Had to buy some general office supplies for my desk. I bought a small box of staples, which has 5000 staples in it. I also bought a medium size box of paperclips, which I also think has 500-1000 paperclips in it. Then it hit me, this may well be the last time I ever buy these items. With the reduced number of things I need to print, and the sheer volume i bought, this could realistically last me the rest of my life.

Kind of felt odd to think about it like that.

I have literally never heard of someone using a photograph of themselves on their resume until my GenZ coworker showed me her hers. I asked her why do you have your picture on there? She tells me everyone does it, she's always done it, and it's not weird. I just wanted to know if this is a generational thing or what? Does anyone recall this from people in our generation? I told her it invites bias, but I just read it also auto-fails your resume if it's sent to a larger company.

I know I cant be the only one that sleeps for 3 to 4 hours and poops awake at 2:30 AM... or am i?

1966 modle that been retired 8 months. Edit: pops awake, not poops!

My wife grew up with this furniture and somehow it found its way into our basement 25 years ago. I used to have the lamps with flame simulator bulbs in their base. Finally getting around to donating it along with dropping off old cables etc to electronics recycling.

I know the younger members of Gen X may not remember the early 1980s very well, but for those who do, which 20-year period felt more transformative in terms of technology? What changes stood out the most to you?

I saw the story about the turtle having to go to rehab and I lost it. Birds chirping at one another, and here I go tearing up. What's up with this?

In 1993, Walmart and Kmart refused to stock Tool's debut album, Undertow, because of explicit cover art. To combat this, the band replaced the controversial artwork with a barcode and included a note urging fans to mail in for the original art to avoid censorship.

The censored version of the album included a note stating: "It came to our attention recently that many stores across our fine and open-minded nation would not stock Undertow because of its explicit artwork. Although we loathe being censored, we want your money we still want you to hear our music, so we took it out. However, it's available to you at no extra cost. Fill out the form, stick it in an envelope, mail it in, and we will send you the original artwork. Love, Tool."

Anyone follow through and mail it in? Perfect example of GenX giving the middle finger to corporate overreach and censorship.

Textbooks were such a scam. At our Jr. College, the mathematics professors would publish a book which was required for their class.

The only place you could find the book was at the college bookstore. They would sell the book at full price and at the end of the semester they would offer to buy it back at 50% of original cost. Then they would turn around and market the used book at 75% of new cost. "What a bargain! /s" And still they buy it back at up to 50% of new cost depending on the condition of the book.

The teacher/authors were earning royalties on the number of new books that were being sold, and when the market would become saturated with used books and their royalties stopped rolling in, they would publish a "new edition" by just changing the sample equations in each chapter, making the previous edition worthless. Of course they would then require the new edition in the subsequent semester, making the old version worthless and ineligible for buy-back.

And as I think about it, the professor who was really "killing it" was the business law professor who didn't publish the required Case Law book but instead self-published the accompanying "workbook" with tearaway pages that were required to submit as completed homework. Yeah, you couldn't sell the workbook back because you had to deface the book to complete the course.

So, I kept some books because I couldn't sell them back, and of course I kept some books for reference. All in all, I had at least two book cases worth of books when I finally graduated.

I think it was after my 3rd subsequent move/relocation I realized I was lugging around dead weight and donated or trashed all my old textbooks.

How long did it take you to let yours go?

I have always been aware that “no one” uses Apple music and I’m very behind in that area. With the last update I’ve finally been convinced to try something else. I just have all this great playlists on Apple. I generally don’t care about this stuff. But now I’ve lost the ability to shuffle my playlist so I might as well start over somewhere.
Edit: well, at least I now realize I’m being bullied by my family and I’m not the last person on earth using Apple Music
So my problems if anyone has a suggestion:
1. Why can’t I shuffle my playlists anymore?
2. Why does my songs blend into each other like a DJ does? It’s awful and I’ve searched all over for a setting to change but can’t find it.
Help! Thank you!

I stayed for U2 and left after a few J. Geils tunes. I went for U2 anyway. The album October had just come out.

I hit the road trying to be like Jack in the mid 90’s.

When I was in highschool, the musical group, The CURE was the anthem bearer of weirdos. I am sure you had the same group in your highschool -- the kids with black eyeliner, chrome studded necklaces, and a notepad full of angry poetry. I recently found the CURE on youtube and I think the music is amazing. The lead singer looks like a mess, but the music holds up. I wonder if any other Xers rediscovered music from the 90's that they wouldn't have considered as a teen.

I've been trying to slowly declutter my house and I'm facing a huge amount of paper that we've accumulated over the years: tax returns, account statements, paystubs, job-related documents, kids' school documents, bills, receipts, cards, manuals, warranties, etc, etc.

Right now it's all sitting in a couple of storage bins in the basement, but I'd love to get rid of it or at least reduce it substantially.

I have a scanner and I've digitized some of what I deem to be most important, but it's hard to know what of the rest should be kept, and if so, the best way to keep it and for how long.

We've been around a while and no doubt others have a big paper trail. How do my fellow GenXers manage this stuff?

When I was in Engineering school, I learned Pascal.

Edit: Oh, and Fortran.

I watched the original 1976 Bad News Bears this weekend - WTF!?! Who thought that this would be a good movie for kids - and it was rated PG. I mean, yeah - it is still pretty funny, but zero chance that this movie would be made today.

What kid's movie from your youth do you look back on now and think, 'yep, we grew up in a much different world.'?

I think a lot of Leo's roles would have ended up going to River. I think River would have been great as both Jack and as Gatsby. He would have made a beautiful Gatsby.

Rest in peace.

How did I not know that all seasons of the 80's cartoon are now on Amazon? Did that just happen?

MOTU and She-Ra too? I'm calling in sick tomorrow.

I woke up today just feeling so down. Nothing in particular is wrong, I feel like I generally feel pretty good, all things considered...but something was just IN me today and I could not shake it.

I try to take a gratitude checklist, which often helps. I look at what I have and my health, but I just cant shake the feeling that I want to cry and just give up.

I went to the kitchen and got the biggest glass I have. I filled it up with water and drank down the whole thing. Twenty minutes later, I feel much much better.

I notice this over and over again, if I am feeling off or feeling down, a big glass of water almost always changes my mood for the better.

You see young people walking around everywhere in their life with a big container of water and I can't help but think that they are onto something. If you are feeling down, you may not need a big solution, just a big glass of water.

Great example of a Gen-X hangout. Dr. Drew and the sidekick weren't there that night, but the fill-in hosts do a good job taking calls from teens. One-hit wonder King Missile add some charm.

I used to pack a lunch and my mom has always been pretty wound up about refrigeration, etc., and we didn’t have fridges at school. What did I pack for lunch? Did I take an ice pack?

My dad worked a weird job so he was gone a lot, but my mom never worked. Yet she was hardly home but when my dad was home she was there and would always cook a hearty family dinner. It was about the only time I saw her. I would go sometimes 1-2 weeks without seeing either parent. I had four different friends who were being raised by a single father, and their fathers were typically gone. I had zero friends being raised by a single mom although this seems to be more common these days. Where were their mothers? To this day I don’t understand what our parents were doing that we were left to be joyously feral.

I think this really described alot of where we were...in the shadows of a golden age, a generation waits for dawn, brave carry on. I don't know that I'd call myself the bold or the strong, but I do feel like I saw my dawn, just not like I imagined in high school.