Don't be sad. It is just me BS'n on a post.

But, yes, it is not untrue. It is an amazing travel going through life and realize how your thoughts change as you age.

When I was 12 I was already thinking about how to get the girl friend through 1st base to home plate (that was the metaphor in vogue when Ann Landers and Dear Abby were in every news paper in the country).

And some old lady down the street died.

At 15, I could barely wait for the driver's license, a car---and the girl friend in the back seat

At 20, I could hardly wait to turn legal and buy a drink at the bar.

And some old lady down the street died.

And life progresses. You get married, or you don't. You buy a house. And if you did not buy a house, at some point in time your get tired of paying rent and wish you had bought a house years ago.

Some old lady down the street died.

Now, friends and family start checking out which gives you a reality check.

At around 45, you start getting tired of working and think about retiring.

And when you retire, and are getting ready to travel, or load up pins, or model trains, or whatever, it is just coming to the front of your mind that you are going to be crossing over to the new frontier, through a dark glass where no one ( who is honest) REALLY KNOWS what's on the other side.

The old lady who lived next door died.

But now, the old lady who died has a name. She was my neighbor. A friend. Not just some nameless person. So much for getting older. You are on the doorstep knowing you are going to get your turn. Embrace it. You can't run from it.
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As far as what pinball to work on today? Well, I am in the middle of a full shop on Dragonfist to get ready for a show. Seawitch is down as I am working on some rectifier board issues. Nine Ball has a diode problem. Catacomb has been down ever since I changed some lamp boards; I don't know what happened and have not had time to troubleshoot this issue.

I had to bunch my pins together in my small game room to access the Dragonfist shop job. I managed to slide a couple around so I could get some play action on Robocop. But right when I launched a ball, a rubber broke and blocked the shooter lane. I can't take the glass off to replace the rubber but cannot because Robo is blocked in. Munsters is playable but completely buried, as is Big Game.

I have 7 pins and cannot play a single one for a couple more days That makes you think you just want to shoot yourself and finish out on your own terms.

Which pin will I work on today? None. I have to take the girl friend's little dog to the vet this afternoon. The vet is not local. There will be some miles.

All of this verbiage just to tell you it is real. It is life. And I am having a ball.

And all of this talk has got me to thinking (I am a cheap bastard ) that an old beater of a pin cabinet might make a good casket. It is about the right size. And would be a way to flip off the funeral industry with their caskets that cost as much a car.

When you remember Gary, In being a nice middle class town

Anybody want some gum? Or a beer for later?

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...when you do a really good WC Fields imitation and nobody gets it.

Was not expecting such commentary from you cotton but was an exceptional read...and on the mark.
So, thanks for that.
Take care.

When someone says TikTok and you think they mean Tic Tac.

When you spend more time napping than doing. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but average # of naps/day is approaching 1.

When you remember Gary, as being a hip young pinball maker.

I love my naps! I take them anytime I can, and actually have better dreams normally with naps.

When cleaning out the back room, rediscovering some old stereo gear, googling it and finding out it is now considered "vintage" and is worth then same price as when you bought it new (unfortunately without considering inflation.)

When you sit on the toilet and think man. Why are my balls cold? Dammit my wife is right! I do have saggy old man balls!

Funny thats the exact reason we stayed in last night.

When you experience what I did this morning. I went outside to set on my porch because it's going to be sunny and 72 in Ohio today. Well took my shirt off to get some sun when damned if I didn't noticed my dogs were looking at me and their eyes were watering WTF? Am I so white my pets eyes water looking at me lol, I told my wife I was going to sit out here until I start causing accidents or the cops show to investigate the corpse on the porch.

When you set down in a new barber's chair, wind up with a crappy hair cut, and you just shrug your shoulders say to yourself that "it will get better in 2 weeks".

True story.

When you realize that you are old enough to be one corona virus cougher from dying.

If the phrases, "Filler up?", "you are low a quart of oil", and " I'll take a dollar's worth of regular" rings any bells.

You know you are old when...
you start saying "set" instead of "sit."

I'm just waiting for my hair to grow back.

Hot peanuts..anyone?

I remember these on the bar top, filled with Spanish peanuts, had to buy one and actually got 2.

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Perfect for that shorty coke, loved peanuts in my soda!

.....when you remember family and friends telling you stories of living through the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Old as drit lol

...when you buy gasoline for $1.25 and you realize that gas hasn’t been that cheap since 1980 when you were in 10th grade!

Oh and by the way... thanks Vladimir Puten!

When your Mom and Dad would send you to the store with a note to buy cigarettes for them, $.35 cent a pack and that's not counting the two cents you got back in each pack.

Pop bottles were my primary wage earnings back then

With my Kroger discount, I paid 84.9 cents yesterday. However, I remember 16.9 cents in the sixties.

The moment you realize nothing has really changed, you're still going out the same way you came in, baldheaded and screaming.

Then over a buck in the 70s. Waiting in line if it was your odd or even license plate # day. Thankfully it was 68.9 cents when I started buying in the 80s

When the music being piped in at the restaurant you are eating at is just too dawgone LOUD!

And then your early twenties son tells you
"Dad, it's not that loud, you're just gettin old"

You know you are old, when Wisdom, with age, gets shot down by youth with rhetoric.

So true. Especially now that the once adoring kids that though every thing you said or did was great now in their teens question and debate every thing you do...rhetoric

You know you are old
hopefully
when you die

Your birthday falls during coronavirus and the celebrations stay the same. None.

When you mow your grass in your pajamas.

I have not done that yet, but I do step out one the front porch to get my mail. I don't even bother to look to see if the neighbors were out

I routinely take the trash bins to the curb or get my mail from my mailbox on the curb
in my sleepware (normally T-shirt and lounge pants, if its cold maybe a bathrobe too)
and we live on a fairly busy street (don't care, wife thinks I am fool.)

And slippers...

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Happy birthday

Aahhh... slippers

Yes. Slippers.

When you need new pair and the kind you grew up with, the kind you like, the kind you want, are longer available at a local store. Now they are considered vintage and only to be found on Ebay for too much money.

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Like I said
Aahhh... slippers

We are in the same club.

I remember when bars were like 50 degrees during the summer. Almost too cold to be in them.

LTG : )

When you are afraid to leave your house.

When you see the grim reaper as you enter a supermarket.

When you won't eat take out food.

When you decide to go ahead and do the census thing so you won't get any more letters.

When this is your theme song.

LTG : )

True dat! My grandmother on my mother's side was having babies when all that was going on. Two older sisters for mom.

She said she always ate an onion a day and never got sick.

Yep. Just talked to mom and she said one sister born in 1918 and one in 1920. She sounds pretty chipper right now.

I guess you are old if you were born in 1922. Not so old if you can remember all that.