Part I of the Different Worlds for me and my Son Saga.

Avatar for AnonSunamun
2 years ago

The world in which my Son lives is immeasurably different from the one I lived at his age!

Please take a moment to look at my sponsors! They have awesome content you probably enjoy even more as mine!

Sponsors of AnonSunamun
empty
empty
empty

An odd mood has come over me over the past few days.

I am in an odd mood at the moment. It's as if I put several different moods into a blender, let the blender run for 5 minutes, and then threw the resulting mood-smoothy out over my mind. The bottom mood, the one the others are standing on and are supported by, is nostalgia.

And the nostalgia I mean in this case is the regretful, sad kind of nostalgia. One of longing and memories of a time in which parts of our world were so different from what they are today that it was a time and life that can never return, and those who've not lived through it shall never know or understand.

Are you feeling old yet? Me neither!

Now I know some of you reading that are thinking I am referring to a time hundreds of years ago but I'm not. I sometimes feel that old but I'm not. I'm not old at all, I'm still young! (Denial!). The time I'm talking about is as young as the late 70's and early 80's of the past century! That's right, 30 to 40 years ago at most.

You're talking Bantha Poodoo!

Now some might say “what is he talking about, the world hasn't changed that much in 3 or 4 decades!!” and in some areas, they wouldn't even be wrong. The bulk of the technology we have today was already there, be it much more crude and less powerful, and as far as infrastructure, social structure and the general society we know was also already in place. We had the same political system, the same laws, and constitution, people's lives when seen from a fundamental broad viewpoint were not that much different from ours.

A fundamentally different world and circumstances

But when looking at it from my perspective, projecting that perspective onto that of my Son, I notice so many things that are fundamentally different and influence so much of the business of living daily life it might as well be a different planet!


What caused all this contemplation of the self side of your life?

Maybe I should tell you what instigated all of this mooding, thinking, philosophizing and contemplation. It was a conversation that I had with my Son last weekend. The talk we had was about how he was becoming more and more like me in terms of his likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, ambitions, and so on. He had apparently done some thinking about that subject and had been surprised at how many things he had in common with me in those things.

Do I resemble my Son or does my Son resemble me?

And I must admit the similarities are scarily numerous when you think about it, i couldn't deny that. But the thing was that my kid had taken that realization and extrapolated “facts” from the point on which he was basing a plan for the future of his life. That's where looking back at our long conversation (Damn, when did my kid grow up to the point where we're having thoughtful and meaningful discussions on the rest of his life?!!) it was good that I was able to give him a more complete picture and broader view to consider when he's making up his mind on what he wants his future to be like, what must happen to achieve that future, and where he is today and what he has available to cross the distance between those two.

Geeky Computer Nerd, just like Papa! Ginormous!

You see he had decided that being a ginormous geeky computer nerd just like me and having a general mentality about things that is largely no different from mine and for a large part shares the same moral values as I do he only needed to copy what I did when i was his age to have the future he would like to live as well.

Fire torpedoes 1 and 2................... *BOOOOOM*..... blub blub blub.....

Having had to blow that notion out of the water, and explain to him the reasons why that wasn't a viable plan, forced my thoughts to think about who I was back then, what I did back then and the situation of the important factors in my life's universe that had influenced on the life I lived, the choices I made or didn't make, and measure of success that I was able to have as a result of those choices and that living of life.

I had it made, I was living the dream, the perfect life.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm actually pretty proud of the things I achieved in the first 35 years of my life and the life I had built for myself until then. When I was 34 I can say without exaggeration and with a sizable amount of pride that my life was almost completely perfect for me and that I was genuinely happy with both my career and my social life. I basically had the job in which I got paid pretty decently for doing things I enjoyed doing so much I would be doing them anyway if I hadn't had that job. I was helping people solve their computer problems, building computers and networks, and was directly involved in the improvement and innovation in the departments of the company I was working for.

My hobby, eeehm i mean work.... wait, they were both one and the same!

My work specifically consisted out of:

[Boring information warning]

Single point of contact for all of the Desktop and wireless it-related hard and software in the company. I took the calls, I solved the problems that the people ran into while doing their jobs that were related to desktop and wireless hardware and software, I kept track of technological innovations or developments that could be of help to our company and of course was the core and foundation of the happy and jovial atmosphere and a working culture that was dominant throughout the company.

[/boring information warning]

My salary was good, my bills were few, and I was able to spend my spare time the way I would want to spend it for the most part. That meant that from the moment I left work on Friday until the very last moment before I got back to work on Monday morning I could switch into aggressively party mode. Everything from the moment I closed the door of the office on Friday had one singular purpose:

The Master plan of the man that can!

Inventorization of the party options.

Inventorization of the party planning of the members in my social circle.

Considering what that inventory held lined up most with the party preference i felt like at that point.


TL:DR (and cared even less):

Making a decision on what or which party I was going to be enjoying that weekend and then taking the actions that were necessary for me to get to that party, join that party, and then participate with the others at that party.

Usually, this oddly described procedure came down to:

Listing the events and locations that the party was facilitated at. For example, two LAN-Events in range of my mobility and one hardcore rave house party were being held that weekend and maybe one friend was having a birthday party. That was the inventory for that weekend.

That meant I had choices to make, like if I went to a LAN-Event that meant I wouldn't be able to go to the birthday party or the rave as those events are always two or three-day events. If I decided that the birthday party was one I had to attend then it became important what kind of birthday party it was, and who the other guests would be.

If it was a party where family and friends simply came over, handed over the gifts, and spent a few hours gossiping drinking, and eating then it meant that the Rave definitely would be in the planning, after having given acte de presence at the birthday party myself for the appropriate time.

Then the plans and intentions of my friends for that weekend was the last influencing factor to be considered, usually done by calling with the question

The question that made all other questions redundantly obsolete!

Wasn't the first question i asked. (that would be "Biertje?" which was a question that usually came later)

“Ouwkes! Wa gadde gaai sjouwe di weekend?”

(TRANSLATION: Oldy! What's youz gonna be doing this weekend?)

(or getting called by someone asking that same damned question! LOOOL!

Frack! The point, the point, i was making a point.... wasn't i?

But the point from which I am grossly digressing is that that routine I described was the same, every weekend, and every weekend had at least one party would go to. And partying the way we partied you could be guaranteed it would involve buying tickets, buying biological and/or chemical stimulating and enhancing substances to consume, buying copious amounts of alcoholic beverages, and consumption of food and snack items in volumes that exceeded that which most people found normal.

And that was my life

And so I did exactly that, every weekend, spending much much much more than 99% of “ordinary” people spent in their leisure time and activities, and still managed to pay my normal bills like rent, utilities, food/drinks, subscriptions, and the other things living and working on weekdays that needed to be paid.

Nostalgia screaming through my veins right now!

Ah yes, it was a good life, a happy life, and would I be asked to describe to perfect life for myself I would describe the life I had then. For me personally, I literally lived my perfect life back then.

I might have mentioned my life back then to my son once or twice

And my Son knows that.... for the most part. Of course, I've never mentioned the biological and chemical substances that I consumed in those weekends nor did my son fully realize that between the weekends I spent at least 60 but most often something like between 80 and 90 hours working, or traveling to/from my work.

Sure he want to have that life himself when he grows up! I get it!

But I can understand, seeing the similarities between us in character and personality that that life I had back then is one he could aspire to achieve for himself. Hell, I myself, right here and right now, would cut off one arm and one leg instantly and with no hesitation if that would result in being able to live that life again today. The only thing I wouldn't sacrifice actually would be my Son. Anything else, and yes that includes you, and almost everything else in this Universe) is considered expendable when that expense contributes to getting to live that life again. Sorry. You're right, I am an @ssh0le, and I'm not even sorry for it.

Aaaaaaaand, we've reached the point at which i realize that what i want to tell isn't going to fit in one article. Soooo, we'll make this the article of the perfect past, the next one about how i was able to achieve it, and why that route to the good life isn't an option for my Son.

So see you soon in Part II of the Different Worlds for me and my Son Saga!

Thank you for reading.

Stay safe and stay happy!


@AnonSunamun

2
$ 5.70
$ 5.55 from @TheRandomRewarder
$ 0.10 from @Pantera
$ 0.05 from @Jane
Sponsors of AnonSunamun
empty
empty
empty
Avatar for AnonSunamun
2 years ago
Enjoyed this article?  Earn Bitcoin Cash by sharing it! Explain
...and you will also help the author collect more tips.

Comments