1. 30 May 2010 · 12:00 AM

    May 30, 1977

    So it’s happened: At 33, my birthday feels more about aging than it does about gifts, parties, licenses or legality. It’s inevitable, I know, as are the tiny gray hairs I keep discovering and plucking. I suspect I’m too young to feel old … and I don’t really feel that way so much as I feel on the older side of young. Like how I cringe when I see teens wearing shredded Ts, fluorescent colors and acid-washed skinny jeans (Hello, 1988!).

    A while back, I was out for drinks with a friend and this guy came over to chat us up. He was kinda aimless — between jobs, visiting friends and considering his next move — and he looked like he was aiming for hipster, but falling a few yards short. He was 27. I said something in passing about how my friend and I are in our 30s. He paused. “How old are you? I answered: “32.” He looked stunned.

    So here’s my question: Is there an expiration date on the appropriateness of going out to drinks with girlfriends? Like, after 30 should I stay home and scrapbook instead? Sorry, fella. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.

    So I’m not old, exactly. But the world has changed a good deal since I was born. How much, you ask? Here are a few hints, from the handy pamphlet “1977: Remember When…A Nostalgic Look Back in Time,” which The Hubby bought for me from the gift shop at the full-service car wash. First, some major events:

    • January: Apple Computer becomes incorporated (full circle: I’m getting an iPad for my birthday!)
    • March: Future Tonight Show host Jay Leno debuts with host Johnny Carson.
    • April: New York’s famed disco, Studio 54, opens.
    • August: Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 computer. Twenty-five existed; within weeks, thousands were ordered.
    • November: The first flight of the Concorde took off from London to New York.

    Other fun facts: Liv Tyler, Fiona Apple and Sarah Michelle Gellar also were born in 1977 (not a stellar year for celebrity births). A gallon of gas cost 65 cents, a loaf of bread was 36 cents, and you could buy a new house for less than $50,000. Check out more cost-of-living stats after the jump.

    2. blog comments powered by Disqus