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Saturday Silly ~ Live Without a Cell Phone ~

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty
Growing up without a cell phone!  
 
If you are 40, or older, you might think this is hilarious!  

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... Barefoot...  BOTH  ways...yadda, yadda, yadda  

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay   a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it   and  how easy they've got it!  
 
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.  You've got it so easy!  I mean, compared to my childhood,  you live in a damn Utopia!   And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know  how good you've got it!  

1) I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet.  If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!   

2) There was no email!!  We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!    Then  you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there!  Stamps were 10 cents!  

3) Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us.  As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe! 

4) There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes!  If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!  

5) Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!  There were no CD players!  We had tape decks in our car.  We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then  the tape would come undone rendering it useless.  Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby!  Dig?  

6) We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting!  If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it! 

7) There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with  your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!!  Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!!  And then there's TEXTING.  Yeah, right.  Please!  You kids have no idea how annoying you are.  

8) And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!  It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!!  You had to pick it up and take  your chances, mister! 

9) We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!  We   had  the Atari 2600!  With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'.  Your screen guy was a little square!  You actually had to use your imagination!!!  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.. Forever!  And you could never win.   The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!  Just like LIFE! 

10) You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!  You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!!  NO REMOTES!!!  Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

11) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.  Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait  ALL WEEK  for  cartoons, you spoiled little rotten brats!

12) And we didn't have microwaves.  If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove!  Imagine that!    
 
 
13) And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long.  Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort.  And if you came back inside... you were doing chores! 
14)And car seats - oh, please!  Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on.  If you were lucky, you got the "safety  arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!  
 
 
       See!  That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten!  You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1970     or  any time before!

Best Regards,
The Older Crowd  


    
 


Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

Kaera ~ try not to be too harsh with those punishments ~

Feb 13, 2011 01:23 AM
Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

Donna ~ I love your laugh ~

Feb 13, 2011 01:24 AM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

Frank and Karen- I resemble that list.

Feb 13, 2011 05:27 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Frank and Karen- OMG.... you took the sentiments right out of my head!  I began as a Placement Consultant 30+ years ago.  We had 6 offices throughout the city and the only way to get the latest job postings was when the "Runner" brought them to your office!  No fax.. we had a quip machine or something like it. Times have changed! And thank goodness for cell phones.  Oh yes, pushed the "suggest" button!

Feb 13, 2011 05:51 AM
Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

Tammy ~ Do you really resemble the list ~ hehe

Kathy ~ Can you believe it, runners, no fax ~ times have changed for sure!!

Feb 13, 2011 05:59 AM
Shawna Green
Keller Williams Realty-Fayetteville - Fayetteville, NC
The key to your real estate needs!

OMG, I absolutely loved this!  In fact, I had to read it to my husband who is still laughing over here!  I think I will make my 21 year old son read it too!  I am not sure how this has bot been featured but I suggested it myself! 

Feb 13, 2011 12:08 PM
Cindy Layman
Reece and Nichols - Overland Park, KS

Love this post!  Remember when you WALKED to your friends house to see what was going on??

Feb 14, 2011 02:42 AM
Jan Stevens
Coldwell Banker Pittsburgh - Cranberry Township, PA

Thanks for the laughs! Considering passing it along to a certain 17-year-old who sends us text messages from the next room...

Feb 14, 2011 04:02 AM
Brenda, Ron, Lee Cunningham & Tara Keator
West USA Realty - Phoenix, AZ
Realtors, Homes for Sale - Phoenix Metro

Enjoyed your post, thanks.

Feb 14, 2011 04:07 AM
Liz Lockhart
Riverbend Realty, Cape Girardeau, MO - Cape Girardeau, MO
GRI, Cape Girardeau Real Estate

Go back much beyond the 70's and many houses did not have central air conditioning. Talk about toughing it out!

I hit SUGGEST, too!

Feb 14, 2011 05:00 AM
Peggy Hughes/pha logistix, inc.
pha logistix inc - San Francisco, CA
SF NYC LA

And, what about having your milk delivered, fresh, in glass jars!  Thanks for the trip down memory lane... Have Valentine's Day!

Feb 14, 2011 07:15 AM
Anonymous
Susan McCall

That was a really fun list. 

I would add that the TV antennas were on the roof or the house and an actual cord came down off the antenna, across the roof, under the leaky single pane window, snacked across the floor and attached to the back of the TV.  When the wind would blow really hard, it would change the direction of the antenna on the roof, and poor dad would get the ladder out and climb back up on the roof to get it angled the best way for reception.

The best thing about technology for me is the Supra Lock Boxes.  We don't do showing appointment here in the Northwest and the Portland/Vancouver area, but prefer to call the seller outselves for an appointment.

To stand in an upright position and aim my lockbox key at the Supra Lock Box is just the best thing in the whole world.  And if you forget to leave a card, you're covered!

 

 

 

Feb 14, 2011 10:07 AM
#32
Dawn A Fabiszak
Private Label Realty ( Denver metro area, Colorado - Aurora, CO
The Dawn of a New Real Estate Experience!

Very cute.  I got this same thing via an email from a friend.  Loved it then and enjoyed reading it again!

Feb 14, 2011 10:39 AM
Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

Thanks for all the great comments ~ Dawn pass that email around the your friends

Susan ~ Supra Lock Box is now on our iphone ~ it's great!

Peggy ~ Weisglass milk delivered in glass bottles ~ yes!

Liz ~ no such thing as air conditioning in the 70's !!

Shawna ~ Does you son believe this?

Brenda & Ron ~ glad you enjoyed it

Jan ~ no way, texting from the next room ~

Cindy ~ no one ever drove me anywhere as a kid ~ we walked all the time!!

Feb 14, 2011 11:24 AM
Georgie Hunter R(S) 58089
Hawai'i Life Real Estate Brokers - Haiku, HI
Maui Real Estate sales and lifestyle info

It's not much wonder we have a generation of obese kids with 0 attention span.. and it's going to get worse.

Feb 14, 2011 11:51 AM
Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

Georgina ~ You are so right!!  We don't want it to get any worse!!

Feb 14, 2011 12:07 PM
Jeanne Kozak
RE/MAX In Action - Martinsburg, WV
REALTOR and Broker/Owner in WV and VA

Oh, the good ole days!!!!

Feb 14, 2011 01:47 PM
SentriLock Blogger
SentriLock, LLC - Cincinnati, OH

Love the post! All though I'm a little younger, I can still relate to a lot of this! I recently caught myself telling a high schooler (she was soooo upset that she wouldn't have her cell phone that evening and couldn't be texting her boyfriend) 'back in my day we used to have to CALL our boyfriends on the HOUSE phone after fighting with everyone else in the house for our turn!' And then I promptly felt old. Cell phones were starting to become popular toward the end of my high school years but my parents were one of those 'horrible' ones who didn't believe in buying us every new electronic out there. The 'go play outside' line was a favorite in our house.

Anyway I'm sure others will enjoy this post as well - I'll be tweeting/facebooking it out today!

-Laura Kreuter

Feb 15, 2011 01:34 AM
Susan Emo
Sotheby's International Realty Canada - Brokerage - Kingston, ON
Kingston and the 1000 Islands Area

suggest suggest suggest!   OMG am I now the 'older crowd'?   I'm only a youngster . . .   isn't 50 young?  

Feb 15, 2011 06:02 AM
Debbie Walsh
SHAHAR Management - Middletown, NY
Hudson Valley NY Real Estate 845.283-3036

This is hilarious.  Anytime I bring up any of this with my 22 year old the eye rolling begins!

Feb 16, 2011 06:37 AM