Tag: I’m old

rumbutt:

screenageralex:

Being 18-25 is like playing a video game where you’ve skipped the tutorial and you’re just sort of running about with no idea how anything works

Being 25-30 is like later on in the game when you’ve figured out how things work, but have made poor leveling decisions along the way and are now horribly underpowered for what you’re supposed to be doing.

Being 30-35 is like that bit in the game where you mostly know what you’re doing and have fixed a few of the levelling issues, but still can’t do anything because you don’t have any gold or mana left.

How do you reconcile or work with being a fangirl and someone out of their teens? I just turned twenty and I’m kind of worried as time continues on me that I’ll become more ostracized for not being a teen anymore in the fandom community and that my hobbies such as roleplaying will become less socially acceptable…

tryslora:

tryslora:

Oh wow, this is a big question.

Let’s start out by saying that I am 47 years old, and I have a daughter who will be 18 in January. I’m not just out of my teens, I have a kidlet that’s almost out of HER teens (and it’s probably very funny watching us watch TW together).

I’ve been in fandom, in some way or another, since I was 12 years old. In the years before internet, in the years when in order to be “in fandom” you either contributed to fanzines or you went to conventions or you just hung out with your friends to do things. I started gaming when I was a teen, I read & collected comics, I wrote filk, and I wrote both original work and fanfic (except I had no idea I was writing fanfic, honestly).

What I’ve found is that fandom isn’t just about teens. While I’m often one of the oldest in the crowds I’m in online lately, I’m rarely THE oldest. Fandom is ageless, in my opinion. When I was a kid, I had friends who were as old as my parents (still do).

For face to face hobbies, like tabletop gaming, there are game shops and bookstores to meet folks who are like-minded. I basically keep finding my tribe, finding folks who like the same stuff. Fall in with other adults. I started in college; when I got to Union, I wasn’t ready to put away my hobbies. I went to the gaming group and made friends there. Through them, I made friends at RPI, and that’s where I ended up for grad school. And I also started hanging out online way back then (late 80s, seriously, not even joking) and I made friends online before it was considered normal to do so.

It’s about finding anchors. Talk to folks, don’t worry about age. I seriously love folks in fandom, love adults in fandom. Love that there are other people of all ages who love the same things, and want to flail about them. 

Are you worried about being ostracized by fandom? If someone’s being an ass to you, they’re just not a good person, it has NOTHING to do with your age. If it’s out in the world that you’re worried about being ostracized, that’s a little different. Fandom has become more mainstream, more acceptable, but it’s not perfect yet. Folks DO understand that adults are fans now, at least, I think. I don’t go into it in detail, but my screensavers are various media, and I have art from fics hanging on the walls of my office.

Inside of fandom, some folks just want to pull people down. Trust me, fandom is full of folks who are over twenty, over thirty, over forty, and even over fifty. I’m planning on keeping on writing, well into my dotage, right up until the time I don’t have any more words. And when I’m older, I will be right there with the younger folks, encouraging them to keep loving what they love, and don’t apologize for it.

They call us fangirls because they belittle our fandom by making it childish. But it’s not childish. It’s just loving a thing, like some folks love sports. And like it says in Harry Potter, love is the strongest force in the world. So I encourage it.

Someone liked this today, and I reread it, and I’d just like to say that it’s a year and a half later (and I’m watching that teenage daughter angst about her 20th birthday approaching), and I still stand by all of this. Love what you love, and celebrate that love.

Welcome to your 20s, where it seems like everyone except you is doing everything they’re supposed to be doing.

jenroses:

1-ofthecoolkidz:

petymology:

bea2me:

commandersrest:

Welcome to your 30s, where it seems like everyone except you has already done what they were supposed to do. You are still role-playing the responsible adult while also secretly playing with Toys R’ Us Lightsabres. 

Welcome to your 40s. You might as well openly enjoy being who you’ve always been because at this point the people with a death grip on “supposed to” just seem kind of sad.

Welcome to your 50s! The people who did it the prescribed way have had time to get bored with it and start over. The people who were clearly screwing up and heading for trouble went there and came out the other side. Almost nobody’s that great-looking any more (except that one person that nobody would have predicted would be a middle-aged knockout) and almost everybody turned out both smarter and nicer than you expected.

(But would it kill young people to speak up and not mumble?)

IT GOT BETTER IT GOT BETTER !!! LMAOOOOOOOO OMG IT GOT SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER!!!!

accurate

hatsunexyz:

illogical-bullshit:

hummingbird-hooligan:

urbancatfitters:

hummingbird-hooligan:

urbancatfitters:

slytherin-starkid-of-tardis:

urbancatfitters:

everyone is embarrassed of their fourteen year old self trust me if you’re fourteen right now you will regret whatever it is that you are doing at this moment

What, being a SuperWhoLockian, Tumblrian, and just being generally pretty good? I don’t think so.

screenshot this and look at it in 3 years

Wow holy shit guys, it’s been approximately 5 years and I’m drunk enough to not regret finally acknowledging this
Surprise surprise, I was that kid
I know the above is the most cringy 14 year old thing to say, but hot damn y’all I was a child and I had just found an online community of people where being a fucking nerd was “hella cool” and oh my god I was having a blast, and with my new fragile self confidence I decided to say “no I don’t regret what I’m doing/what I like right now at this moment because I don’t hate myself and that’s pretty neat!” And y’all remember 2012-2013 tumblr that shit was absolutely cringy, I was just repeating phrases I’d heard. But then, it got turned into a “laugh at the child” and then I got dozens upon dozens of hate messages and my confidence about literally everything got shattered
I had messages telling me to kill myself and messages calling me a snowflake and an idiot and a c*nt and all those other words that are meant to hurt you. Even years after I changed my URL, I’d get a sinking pit in my stomach whenever I’d see this post go around again because I knew I’d get those three or four snide anons asking “so do you regret it?”
And yes I absolutely do, fuck off
So yeah, I was a stupid tumblr kid and probably shouldn’t have commented
But I didn’t deserve the onslaught of hateful messages
So now y’all know, it’s me
Surprise, or whatever

hello! I’m sorry for dragging you through the mud in the first place. seventeen-year-old me was not as evolved as she thought, which I’m sure is a surprise to no one. there were absolutely tons of comments exactly like yours, but it got singled out just because I was going through a sarcastically-responds-to-comments phase and I happened to see it. I’ve heard people use this post as an example of how young teens are stupid & don’t know anything, and I’m sorry that you became the poster child of that patronizing and invalidating idea. 

sidenote, who the FUCK calls a 14 yr old a c*nt & tells them to kill themselves??

Thank you for commenting, op ❤ I really don’t blame you at all for what you said, I want to call out my 14 year old self just as badly lmao
But I really appreciate the overwhelming positive response to this
I’d hope we can sort of grow as a community from this, but I won’t get my hopes up lol

Holy shit this went so much better than I expected.

We’ve waited five years for this!