This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

(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.

all the best morbs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmur_(album)#/media/File:R.E.M._-_Murmur.jpg

i am two years older than william hartnell in this picture :D

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1920x1080/p01hg14p.jpg

(obviously i have regenerated several times: also did not grow up in poverty etc)

He got paid five times more per ep than Anneke Wills was, to make up for the poverty stricken childhood!

what a feelin'

mainly feeling it in my lower back today

Rapidly approaching Sammy Hagar milestone.

Minutemen?

Can you hear me, Dr. Mu

Imagine my surprise

Just realized that the “ordinary guy” in Pavement’s “Stereo” is maybe a reference to “Dr. Wu.” I still got it!

Oh wait

I just went through all the tests you are supposed to do when you get to 50, only 7 years late.

Anyway, all passed 100%, so hey!

I guess that lower back pain is gonna go in the "what do you expect at yr age?" cart.

Thanks for reminding me. I just did the same with one test, the biggest of all, remaining to be done in the next few months. If the news is bad I will speed post my remaining backlog of screennames.

I was Big C diagnosed about five months after turning 50, so maybe i didn't get the other tests.

(i'm mostly OK now, just medicated)

He got paid five times more per ep than Anneke Wills was, to make up for the poverty stricken childhood!

― calzino

for two months and then he got sacked. quintessential "being in your '50s" experience tbh

Definitely another bummer about being in your 50s. If you lose your job, you can't necessarily bounce back. You might never have a salaried position again.

Definitely another bummer about being in your 50s. If you lose your job, you can't necessarily bounce back. You might never have a salaried position again.

HI DERE. Raise your hand if you have been rendered depressed, rudderless, and without direction because you've structured your life around a eight-hour, salaryman working schedule for so long that when you were inevitably disrupted out of your career you've become addicted to the anxiety and panic of not being able to focus. oops TMI

raises hand

in my case it took several years to work through the trauma of being ejected and to figure out other ways to live ... I won't trivialize the difficulties involved, but now the only thing I miss from my salaryman days is the income

i need the med coverage

As mentioned on the other thread, in January I was made redundant 7 days before I hit 50.
my skills are probably no longer in demand (manual software tester) due to an increased focus on automated testing, and to be honest, I think I have had enough of software/corporate culture.
The last few months I have been a stay at home dad, and will probably remain so while mk2 goes through his teenage trials and tribulations (3 more years).
The very idea of being the Office New Boy at the age of 50 fills me with dread, and I know it would bring on a lot of stress and anxiety.
I am in a 'fortunate' position in that due to life insurance, I have no mortgage and get a small occupational pension from BH so will not be made homeless or starve, but coming to terms with a very different financial outlook is still the big stumbling block.
That and daytime TV.
Thank goodness for 'Walter Presents .. '.

In other news : re lower back pain.
Having sat on my arse in an office for 30 years the last 2 years were very problematic re my back.
My solution : swimming.
I have started swimming 4 times a week (roughly 1km each time), and the change has been very noticeable.

Slightly overlapping with what I said on the Forties thread, but I was made redundant at 51, also due to having skills which are no longer in demand. My partner has always earned a lot more than me, so we were OK - but then he was made redundant last year, at 58. Thankfully his skills are still in demand, but he refuses to re-dose himself with the poison of corporate culture - so it's taking a while to sort things out, and we are having to be careful with money, for the first time since our twenties.

I cover my monthly outgoings with DJ-ing (a weekly gig and a monthly gig) and Discogs selling (I inherited a rare and valuable collection, and am being ruthless with my own). We also have a lodger, for the first time in nearly thirty years - a good friend, also in his fifties, going through a divorce and coming to terms with being on the gay side of bi. He hates his job and wants to change back to his old career, but it would involve a precarious salary drop, at least to begin with, which isn't great timing when you're getting divorced.

Despite this difficulties, my net life satisfaction level is still hugely in credit. I feel busy, fulfilled, and grateful for all I've got. But I can't deny the presence of a persistent low-level background hum, which says "You are uniquely unemployable. Everyone else can get jobs, but you haven't got what it takes." It's bullshit, but it's there.

Fuck those cry baby under 50s in that other thread. Here's to getting Saga Holiday ads and people ringing me to ask if I want to cash in my pension and/or release some equity from my home and to being told I can't increase my life insurance because YOU R 2 OLD.

Also I just put up a desk, not too shabby eh? I'll be paying for it tomorrow mind.

I got a call from my doctor's office this morning reporting on my blood and urine results from my recent physical. They said "the doctor wanted to let you know that your results were perfect, which does not happen very often."

I did take an Archie Shepp record off the turntable on Sunday in favor of a Jimmy Smith record, so the struggle is real.

(knocks on wood) xp

I am immensely stressed out about new neighbors being total psychos about our uneven fence line, I had my physical 8 days ago and my blood pressure was 15 points higher than it had ever been before

My current field seems very welcoming to older folks. Unfortunately, it's one of the most evil industries in America (red state health insurance), but I'm gonna hang onto this job as long as I can regardless.

I changed jobs this year for what I am determined is the last time, and trying to plan how early I can stop working (or cut back to a couple of days).

In possibly related news I'm going through my first extended period of illness in my 50s - back in the hospital today a little over a month since the last time over a similar matter - and the clinicians keep using the term "at your age".

Xp phil, the accounting/tax profession is great for people in their 50s. Lots of room for growth as the boomers continue to retire.

I didn’t really get into it until my 30s when I decided that the warehouse and art installation work I did in my 20s was not something I wanted to do with an older person’s less resilient lower back.

My mom does tax preparation for old(er) people every year through the United Way, and all she had to do was take some kind of certification course, so I guess I'll keep that in mind.

one feature about my 50's has been, when I get down - I genuinely feel like committing suicide. This was something I only joked about in my 40's!

I know that caregiving exacts a relentless emotional tax, calz. How many years have you been at it now? I found it helped to finally realize that I couldn't be a human shield between my kid and all the grim realities she'd have to deal with out in the world. Slowly pulling back seemed less risky than suddenly crumbling and disappearing.

My mom does tax preparation for old(er) people every year through the United Way, and all she had to do was take some kind of certification course, so I guess I'll keep that in mind.

xxp

roughly, about 13 years now. I used to feel rugged and unbreakable and able to get through anything, Now I frequently break down in tears. Maybe more of a grinding attritional thing, than strictly a 50's thing. The last few years have almost killed me tbh. But then again, still I feel like carrying on. But it is fucking hard!

Relatable, calzino

Now I frequently break down in tears.

If it's anything like the same as me, that sounds like deep grief breaking through that you've never had a chance to acknowledge or express because feeling the grief feels like it will break you and you're too necessary to allow that.

Been there. It is fucking hard!!! <i raised you a couple of bangs!

cheers Aimless. We haven't always been on agreeable terms on here, but thanks for raising the couple o bangs!

I think I mentioned this upthread, but I get semi-weepy over really maudlin, sentimental things these days, feel like it's a byproduct of reaching the warm September of my years

HAHAHA LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh8iXc2d71U

(always wrings a tear or two out of me this one)

and the clinicians keep using the term "at your age".

I don't even want to go to the doctor anymore. I could go in there with my kneecap slid down to my ankle, and they'd probably just go, "Well, you are in your 50s now..."

I go in with that mindset of 'Hey, I am the age I am' and it makes such visits relaxing, really.

I am super bummed because I just got a note that my doctor is retiring. I've been going to her for nearly 30 years (except for the period I moved away, but signed back up with her when I got back). She's probably 8-10 years older than me so I guess not a surprise but now I gotta start all over with somebody.

I keep wondering about that re my dentist. Had him only for about ten years, but that was on the recommendation of my sis, who has been seeing him since 2000!

I was super bummed when our awesome old dentist retired, have still not found a new one but I need to for my end-of-year cleaning

Sick of having to remember the name of all the damn pills I have to take now.

My husband doesn't even try.

Something my mom did for my dad was she got one of each pill he needed and glued them all to a big piece of posterboard and created a legend for them all, with their names, what they were for, and when he should take them

That would be wall sized for my wife. But a great idea!

Hi Tracer!