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11 Aug 03 - 08:15 AM (#1000167) Subject: BS: Tempus fugit From: kendall I'm sitting here with my tri focals and arthritis remembering that it was 50 years ago today that I joined the U.S. Coast Guard. Where the hell did the years go? Why does time compress? Is there a law that says we clearly remember 50 years ago and yet forget what we had for dinner yesterday? |
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11 Aug 03 - 08:19 AM (#1000169) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: GUEST,MMario I can't answer the first couple questions - but i believe the answer to the last is "YES" |
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11 Aug 03 - 08:22 AM (#1000170) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: kendall I dont feel any different than I did 50 years ago, except if I try to run. |
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11 Aug 03 - 08:47 AM (#1000177) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Amos I certainly agree that there's a phenomenon goin' on, Skipper. Fifty years ago they wouldn't have let me join the COast Guard for a few years, but it is truly astonishing how time compresses. I thought I was eighteen, inside, until I was forty. TI have felt thirty since then! :>) I think the body and the self are on sort of separate time lines. A |
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11 Aug 03 - 08:50 AM (#1000179) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Rapparee Shucks, forty years ago today I was home on leave after Army basic training. Thirty-five years ago today I was at Ft. Carson, Colorado, after my National Guard unit had been activated. Thirty years ago I was awaiting and planning for my wedding in October. And so on. Yesterday I, ah, I.... No, I can remember yesterday. Really. I think that it becomes a matter of priorities, specifically what is a priority for *you*. As you get older these priorities change, and you recognize that, for instance, going into the Coast Guard was a major, bigtime, event in your life (e.g., you left home, you were on your own). And you likewise recognize that other things, that you once thought were extrememly important, weren't. That is, to you in your life. The important thing is to be able to find your trifocals. |
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11 Aug 03 - 10:06 AM (#1000215) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Peg It all seems relative. I remember reading a survey that asked women of varying ages (20s to 80s) what they thought the best years of their lives would be, in other words, their best decade. Women in their 20s all said their 20s. Women in their 30s said their 30s, and projected their 60s would also be good. Everyone older than 30s (40s thru 80s) said their 30s were their best decade; and of the older women, many also said their 60s were the bext decade after their 30s! Interesting. I am going to turn 40 soon...scary prospect for women, usually. But I look forward to many wonderful years. |
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11 Aug 03 - 10:40 AM (#1000236) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Bill D it somewhat depends of what you are doing...for my first 40 years, things were constantly changing...addresses, jobs, friends..etc. I didn't stay anyplace very long and there were many 'events' to mark on my calendar to give a sense of great lengths of time... Now, I have been in the same house for 20 years and doing, relatively, the same things everyday...and the last 20 years has flown by! But like Kendall, and most of my friends, that memory thing is the same...I can tell you phone #s and friends names from 40 years ago, but can't remember where I put the list of stuff I was supposed to remember! (I guess the early memories got the best and most secure spots of the 'memory shelves', while new memories have to grab hold with their fingernails and hold on tightly, as any little distraction will knock them loose.) How's that for a metaphor? |
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11 Aug 03 - 10:42 AM (#1000237) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Bill D oh, yeah...one other thing..I seem to have a limited attenti |
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11 Aug 03 - 11:07 AM (#1000248) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Rapparee I've long thought (heck, I should stop right there) that memory cascades and branches. For instance, suppose you are talking about, oh, bread. Discussing bread can bring up moldy bread (follow the branching -- there could be other things brought up as well). Moldy bread could remind me that bread mold can reproduce sexually and asexually. That my old botany prof had never seem sexual reproduction of bread mold. That he taught a class I took called "The Morphology of Plants." That during that class's lab a whole table of us would sit around singing "We'll Sing In The Sunshine." Which brings up, "Hey, what ever happened to Gail Garnett?" A discussion of bread mold might, at another time, end up somewhere else. Lots of little mental doors swing open and dump their contents into the sludge stream of memory. Oddly enough, when these doors close again the little rooms are still full of what was there before. I guess that we really are full of it. I must be, since people tell me that often enough. |
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11 Aug 03 - 11:42 AM (#1000258) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Ebbie In my late 60s, I notice that, for instance, when I read the paper my eyes tend to slide over the text (unless I really want to understand a point). In the 'old days', I read everything voraciously. And I finished every article, every book, as though I'd been given an order. Now, I figure if after 15 pages I'm still not interested in the subject, the writer has failed me, and I'm under no obligation to read further. That was an epiphany for me. For the rest, I suspect that it's a case of selective inattention. More things slide by now. My memory is still good, if -and ONLY if- I focus on what is being said or on the name being given, at the time. In the past, that recall was effortless. I have a theory about why we don't seem to age internally. In a family when you see someone every day, you don't notice changes but someone coming home after being gone six months or so is startled at how someone has changed; just so in your own mind you're never 'gone'. That doesn't explain the compression of time though. I swear time has gotten to be like a large ice cube pressed on a hot stove- it sputters and spatters and melts. Absolutely melts. Gone, with nothing but an outline left behind, and that only for a moment. I remember reading that after a certain age - or stage- the only constant is that each decade goes by in half the time the previous decade traveled. It's certainly been true for me, and it's not done yet. whooooooosssshhhhh... |
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11 Aug 03 - 12:47 PM (#1000282) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: beadie I have always held to the idea that "time compression" , that is, the sense that time accellerates as we get older, is a function of percentages. As a two year old, the next birthday will mark the passage of fully fifty percent of your total life. As a fifty year old, however, the passage of that same length of time (one year) is now representative of only two percent of your life. |
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11 Aug 03 - 02:56 PM (#1000380) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Rapparee I think that you have to understand the difference between "time" and "duration". Time is measured, duration exists. You experience duration internally -- it only seems like you've been "waiting forever." Time says you've been waiting five minutes. Internally, it doesn't matter that you're 87, you can still remember climbing trees and out-playing Doc Watson. I truly believe that as long as the mind is kept active you can't get old. Even if the mind is kept active by interminable reminiscening. |
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11 Aug 03 - 03:09 PM (#1000389) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: GUEST,MMario You mean when I'm 87 I'll be able to remember out-playing Doc Watson?!? COOL! |
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11 Aug 03 - 03:40 PM (#1000408) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Allan C. One of the most difficult lessons I have learned is that not everyone gives a damn what I remember. For some reason I am reminded of a sign I once saw in an antique shop. It said: "The only one who cares what your grandmother had is your grandfather." On the other hand, I think of the advice in the song, "Bookends"... "Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you" |
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11 Aug 03 - 04:37 PM (#1000440) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Deda |
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11 Aug 03 - 05:07 PM (#1000452) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Peter T. I notice that time stretches out when you have a lot of different things happening. My theory is that you signpost time, and the more signposts there are, the slower the past time seems. If you do the same thing all the time, there are no signposts, and you drift in a non-time, and wake up wondering where the time went. I am in my 50s and more content than I ever was, because I am less frightened of things going wrong than I used to be. But I am less ecstatic, which as Wordsworth pointed out, is a perennial pity. I wish I felt the same way about certain things as I did at 20 -- I know more about them now, but the kick is less. The secret is to take up new things: you get a somewhat lower kick, but the kick is higher than the normal run of things in things you used to get a kick from and don't anymore. yours, Peter T. |
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11 Aug 03 - 08:14 PM (#1000553) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Nigel Parsons "Time flies men can't they move too fast" Punctuate! Nigel |
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11 Aug 03 - 08:55 PM (#1000570) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Amos "Time flies; men can't--they move too fast" |
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11 Aug 03 - 10:59 PM (#1000611) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Deda I don't know why my earlier message didn't post. More gray matter flying off like so much dandelion fluff, ho, ho, hee hee. Anyway, I don't look back fondly on my teens, twenties or thirties -- Each one had high points, and each decade got a little better, over all, than the one before. My forties were great, and my fifties have been, too -- except that the carpal tunnel's a little worse, body's not quite as agile and responsive as I'd like at time. But generally, I've really enjoyed aging. The wrinkles and gray hair and ailments aren't so great, but life's become a lot more fun as I've improved my ability to forego suffering. |
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12 Aug 03 - 06:30 AM (#1000721) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Gurney You are a lot of lucky stiffs (likely) not being able to remember yesterday! I can't even remember what I came into this room for...... I call it 'senior turns,' standing rotating in the middle of a room going "er, er.." Her Indoors took a shopping list and still came back short of some things. (She told me to put that in!) |
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12 Aug 03 - 06:50 AM (#1000725) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: greg stephens My first car in the 60's was BDV 33C.I havent a clue what the registration number of any of the subsequent ones was, up to and including the one standing outside the house now. And, at the risk of stating the obvius, I remember the phone number where I was brought up, but haven't the remotest idea what my mobile phone number is |
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12 Aug 03 - 09:52 AM (#1000803) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Janie When my grandmother turned 90 we had a little family celebration. She was pretty senile by then, but her personality had hung together pretty well. She looked around at us and said "Am I 90 years old?" Touching her face gently she went on, "You know, I can look in the mirror or down at my hands and see that I am an old, old woman. But somehow, inside, I still feel like I'm just a young girl." Janie |
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12 Aug 03 - 11:52 AM (#1000885) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Amos Awwww Janie, that is so sweet! A |
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12 Aug 03 - 05:40 PM (#1001055) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Liz the Squeak I can remember what I did yesterday, it's a shame my manager can't.... she thinks I spent the day doing nothing, when I spent it sorting out 3 weeks worth of post. I wouldn't mind but I was only off for a week! 50 years ago I wasn't even a twinkle, another 2 years before my brother was born, 6 before my sister. 40 years ago I may have been a twinkle.. 30 years ago I was 8, nearly 9 and still had a brother. Summers were spent playing down by the river and helping him with his paper round. These days, I don't let Bratling to the end of the road without checking every 30 seconds.... LTS |
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12 Aug 03 - 06:10 PM (#1001064) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Art Thieme Kendall, You have posed a tempus in a teapot me thinks. ;-) As Huddie Leadbetter said in his song, "Relax your mind." The time is the message. Be happy that we have some. Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, "Whenever I start to feel the least bit self-important, I think of all the dirt that never did have a chance to sit up and look around." To paraphrase something else you said here, I don't feel any different than I did 50 years ago except when I try to walk, defecate, urinate, screw, pick my instruments and think----plus a few others I've not remembered to put down here. Art ;-) |
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12 Aug 03 - 06:21 PM (#1001066) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Art Thieme "Tempus? --- Fugg it."-------as Redd Foxx might've said. Art Thieme |
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12 Aug 03 - 07:05 PM (#1001085) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Amos Bitching about how time goes by is not a pleasant job, but we have to take responsibility for it and get it done, as we're the ones who are chronologically qualified! A |
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12 Aug 03 - 09:28 PM (#1001140) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: kendall Who's bitching? |
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12 Aug 03 - 10:25 PM (#1001149) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Mark Clark Well, as Groucho Marx said, “You're only as old as the woman you feel.” - Mark |
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13 Aug 03 - 07:35 PM (#1001568) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: harvey andrews i RECKON THE INTERIOR STAYS THE SAME, BUT THE EXTERIOR CRUMBLES SOMEWHAT. "OLD FACE" MILLY HAS AN OLD FACE SHE CALLS IT HER NEW FACE MILLY HAS AN OLD FACE SHOWING ALL ITS YEARS REMEMBERING THE HEARTACHES HARSH WORDS AND REMAKES TREASURING THE KEEPSAKES THAT HELP TO HIDE THE FEARS YES, MILLY HAS AN OLD FACE SMILING AT THE RETRACED MEMORY OF AN EMBRACE THAT WAS ALWAYS THERE WHEN LIFE WAS SOMETHING GROWN IN LOVE WAS SOMETIMES THROWN IN BUT NEVER EVER SHOWN IN A PLACE WITH OTHERS NEAR IN OLD EYES THE YOUNG GIRL DANCES TAKES HER CHANCES WHILE SHE MAY AND IN OLD EYES THE YOUNG MAN WATCHES AS TIME NOTCHES ONE MORE DAY AND BILLY HAS AN OLD FACE MOVING AT AN OLD PACE NOT AFRAID OF DISGRACE BRINGING UP THE REAR TAKING TIME FOR MUSING NOT AFRAID OF LOSING HAPPY IN HIS CHOOSING TO BE A MUTINEER YES, BILLY HAS AN OLD FACE LIVING IN AN OLD PLACE SEARCHING FOR THE MISSPLACED MEMORIES VERY DEAR TELLING ALL THE TALL TALES STORM WIND AND SEA GALES LOST OARS AND TORN SAILS TILL THE GLASS SAID CLEAR IN OLD EYES, THE YOUNG GIRL DANCES TAKES HER CHANCES WHILE SHE MAY AND IN OLD EYES THE YOUNG MAN WATCHES AS TIME NOTCHES ONE MORE DAY IN THE MIRROR THERE'S AN OLD FACE WAITING FOR THE YOUNG FACE IN THE MIRROR THERE'S AN OLD FACE SHOWING ALL ITS YEARS WE'LL REMEMBER ALL OUR HEARTACHES HARSH WORDS AND REMAKES WE'LL TREASURE ALL THE KEEPSAKES THAT HELP TO HIDE OUR FEARS WHEN WE'RE AN OLD, OLD FACE WITH LINES LIKE THE FINEST LACE FOLDED IN TIMES EMBRACE PROUD OF OUR OLD OLD FACE |
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13 Aug 03 - 07:51 PM (#1001578) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Amos Beautiful lines, harvey! I could almos hear them from here! :>) A |
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13 Aug 03 - 08:53 PM (#1001600) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Janie Oh Harvey that is beautiful indeed. Tune? Janie |
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14 Aug 03 - 06:25 AM (#1001775) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: harvey andrews Sorry janie, don't know how to write the tune! But it will be on the next cd. I suppose it's an anti-facelift, anti botox protest song. |
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14 Aug 03 - 05:16 PM (#1002228) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Mr Red Does time compress? Yes, as teenagers every year is about 6% of our lives and nearer 7% of our memory. At 70 that year is 1.4% and it just fairly whizzes by at 5 times the rate. Simple arthritmatic (**BG**). Where did the years go? on the waisteline. And the law is the Croutzfelt-Jacob Postulation that say "er .... um... I did know it... I got it here someplace..." |
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15 Aug 03 - 07:32 AM (#1002603) Subject: RE: BS: Tempus fugit From: Dave the Gnome Few thoughts... Tempus Fugit - Time Flies. Did you know? Time flies like an arrow but fruit flies like a banana. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. I'd love the body of a 20 year old woman but she won't let me. Time is certainly relative. I know as one who has spent considerable time at both sides of a bar. On the customer side 8 - 11 passes in 30 minutes. On the service side it takes at leat 16 hours. And don't forget, Kendall. You're not aging. You're marinating. Cheers :D |