The sad thing about iTunes though, is that I can’t buy anything!!!
I’m in India and they don’t have a store here yet, so I have to wait a while….

Chrisitan, one of the guys who I’m going to be starting Die Wortklauber with, did something really nice. He gave me his home address in Switzerland, so that I could sign up with iTunes to at least receive gifts. Damn them iTunes for not coming here, I do live in the country with the second largest population in the world! If only they all connected to the internet!

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=19531568&s=143441&i=19531492

I’l note that I could not find it, or Herbert Gronemeyer’s Mensch, which I also wanted, but I was browsing a lot of German Pop music, even browsed the Germany store, and suddenly one day I could find both of the others. I think there’s some intelligent software that figures out what your preferences are.

Julie

I searhed iTunes, I can’t find it.

Could you please right click the song and choose “Copy iTunes Music Store URL” and paste it here?
Here’s the link to the Word Nerds in iTunes: The Word Nerds
(http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=74362633)

And it is amazing how soon after being a kid you find yourself preparing for your youngest child’s college graduation.

Julie

—

Sehr schön! Was für eine Strophe. Sie hat mir sehr gut gefallen.

I’ll go and listen to the song.

It really makes you think. This life doesn’t really seem that long. One minute your a kid playing cricket with your friends in the garden and the next your all grown up and struggling with you education and what you want to do with your life. But the fact that we have the time and the patience to think about such things itself implies that our lives are actually long enough. According to me, one must just go on not thinking about the future or the past, just living and moving on. It’s the only way we can stay peaceful and not be bothered by all of this. And honestly, I don’t see why we should be………

PS: I couldn’t find the song. Julie, could you please post the link?

I meant that the song above reflects that Baby-Boomer holding onto youth thing. It’s almost an anthem to that generation. For you young whippersnappers, I think you may have gotten it from us. I see the same in the generations that follow us, and in my kids, but I think that my parents’ generation was much more serious about adulthood. While of course aging will bring with it some looking back and regrets, my parents never acted as if they saw themselves as continually young. I was in my late thirties, with teenaged kids, before I really began to see myself as “grown up” and I still like to encourage that “kid inside.”. I don’t think my parents’ generation did that.

I do think the generations after me do, though. I am pretty sure, that this is a good thing, because we are holding onto a certain creativity and openness much longer in our lives, and I think that is good.

Julie

Der Spiegel lacht wenn er mich sieht.
Was hast du dir da weggenschminkt?
Ein graues Haar tut doch nicht weh,
es sagt dir nur, dass du noch lebst.

Wir sind alle über vierzig, haben im Leben nichts vermisst.
Tiefe Spuren in unsren Herzen, tausend Sünden im Gesicht.
Die nächste hundert Jahre, die liegen noch vor uns,
Wir sind alle noch am Leben.

Ein Glas zu viel, das schadet nicht,
denn manchmal braucht die Seele Licht.
Wir drehen auf, hauen auf den Tisch.
Es ist egal, wie alt du bist.

Wir sind alle über vierzig, u.s.w. . . .

Die Zeit vergeht; so wie der Wind zieht sie vorbei.
Kannst sie verleben, denn du fängst sie niemals ein.
Wir bleiben jung, solang die Leidenschaft noch lebt.
solang in uns sich noch was regt.

Wir sind alle zuuber vierzig, u.s.w. . .

I love this song.

Julie Holm

This lack of “feeling like a grown-up” isn’t just a Baby Boomer thing, I think that many people of my age feel like that too. There’s just nothing anymore that forces us to behave so differently, or that would define adulthood in a way that was there perhaps several generations ago.

This probably also has to do with a general lack of orientation that we are now facing. Our roles just aren’t as clearly defined anymore. And that’s not just a gender thing, but also influences what we think we are supposed to do or stand for at different phases of our lives.

We can now decide for ourselves. That’s wonderful, but it’s also more work and we have to find out what we want to be for ourselves, too.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with perceiving yourself as younger than you are. I would even say that that’s a great thing. Don’t give it up just because of that old man looking at you in the mirror.

Julie Holm

And it does not seem to matter if we were really part of it. I had a baby at age 19, and never was part of the great protests and happenings of the time, but I still feel like part of it.

About 8 years ago, when my brother got married in Elmira, New York, I traveled back to the University of Rochester, which I attended for a year and a half in the late 70s and early 80s. It was wonderful to go back and have all those experiences, but I too felt really old there. And this was at the same time as I was a graduate student at George Mason University.

I think, Sim, you’re right that you can’t go back, but I think that what Dave is talking about is a little more, well, existential. It’s about self image, and the difference between the young self image and the much older reality.