This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

Not there yet myself dude. You might have to wait a while, wait for the return of Martin Skeedmore, who can out-[Controversial Moderator Edit] them all, whatever his age.

"ilxors in the '50s" would be a fun photoshop thread

ned at the sockhop

abbott being a sexy cold war scientist

huh

I got it, it wasn't hard to follow it was a simple piece of business.

i just want to see abbott as a sexy cold war scientist is all

I am a 53 year old ILXor in the Naughties. Does that count? My only time in the 50's occured when I was aged 0-5, from November, 1954 until Dec. 31, 1959.

did you see ned at the sockhop

NO

The sockhop ended some time before I entered high school in Sept. 1968. I was not inconsolable over this happenstance. I was a rotten dancer.

sept 1968 was like the gayest time to enter high school

everyone cool in those days were entering college

u cursed by the stars aimless

everyone cool in those days were entering college WAS GETTING DRAFTED TO 'NAM

yep -- that's where my pops was in '68 -- sent there two weeks after i got borned! booh hooh.

--a sometime ilxor in his 40s

everyone cool in those days were entering college WAS GETTING DRAFTED TO 'NAM WAS NOT ME, BY ANY STRETCH OF IMAGINATION! Skinny, geeky 13 year old, I'm just sayin'.

nED AT THE SOCKHOP OH MY GOD

aimless serious q did you at least smoke a lot of pot? and at least know a kid like trip fontaine?

if not you have destroyed any reason i have to respect actual early 70s HS kids

I am 10 years shy of 50 but this thread is making me feel old.

momus is almost 50

There's a Guided By Voices song about this.

nED AT THE SOCKHOP OH MY GOD

I really, really don't know how to react to this.

weve all reacted by blotting it out

Well I know that you're in love with him,
Because I saw you dancing in the gym
You both kicked off your Keds.
Oh, I dig that rhythm and Ned!

(I thought JBR's suggestion at first was an age progression of ILXors into their fifties and was thinking "oh it won't take much to imagine some of that.")

Ned, all you have to do is put on the socks. That's all. And we need a hardwood floor, and XTC's "Life Begins At The Hop". Now who will film this????

did you at least smoke a lot of pot?

I think the first time I smoked pot was roughly summer of 1970. Didn't do much for me. My friends included several 'heads', but I was just a dabbler. My older brother was into it pretty far by 1971. He still tokes up now.

I didn't really get launched as a pot smoker until college, where I spent most of 1974 stoned. Made my own bong from a glass lab beaker. I quit entirely around 1977 or so. I can't say I miss it.

and at least know a kid like trip fontaine?

Hard to say, because I don't have a clue who trip fontaine is. I did know a lot of druggies and hippies in the 70s. They were as common as daisies back then.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3Pgo2kaznFU/RqsBjrRCKMI/AAAAAAAAARs/7wAJzhaYC3A/s1600/964.jpg

that link 404'ed me

(xxpost) Trip Fontaine is a character from the book/film "The Virgin Suicides"

Start at about 3:30 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_smJP8oRnE

Btw, Frank Kogan, who posts to a couple of the rolling genre threads on ILM, is 54.

Also:
Most of the time I dwell in a state of unreality, where I have amazing superpowers. And I am 50 years old.

-- Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, February 5, 2007 12:29 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

Our cohort is few, but mighty.

abbott being a sexy cold war scientist

OH MY GOD WHY WAS I NEVER THAT

I remember Howdy Doody.

and i thought i was old for remembering leaded gasoline!

madonna, michael jackson, prince and ME -- i am now 50 and 1/2.

sept 1968 was like the gayest time to enter high school

everyone cool in those days were entering college

there is truth lurking here -- people in our sub-generation have a complicated relationship w/our older sibs, the 60s baby boomers. this usage of "gay" is uhm, anachronisitic, or something. (I entered HS in 72 FWIW.)

anachronistic! edgy, you mean!!1!

so is bimble part of this exclusive club?

I didn't expect to get shoulder and back hair this late in the game.

ha was wondering what you meant in the 40s thread

what's up y'all

had a cardiologist call me at 7am to cancel my appointment (snow)

this morning the dentist said that my teeth with metal fillings will all eventually need crowns; seems legit, the youngest of those fillings is 40+ years old

i went to the dentist for lots of work this past year, first time since forever, and it was all space aged nano whatever shit and i think the dentist and his assistant were legit smirking at my one old iron ore filling from when i was a teenager, fifty years ago, in an eastern bloc nation

oh hi, I'm 54 now

peeing takes a long time

backache is a thing

(knocks on wood)

As hinted above, I have a cardiologist now! My primary doctor, who has pretty amazing raw skills -- like hearing -- apparently, thought he heard a murmur in my heartbeat last month. GREAT!

It turns out I have an "unconcerning" prolapse which is a "2" (not a 3 or a 4), so it just has to be checked every year from now on.

Aging is a motherfucker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XdYnh729IQ

It’s not dirty feet, it’s foot smell that accumulates. I’ll be dammed if I’m going to be 50 years old and people are questioning my hygiene?? And yes I wash my feet.

so I join this thread as y'all grumble about dirty feet

you aren’t 50 c’mon

This isn't where I expected my slipper comment to take us ...

It was more around feeling at an age where I'm acutely aware that things will last longer than I will.

I realized recently that Ive got 20 more good years. Maybe. Much better prognosis than my slippers.

Lol I meant damned and it

Dammmmmn autocorrect

you aren’t 50 c’mon

― ICE = Tonton Macoute (Boring, Maryland)

That's sweet of you.

"Foot smell? I've never heard of such a thing. Feet are famously the freshest smelling part of the body." The smelliest people I've ever known, of any age, are the people that think they don't smell.

I have had a very mild form of the "how many years left?" panic. My dad died around 70 after early onset dementia. I'd never thought about it before, but my sister brought it up as a fear last year and I've been thinking about it ever since, lol. At the time I told her I wasn't worried, because if it started happening I might not even know, but now every time I can't find something or forget something I think, OK, here we go. Thanks, sister.

These times are great for increasing anxiety, like social media engagement exacerbating tension for engagement. Just had a “what would you do if you had a heart attack while alone?” ad pop up on Instagram. Grrrrreat worry to add to the pile.

I think of that Native American saying about having two wolves in your chest. Heard it as past mistakes and future optimism, hate and love, or fear and hope. Trying small steps daily to feed the right one.

Even my eye doctor tells me he has fears of being stranded somewhere with only the one pair of contacts he is wearing.

Alfred is 50? big, if true!

I thought Alfred was 51

ok based on where this thread is going - I just went an gave my slippers a whiff (suede with faux sheepskin lining)... and they're not that bad

But I might give them a vinegar spritz anyway

HB Alfred?

lol no I decided to out myself

C'mon in, take a look around!

I only mentioned dirty feet to lure Alfred in here

out yourself as being 50?

it's not a huge deal afaict from my several months of experience

Out myself for the thread purposes. I'm 51!

I always thought you were about 40.

Unexplained pains! Angst!

(Just trying to get the thread back on track).

Weird how turning 50 added the hand/arm/leg bloody scratches and bruises that I don't remember feeling. Versus scrounging for golf balls in the brambles where I've earned them.

I always thought you were about 40.

Negronis preserve me, man.

Unexplained pains! Angst!

(Just trying to get the thread back on track).

Let's do it.

I'm pretty sedentary, but somehow I'm still able to crawl underneath the trailer to get the cat in when he gets out--even under the axles, where I have to go on my belly.

Something that's becoming more vivid this year (mid-50s) is the fact of living longer than others. With all these Bob Weir tributes coming out, I noticed for the first time that Jerry Garcia died at 54. 54! And then there was a writer who was one of my mom's closest friends, who always seemed like this elderly professor type. He made it to 56! My own grandfather, 52, the year before I was born!

I find it pretty scary, at least in the abstract. Joe Strummer died at 50. Krzysztof Kieślowski died at 54. Grant McLennan died at 48 (!). Hell, Warren Zevon died at 57. Just to name a few that first came to mind. To be fair, all lived much harder than I have lived, in terms of cigarettes, drugs and alcohol, and that makes a huge difference, but living longer (so far) than these icons and influences is a strange thing. Also casts in stark relief how much I have wasted of the time given to me, but what can you do? No one that dies knows how they'll be remembered.

I know my friends would miss me, because I miss the friends who have died. But my friends are going to die too, so ... I just enjoy them while we're all here!

It's corny and obvious, but I do think stuff like that a lot these days. I went for a hike last week with one of my best friends, we've been hiking together for more than 25 years. We did a trail we've done a bunch, under a bunch of conditions, and it just struck me how lucky I am to have had all of those experiences. I'll take however many more of them I can get.

My dad died at 56. I just turned 54.

Jerry Garcia, in addition to the hard living, diabetes that wasn't well managed. . .

We don't have to be perfect about taking care of the meat suit, but stuff like uncontrolled diabetes can be mitigated!

Let's take reasonable care of the meat suit, my fellow 50+ers!

(she says as she drinks wine)

I always thought you were about 40.

Second word in the sentence might explain it.

It blow my mind when I saw the James Gandolfini died at 51

My dad died at 54 and I have now lived longer him which is disorienting and weird.

My body failed pretty catastrophically when I was 52

I got a liver transplant from a 30-something donor, so part of me is younger, I guess?

Anyway nowadays I find I am way less bothered by typical aging-body creaks and aches and noises and twinges of pain: all are signs that I'm still on the correct side of the ground.

I'm nearly 51. As I've seen and experienced more people my age and younger pass away it's def been on my mind.

Hard living rock stars is one thing, but general upkeep is another. Year or two ago had a conversation with some friends that was all about all the dr visits and medicine. Some of the people my age passing away and/or just not thriving may have lived hard lives but also maybe just don't have health insurance and aren't constantly seeing doctors. I literally take 10 pills a day or more and am constantly doing lab work and dr's visits. I don't take the best care of myself, but I'm maintaining and monitored. Wasn't like this 20 years ago.

Anyway nowadays I find I am way less bothered by typical aging-body creaks and aches and noises and twinges of pain: all are signs that I'm still on the correct side of the ground.

this is so real -- I'm 58; four years ago I was in terrific shape, the best shape of my life, and then lockdown ended and my workpace resumed its destabilizing rhythm and the next thing you know it was injuries and pauses and re-injuries and now my baseline pain level is 3, every day, higher most days; and if I was 38, this would break me, I'd be crying all day about how I can't function & I've fucked it all up. and now? I go "fuck, that hurts, well, lol what can you do, only so many hours in a day to get things done can't be all focused on what hurts," and it's REAL, like that's how I feel deep down about it and I love it. people talk when you're young about "the ability to laugh at yourself" and I always took this phrase as a little suspect but being able to regard the real ache and real pain of an aging body as something funny about the whole story, it's so liberating for me

I absolutely love this about being older, being able to choose a perspective on something as formerly catastrophic to my equilibrium as massive changes in what I can or cannot do and whether I'm in pain or not.

Good post, totally agree!

I slipped on some black ice coming home from work on NYE and fell on my elbow. It hurt, I still have a bruise and some pain 2 weeks later and yet I feel whatever about it. At least I didn't smash up my moneymaker/s! (face, hands, legs)

One benefit (?) I've found from my parents now living near me is that I get up-close looks all the time at what aging does to bodies. They're 79 and 81, neither is in relatively bad shape — my mom goes to the gym with me multiple days a week, and my dad is fairly sedentary but not in lots of pain unless he tries to, like, walk more than a block or two. But between them they have a very bad hip, a very bad knee, chronic back problems, and some noticeable cognitive decline. And they're 23 and 25 years older than me. I can do the math, I remember 23 and 25 years ago quite clearly so I know that's not that far off. I have no fantasy that it'll be "different" for me — I mean, it will be because everyone ages a bit differently, but decline is inevitable.

My mom doesn't complain about anything, and I've never seen her in any pain or anything, or at least she's never acknowledged it. But she's worn out the cartilage in her knees, and at 80 she's worried the recovery from any surgery would be longer and worse than just enduring the creeping discomfort, but I dunno. She apparently bought herself some hiking polls for trips she's taking, so I guess she'll see how she fares.

A long while ago, maybe 15 years, I slipped down the outside stairs twice one winter. Neither time did I injure myself, and at worst I was maybe a little sore the next day. This winter there have been a few icy close calls that didn't take me down but I could/can sense had I taken a tumble I would have felt that for days.

I slipped on one recent hike (ironically I was trying to avoid an ice patch on the trail and slid on soft pine needles instead), took a proper tumble, and jammed my left foot into a rock. It didn't hurt a lot at the time, but 6 weeks on it's still kinda sore, had to tape it for several weeks. Recovery time is a very real thing.

It definitely reminded me not to be cavalier about stuff I used to not think about at all, like rock-hopping across streams etc.

I went hiking yesterday and was definitely very slow and careful about descending rocky slopes. I had not realized how sedentary I'd become, but at about the halfway mark I literally had to lie down on a bench for a minute; I was completely out of breath. But I think I'm gonna keep at it; I am not an exercise person at all — every time I decide to, like, start lifting weights or something, I last about three days — but taking a walk in the woods is a much more attractive prospect.

that's the good stuff

My dad (85) recently slipped on black ice and hit his head when he fell. He is fine; insisted he was fine at the time and didn’t go to urgent care until after attending the college level music theory class he was taking (this is a whole other series of posts) but until he got examined and had a clean bill of health, I felt like Incas watching two sets of lives flash before my eyes; his and my own without him as the vital, with-it man I’ve always known him to be. This then started me down the path of realizing that I’m not that far away from where he is assuming everything continues to go well for me, and that was a sobering, terrifying thought because I still don’t really feel like an adult, so how the hell am I going to navigate being elderly?

As someone who spent the majority of my life convinced I wouldn’t make it to 50 (hard living + mental health stuff that is genetic) … this over 50 thing is a weird adventure and I have become more appreciative of life.

Xp DJP - I feel like your view of your dad is like mine with my mom. She’s 80, still works, her brain is still pretty sharp, though she got anxious the other day when she struggled to remember the term “relational database” … this wasn’t a term she was ever in the habit of using either.

ftr “Incas” is a typo for “I was”, stupid autocorrect

It’s really both of my parents, we have been incredibly blessed by their health and mental acuity (they drive cross country multiple times a year still, it’s amazing) and I keep looking at both of them thinking “what are all the things I’m currently doing in my life to sabotage this outcome for myself”

RIP my plans for investigating the Incan belief in double lives

haha same ^^^^ it was very poetic

like an Inca in Peru

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQtEpYiA3Es