A Whole New World

"I can show you the world... Shining shimmering splendid.."

Yeah, sorry, the title is misleading. This post has nothing whatsoever to do with Aladdin. It has to do with the fact that I'm getting old, and the next generation is upon me, and I'm realizing that it's a whole new world my friend. When you find yourself in a locker room with a gaggle of 15-year-old girls saying things like "Well Suzie's got Muslim Club on Tuesday and I've got Hip-Hop Club on Wednesday" and then segueing into how cool it is that Suzie has a lot of gay friends and how the other girl's school still thinks "gay" is an insult, and how her friend "isn't gay anyway, he's just metro" ... well, damn if I'm not old. When did high school boys become "metro" exactly? Where was I when that happened? I know I come from a pretty liberal town, but we sure didn't have either a Muslim Club OR a Hip-Hop Club. (I wonder if we do now?)

Those of us over 20 in the locker room were just looking at each other in bemused disbelief as we realized that we have all been passed by the next wave of youth, and that we don't speak their language.

Reminds me of a fun story from Talullah, who was shopping at H&M a while ago. She was minding her own business, picking out clothes, when 2 teenyboppers wandered by. They looked up, noticed the clothes, noticed her and said, in that way only teenage girls can, "Omigod, we almost wandered into the OLD PEOPLE section!!" That's right, H&M has an Old People Section, and Tallulah, who clocks in at an ancient early 20s (and who can easily pass for 19 - or younger - when she wants to), was obviously the harbinger of it. Sorry Tal, bad news for you, it doesn't get better.

In other news, HV and I met our favorite Chicago Wolf (Stephen Bâby, #25) live in person on Wednesday at the reception for season ticket holders. He was extremely nice, and talked to us for quite a lot longer than the usual "hi, nice to meet you, [sign sign sign / photo photo photo], bye" routine. Of coure, we had an in with the school connection, and that helped... But yeah, great guy, and we're really looking forward to watching the games.

And in STILL other news, I've been invited to test for rank advancement in karate at the end of the month! I DID IT! Turns out I only need a total of 72 classes (not 75 as I had thought), and I'm going to make it _no problem_. I'm at 68 now, with 3 weeks to go. Class count, done. Memorizing the material, wellllll.... mostly.... and I have three weeks to work on it, right? :) (And the two essays for the exam, too... oy.) Go me! Advanced Green (3rd kyu), here I come!

Have a good rest of the weekend everybody!

- J.