When we bought our first house, (1972) the pay-off date of the mortgage was 2003! I remember looking at that thinking, "who's going to be alive in 2003???" It literally was the first time it ever occurred to me that we would be leaving the 1900's! And even though I was pretty young at the time, I still couldn't fathom being alive in the 2000's.

The day of the week eludes me. I only know it's garbage day when I see that all the neighbors have their bins out. I just now dragged ours to the curb. Oops.

Does anyone else screw up their birthday date? No matter what year it is, if I have to write the date of my birthday, I always write my birth year. 10/--/20 will always come out 10/--/62.

Yes! Movies, songs, etc would speak of 1999 and beyond — it was such an abstract premise to me.

Me too me too- but especially what Jinx wrote before ----

"To me, 1990 was still 10 yrs ago. I can’t figure out decades now. "

Exactly.

Naw......I hear people say they listen to 60's or 70's music and I think.....I was just being born! If my father were still alive, he'd be 129! I still feel like I'm in my 20's, until I look in the mirror. hahaha Time...how long I have left to live is still a ticking clock. I do think about "IF" I'll see 2050.

Yeah, I remember when the ominous-sounding year "1984" was still far in the future.

As a retiree, and especially *sigh* these days I miss the activities that used to give structure to our week: adult education classes, church, gym, etc. All that's left is trash day (Tuesday for me).

Etween retirement and Covid, it feels like every day is the same. I used to know what day it is without having to think about it and now I have to stop and figure it out. I’m another one who uses trash day to organize my thoughts. I get an email reminder the day before trash day, which helps.

Time is flying by and when I hear Golden Oldies on the radio and they are playing songs from my kids generation, I am flabbergasted.

Ha ha - me too Kswl!

Whenever I hear the Mellencamp song about Jack and Diane, I marvel about how I was less than 16 at he time when they were singing about holding on to 16. Fortunately, I don't feel like I am as many multiples of that number as I am now, but still, it's a bit creepy to me. As for the Covid time warp, yuk.

Kswl, I thought this thread would be about that too!

Our trash gets picked up 3 times a week and I still seem to miss getting the yard waste to the street on time 😜

It is amazing how fast time moves. 1984 and 1999 were just yesterday. Remember the fear as we were creeping up on the year 2000 - Y2K? I remember my son calling on that New Years Eve and we were wondering if anything bad would happen at the stroke of midnight. He was snowboarding in the Swiss Alps!

I recently ran across a list I made when our DS was very young. I listed how old he, my DH and I would be in the coming years -- and events like DS's starting HS, College, Grad School. I listed when our mortgage was up; our anniversaries; Social Security and pension dates. I ran out of lines on the page at the year I was to turn 75, and I left it at that.

This year I'm 79. I'm not starting another list, even on a post-it note.

Yup, I’m in the same boat. Time is sometimes squished, at other times stretched, in ways that makes life unrecognizable to me right now.

I’ve recently discovered A Way With Words podcasts. I especially liked the one with the new names for days of the week that reflect the way they all seem to run together: Someday, Noneday, Whoseday?, Whensday?, Blursday, Whyday?, and Doesn’tmatterday.

DD sent me a text the other day pointing out that we are as close to 2050 as we are to 1990. 😳

I think the bigger confusion is about what decade we are in. I don't hear anyone calling it the 20s. I think naming a decade is a 20th century thing and won't really apply in the 21st century - at least for now.

Twentieth Century Fox changed its name to Twenty-first Century Fox.

The first decade of the 20th century was called "the aughties," but I don't think that ever caught on in this century. The decade before that was "the gay 90s," and I think that was the first decade that had a name that really caught on.

I'm glad that people have finally stopped saying "the turn of the century" without specifying which century. For a long time, people mistakenly thought that "turn of the century" only meant the period around 1900.

ETA: I changed "oughties" to "aughties" but my spell check does not like either word! "Aught" is not a word I really use, but I do remember Jethro Bodine using it. Or maybe he just said "naught" instead. I guess a term like "naughties" would not catch on.

One of the first questions that is asked when you go for your Dementia test is the date. If I ever go for an assessment I hope I will remember to check that before going to the appointment.

Actually I would fail that question most days, I do tend to know the day but the date really never means anything to me.

To say the 1900's just sounds so "opening up the west" kind of description. But think of all the things that happened and were discovered and were experienced during the 1900's

And there are now 20 year old young adults wandering the earth who must think of the 1900's as something so antiquated.

me too. But how about needing a magnifying glass to even SEE the expiration date, especially on bread packages! And I already wear glasses lol

Lars, I think that was the “aughties”, not the “oughties”. And my father said they were the “aughts”. I have a bad case of the “oughties”: I have lots of things I “ought” to be doing, instead of hanging out with my tablet!

I remember when I was young I thought how ancient I'd be in 2000 which was an abstract number to me. I thought I'd be so old , I'd probably be in a home. Remember I was a hippie in the '60s who bought the slogan...don't trust anyone over 30. Now 20 years past the date I dreaded, I am no different than I was when I was fretting about it. Physically, I'm talking about, mentally the events of the past four years have caused me horrid dreams and waking nightmares.

I have made a point of determining the date and day of the week each morning... on the iPhone... just so I can answer such a question If posed to me. 😄

Mrs McCain recently died at the age of 105. Can you even imagine the changes that lady has seen? And all the history she witnessed?

bbstx: loved the new names for the Days of the Week.

It is the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

It's payday...I never forget that.

I recently read where someone had written, "I'm starting to think of 'when the pandemic is over' in the same way I think of 'when I win the lottery'." Sadly, I think many of us can relate to that.

McCain was 108!

Kswl, if this were about Barret's hearings I likely would have titled it, "What alternate reality are we in?"

I was also thinking about in 1970, I was living in an apartment in Seattle. The people upstairs were clueless about the fact that someone lived below them and played their stereo (how quaint is that?) at high volume. Their favorite album (!) was the sound track from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I never saw the movie because it sounded too scary to me, but it also sounded SO futuristic as to be impossible to ever see that year in real life.

October first was a couple weeks ago. That morning I announced that thank goodness Halloween is over and done...😂😜. Oy the brain fog.

My husband has a few times now jumped up from bed saying oh darn I didn't put out the trash. It is so hard to keep track of days! He then goes and puts it out.

We have a very close friend who is dying, probably today or tomorrow. Her daughter is the only relative in this country. We are her closest thing to family here. She has not been able to be with her mother in the hospital stays. She is now taking care of her at home with hospice. She is not certain during the time of covid what is the protocol for after death. Will she be able to have a church service? If not will her mother go straight to the crematory. It is such a sad situation. People not able to be with their loved ones when they pass.

It’s really easy to get confused about the calendar. I have a story.

In 1988 I installed computer systems in China. My hardware guy warned me to keep a diary to track the date, because time confusion would set in quickly with my extremely limited Mandarin vocabulary combined with the lack of local tethers for the calendar.

At that time, tv ads were for things like backhoes rather than consumer goods. Other than the weather and an opera fairytale with a flying pig running in frequent rotation, tv was old programs like Mission Impossible dubbed in random languages. The only western newspaper was often days out of date. Electricity service was scarce and erratic. It was only available to key industries. There was a strict rotation on which day each business was closed so that there was enough power for the others. Our day off was Wednesday. Daily unpredictable interruptions lasted from 15 minutes to several hours.

When my hardware guy installed equipment in Harbin, the kindly people thought they’d help him. Their closure date was Tuesday. When speaking English, they helpfully renamed the days of the week to match their understanding of the primary non-work day in the west being Sunday. Tuesday became Sunday, Wednesday became Monday, etc. When hardware guy, who was known to be a heavy drinker, called our admin in Beijing to try to straighten out a problem with an order for parts, his massive confusion about something as basic as days of the week almost got him fired for being drunk on the job!

Lesson: I take at least a couple of minutes to write at least the day and date in a diary. I would have no idea of the date otherwise.

It's so sad, Raven. Glad she can have her at home for her final days.

I have had a similar problem as aok with how old I am. For some reason I have been mentioning that I was 73 this year even before the year started. Wrong I am only 72.

Raven unless there is a medical person in attendance when your friend passes away it will depend on your state/town as to what happens. Here someone who dies without a medical person being there is sent to the coroners office. Once released it goes to any mortuary designated. In some areas mortuary's can be the coroner's office. A friend's husband passed away expectantly and that was what happened. It can be a shock at a time when people are not thinking well to be told that their loved one is being sent to the coroner. It does not mean that foul play is suspected it is just the law. She needs to contact the mortuary to find out the procedures before she plans services especially if she is planning on taking her mother's ashes home with her.

I made the same mistake about expiration just this week - wondered if my license was expiring ( because my DD mentioned that hers would be), looked at it and thought it was.

So, yesterday I got myself all dolled up for my photo (dolled up = a bit of makeup and my hair tamed), gathered my documents for the new Compliant license, checked in online and made my way to the kiosk at the BMV office. The clerk looked at my documents. then at my license, and asked me if I was sure that I wanted to renew now - because it wasn't due until next year.

I could have gone ahead, but then my license would expire in 3 years instead of 4 (don't ask me why that is.)

Raven, your friend could check with the her local department of health about what the "rules" are just now.

I go to work everyday but I feel like it is Ground Hog Day because evey day is the same work, home, work, home....repeat. It is so monotonous I often lose track of the time, day of the week, or month. One thing I know for sure is it is 2020. ARGH!

We go through food so fast at my house that I seldom check expiration dates once I make the purchase.

I highly recommend this clock. We got one for my dad, but liked it so much most of us siblings now have one also.

Raee - do you already have the Star on your DL? If not you may want to go ahead and renew. It will make it easier to fly not having to bring a passport. The star requirement was supposed to go into effect this month but may have been delayed.

Raven - That's one (of the many) sad effect of the lockdown that many can't have loved ones there to help them when they need it most. I can't imagine how heartbreaking that is to go through. I know of several friends that have lost loved ones (not a one from Covid) and it's so difficult not to be able to celebrate that life and hug those suffering from loss.

I just spoke with the daughter. She has her pastor with her and the hospice people. They have set up a transport from the house to the crematorium. Apparently they are familiar with that process. She is very happy that the pastor will be with her and help her through the process. She is very close now. She thankfully had previously had an attorney take care of everything in advance while her mother was still well. She informed him that the time is near. I feel so bad for her because they were always together, best friends, and loved each other so much. Mom is still a young 50's and daughter is early 30's. Dad passed away suddenly in his sleep several years ago.

I forget when they started dementia tests for me. When I went on Medicare? Anyway, they always ask the day and date, which can't be a very valid test. I retired at 60, and that's when days and dates ceased to be so important, but I now know to look it up before my physical. It's just even worse for 2020.

I make sure that I wear my watch that has time and date when I go to the grocery store so that I won't get confused by expiration dates. I always check them, even if they are difficult to find. Once I accidentally bought a package of crackers/flatbread that was expired, and they tasted rancid. I won't make that mistake again!

Around April and May, I tend to forget what month it is, but it's very difficult to discern seasons/months in Los Angeles, since it always feels like Spring and I always have lots of flowers blooming.

Cell phones display dates, I think even dumb ones do.

What’s freaky about weekly trash day for both of us is how close together they seem. It feels like we just put the trash out and then it’s already a week later, and time to do it again. The days and months just seem to run together and I wonder if things will ever go back to “normal” again, or if this is the permanent “new normal”.

So funny because I've been doing the same thing with the 2021 date. Do you suppose it's our minds way of trying to get us out of 2020? It's been such a difficult year on so many levels.

"To me, 1990 was still 10 yrs ago. I can’t figure out decades now. "

There are 2 ways to find the difference between these 2 dates. The usual way is simple subtraction - you do remember how to do that. Write down 2020 and underneath it put 1990 and do the subtraction; Answer is 30 years.

The other way is a mental exercise. Notice that 1990 is 10 years away from 2000, and 2020 is 20 more years than 2000, thus the answer is 10 plus 20 or 30 years.

To me, 1990 was still 10 yrs ago

I understand this feeling completely! The 1990s are still "recent" history to me.

I heard Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" on the radio today and was shocked to realize that song is close to 40 years old. (It certainly has aged well!)

Which century is it?

When starting a new program of denoting time, year one is year one, year two is year two, Both are parts of the new plan, the first century. The year 100 is the last of that new hundred year plan, the final one in that first century, through until Dec. 31, 100.

Jan. 1, 101, was the first day of the new century, the second one, that finished on Dec. 31, 200.

Jan. 1 1900 was the first day of the 20th century and Dec. 31 2000 was last.

Jan. 1, 2001 was the first day of the 21st century and Dec. 31, 2002 will be the final year of the current, the 21st. Century.

Keeping track of the current date is rather simple for this old forgetful guy who takes 10 pills daily of six kinds.

He wrote "Jan '20" in the space at the top left and wrote the hours 1 to 24 on the lines down a sheet of lined paper,

He then drew a line down, a short distance to the right of the numbers and wrote "1 Jan" in the space at the top.

As he records the times of taking those ten pills it's not difficult to keep a line on what day it is.

By the way, he used to plan which pill at which hour for the coming day by writing it lightly in pencilĺ on the lines in the empty space to the right, erasing it later, but it made the space so smudged that he used the space on the white inner side of a cookie box, wide enough to fit into the pocket of a shirt, ruling horizontal lines for the hours.

Later he made seven small marks along the horizontal hour lines, to move the daily plan along the days of the week - delays the need to discard the plan sheet due to smudging.

Bringing both sheets along when away from home enables one to keep to the schedule when away from home.

I may be able to have my phone tell me which pill is to be taken at which hour, but haven't yet learned how to set it up.

ole joyful

I am curious about many cultures which apparently do not have clocks or calendars.

1. Other than the summer and winter, do they have a concept of "year"? What about in areas where there are no winters?

2. How do they know how old they are?

3. They can tell how many days because the sun goes down regularly, and may be months because the moon cycle. Do they care that much about how many moons ago?

4. If a hunter goes out hunting, how does he tell his wife he will be back in three hours?

dcarch

Joyfulguy, mathematicians will tell you that the first year was the year zero. Try to think of years on a mathematical graph, and this will show you that the first year is year zero, ending with the year one. That is why the year 2000 is the first year of the 21st century instead of the year 2001. On a graph, you begin with zero and go from there - otherwise the years before the year zero are skewed.

I was talking with my life insurance guy, and he said that some policies have been adjusted to end at age 121, up from 104!

I used to take daily medication before bedtime but had to change because of heartburn so I starting after dinner. Problem was I don't eat dinner on a strict schedule & many nights couldn't remember if I'd taken meds or not. Now I set an alarm on my phone to remind me! When I was younger, I couldn't understand why people needed those little daily pill containers...

I have a 7-day pill container, plastic, of course, with "S" for Sunday, "M" for Monday, etc. to hold my two prescription medications, that I've had for several years.

The lids snapped shut, with a small plastic bridge to guide each.

The little bridge on most of mine broke some time ago, so I used plastic tape to hold each lid when I open it, and it only needs a small amount of guidance when closing to have the lid snap shut.

Turned out to be NOT "another use for duct tape". Maybe if I'd used duct tape, the lid would have found its way into port without needing guidance.

ole joyful

antiquesilver, everyone around me knows that when the phone's alarm sounds in the evening that it is 9 pm.... and time for me to take my evening meds. (Darn! Did I take my morning meds?)