my gray hair stand on end (and that's a lot)

[we-happy-few.livejournal.com]

I'm so with you. Now I feel old. Not that it's hard to do, but man! such memories.

I know how you feel.....

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

When I was around 16 or 17, my young niece pointed to the turntable I had sitting in my room.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's a record player," I said.

"What's a record?"

I swear I almost fainted.

Re: I know how you feel.....

[daev.livejournal.com]

"What's a record?"

They're just like drugs, only instead of taking them, their addicts sit around for hours and talk about who made them.