Where's muh Gen X'ers at? 40-54 Y/O brahs checking in

The average driver spends 106 days of their life searching for a parking spot. Probably in malls
I believe it. People are so fat and lazy, they can't just find and open spot toward the back and start walking. I've parked in the back while watching people circle like a hawk. When they finally find a spot up close, I'm already walking through the doors into the mall.
 
Yea its interesting because of the internet information age, everyone shops online now and all the malls are closing down one by one.

Collin-Creek-Mall-pic-Shertzer-Plano-Magazine-inside.jpg


Growing up the mall was a big deal in the 80's. You went there to socialize with your friends and also to hit that arcade.

Look at these guys guarding the entrance of the local arcade. That shit behind them was the promised land.
I was kinda sad when they shut down the local mall that I hung out in as a kid. They ditched it in favor of an outdoor, walkable mall where people could drive up and go to individual stores without trudging around and through the mall. They even threw up some apartments above the stores and integrated a hotel in there. Ten years ago, that's where developers thought they were going with malls.. more outdoor green spaces. But to this day they still can't fill half the spaces in that mall.

Oddly enough, some malls still do well. Another few suburbs over from the one I grew up in Chicago, there's still a large indoor mall that's doing well and here in San Diego Fashion Valley Mall is always packed.
 
This is what I remember. This was the main phone in the house until 1990, and was the phone in my sister's room until 1994.

This phone was bought sometime in the early 70's. Imagine having a phone for 20 years.

05bc6462227051020293248833aacffb.jpg


Poor millennials will never know the feeling of wrapping that cord around your fingers.
haha.

I freaked out some of the younger folk on this forum when I mentioned the old Phone Line Party LInes that used to exist, particularly in rural communities.

We moved out to an acreage in the rural edge of town when I was in grade 6 (1979) and when you picked up the phone to dial out you had to first listen to see if your neighbours were using the line.

you shared one 'Party Line' with a number of houses and so out of courtesy you had to keep calls short and if you had an emergency you would have to ask/beg the person who had control of the party line to relinquish it.

There were news stories about neighbours going to war over inconsiderate party line hogs.


Party Line

Stories (from wiki notes at bottom of page) about Party Line abuse resulting in charges or other.

Woman convicted when she refuses to yield Party Line to Fireman.

Woman charges when she refuses to yield Party Line as 3 boys drown in pond
 
Gen X is a different breed. We actually did smoke in the boys room. My wife's high school had a smoking section for the students...let that sink in some.

Damn! My high school did too! It was hilarious watching the smokers out there freezing their asses off in the dead of winter.
 
This is what I remember. This was the main phone in the house until 1990, and was the phone in my sister's room until 1994.

This phone was bought sometime in the early 70's. Imagine having a phone for 20 years.

05bc6462227051020293248833aacffb.jpg


Poor millennials will never know the feeling of wrapping that cord around your fingers.
I remember stretching that cord as far as it would go to try to escape my mom’s eavesdropping.
 
HAHA, yep, you couldn't smoke until the no smoking light went off. Here is another one for you. The drinking age up until 1984 was 18 not 21.

tenor.gif
Where I’m from in North Louisiana, the drinking age stayed 18 for a long ass time. I was well over 21 when it changed.

But they didn’t really care about the 18 thing, I can remeber ordering beers at concerts and dive bars watching bands at 15-16
 
Yea its interesting because of the internet information age, everyone shops online now and all the malls are closing down one by one.

Collin-Creek-Mall-pic-Shertzer-Plano-Magazine-inside.jpg


Growing up the mall was a big deal in the 80's. You went there to socialize with your friends and also to hit that arcade.

Look at these guys guarding the entrance of the local arcade. That shit behind them was the promised land.

th


th


th

th
What’s crazy is there haven’t really been arcades in malls for decades, and now the resurgence of giant stand alone arcade and game places growing.
 
I was kinda sad when they shut down the local mall that I hung out in as a kid. They ditched it in favor of an outdoor, walkable mall where people could drive up and go to individual stores without trudging around and through the mall. They even threw up some apartments above the stores and integrated a hotel in there. Ten years ago, that's where developers thought they were going with malls.. more outdoor green spaces. But to this day they still can't fill half the spaces in that mall.

Oddly enough, some malls still do well. Another few suburbs over from the one I grew up in Chicago, there's still a large indoor mall that's doing well and here in San Diego Fashion Valley Mall is always packed.
What’s growing here now is all the “outdoor “ outlet malls.

More like what was originally planned, huge parking lot but it’s all out door walks between the store rows etc.
 
I agree, Shampoo Planet is also the far better book, funny and really accomplished (rather than just a collection of ideas like Gen x: Tales was), really one of Coupland's best, along with Hey! Nostradamus, and All Families Are Psychotic.

From a European perspective, i think a big reason why Gen X took us by storm was two-fold:

Up until that point we (my generation) didn't think we were anything. Now suddenly there was a label for us shadowy misfits who didn't fit neatly into what was already trite and worn-out stereotypes: Hippies, punks, skinheads, rockers, yuppies... Also, the 'x' - sufficiently abstract - helped soften the blow of being labelled at all for a generation vehemently opposed to being labelled.

Secondly, and i think this point was obscured for the longest time (much like a tiny orbit moon is overshadowed by a planet) that was all the furore of the gen x label and all the gorgeous new concepts like McJobs etc that came along with it):
The real insightful social commentary on what was going on on a much deeper, more impactful and so far enduring level was that we (Europeans) were, and are, now default americans.
Or McAmericans, if you will.


I think I'm going to re-read Shampoo Planet.
 
Oh yeah I split those age book ends in half and as much as I hated it at the time now I realize we are of the best generation. Fucking entitled boomers and millenials are much worse than the sarcastic marinade of the exxers.
 
Yeah but they probably identify more with the gen x'ers. Life experience not numbers on the calendar molds your identity. Like I said, tweeners.
Well I'm 31, my life wasn't much different from someone who's 40 now.
 
This millennial just whooped your Gen X ass @TeTe
 
Back
Top