I’d like to coin a term…

BOWM – Bitter Old White Man

I’m a Bitter Old White Man.  Well, I’m not really old, but I’m bitter, white, and last time I checked, I’m still a man.  I’m in my mid-30s, and may actually be part of the last generation that had it “tough”.  I think I missed the boat by about 10 years.  Today’s “kids” don’t know how great they have it.  Let’s compare how things were back in the not quite dark ages when I was in college, and what the happy-go-lucky student has today. 

I'm the younger one...

Back when I was in college, the only people that had cell phones were rich foreigners.  Laptops were prohibitively expensive.  And if you had one, you were just trying to show off.  The internet was in its infancy, and all we had was dial-up e-mail and news groups.  I was cool in my dorm, or so I thought, because I had a cordless phone, which meant you could walk down the hall and have a conversation.  Today, you not only have high speed internet, but it’s literally everywhere, even on your cell phone.

10 years ago, you had your home phone, and you got a long distance plan.  10 cents a minute was considered good.  Now, it’s all included in your cell phone plan.  With e-mail, how many different addresses have I had between different internet providers and jobs?  Now, with social networking, the e-mail address isn’t the defining category, but the person is the defining category.

Back then, the chicks were into grunge, and wore flannel.  Loose, oversized flannel.  And overalls.  And combat boots.  Today, it’s all tight-fitting, low cut shirts, short shorts, high heels.  And they’re easy to find, since they have the internet on their cell phones.

I currently drive a station car.  Not a station wagon, a station car.  A junker you drive to and from the train station, and nowhere else.  Why pay hundreds of dollars in car payments when it’s going to sit in a parking lot minutes from home every day?  The radio died, so I replaced it…with one with a cassette deck.  Most of my music (as bad as it is), is on tape.  But since the drive is so short, I don’t even bother to pop the detachable faceplate in.  What’s the point?  I adopted CD’s late.  I LOVED my walkman.  I went through many, because I wore the motors out.  I even wore some tapes out.  Today, I have two large BOXES of cassettes, and two more of CD’s.  Now, you can walk around with an ipod with every song you’ve even owned on it.  Do today’s kids even know what an album is, in the day of 99 cent downloads?

I don’t even want to go off about black-and-white televisions, TV’s without remote controls, and rotary dial telephones.