Too Old and Still Too Young
Filling out a form online, I was thinking, wow, I’m at the end of an age bracket—next year, I won’t be able to click the 18-24 range anymore.
And it occurred to me that recently, I haven’t been automatically bumping my age up a year. I’m a November baby, so I usually add one to my age to match my peers.
Or at least that’s the official story. Truth is, I’ve always felt a little hampered by my age in numbers. Most of my ’serious’ relationships have been with older people, and I’ve spent too many a year walking around with a chip on my shoulder the size of the years we are apart in age.
So I’ve learnt to raise it. Just that extra year. Means nothing when you’re over 30, perhaps, but makes all the difference when you’re an awkward 2o year-old trying to be 21. Just knowing that if that extra year cracked open the ice a little more to give conversation a chance, they’d like you, and you’d be elevated one step higher than just being someone’s 20 year-old.
Recently though, when someone at church asked my age in relation to my unmarried status (something more common than not, really, but I got suddenly self-conscious) I said “23″. Not the 24 I would otherwise be saying.
Yesterday, I went to test drive a car with JT. The agent, who knows JT, suddenly turns to me while I’m in the back seat and says, “Want to try?” and pauses for a thought before appending, “Wait…you got license or not?”
Instantly, I was 18 again.
Am I at that point where I’m finally happy to quote my age ‘as is’? Or am I anything but—too embarrassed to be so young while simultaneously too apologetic to be this old?
I’m resigned to forever being bunny’s 20 year old.
tell me about it. i’m turning 25 and already feeling like alan tam.
wait a minute i mean 24! my birthday’s not for another month at least!!!
hahaha. tell me about it. i’m meeting 19-yr-olds. and it freaks me out.
people born past 1990. SHIT.
ok, i’m the january baby, and both you and jun are end-of-the-year babies. So COME ON!!!!
jody> As my mum says, “When Jody was born, you and sushi weren’t even conceived yet. *pause for thoughtful look*”
jun> I KNOW. But then again, when I say I was born in the ’80s, JT’s friends all look a little wideeyed. :\
cakes> Haha, and what are you planning for your big graduation to becoming Alan Tam? :) (I’d say Cliff Richard, but Alan Tam is good too…)
w> Wait, you aren’t 20? Haha.
I hate you I’m only 2 years younger than you! LESS than 2 years since I’m a septemble baby!
on another note, one of bunny’s friends - who was trying to be cool about me being all, you know.. 20.. - asked what year i was born in, and when I said ‘85, she panicked and said, “OH MY GOD I REMEMBER 1985. YOU’RE THAT YOUNG???”
w: Haha, yes I remember that episode.
Anyhow, when you reach my age you actually resent filling in those forms and the shocked expression on people’s faces (eg officials like government or bank officers) when you tell them your age (because it means they are forced to take you seriously otherwise you will complain). Sigh.
i feel you on this one, vick.
w.: hahaha omg :p
SHIT. that’s crazy, about what your mom said. very wise. wise indeed.
i just think it’s crazy cos now we can actually say i lived through the 80s and 90s. what with all the retro shit going on.
makes you feel.. mature. like when your parents talk about say, the 60s.
i should do some mid-life crisis thing like getting my hair dyed, a tattoo and my ears pierced…and i’ll get like a pirate sized earring.
i’m a november baby and turning 24 this year too. i’ve always refused to add a year till my birthday is over but this year, i’ve been reminded (and traumatised) so often that i’m 24 this year that i’ve been stating my age as that. butbutbut, i’ve only been 23 for less than 6 months! :(
quarterlife crisis. argh.
I guess I’m used to telling my age as the current year minus the year of my birth.. Saves me a lot of hassle in the first half of the year when people THINK that I’m born in like 1984 instead of 1983. Doh.
Fixed my thinking to the way the masses think. Straight, with no room for turning. *rolls eyes*