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Over 40s Club

I'll be joining your club in less than two years, guys. I turned 38 a little over a month ago so it won't be much longer before you guys gain a new member.

My sideburns are already going grey and my beard hair is getting more peppery and white with each passing week or month, so I might apply for early membership before too long.
 
^Hey! Go back to the children's table!

I'm amazed at the details some of you remember! I had a modest allowance, but I don't remember what it was. When I started babysitting, I got paid 50 or 75 cents an hour, I don't remember which. Eventually I made $1 an hour, at least on special occasions like New Years Eve.

Then I got my first report card in first grade. Lots of As, a few Bs, no Cs. And...that was the end of giving money out for grades. My parents said giving me so much more than my older siblings would cause too much jealousy. Um....yeah. So I was taught the lesson early: Do well and you'll get punished. My parents didn't mean to teach that lesson, but it's all tied in to worsening my depression, my avoiding people, no friends, etc. Worst part? I think it really stifled my ambition and drive at a seriously young age. And then my parents wondered why I hated to hear them say, "But you have so much potential...."

My parents, or at least my mother, gave really mixed vibes. Do well, but not too well. And, yup, that contributed to depression and lack of drive.
 
^Heh. With my parents, it was "do well " and if you did do well, then next time, you'd better be even better. But in elementary school, I was miserable, bored and hated school because of bullies. Every damn report card I got said, "She clearly isn't living up to her full potential." In fact, in my 40s, I'm STILL hearing that from my parents.

UGH.
 
My mother would only ever comment on the bad grades I got. In high school I only didn't poorly at French and Music. I never received a single bit of praise for my good to excellent results in English, Social Studies, Science and Mathematics. think i was bad at French and Music because of my hearing problem.

I became very upset when I was going through my Mum's things following her death. I found a copy of my younger and very spoilt brother's Grade 9 school report. Mum had written words of praise for each and every subject despite the fact that his report was not as good as those I received
 
My parents, or at least my mother, gave really mixed vibes. Do well, but not too well. And, yup, that contributed to depression and lack of drive.
With my family, intelligence was more of an embarrassment. Being interested in the sciences was something to keep hidden, like being Gay. :rommie:
 
fortunately, in my family it's just the opposite. Except for my sister in law we're all very bookish people. I taught myself how to read when I was 3 and ever since nothing printed has been safe from me. I used to get up secretly in the night when I was 6 and sneak into my dad's study to read the 18 volume lexicon. I'd start with one keyword and there'd be references to other topics which I'd follow and which would lead me to other equally interesting keywords. I sucked it up like a sponge :)
 
^We were very bookish, too. Reading was most of what we did in our spare time. Very rarely watched TV, occasionally went to a movie or bowling (mostly on vacation, so, once a year), occasionally played Scrabble (also mostly on vacation), never watched or participated in sports. Just read. And went to the ballet, concerts and opera.

Oh yeah, I took ballet and piano lessons, too, and was a Girl Scout. But mostly I read.
 
fortunately, in my family it's just the opposite. Except for my sister in law we're all very bookish people. I taught myself how to read when I was 3 and ever since nothing printed has been safe from me. I used to get up secretly in the night when I was 6 and sneak into my dad's study to read the 18 volume lexicon. I'd start with one keyword and there'd be references to other topics which I'd follow and which would lead me to other equally interesting keywords. I sucked it up like a sponge :)
Yeah, that was me, too. This was the source of much amusement and disdain from my relatives.
 
My mother was very pleased with the way I would lay on the floor reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. It was one of the few things she would praise me for and she would boast to relatives and visitors about how I made the purchase price of the encyclopedias worthwhile. I made more use of the encyclopedias than any of my siblings who mainly only used them for homework.

She was also pleased when I started to read her Agatha Christie and Jean Plaidy books and I remember that after reading and speaking to my mother about a Jean Plaidy book on Mary, Queen of Scots I came home from school and Mum had bought me a non-fiction book about Mary.

If we went into the City with our mother during the school holidays she would take us into a bookshop and we would be allowed to select a book each (or two books if they were cheap ones). We also got books among our Christmas and birthday presents.

Strangely my father, who was better educated than my mother, rarely read anything but the newspaper.
 
I got a dollar a week up to age 10. Once I got my paper route, the allowance stopped. I was then living large making a whole $15 a week!
 
You people with literate families are lucky. The Arts & Sciences made me the black sheep of the family. :rommie:
 
My mother was very pleased with the way I would lay on the floor reading the Encyclopedia Britannica.

In our case, we somehow obtained a hand-me-down set of Collier's Encyclopedia from the late 60s. It even came with yearbooks for the years 1969-71. I read those a lot.

I never had many books as a kid, but those I did have I read repeatedly. Plus I hit the school and public libraries a lot.

Today--the opposite. I buy more books than I have the time and energy to read. Not too long ago, it occurred to me that I probably have enough unread books to last me the rest of my life. That was a rather chilling realization.
 
I buy more books than I have the time and energy to read.
:lol: I know how that is -and I add books that are free to download to the lot as well.
Not too long ago, it occurred to me that I probably have enough unread books to last me the rest of my life. That was a rather chilling realization.
I don't think I'm that far out yet... oh, counting those from Project Gutenberg and similar places; yeah, I'm there :rommie:
 
At least I don't more enough books than I coudl read in my lifetime. I own around 1000 books (about 75% I have already read) and I read between 75 and 100 books a year.
 
I love ebooks :) You can carry 100 books around with you at the weight of one.
And I can convert all my favourite fanfiction and put it on the reader, too.
 
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