When was that 'moment' for you?
When was that 'moment' for you?
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Discussion

v8thunder

Original Poster:

27,647 posts

287 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
I just posted this on another thread, and realised that it's a whole new issue in itself - was there a moment you decisively realised that *this* is when you've become an adult, when your life as you knew it stops and the 'real' one begins? This is mine:

On the 'feeling funny' thread I said:
I get nostalgia pangs sometimes and I'm only 21 too! (what is it with us, eh?). One thing you do start to notice is your friends getting all 'serious' and it actually depresses me to think that sometimes people are so obssessed with the 'realities' of life that they've forgotten who they really are. I say always remember who you are or it'll come back and hit you hard in the form of a midlife crisis.

Just to give you an idea - this first hit me really hard at a house party at a mate's house we had back in the summer. We were all there - people I've known since playgroup, who've all stuck together no matter what all the way through high school, college and now university, so we all know each other very well.

Our parties used to be wild - full of excessive beer-swilling, drunkenness, things got broken, burnt and tattered, loud music into the early hours, the works.

But this time was different. We were all sat on sofas and easy chairs with glasses of wine. Instead of my car-minded friends talking about supercars and top speeds, they were comparing the mpg of their Escorts and Volvos. No-one had any laugh-riot tales of excess, instead they were talking about future plans and house prices. At the time, two of them were also engaged to each other. The BBQ outside went out, so instead of dowsing it in lighter fuel and enjoying burnt offerings, we went to the kitchen and put it on the grille. The music was subdued - it always used to be some ska-punk, Britpop or house (didn't like house but it was a party so who cares), this time it was some '80s power-ballads followed by something like Roykksop.

Me and my best mate, Dave, went to get some beer (real ale this time, not cans of lager) out of the fridge, and we both commented about how damn old everyone seemed, so responsible, and how something as familiar a concept as 'childhood' was visibly slipping away.

Then the old photos came out. Photos of when we'd all, as a group, gone in black-tie to high school and college leaver's balls in hired limos, looking so excited and smart yet somehow naive, on holiday together, looking so carefree as we casually tried our hand at the odd extreme sport, or got drunk and raced cars round a field in the middle of the night. I stood back again and noticed that they all looked very misty-eyed, so it certainly wasn't just me. I realised that, instead of a bunch of schoolkids in front of me, there was a future pilot, doctor, policeman, physiotherapist, computer programmers, lawyers, businessmen, and me.

Funny thing was, after everyone else had left (this house is only 30 second's walk away from my own) me and the guy who's house it is just sat on the sofa, getting drunk on spirits and watching MTV. There was a '90s special, featuring a load of our favourites, and they only told you when they were released at the end of the song, so we played a bit of a guessing game.

Some dance tune came on that we both instantly recognised as an 'old favourite'. We guessed it at about 1997-1999.

It came out in 1991, and hadn't been remixed or re-released.

I will never forget that night. Probably the first time I really felt like an adult.


So, when was it for you, and how did you feel (God I'm sounding like a therapist here)

GregE240

10,857 posts

296 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Why don't you just leave it in the other thread?

An utter waste of bandwidth. Not content with posting once?

I know the site is a bit slow sometimes, but this is not needed.

pdV6

16,442 posts

290 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Jeez! Lighten up. If you're feeling "old" whilst only 21 and still at uni, you're doing something wrong!

My 21st birthday was (almost literally) a riot - student house was pretty wrecked & vast quantities of booze consumed.

Enduring memories include having to help the BiB bump start their hoolivan as they'd left the blues on too long and one of my house mates going into hiding after decking a neighbour who decided to break in and try to start a fight...

Happy days!

Plotloss

67,280 posts

299 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
I'll let you know when it happens...

titiany

2,122 posts

261 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
My 'real' life started this morning, when I did an AWESOME burn out down my road.

I looked around my car and thought - blimey! I'm an adult!

v8thunder

Original Poster:

27,647 posts

287 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
GregE240 said:
Why don't you just leave it in the other thread?

An utter waste of bandwidth. Not content with posting once?

I know the site is a bit slow sometimes, but this is not needed.


Get a grip mate! It's just something that struck me as significant to me, and that might be an interesting topic. I don't like some of the cars on this site, but I don't march onto Reader's Cars and demand the removal of an article on an Audi TT because I don't like it. It's only one thread and it doesn't have pictures. I think YOU need to lighten up!

GregE240

10,857 posts

296 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Whatever. I'm just expressing an opinion.

Not content with the thought of someone missing your "Crikey, I'm an adult" post, you seemed to think it was worth its own thread.

I don't happen to agree with you. Sorry.

When I feel like you do, I'll be sure to let you know. I doubt it will be worth a thread though, I'm not so sure anyone cares.

BliarOut

72,863 posts

268 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
titiany said:
My 'real' life started this morning, when I did an AWESOME burn out down my road.

I looked around my car and thought - blimey! I'm an adult!


You're such a boy!!

Yes, I know you're actually a girlie

v8thunder

Original Poster:

27,647 posts

287 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
TBH, Greg, I just don't like threadjacking, I find it antisocial, so when I chuck in a big post and realise it might go off at a tangent, I prefer to bring it up seperately, rather than forcing someone else's thread away from the conclusion the author wanted.

hughesie2

12,788 posts

311 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
GregE240 said:
I'm not so sure anyone cares.

Ahhh, i care Greg

But be sure to mail me though, crap like this gets my goat as well...

titiany

2,122 posts

261 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
BliarOut said:

titiany said:
My 'real' life started this morning, when I did an AWESOME burn out down my road.

I looked around my car and thought - blimey! I'm an adult!



You're such a boy!!

Yes, I know you're actually a girlie




BTW - what's with the temper tantrums, gents? Can't everyone just get along, man

yes! finally an excuse to use that smilie!

GregE240

10,857 posts

296 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
hughesie2 said:

GregE240 said:
I'm not so sure anyone cares.


Ahhh, i care Greg

But be sure to mail me though, crap like this gets my goat as well...
Thanks mate....how much did you want for that again?

Davel

8,982 posts

287 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
50 and still waiting....

Hanslow

836 posts

274 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
What are you doing putting real ale in the fridge

westy04

275 posts

291 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
GregE240 said:
Why don't you just leave it in the other thread?

An utter waste of bandwidth. Not content with posting once?

I know the site is a bit slow sometimes, but this is not needed.


If your not interested don't read the post. I can't see your problem. It's been posted in the correct forum.
Lets see what you have posted in the past and see if its of the slightest interest.
Oh look, topics on wine and where to get ipaq batteries.
I'm not interested in those topics, so I would choose not to read them. Suggest you do the same.

RossMac

856 posts

270 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]


in the Sound of Music or baps out in Victor/Victoria?

rsvmilly

11,288 posts

270 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Didn't the baps come out in S.O.B. ?

Melv

4,708 posts

294 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
Feck me boy -I'm over three times your age and still think I'm twenty-one -lighten up!!

Mel

RossMac

856 posts

270 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
rsvmilly said:

[Didn't the baps come out in S.O.B. ?

you're right

b17nns

18,506 posts

276 months

Thursday 3rd March 2005
quotequote all
GregE240 said:
Why don't you just leave it in the other thread?

An utter waste of bandwidth. Not content with posting once?

I know the site is a bit slow sometimes, but this is not needed.


I think you can tell when someone is gettin old.

They get grouchy over the smallest things.