My wife and I are continually running into clerks who have never processed checks and look upon us as friendly stegosauri from a bygone geological era.
True Confessions
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Does it make you more old or less old if you correct the meme in that they were called “mixtapes,” not “mixed tapes.” And does it make you even older if you then suspected that the spelling of “cheque” later on indicates that “mixed tape” was a local variant?
I got all of them, although the typewriter part was more novelty than “use.”
In Fort Wayne Indiana, Abboit Elementary School, I recall the scent of freshly produced copies made from the mimeograph machine.🙂
I never had a Myspace account, however I’m guilty of all the other activities. The Nun’s taught us cursive writing at St Francis Xavier School in Grand Rapids Michigan. Blackboards, chalk, Globes, pull down maps for geography lessens and that noisy pencil sharpener mounted on the wall. On May 11th, 1969, I and fifty other children, walked into Church, hands together and fingers pointing heavenward, to receive Jesus for the very first time. My felt banner that my Dad helped me to make, was a simple depiction of Jesus with outstretched arms. Above him the word JOY.
JOY indeed.
(My mom saved my First Communion card and placed it in an album) Thanks Mom!
Same as Philip…never did My Space but ticked every other item. And I firmly believe we learned more effectively with our traditional tools than anybody today does from an illuminated screen. More convenient does not necessarily mean better.
Clean sweep.
That should have said 21.
Is Walkman limited to portable CD player, or does it also include cassette players? Otherwise, I never made a mix tape, had a MySpace account, or ordered from Columbia House. The MySpace one is funny because I think a few of us are too old to have experienced things on the “you’re old if” list.
I ticked all except My Space and Columbia House. I might add the Steet Directory book which was stashed in the side door loooong before Google maps emerged. I used to help my mum navigate using one. They were called UBD Gregory’s in Australia. Not sure what was used in the US
My kids are still taught cursive at school, and don’t get their “pen license” till they have mastered their cursive writing using a lead pencil.
I am imagining my kids will one day have a list which includes “you might be old if you ever learnt to drive a car”. I’m envisioning self-driving vehicles in the future. Frightening.
I still fax multiple sales reports to the ATF. It is, however, an internet fax service.
Ezabelle – Jerry Seinfeld used to do a bit about what we’ll be telling our kids. “Back in my day, no dogs could vote”.
@Pinky – Seinfeld was right 😂 Well, back in my day a girl was a girl and a boy was a boy…just saying.
@Mike Ready – some of our Asian customers still require documents to be sent by fax and snail mail. So my husband has to queue at the local post office and it can take a good hour to fax the entire documents. My husband’s least favourite part about the customer. I suspect it’s a security precaution for them. Meanwhile here in the West all we hear about every second day is people’s personal data being hacked by cyber criminals. Maybe old school is the best way. Even if it takes longer.
Re: Columbia House, I certainly NEVER EVER IN A BILLION YEARS EVEN THOUGHT about ordering the 12 CDs for a dollar and then immediately cancelling. And I DEFINITELY did not have my brothers do the same thing just to get 24 more CDs. lol.
Re: mixtapes, I remember when people would give you a mix-CD for your birthday as if it was a really thoughtful gift. And you probably thought it was too.
Re: MySpace, it was before it’s time, which is probably good thing. Social media requires faster internet service to be addictive, and so I don’t think the technology allowed it to achieve critical mass. Sadly the same is not true at the present for all the others.
Re: Internet access, it’s wild to remember paying PER HOUR for internet access. Well, I guess I didn’t. My parents did, and yes, I spent most of that time in AOL chat rooms and playing online bulletin board games. I once was playing this medieval fantasy game (text-based, of course!) where there were leaderboards and you could actually email (or inter-game message, I don’t remember) other players. I sent a message to the leaderboard leader that was just his name in all caps over and over for about three pages. He wasn’t impressed.
Twenty.
But I’m pretty sure I’m younger than our host…
Hmmm.. well, I never heard the term “mixtape”, but I certainly did receive and create a few of my own “mixed tapes”. I had generally thought “cheque” to be a British version of the term; “check” being the term in America.
…And yes, I bought the numerous CDs for very small amount. …I ran out of good music to purchase fairly quickly; they didn’t focus much on country artists.
Interesting this subject would arise now: While chatting with my sister last night, we were marveling how younger folks don’t always know what copy or carbon paper is, and I noted that it was a big deal when your typewriter possessed correcting tape.
As for having listened to music on CD, well, I have move often purchased CDs still, mostly because I don’t have any devices which play MP3s. …And given what I’ve heard for the Billboard Top 40 in the last few years, I have entirely too little interest in spending money on it.
…Never dreamed I’d see the day when Def Lepppard or Bon Jovi would sound better to me than current pop….
“Internet access, it’s wild to remember paying PER HOUR for internet access. …”
Not positive, yet I think I recall paying by the minute.
I had a plan that had me pay so much per month for so many minutes; I recall being overseas (Japan) and off base, chafing at the download time for one file or another. It was prone to increase my internet bill. Such was also the era when a fair number of people wound up going in to worksites for the sake of faster internet connections.
…I also recall being quite relieved at determining that my DSL connection (Germany) was almost as fast as my stateside internet had been.
Checked off every single one. Is it weird that I have done so because I’m only in my early 40’s?
I sometimes wonder if the word “rewind” is going to survive.
Twenty two. No MySpace nor Columbia House/
…. needle, vinyl, 33 and a 1/3, 78 and phonograph… oh… and 45’s. Spin wasn’t associated with obtuse explanation, rather taking your girlfriend for a dance on the floor while these items above were making music 🎵
I did everything on the list except My Space, Columbia House, and an AOL address. Other really “old” things I’ve done include: took courses in shorthand, BASIC and COBOL programming; watched black & white TV; used a public pay phone; called the time and temperature hotline; drove a car that had only an AM radio; climbed jungle gyms/monkey bars on an asphalt paved or gravel playground; and jumped off a 20 foot high diving board at a public swimming pool (no public pool that I know of has any diving boards these days, probably due to liability/insurance issues).
I use checks for executrix work. In VA Finance Commissioners require pictures of both sides of a check for estate inventories. Preferred is the actual check but I haven’t found a bank or credit union that will send one with a statement.
Bookkeeping is easier with checks though most banks charge for the order.