Ageism Rears Its Ugly Head !

[dales]

Probably, but Washington State's public mental health system is quite broken.

Well, there's always Western State in Steilacoom.

[datsunaholic]

Probably, but Washington State's public mental health system is quite broken.

Well, there's always Western State in Steilacoom.

Western State Hospital IS our public mental health facility. Well, one of 2, the other being Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, which isn't far from Spokane.

[Sue U]

It's been 5 years since I've had a girlfriend.

[You all know the line that goes here.]

[RayThom]

... It's been 5 years since I've had a girlfriend...
[You all know the line that goes here.]

No... I don't. I don't even know enough about what's being said to do a google search. So, who said what, and to whom?

[Lord Jim]

I don't know if you're kidding or not Ray, (which I believe is the affect you are frequently striving for... )

But I really do hope you are kidding...

Because if you're not kidding it means that not only have you never seen Casablanca, but you don't even recognize a picture of Humphrey Bogart, (let alone Claude Raines...)

All of which would make me sad...

But in case you really aren't kidding:

[Sue U]

Or, as the kids these days say, "This is my shocked face."

[Lord Jim]

It's been 5 years since I've had a girlfriend.

I was shocked when I read that...

I was shocked to learn that this guy had ever had a girlfriend...

Of course he may just be bragging...

[Lord Jim]

Some more of the unique insights of Lucas Werner:



For an interesting article (and more of Lucas' chick-magnet memes):

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... ingle-man/

[RayThom]

I don't know if you're kidding or not Ray, (which I believe is the affect you are frequently striving for... Because if you're not kidding it means that not only have you never seen Casablanca, but you don't even recognize a picture of Humphrey Bogart, (let alone Claude Raines...

I am very familiar with Bogart and Raines. However, and truth be told, I am one of very few people who have never memorized the complete script to Casablanca. Which, by the way, I have seen completely a number of times but never in one sitting. And, yes, I do like to play it down a lot just to get a reaction from those who think I am really THAT dense. In real life not much ever gets past me. I'm dyslexic, not retarded.

Play it once, Sam.

[MGMcAnick]

Or, as the kids these days say, "This is my shocked face."

Is that it, directly to the right of your posts, Sue?

I've seen Casablanca exactly once, about 37 years ago. I remember the young lady I watched it with on TV. She'd never seen it either. We only dated briefly. While I recognized the movie "still" and Humphrey Bogart, I had no idea who the other actor was until now. Thanks for the clip to explain the dialogue. Why should anyone be expected to remember the entire script of a movie seen one time decades earlier?

[liberty]

Any old man that wants a young woman is stupid. What does a young woman want with an old man? The only thing I can think of is money.

And a sixteen year old is not a woman is she is a baby; she should be home with her mommy.

Bullshit. At sixteen, my grandmother got married and my uncle enlisted.

My grandmother got married at 14 to man perhaps ten years older and had a baby before she 15 and went on to have nine more, but that was different time.

[datsunaholic]

My grandmother married my grandfather at 17 (he was 24), and this was in 1940. Her mother, 16, in 1919. I have access to the genealogy trees for the family (which just brought up a disturbing realization, which also explains why my great-grandmother broke off an engagement to marry my great-grandfather. Oops. I don't think I'll mention that to my Grandmother, though I suspect she already knows, since she's the one that told me about the prior engagement).

Anyhow, my Great-Grandmother on my Dad's Mom's side was married 3 times- 1st to my Great Grandfather when she was 16, had a son at 17, and 4 kids by 23. Unfortunately she was also a widow at 23, as my great grandfather, a veteran of WW1, died of heart failure at the age of 28. She married a widower a year later who was almost 20 years her senior when she was 24, that one was a disaster. He was a drunk, and killed their son in a car crash in 1941, after which she divorced him. She married a 3rd time in 1942, to the man she had originally been engaged to prior to marrying my great-grandfather. Full circle. And a hell of a soap opera.

[Bicycle Bill]

My grandmother married my grandfather at 17 (he was 24), and this was in 1940. Her mother, 16, in 1919. I have access to the genealogy trees for the family (which just brought up a disturbing realization, which also explains why my great-grandmother broke off an engagement to marry my great-grandfather. Oops. I don't think I'll mention that to my Grandmother, though I suspect she already knows, since she's the one that told me about the prior engagement).

A 'premature' birth, eh?  Surprising how many families have first-borns that did not go full-term.

Of course, in those days a polite person did not walk around with a calculator and a pencil and keep track, either.

-"BB"-

[Sue U]

A 'premature' birth, eh? Surprising how many families have first-borns that did not go full-term.

As my father used to say, "It's well-known that the first baby can come at any time after the wedding; after that, it generally takes a full nine months of gestation."

[datsunaholic]

Of course, in those days a polite person did not walk around with a calculator and a pencil and keep track, either.

My grandmother said that folks were "doing the math" in regards to my Dad's birth- and he was born AFTER their 2nd Anniversary.

[liberty]

My grandmother married my grandfather at 17 (he was 24), and this was in 1940. Her mother, 16, in 1919. I have access to the genealogy trees for the family (which just brought up a disturbing realization, which also explains why my great-grandmother broke off an engagement to marry my great-grandfather. Oops. I don't think I'll mention that to my Grandmother, though I suspect she already knows, since she's the one that told me about the prior engagement).

A 'premature' birth, eh?  Surprising how many families have first-borns that did not go full-term.


-"BB"-

In those day it wasn’t unusual for a girl to have a sick friend in Mississippi that need help for nine months or so.

[RayThom]

Ah, those fond family memories.

During WWII, while my father's BRN ship was in for needed repairs and restocking at the Philadelphia Navy yard in September of '44, he and some shipmates stopped by the Stage Door Canteen in the basement of the Academy of Music for an evening of music and dance. While there he met my mom and, almost literally, I'm sure, "swept her off her feet." On December 23rd of '44 they were married in my mom's parish church anteroom -- not at the altar. A devout Irish Catholic girl wed to an English quasi-Anglican Yorkshire man with only the two witnesses in attendance. (Oh, the shame!)

They "honeymooned" in Atlantic City for four days and then my father had to ship out -- back to war he went. Two weeks later -- during the height of British/German warfare -- my mom got an emergency visa to travel to Sheffield England over U-Boat infested seas to visit my Nan "to await my father's eventual return from the sea." I later found out through my English cousins that my mom miscarried at the end of January '45. My mom died at age 89 and my father at age 94 -- not once did they ever allude to their fast paced "courtship" nor did I ever mention I had known the reason for it since I was twelve years old.

My marriage proposal to my now ex-wife was "you're going to have a what?" We were married on the 23rd of October '89 and my wonderful, loving, gift from our hasty union arrived on March 19th, '90. Early on, before my daughter could do the math, I told her about the circumstances surrounding her conception. I'm her dad, she's my little girl, and that's all that was needed to be said. Ironically, now that we are both grownups, we laugh and joke about it all the time. I wish my parents could have been as comfortable sharing with their own children -- the honesty would have been so refreshing. Sigh!

That was then... this is now.

[datsunaholic]

Well, I mentioned it to a couple family members. Yeah, that was a mistake. I got an earful about how could I ever think that my dear sweet great grandmother could have had anything other than a premature baby. At 7 1/2 months. IF that happened on the wedding night. In 1919. A month before her 17th birthday. And broke off an engagement to do so.

And she was a dear sweet lady- always elegant, even when she was poor as a churchmouse. She passed away a 2 weeks before my 10th birthday at the age of 81, but I still have many memories of going to her house, later her apartment. She even babysat my little brother before he was a year old, even while suffering from congestive heart failure.

I realize it was a different time, and there's no one alive that really knows the truth, I can only speculate. Everyone knows my sister got married to her first husband because she was pregnant- heck, she was well over 7 months along before they managed to make it official. It didn't last. In fact, both my sisters have been married twice. Neither my brother or I have ever married, much to the chagrin of my Grandmother. I seriously doubt I ever will- first off, I'm only attracted to inappropriate women, and second, I am incapable of establishing a relationship that would lead toward that result. Fortunately, unlike the person this thread was about in the first place, I don't blame women for my inability to find a date.

[oldr_n_wsr]

In those day it wasn’t unusual for a girl to have a sick friend in Mississippi that need help for nine months or so.

I have a cousin who "disappeared" for some time way back when I was young. (I'm guessing 1968 and she was 6 years older than me).

Fast forward to about 10 years ago, at a family Christmas party a lady, most of the family never met before, is introduced as her oldest daughter.