Oldfag thread (26+)

[Anonymous No.10914392]

>Age
>Location
>Occupation
>What you’re currently reading
>Your thoughts and feelings on aging

[Anonymous No.10914403]

>>10914392
ageing*

[Anonymous No.10914425]

>>10914392
27
USA
NEET
2666
As the years pass I become more and more ashamed of how little I've accomplished. I've deluded myself into believing that reading is in itself a productive and not purely consumptive activity.

[Anonymous No.10914450]

>26
>Canada
>Part-time, salaried, management
>Distant Star by Bolaño
>Lost years to depression, didn't accomplish much outside of reading, even gave that up for a time. Been published years ago, but just two mediocre articles and a couple of poems. Trying to get my mind back in shape, might manage getting an MA part-time, because I can get funding with my GPA. Working on a novel. Feels much older than 26.

[Anonymous No.10914462]

>>10914392
>27
>South America
>Architecture
>Blindsight
>It's the same shit all life long

[Anonymous No.10914533]

>>10914392
>27, close to 28
>San Antonio, TX
>Gas station clerk+full time student, previously a government spook in the military
>Social media, 4chan, and the book I've been working on

I do not think much about aging beyond the recognition that my wife and I are on limited time to have children of our own. The only thing I feel is generalized sadness that my hair is thinning just enough that I can notice it, as my hair has always been thick - I missed six good years of fabulous hair while I served in the military.
I am not negative about aging, especially to the degree these anons here seem to be. I interact with people younger and older than I am frequently, so I feel like I am my age. I do not feel any less youthful or energetic than I was when I joined the military at 20. My father told me he felt like he was 18 from the day he turned 16 until he turned 55 or so, and didn't start feeling old until he was into his 60's.

Also, working as a gas station clerk is surprisingly fulfilling. Being able to interact with so many different people is refreshing compared to everything else I've done so far, and working the graveyard shift introduces you to some interesting characters.

[Anonymous No.10914541]

>>10914392
>28
>New York
>Lawyer
>Ulysses and rereading The Odyssey
>Deeply disappointed in my decision to bracket literature for a career I care nothing about. I crumbled to the pressures of careerism. There’s nothing else left to look forward to for me, I’ll never write. Reading has all but disintegrated from my daily life, and it’ll only get worse when I start a family. There’s so much to learn but I’ll never come close. I’m so unhappy anon

[Anonymous No.10914545]

>>10914533
This is the right attitude. What are you studying anon?

[Anonymous No.10914569]

>>10914541
>I crumbled to the pressures of careerism. There’s nothing else left to look forward to for me, I’ll never write. Reading has all but disintegrated from my daily life, and it’ll only get worse when I start a family. There’s so much to learn but I’ll never come close. I’m so unhappy anon
delet this

[Anonymous No.10914571]

>>10914569
Do you mean delete the post or delete the outlook from his life

[Anonymous No.10914574]

>>10914545
Engineering and physics because I'm an idiot, staying generalized because I'm a special brand of stupid. I am about 30ish credits shy of a BA in Spanish Linguistics, as well, because of my military training.

>>10914541
I work full-time and I am a full-time student and I have a family, and I still find time to write. Don't give up on yourself - you have much more energy that you are aware of. If my lazy ass can do all of this simply by refusing to think about the work load I've placed on myself, you can do the same.

[Anonymous No.10914576]

>>10914541
This is incredibly sad mate. Fix your life or at least your outlook. There’s much to be grateful for

[Anonymous No.10914581]

>>10914574
In the most genuine way, you are an incredibly inspiring person. Cheers, anon

[Anonymous No.10914589]

>>10914571
I mean delete that because I identify with it and that is also how I feel.

[Anonymous No.10914590]

>>10914392
>27
>Germany
>Logistics
>Moby Dick
>Don't live in the past

[Anonymous No.10914591]

>>10914589
See >>10914574

[Anonymous No.10914592]

>>10914590
I’ve always thought I’d love and thrive in logistics. I’m thinking of quitting my career to get a degree in supply chain. It seems to have new life too with all this blockchain integration.

Also are you enjoying Moby dick ?

[Anonymous No.10914595]

>20
>london (broadwick st - if anyone's about i'm free today
>poet
>cornaro's book how to live a hundred years
>the only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old so i guess i'll concentrate on that

[Anonymous No.10914600]

>>10914595
>20
Reported

[Anonymous No.10914612]

>>10914581
>tfw i think responding will ruin the magic, but i do it anyway
I genuinely appreciate the compliment. I simply try to do my best. I think most of would find that alone is more than enough. The trick is learning what your best truly is, so you know what to give. In that regard, I suppose I am blessed.
I could add a thought on aging here: the longer I live, the more I realize the morals of my children's stories were right all along, and I should have stopped being so assured they were wrong much sooner.

[Anonymous No.10914644]

If I stay on /lit/ am I going to end up like you sad sacks? This is a real depressing thread desu.

[Anonymous No.10914647]

>>10914392
35
North
Cook/freelance
Ulysess
No one told me how good your life gets after 27. I didn't realise that I'd go from NEET burntout fat slob to being high sexual market value with eclectic interests. I took a year and half to get in good shape and started dressing well, and it paid off immensely. I still feel like a loser NEET with no skills, but ladies find my awkwardness charming, and men find my obscure knowledge entertaining. I seen as witty when I drink with groups, which I don't do much because I still get that weak beta fear. But I've slowly incorporated these social aspects into my work life and now I understand how easy it is to succeed. Being 17 to 27 was fucking shit, and I never believe it would get better. But it did. I've had way more sex with different partners later in life than earlier. I only wish I had of found a career that would give me lots of free time and money enough to continue exploring the world and the people in it.

[Anonymous No.10914674]

>23
>UK
>Consultant
>Jung's Aion
>Glad, I don't feel i'll be appreciated till I get past 25

[Anonymous No.10914712]

>>10914392
32
Barman
1982, Janine
My hair is going quick but I’m more depressed by the state of the country and the world in general. The future makes me very anxious.

[Anonymous No.10914812]

>>10914392
>32
>PA
>sysadmin
>storm of steel
>everyone younger than me is an idiot. social media, smart phones, and the internet are ruining the generations younger than me.

[Anonymous No.10914851]

28
Northeast
Baristo
Plato’s Earlier Dialectic by Robinson
You will regret not specializing with regard to your reading interests. Over the years directed research builds on itself, reading ‘whatever’ leads to forgetfulness, which ends in wasted years. Learning the right things is the only truly valuable way to spend your time.

[Anonymous No.10914885]

>>10914644
Yes

[Anonymous No.10914897]

>>10914851
Can you expand on this? I’m definitely spreading myself thin in terms of my reading content. Medieval one day, Modernist the next, Renaissance after that. Do you hone in on a particular period? A particular school within that period? A particular author?

[Namefagg No.10914899]

>>10914392

>19-20
>Canada
>NEET, but trying to work
>Just finished Lolita, starting Meditations today.
>I feel like my angsty teenage phase is coming a bit late. Been getting real /r9k/ lately, not really looking forward to being a "wagie" just so I can be better wagie later. Thinking I oughta read more, write more, see if I can figure out something better than unskilled work and going to university (I hate school).

[Namefagg No.10914901]

>>10914899

Boy I fucked up, didn't read the oldfag part.
Ignore me, Stepped into the wrong thread here.

[Anonymous No.10914910]

>>10914647
Even some retards turn into functioning humans... it's just that their progress is retarded. Congratulations on doing good anon

[Anonymous No.10914916]

>>10914885
What is one to do then anon? I imagine almost everyone here has failed at being a normie.

[Anonymous No.10914928]

>>10914916
Suffer! Or one can eliminate one’s self/ego and simply be, eschewing all desires for presence

[Anonymous No.10914976]

>>10914916
Cover your eyes, distract yourself with bullshit until you forget you're sad. That's what most people do anyways.

[Namefagg No.10915034]

>>10914612

I've been realizing the same thing over the last couple years. All the obvious lessons we're told as kids go over our heads until we end up looking back at them and realizing they were right.

[Namefagg No.10915056]

>>10914812

Youngfag lurker here.
You're right.
I have never seen anyone in my generations so interconnected and so lonely at the same time, nor spend as much free time doing absolutely nothing. Youth are in a world now where everyone has a voice, but the screeching retards rise to the top, and that's what people go with.

I like to think it's a transition generation, and that we'll figure out tech in such a way that it doesn't destroy like it is now.
But honestly, it probably will. Everyone should be a technooptimist about things like medicine and engineering, but socially, anything but technopessism is lying to yourself.

[Anonymous No.10915105]

>>10914392
>Oldfag thread (26+)
We should have more of these.

I like it. Everyone here is so young.
I turned 26 and I feel I am too old too be here.

[Anonymous No.10915109]

>26
>U.S.
>freelance writer
>Dead Souls
>Wish I didn't like smoking and drinking so much, but oh well.

[Anonymous No.10915123]

>>10914916
>I imagine almost everyone here has failed at being a normie.
I think failure to be a normie is something that is simply inevitable for some people (myself included). It doesn't matter how hard you try, you will never succeed by the mere fact that you are trying. It has to be effortless.

It's quite bleak.

[Anonymous No.10915138]

>>10915123
Yes, this is true.
There is literary no way to normiefie yourself, never-mind if it's a good or a bad thing.
It's not about cringeredpills it's something else.

[Anonymous No.10915146]

>>10914392
29
Canada
Property Management
Warlock by Oakley Hall

Aging hasn't been too bad so far at all. I feel as if I am in a physical prime (though with some nagging injuries), yet I have a decade of adulthood behind me. It's a pretty good feel. Take care of your body.

[Anonymous No.10915148]

>>10915138
*literally

[Anonymous No.10915156]

>>10914392
32

Colorado

Logistician/ Accountant for a small energy-sector company

I'm reading all the modern fan-fiction of (1912) The Night Land and also Moby Dick.

I'm really a better person, physically, intellectually, ect than when I was 18. I can pick up rando bitches at the club, run and lift harder, make more money. I have much less hair on my head but other than that, 18 year old me should have stepped up his game.

[Anonymous No.10915157]

>>10914916
>I imagine almost everyone here has failed at being a normie.
I tried but it didn't work.

I would like to have a job at least. I regret studying philosophy in college. Now I went back to study biology, but it's dissapointing being surrounded by people almost 10 years younger than me when taking elementary classes.

[Anonymous No.10915163]

>>10915109
How do I into freelance writing? I’m a lawyer with minimal content writing experience. Where would I find clients, for example?

[Anonymous No.10915168]

>>10915138
>There is literary no way to normiefie yourself, never-mind if it's a good or a bad thing.
And that's really the worst of it. Part of you wants to be able to be in that way, to feel about those things in the way normal people do, but another part despises all of it. Like being in limbo.

[Anonymous No.10915183]

>29
>Germany
>Sociologist
>Pale Fire
>The late young are the young in the long-run

[Anonymous No.10915184]

23
Halifax, NS
Call Centre Rep
Rhetoric by Aristotle

I hate it. The past three years have past so quickly and I feel like I’m running out of time. I still have one class left to complete my BA, but I can’t take it until the fall. I’ll graduate at the old age of 24. I just want to explore the world while I am still somewhat young.

[Anonymous No.10915189]

>>10915184
>23

Get out.

[Anonymous No.10915190]

>>10915163
Depends on the subject matter, but it's pretty easy to find potential jobs on sites like glassdoor, monster, indeed, etc. There's certainly a lot to sift through to find something that fits for you, but these days with so many blogs and online articles there's a big demand for decent writers.

My best advice would be to have a solid portfolio. I worked as the managing editor for a publishing company and can't tell you how many people asked to write for us but didn't have anything I could read to see if they were decent.

[Anonymous No.10915205]

>27
>TX
>Student
>Mushroom at the End of the World, CCRU Collected Writings
>Aging is nice. I feel very comfy at my age. School is much easier now. I don't get laid as much but I am less insecure and immature: I used to think I was so mature in my late teens and early twenties but now I realize how immature I have been. Picked up a couple bad habits my first time in college. Alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, and the ocassional psychedelics. Trying to quit it all now. Hangovers get worse at my age. And I am starting to get a beer belly. Otherwise, I am quite well.

Bonus question:
>when did you become a channer?
>15 years old...

[Anonymous No.10915240]

>>10915205
>15 years old...

"You're here forever"

It was true...

[Anonymous No.10915254]

>Age
28

>Location
Retirement-ville, Florida, USA.

>Occupation
Substitute teacher and line cook (will return to teaching high school English in the fall after a year break)

>What you’re currently reading
Paul Boyer - Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920

Steinbeck - Sweet Thursday

Voltaire - Candide (re-read)

>Your thoughts and feelings on aging
Pros and cons to everything. I look at younger people and it makes me happy knowing I am wiser now than I was at their age, but there are blissful ignorance-type things I miss, too. I also was born with some back issues that have already gotten me to the point of frequent pain, especially when bending down, picking up anything of substantial weight, being in the same position for long periods of time, etc., so I really dread how bad it will get in the future.

[Anonymous No.10915265]

28
Old Antebellum South
Law Student
Permutation City
Incredibly immature. With age I've become more and more socially isolated along with a general distrust of both individuals' stated intentions and the efficacy of the dominant social/political institutions. Studying law has accelerated this maturation.

[Anonymous No.10915268]

>27
>Austria
>Programmer
>À rebours
>Will I ever stop feeling like I am wasting, wasting my talent? I never had to put in any effort to do well in school/work. But I’m rarely able to just lean back and enjoy what I have. Always think that if I just tried really hard, I could earn some real money in the next few years and never have to work again. Or I could get a really interesting job at least…

[Anonymous No.10915272]

>>10915183
>sociologist
Kill yourself commie

[Anonymous No.10915281]

>>10915190
Sweet thanks. In terms of portfolio, should this strictly be articles? Should I start a blog or something? Can it be my published creative stuff? Or does it need to be relevant?

[Anonymous No.10915303]

>>10914541
subjecting myself to legal writing evokes a greater appreciation for non-fiction literature. When are we going to start seeing SC opinions sprinkled w/ allusions to Land, DFW and Maps of Meaning instead of tired Dickens, Hobbes and jefferson?

[Anonymous No.10915313]

>>10914533
Hey, good for you man; stay filled with joy :)

[Anonymous No.10915316]

>>10915281
Depends on what you want to write, but yeah articles should be a main focus and a blog is a good idea. No one hires writers for fiction, so I don't think creative stuff will carry much weight. It would also be good to get familiar with AP Style because a lot of editors use that as a standard. Overall, you just want to be able to show them that your writing won't require extensive editing. If you do get a job, it's also wise to compare the text you submitted with the text the copy editor finalized. You might pick up on your bad habits.

[Anonymous No.10915339]

>>10915184
>I’ll graduate at the old age of 24.
Least you're not a NEET.

[Anonymous No.10915357]

>>10915268
>Always think that if I just tried really hard, I could earn some real money in the next few years and never have to work again. Or I could get a really interesting job at least…
Why don't you do that, then? Stop thinking about it and go do it. The worst that can happen is nothing changes, which is already happening for you. You have absolutely nothing to fear.

[Anonymous No.10915359]

>>10914392
im 20, but you guys are much nicer than /lit/.

stop lurking and weed out the obnoxious littluns

[Namefagg No.10915362]

>>10915240

As someone who's been here from 14-20 I wonder how true this'll be moving forward.

[Anonymous No.10915377]

>>10915205
>>10915240
>>10915362
I have been here from 15 to 27, almost 28. The only thing I've quit is going to /b/. I've only expanded the boards I've been on.

Honestly, the only thing that has changed about this site is how much people complain about /pol/ related subjects, and how much people complain about transplants from other sites. If you can stomach that and enjoy it here, you've already seen the worst of it. I'm sure it'll be worse yet, which is honestly quite exciting to consider.

[Anonymous No.10915378]

>Age
28
>Location
Germany
>Occupation
Mechanical Engineer working as a Technical Consultant
>Currently reading
Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull
>Thoughts on aging
I'm having more fun in my life than ever before, I was crippled by analysis paralysis and social anxiety for my younger years, which I have now managed to fight off with sports, particularly martial arts. Before, I had a trouble with answering phones, now I talk to strangers in a foreign language and sometimes it's like I'm intimidatingly charming to people who meet me for the first time. I still have a trouble with expressing emotions and opening myself up to people and especially trusting people, but it's slowly happening. Met a lot of interesting and unique people for the last years which now motivates me to put myself out there and find even more people. I think becoming old will only get better and better if you put in the time to improve on yourself; physically, mentally, spiritually.

>>10914647
Very motivational my man, I think I am you 7 years ago.

[Anonymous No.10915386]

26
Michigan
City Planner
Less than Zero
I’m indifferent at the moment but like some another anon said I don’t really feel all that different than from when I was 18. I feel like a man child at times but I have several friends who are far bigger man children than me. It’s odd that culture from my high school years seems so dated, and really odd that my early college years is starting to become dated as well. Getting older is weird, but I don’t think I’ll really notice it until my late 30s. Its incredible how fast life moves, but I suspect that’s partly due to my memory being fucked up from smoking a lot of marijuana. desu that’s one thing I would recommend kids lurking this thread to do: moderate yourself

[Anonymous No.10915392]

>>10915378
I had a similar experience, although I picked up music production rather than martial arts. I've made friends, been invited to parties/shows, gone to them and generally socialized with people, had multiple girlfriends and some flings. My life has improved a lot as I've spent effort learning how to be a more social person and just grow in all the ways that I have. I still suffer from existential crises I guess, but i'm more confident that I can find ways to make my life feel meaningful than I used to be.

[Anonymous No.10915456]

>>10915362
I wonder how much new frequent users 4chan gets.

[Anonymous No.10915469]

>>10915272
>Kill yourself commie
Cummonism will win and there is nothing you can do abuout it. I have my spies everywhere, so watch out!

[Anonymous No.10915484]

That's not what oldfag means.

[Anonymous No.10915488]

>>10915484
Browsing the 4chans since 2017

[Namefagg No.10915502]

>>10915456

I turned one guy into a semi-regular, mostly just browsing /t/g, /co/, and the porn boards. A couple of my friends stop by occasionally, usually to /b/, /gif/, and /wsg/, looking for a cheap laugh. I would guess mostly people come here picking up whispers of the "glory days", and then being either disappointed, or disgusted, and never coming back.
I assume a lot of the site's traffic is people passing through, rather than people who stick around and end up posting. The number I'd really like to see is the lurker:poster ratio.

[Anonymous No.10915551]

>>10915056
i shake your hand, youngfag. nice to know some of you realize what's going on.

[Anonymous No.10915555]

>>10915056
what if life... man no control technology but technology control man?????????

[Namefagg No.10915627]

>>10915555

Quads of truth, man.
Everyone has something maintain now. A facebook profile full of pictures that make you look better, exaggerated events to make you look more exciting than you are.
Girls have slutty instagram and deviantart accounts, objectifying themselves, trying to be unique by crafting these personas for themselves to get more attention. The men are doing the same way, but in the appropriately masculine way. They're afraid to let go, because the character they play has more personality than they do, and as soon as they stop posting, the creation they identify with ceases to exist, and the attention from followers stops, and all that's left is this husk of a person who doesn't know what it means to be human.

Just last night a buddy of mine messages me to make smalltalk, because he and the mutual friend of ours that he's with get stuck in the "what do you want to do" loop and don't understand verbal conversation, and so they start sitting together in silence, texting other people.

As the business side of technology increases, low-skill labour gets harder to find as the bigger corporations outcompete smaller businesses, and automate as much of the labour as they can. The modern youth gets dolled up with illusions of grandeur and higher education (And a lot of academic careerist pressure) and then end up thrown into the abyss of desperately trying to find minimum wage jobs that they hate, or falling into debt to go to a university that they'll probably drop out of because they can't afford it, which then increases the volume of kids looking for the shitty jobs that don't exist.

Even if they do get the job, the magic internet persona they play doesn't work in the real world, so they end up angry and depressed, and escape further into the internet void.

It absolutely controls us.
We have gone from looking into the void to the void looking back at us, but at this point it's the void staring at us by default and we just pretend to look away.

Whether or not it's their own fault, the new generation sucks.

[Anonymous No.10915644]

>>10914533

Is that you Gaskun?

[Anonymous No.10915647]

>>10914812
People in your age behave pretty much the same way.

I'm 26 and I rarely go out. Months ago I went to a poetry reading and later went out to dinner with everyone. I was surprised at everyone's behavior. "30s are the new 20s" seemed more real than ever, and it applies to me as well. 100 centuries ago people would be have moved out and married at 20, now this hardly happens until 30s.

[Anonymous No.10915663]

>24
>Chicago
>Business Analyst
>Demons
>it’s terrifying

[Anonymous No.10915670]

>>10915663
you're not even there

you have two more good years

[Anonymous No.10915690]

>>10915488
since January*

[Anonymous No.10915703]

>34
>czech
>BI developer
>Three body problem
>i feel i still havent lost touch, people younger than me are complaining about current kids generation, youtubers, cell phones and stuff, i dont see nothing i havent seen or done before, life is a flat circle. Idk really im almost 35, but in best shape i ever was, living with gf, earning good money, playing vidya, reading books from dosto to rowling, watching tv shows and twitch, fan of sports, life is goof i guess

[Anonymous No.10915712]

>>10915703
Can you share your gf's porn video? And don't lie, everyone knows every single Czech girl has done one.

[Anonymous No.10915713]

>>10915627
ok anon, whatever you want to believe, society is going to collapz, we're d00md
you add "human failures go on anonimous imageboards and live in a hyperreality fueled by their unwarranted sense of superiority, quicker-than-thought pictures that feign thinking, not understanding how society or economic processes work and not understanding how their fucked up perspective skews everything that they see through their pessimistic lenses" to make it complete
I do agree that social media makes people socially retarded though, but I think we'll learn to live with it in a generation or two.

[Anonymous No.10915717]

>>10914392
>Age
27
>Location
Germany
>Occupation
Set and Costume Designer (currently unemployed)
>What you’re currently reading
Popular Hits of the Showa Era
>Your thoughts and feelings on aging
Terrified. I have some mental issues that are pretty severe, so I'm absolutely crippled by the fear that I'm going to end up like people like me generally do: constantly in and out of psychiatric clinics and never amounting to anything.

I'm 27. Everyone keeps telling me I'm still young, but I don't believe it. I had a therapist- she was a real bitch- she told me that I should basically give up on all of my dreams and just accept reality and get a "second tier" job (basically it's just busy work for retards). I stood up and walked out, because that's just a fucked up thing to tell someone period and my job wasn't any of her fucking business. That's what my social worker is for. She said she didn't want to treat someone "destined to stagnate in life" (I was one year out of school at that point). I can't help think about it all the time, though, and maybe she was right.

Right now I'm waiting for a clinic interview and all I do is drink and write.

I... honestly hate myself and I don't know what to do.

[Anonymous No.10915718]

>>10915713
you should add*

[Namefagg No.10915720]

>>10915713

Here's hoping.

[Anonymous No.10915724]

>>10914425
damn. fag

[Namefagg No.10915727]

>>10915717

I don't know if you need to hate yourself, but if she said it how you put it, she's actually just an asshole.

[Anonymous No.10915738]

>>10915713
Well she likes when i took photos of her, but i thing you would be dissapointed, bit chubby and also some lupus

[Anonymous No.10915764]

>>10915727
Thanks namefag. I might be suicidally depressed, but I don't take shit from anybody.

I just want to feel normal, and contribute to society. Somehow I always manage to put it off. Someone asks me to help on a production, I have surgery, I go to a clinic- My friends and family, hell, even my social workers are really sweet and supportive, but it's hard when you hate yourself.

[Namefagg No.10915817]

>>10915764

Why hate yourself, anon?
I'll assume it's not your fault that you have issues.
It sounds like you have people around you that love you, and at least some financial stability. People wouldn't treat you like that if you were a shitty person.
It's best not to identify with the problems you have that aren't part of you. Sometimes shit isn't your fault, and you can't blame yourself for it when that's the case.

You might not think you're someone worth being right now, but the people around you think you're worth keeping, and as long as you have the attitude that you can make things better, and keep good people around you, you'll be alright.

[Anonymous No.10915819]

>>10915484
Yes it is you charlatan

[Anonymous No.10915833]

>>10915254
Sarasota?

[Anonymous No.10915858]

>>10915717
Guten tag mein Freund.

[Anonymous No.10915882]

>>10915817
Thanks man, that actually really means a lot to me.

[Anonymous No.10915930]

>>10915717
Wo wohnste?

[Anonymous No.10915945]

>>10915858
servus

>>10915930
n Kaff ausserhalb München

[Anonymous No.10915964]

>>10915945
Schade. Bisschen weit weg von der Hauptstadt. Ich wünsch dir dennoch alles gute, mein anonymer Freund.

[Anonymous No.10915993]

>>10915819
No. Oldfag means you're a veteran of 4chan.

[Anonymous No.10916004]

>>10915964
Yo, dir auch.

[Anonymous No.10916086]

>>10914647
Thank you for posting this. Right now, I'm the 18-year-old NEET burntout fat slob with no skills or worth you were, and it's good to know it gets better.

[Anonymous No.10916127]

>>10916086
idiota

[Anonymous No.10916204]

>>10914392
>32
>USA
>Military
>On War

Would prefer that it didn't happen, but what can you do. I'm stronger than in my 20s and just as fast, but I don't heal as quickly. The fact that I haven't, and probably won't, accomplish anything big in my life is a looming reality in a way that it wasn't even a few years ago. I can see how true middle age probably gets to people.

But the worst part is that everyone's spirit is just fading out. Everyone I work with went from being a dashing young lieutenant to being a jobber with the mindset of a bureaucrat.

I've always been OK-looking, but having all my hair left and not being fat now puts me notably above-average in attractiveness compared to the balding potato sacks around me.

[Anonymous No.10916230]

>>10915627
I realized this years ago on The Something Awful Dot Com Forums and it's a major reason why I continue to shitpost anonymously on 4chan well into my 30s.

[Anonymous No.10916250]

>>10916204
>Be me
>Youngfag in 20's
>Want to enlist because fucked up in a lot of places in life
Shoudl I go ROTC or just enlist and become an officer that way?

[Anonymous No.10916303]

>>10916250
Enlisting with the intent to become an officer later is completely idiotic. Everyone who recommends doing this is clueless.

If you want to be an officer and the way that you "fucked up in a lot of places" doesn't preclude that, then go straight through a commissioning program.

If you want to enlist, make sure your contract will allow you to collect full GI Bill benefits. Ideally, get a job that requires a Top Secret clearance and/or a very high aptitude score. This will give you the maximum number of options on the back end.

[Anonymous No.10916322]

>>10916303
Okay, thanks for the advice anon

[Anonymous No.10916328]

>>10916303
Also no criminal record, just depression and a lot of wasted time. Plus some scars that might bring up some questions

[Anonymous No.10916343]

>>10916303
Is 27 too old to enlist?

[Anonymous No.10916359]

>>10914425
It took you until 27 to figure that out? Reading is only 'productive' if it's in a pursuit of a specific goal or work

[Anonymous No.10916363]

>>10916343
No, as long as you can meet fitness requirements and don't have a complex about taking orders from someone younger/same age. Few people nowadays are enlisting straight out of high school anyway; average recruit went to college for a few semesters then joined in his early-mid 20s.

>>10916328
If your depression involved medication or even a clinical diagnosis you might be in trouble.

[Anonymous No.10916376]

>>10916363
I was diagnosed with dysthymia and was given light anti-depressants. This was 4 years ago though and I've read that after about 2 years since the diagnosis you're in the clear.

Not sure if there are records of this or not because the person who gave me the pills was considered kind of a quack

[Anonymous No.10916377]

>>10916359
I actually disagree somewhat; it's similar to exercise for your language ability. The majority of things I've read haven't been "productive" but they contributed to a markedly better than average language ability. Not worth much on its own but if you have some other skill, especially technical, it's a huge advantage.

[Anonymous No.10916396]

>>10916376
Only a recruiter can give you a straight answer, partly because what is and isn't allowed changes frequently and often not in writing.

If you go the ROTC route, I don't know if you'll get a determination on eligibility before you start college. On the other hand, if you're borderline on paper but make a good impression on the program cadre they can help you get a waiver.

[Anonymous No.10916425]

>>10915663
24 and complaining. Get the fuck out of here, kid.

>32
>Australia
>PhD Student - Philosophy dissertation/Casual Academic
>The Bible
>As i near the Lord's age, i realise that even his age is symbolic (It's why Dante is at the "mid-point of his life"). I descended into Hell during my 20's, was seduced by empty philosophies, lived a life of debauchery but, through God's grace, saw the emptiness of those pursuits. Doing what i love now at the expense of financial security but the forced asceticism has humbled me and reconfigured my will towards God. It's a constant journey.
Happy Easter, all. God Bless.

[Anonymous No.10916447]

>>10916396
Guess I'll just have to try my luck. Thanks Anon, I appreciate the advice

[Anonymous No.10916471]

>>10914533
Do you regret your time in the military?

[Anonymous No.10916793]

26
somewhere in the southeast USA
maritime
Out of the Silent Planet - CS Lewis (soon)
I despair if I think about the squandered time. Better to just make myself do things. I think I can still find a way to thrive. But I gotta work fast to find it.

Keep fighting, and if you aren't, start. I want us all to find a good place in the world.

[Anonymous No.10916805]

>18
>Ameri-cuh
>don't say it don't say it don't say it
CATCHER IN THE RYE

[Anonymous No.10916812]

>>10916805
Reported

[Anonymous No.10916852]

27

US

Copywriter/part-time NEET

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydide's Trap?. Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima.

Don't give a shit as long as I don't go bald.

[Anonymous No.10916859]

>>10916425
Peace, m8..

[Anonymous No.10916879]

>>10916425
Always the fucking Aussies.

[Anonymous No.10916973]

>>10914392
30.
UK.
Logistics.
I am Legend.
Im generally sad about 2 things.
1) my late teens and early 20's were mostly spent drinking and playing any gig my band could get. Now everyone is older and too busy trying to live a life thats expected of them rather than doing what makes us happy. I miss those days.
2) 18 year old chicks are so much hotter now than when I was 18. And their uncensored and excessive access to the Internet has turned them into some freaky bitches, sexually speaking. But now I'm "the old pervy dude".
I'll never experience pussy that good again.

[Anonymous No.10917073]

>>10914851
>>10914897
I too am interested.

I struggle with specializing. How do I decide which topic is worth it?

Honestly, it's the same in my life. Lots of freedom and potential, but difficulty directing myself. I know it's necessary to some degree but I get angsty about losing other possibilities.

[Anonymous No.10917095]

>>10914392
>36
>USA
>Not in education, employment, or training
>Proclus
>I've never felt young and carefree, so aging is alright, except for knee pain. I've done a lot of adventure shit in my life, and am in the hiring process to do more, but I look forward to the day I can lay down my mortal self and return to the one.

[Anonymous No.10917114]

>22
>Europe
>ticketing at (dramatic) theater, part-time
>Goethe's Faust
>stop it

[Anonymous No.10917118]

>>10917095
>I've never felt young and carefree
feel is known

[Anonymous No.10917137]

>>10914897

The way I found out what to focus on was by spreading myself thin until something really caught my interest enough for me to say "the rest of the books I read could be about this and I'd be perfectly happy with that." You'll probably find an author you really enjoy and from there you can construct a directed program of study. Do be careful with that as well though because simply taking on the literary influences of a genius author is likely to leave you back where you started.

[Anonymous No.10917143]

>>10916343
No. I turned 27 during basic training in the Army.

>>10916250
Enlist if you want to be a better person and a leader. Commission if you want the same opportunity, but have to justify your existence to your boss every day.

>>10916303
Some of the best officers and warrants are prior enlisted. Personally I respect an enlisted man more than some overinflated ringknocking queef. You're right about the TS, but hopefully these anons want to serve and aren't getting in to be bums. Shitbags will out, it never fails.

[Anonymous No.10917299]

>>10916859
>>10916879

Peace be with you, brothers.

[Anonymous No.10917353]

>>10914392
>old
>26
>close thread

[Anonymous No.10917390]

>>10915056
This is good outlook. The repercussions of the Me generation, the boomers, will be bad only in the short term. If you read psych you'll understand that what that majority will be interested in will be how to use their remaining financial power to help promote the agendas of their kids, with some caveats. Listening to these much older people now and figuring out where they are willing to compromise will make getting their money to work for society much easier. They will spend, and not on their kids necessarily. This is a selfish generation with big, tv soapopera style egos. They will want to be known as the benevolent generation. And they can usher in a new era by showing the trickle down systems work, that their corporatism has is benefits. All these technooptimists and technocrats especially, will need to have people fluffing them and finding ways to translate their visions and translate an understanding of what their kids want from life and society. And because they are mostly a generation addicted to narratives, novels and fiction about ideas are the key to real change.

Back to work /lit/tles!

[Anonymous No.10917407]

>>10914392
25
Germany
NEET
Der Totale Krieg
i don't care, i see what germany was and what it is now and i can't feel anything for the future because it is a foreign place where i don't belong

[Anonymous No.10917417]

>>10914674
How's consulting working out for you mate? starting in ny this october

[Anonymous No.10917445]

>>10914392
>Age
30
>Location
california
>Occupation
screenwriter (aka unemployed)
>What you’re currently reading
nothing. i can't decide what to read next.
>Your thoughts and feelings on aging
it worries me. i spent my twenties in near complete social isolation and missed out on life as a young adult. now i'm an old cunt with no friends and a body that's been destroyed by a shitty diet and lifestyle. the only thing that makes me feel less anxious about the future is that i'll probably die in the next ten years from heart disease.

[Anonymous No.10917640]

>>10914392
27
malaysia
clerk(part time)

>What you’re currently reading
Crime & Punishment

>Your thoughts and feelings on aging
I love getting old.I am aiming to die in a comfy afternoon nap because I hate the feeling of being choke and I hate surprises.

I may want to published a few works and maybe shot a few films first then i'll be cool to roll straight to local morgue.

If l live long enough, I probably wanted to get married when I'm 40 or maybe even later.

[Anonymous No.10917660]

>>10914916
If you have ever made a post on 4chan then, I'm sorry, but you will never be a normie. Many weirdos on here have attempted to become a normie but their attempt only ever consists of ticking off boxes on a checklist that they think counts towards a normal and successful life. Whatever you end up doing with yourself, don't attempt the normie path. Its not possible for anyone that is currently reading this reply.

[Anonymous No.10917663]

>>10917660
<--reminder.

[Anonymous No.10917842]

>>10914392

>29
>Madrid, Spain
>Lawyer
>Los Viejos Amigos (Old Friends), by Rafael Chirbes

I will translate an excerpt from the book I’m reading.

“You, because you want to become a writer, have to learn not to trust older people who get emotional after turning fifty, it’s impossible: those mature poets who read from the top of a dais and weep and sob while they read their verses, even when they’re on tour and read the same poems for ten or fifteen days to a similar audience: professors, students, retired people, mature women who find in books the electricity that life denies them; loners. Be wary. They are not poets. They’re actors. Actors of themselves, of what they once were.”

[Anonymous No.10917997]

27
baltimore
software
fahrenheit 451

[Anonymous No.10918196]

27
seattle
neet
plato's republic a biography simon blackburn
constantly wish i was younger

[Anonymous No.10918218]

>26
>Texas
>law student
>leviathan

At first in my youth I didn’t think much of it, but as I got older I started seeing a potential, then I started wasting that potential by getting fat and working menil jobs post graduation. I went to law school because I knew I could vitalize my mind and body. I started learning. I started lifting. Now at 26 I’m more handsome, fit, and smarter than any previous iteration of myself. I have plenty of flaws. I drink and smoke too much. I’m lazy. I’m contrarian with normies. I’m picky when it comes to women I sleep with. But I know there’s always progress to be made now. I have long term and short term goals I know I can reach, and those will only happen as I get older and wiser. I never want to throw away my time to multiplayer video games, shitty tv, and useless repetitive 8-5s again. Death will eventually happen, but at this point I only find satisfaction in progress.

[Anonymous No.10918473]

>>10915644
I dunno, am I me? If you think I have a red beard and wear a beanie, you might be right.

[Anonymous No.10918501]

>>10916471
Only because I missed out on 6 years of full-headed hair. I did not enjoy my stint in the military; I did thing I regret, lost a lot of faith in my country and fellow man, and ended up partially disabled because of it. That being said, I met some amazing people, learned and grew in a way I don't think I could have as a civilian, and my service allowed me to escape poverty. I did not enjoy it, but I don't regret it. Realizing that not everything that is good for you also feels good was the pivotal moment for me where I felt like I was beginning to mature. Honestly, since then, the world has been brighter.

I can't say I recommend it to everyone, because plenty of people never have the experience I did, and even more simply miss the mark for a plethora of reasons (many of which are outside their control.) The military is what you make of it, like pretty much everything else.

[Anonymous No.10918528]

>>10916204
On War is garbage. Soldier-sniffing bullshit. War is boring and killing is easy and Grossman wants to make it sound glorious and that killing is traumatizing and it simply isn't. The people doing all the killing in a war are people who join the military because the relish the idea of killing.

Also the military is pointless. IF there isn't a war, you are basically on a sort of convoluted workfare program.

[Anonymous No.10918550]

>>10916204
Brother. I was you a few years ago, feeling the slow decline into age. If you partake of the booze, ease off. And get some sleep. I know that means you'll probably only have maybe 1-2 hours free time after work but your body and your gains will thank you for it.

[Anonymous No.10918561]

>>10918528
>War is boring and killing is easy
Stop playing Call of Duty and go to bed.

>wants to make it sound glorious and that killing is traumatizing and it simply isn't
Alright it is settled that you're a retard but I'll try to explain it to you anyway. The act of killing is the least traumatic part. It's realizing later that you've ended someone permanently. That (You) own that. Nobody forced you, it's something you did voluntarily and can never take back. Some people aren't prepared for that.

>The people doing all the killing in a war are people who join the military because the relish the idea of killing.
You are the worst kind of thoughtless.

[Anonymous No.10918565]

33
Spain
Translator
The magic mountain
It sucks. It fucking sucks.

[Anonymous No.10918580]

im 23.

I fucking hate you oldfags, you think you know more than me? Go fuck yourself.

[Anonymous No.10918640]

>>10914533
S.A. Resident as well. If you find yourself near south town, visit madhatters and there’ll be a cup of coffee on me- financially.

[Anonymous No.10918679]

>>10915964
Hast du Steam?
t. anderer Reichshauptstadtanon

[Anonymous No.10918691]

>>10918528
You didnt even read on war.
It is as much a work delving into geopolitics as it is about exploring the emotions of these involved, grom statesmen to grunt.
Imo it could do without the armchair psychology, but it is one of the most clear minded books to be ever stiften.

[Anonymous No.10918872]

>>10918640
I may take you up on that. Like I said in another post, I'm red-haired with a prominent red beard with a bit of white on the right side. I assume you work there?

[Anonymous No.10919061]

>>10914392
>turn 25 this August, so fuck you
>Kentucky
>full-time CAP 2 associate, Walmart
>pic related, KJV (based Norton Critical edition), several short story anthologies
>growing anxious over time and aging, not enough time to read (Bloom agrees), and certainly not enough to write
As per Woolf's essay (written strictly for women, but I can't help identifying), I need a goddamn check from some dead relative I don't fucking care about. How lucky all my relatives are meth addicts or died broke.

t. Flyover

[Anonymous No.10919071]

>>10915377
>tfw still browse /b/

[Anonymous No.10919074]

im 32 send me nudes

[Anonymous No.10919133]

>>10918565
>The magic mountain
>It sucks. It fucking sucks.
this. very overhyped on here desu.

[Anonymous No.10919176]

>>10918640
Holy shit, 2 people on /lit/ from SA? I was just at Tito’s the other day. The service was worse than normal.

[Anonymous No.10919223]

>34
>New York
>middle manager in a tech company
>The Charterhouse of Parma
>I've been single all of my life and at the point now where I am coming to terms with the fact that it is never going to happen, that I am never going to have a family. At the same time, I haven't tried to make it happen. When I look at other people, it seems like something that just happened organically, without their willing. Some of my married friends with kids act like they've been snared and one day woke up to find themselves suddenly married and with a child. I'd be happy to wake up and find myself in such a trap.

[Anonymous No.10919319]

>>10919223
It might be true it won’t happen for you, but it might not be. You’re in a city where everything is pushed back 5 years in terms of settling down. Focus on being good to yourself and you’ll be surprised at what happens. And put less pressure in yourself. People marry later nowadays

[Anonymous No.10919346]

>>10919223
I’m also from New York, want to get coffee and talk bookas?

[Anonymous No.10919365]

>>10919176
Never been. The closest I get to South Town is St. Mary's at the Tiger. I'm a military transplant who hasn't had much time in the 8 years I've lived here, so I haven't really been able to explore much. The only reason I get over to St. Mary's is because a buddy of mine has a band that used to play in the area a lot.

[Anonymous No.10919374]

>>10919133
Agreed. Nothing about ageing is positive. I had to flip back to a page about three times last night simply to remember the name William Langland, which is by no means a difficult name to remember

[Anonymous No.10919409]

>>10919374
>dementia setting in during your 30s
What the hell are you doing to yourself, anon?

[Anonymous No.10919421]

>>10919374
Oh i thought you were talking about Magic Mountain kek. but yeah aging is tragic desu

[Anonymous No.10919439]

>>10919409
Little sleep, poor diet, a lot of drugs and alcohol

[Anonymous No.10919478]

82
Blind, deaf, lost all of my fingers in Vietnam
Reading the Bible in braille with the skin on my frenulum
I don't want to die anymore. For a long time there was hope in death. It should have been a release. The longer I sit here in complete foreclosure of my life, I no longer see the afterlife as a place of rejuvenation. I know that it will merely be a continuation of my life on earth, and that is truly terrifying.

my pants are full of shit

[Anonymous No.10919500]

>>10914392
>31
>atlanta
>software engineer
i deeply regret not studying literature in college. i spend all day browsing online graduate programs in english and creative writing but i cant imagine they will be that good academically speaking. not that ive wasted my life: i got married, have a stable job im using to pay off my debts, and ive even had a few short stories published. but i keep dwelling on what i missed out on life: creative writing workshops, reading tolstoy in the quad, study abroad in some sleepy european town. oh well, i guess i have to make the best of a mediocre situation

[Anonymous No.10919570]

>>10914392
38 (oldest in thread, yay)
Third world (ok, more like second-and-a-half-world)
Neet--sort of, though not technically. It's complicated.
Early Anglo Saxon Poetry. It's cute.
I'm already aging, so I don't have to dread it anymore. I just go along with it and wait for the inevitable. I'm also quite poor and this--along with the very sorry state of the medical infrastructure in my country--means that I have to live knowing any health issues could result in death, disability or, at least a great deal of suffering. I'm already in almost constant, albeit dull, pain due to a rotting stomach. But that's life. What else is there to expect? Was there ever anything else? So it's all good, I guess. I'm trying not to shine too much because I know people who have it worse than me.

[Anonymous No.10919575]

>>10919500
Go back, you’re young enough.

[Anonymous No.10919614]

>>10919500
>not that ive wasted my life: i got married, have a stable job im using to pay off my debts, and ive even had a few short stories published.

Fuck that, man, you're practically living the dream. Stop worrying about credentialing yourself and just read more books and write more stories.

Creative writing workshops are terrible, and the quad doesn't make up for the level of discussion in a randomly selected English program being far worse than a randomly selected thread here..

[Anonymous No.10919672]

>>10918528
>On War
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I waited this long because someone I trust told me not to bother with it until after company command; he was right, On War must be read critically and what it says isn't really relevant to a company grade officer anyway.

That being said, Clausewitz is both very insightful and careful about his major claims, and I can tell from your comments that you not only haven't read him but that you don't know anything about warfare. The first two Modern Warfare games were great though.

Grossman isn't completely wrong, but he's a lot more wrong than Clausewitz is, or ever was. On the other hand, they're writing about completely different things.

[Anonymous No.10919829]

>>10917143
>Some of the best officers and warrants are prior enlisted. Personally I respect an enlisted man more than some overinflated ringknocking queef.

The basic problem with "enlist now so I can go officer later" is opportunity cost and path dependence. Commissioning programs do cover basic soldiering skills, and lieutenants learn every "enlisted" skill they need to know after maybe a year on the job. Two if he's an idiot but not a shitbag. Meanwhile if you enlist you're still a private for several more years getting at best marginal returns on your investment in time.

For path dependence, when you're enlisted now you've set your life on a course that requires substantial positive action to alter. Do you really want to fill out fuckloads of paperwork while working a full time job just so you can go to college to keep doing Army, which you're doing anyway? Why not just take that re-enlistment bonus and the promotion to Sergeant? Or just to college for free and fuck this soldier shit? I've led or commanded hundreds of soldiers, and I've had exactly two of them go the commissioning route. Both of them were Staff Sergeants. From the time I started college, it was 10 fucking years before I took my first guidon. It also means that based on career timelines both of those men will probably be company commanders and then retire as captains or very junior majors. There's nothing wrong with that, and I have no doubt they'll excel at it, but that's not what everybody wants.

That's only the most obvious and immediate concern. The other problem is that being an officer is just a different job. Mustang officers might make better lieutenants. But being a major has NOTHING IN COMMON with being a private or even a sergeant, it's a completely different fucking world at that point. Spending X number of years being enlisted is going to prepare you to be a senior officer as well as X number of years as a lumberjack or whatever. Depending on your job, you don't have any real contact with this part of the military as a junior enlisted, only with your platoon leader and maybe commander. But those guys are just starting out.

Warrants are an entirely different matter. On the other hand, I don't think it's even possible to go to WOCS right now without prior enlisted service.

>You're right about the TS, but hopefully these anons want to serve and aren't getting in to be bums. Shitbags will out, it never fails.

Most people who join right now are going to honorably serve one contract in peacetime and then go do something else whether they're dedicated patriots or just need the money. Without knowing anything else, that's the advice I'd give, even if it isn't optimum for everybody.

If you're a dedicated shitbag no advice can help you anyway, of course.

>>10918550
Lack of sleep is my real killer, my taste in booze is too expensive to allow for overindulgence. Fortunately I've got an easy job for the next few years.

[Anonymous No.10920155]

>26
>Rural Canada
>Electrical/Mechanical/Optical engineer (Degree is Materials Engeineering) for a electronics prototyping outfit.
>The Illuminatus trilogy
I like knowing that I know everything about the kids in University and HighSchool who post here. Its feels nice being able to comfortably disregard most of their thoughts and opinions. I don't see things getting much different now that I'm in my societal slot. So I suspect that I will probably NOT look down on 26 year olds quite the same way since people actually differentiate around then.

[Anonymous No.10920191]

Not an oldfag, but I'm posting anyways.

>20
>Florida
>Student/laborer (HVAC)
>Moby Dick
I just turned 20 yesterday. It feels weird knowing that 1/4 of my life has already passed. It's been pretty good so far though.

[Anonymous No.10920206]

>>10920191
hey it could only be a fifth, you might have some good years being hand fed in a care home

[Anonymous No.10920238]

Did anyone else cruise through an Engineering or a Bachelor's of Science program with a bi weekly DPH trip habit and showing up to class zonked on ketamine. I some how graduated with high grades inspite of the fact that I was fending off Nork interdimensional spider agents while using my copy of the Prince to relay the basics of string theory to the Medici, and walking Kanye through how to ensoul a fresh clone body. It was all pretty depressing that I was doing this regularly instead of studying

[Anonymous No.10920262]

>>10919478
beckett?

[Anonymous No.10920286]

>>10920238
contact details?

[Anonymous No.10920515]

> 24
> Brazil
> Translator
> Anna Karenina

When I was about 10 ~ 12 yo I genuinely thought that I'd never live to have over 20 years of age. Can't explain why. Today I feel like I'm on borrowed time and everything can end any second. Anyone feels/felt this way?

[Anonymous No.10920531]

>>10914392
> 24
> London
> Software Engineer
> Moby Dick
> Its all over for me. I've had my chance to make an impact, but now I am a grotesque wage cuck and will forever grind in the gears of capitalism.

[Anonymous No.10921595]

>>10920515
I feel the same way except 30 instead of 20. I don't see this knight of faith routine lasting much longer.

>>10920286
Not gonna doxx myself to chat schizo shit. Discussion of subjective experiences is futile and the only advice I have is that DPH is easy to walk away from, and it's easy to choose to stop re-upping your dissociative anasthetic. I was just curious to see if anyone else went through university as a part time schizophrenic i guess the follow up would be to ask if there are any "functioning adults" who are recreational schizophrenics.

[Anonymous No.10921611]

>>10921595
>this knight of faith routine
what? your life as a Kierkegaardian?

[Anonymous No.10921740]

>>10914644
>If I stay on 4chan am I going to end up like you sad sacks?
ftfy and yes

[Anonymous No.10922057]

>Age
28
>Location
Texas

>Occupation
Purchasing Agent

>What you’re currently reading
Boethius - Consolation of Philosophy, Gyula Krúdy - The Adventures of Sinbad, Bruce Chatwin - Songlines

>Your thoughts and feelings on aging

Before my mid-twenties I rarely thought about my own mortality. However, like most individuals, the aging process has brought this question to the forefront of my life. Its prominence was probably caused by the combination of physical changes, psychological maturity, intellectual development, and the growth of responsibility. Unlike most of my peers I fell into marriage at a fairly young age. This fact above all pushed me away from the sometimes dynamic yet aimless life that I lived prior to becoming a family man. Generally I cannot complain - I’ve been rather lucky. My wife is both womanly and pleasing to the eye. The traditional values of the old European peasantry still courses through her veins. Though I never had a deep desire to have children, I always knew I would take this road because of my wife’s urging and the duty I owe to the future. This responsibility is not without its difficulties. It is a constant struggle to maintain my own identity and individual goals in the face of this duty. I consider myself fortunate that my wife doesn’t mind that I take time each day to read and write. While I do not desire fame, I want to pass something down to posterity. As humans we have the drive to transfer both our genes and ideas. Aging is a reminder that one has a limited amount to time to accomplish these goals. Perhaps I should welcome the changes that come with aging. Despite the dreariness that sometimes pervades my pedestrian existence, I do feel that I become more complete with time. That being said, there is always the feeling that I am nothing, wallowing in the shadow of the giants that I so admire.

[Anonymous No.10922197]

>26
>south america
>boring office job
>half way through "detectives salvajes" by Roberto Bolaño
>tfw I wasted my youth doing shit I never finished
Please kill me.

>>10914462
Where are you from?

[Anonymous No.10922227]

>>10914392
>26
>England
>Teacher
>Epic of Gilgamesh

My teens were a mess and I spent my early twenties smoking weed and pretending to study and fucking and working retail and being miserable and feeling week and doing nothing. I'm really glad I got my act together a couple of years ago. I've done more in these past two years than I ever have. I'm healthier, fitter, better looking and smarter - I have a real job with a decent wage, my love life is stable, people take me seriously and I'm continuing my studies. Aging is great. These are the best years of my life and I'm going to roll on to 30, where I suspect my life will only take another turn for something new and better if I keep it up

[Anonymous No.10922235]

>31
Turkey
Programmer
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (re-reading after having read Siddhartha)
It's very interesting to experience it yourself. It's not at all like in the movies. It does bring wisdom, but it's also jarring too. I lost my dad to cancer a few months back, and the simple fact that "natural" death has knocked on my front door is just so fucking weird. I can't even begin to imagine what it would feel like in my 50s.

[Anonymous No.10922255]

>>10914392
>Your thoughts and feelings on aging
At 26 I don't feel significantly different than I did at 20. I suppose I expect less from life than I used to. To younger ambitious people that attitude might sound sad and defeatist, but I'm actually a lot happier than I used to be despite not having accomplished much.

[Anonymous No.10922261]

>>10915205
>>10915240
>>10915362
>>10915377

I came here when I was 13 and I'm now 24

I cant figure out what kind of effect growing up with this site has had on me, but I imagine there is one

I haven't visited /b/ in about 7 years

[Anonymous No.10922513]

>>10922057
>the shadow of the giants that I so admire
like who?

[Anonymous No.10922617]

>>10922261

You aren't missing anything. It somehow manages to get even worse every day.

[Anonymous No.10922683]

>>10922235
Did you and your dad have a good relationship?

[Anonymous No.10922694]

>>10922235
Also I’m sorry for your loss.

[Anonymous No.10922708]

>>10914392
>27
>London
>meme

[Anonymous No.10922716]

>>10920515
>When I was about 10 ~ 12 yo I genuinely thought that I'd never live to have over 20 years of age. Can't explain why. Today I feel like I'm on borrowed time and everything can end any second. Anyone feels/felt this way?
I know these feels. Was pretty damn sure I'd an hero after college since I hated my major and thought I'd be an autistic NEET for the rest of my life. Turns out I'm actually very good at the niche field I ended up in, but it's a weird feeling, like if I wouldn't have miraculously found this job I'd be dead right now

[Anonymous No.10922719]

>>10914392

>28
>Florida
>Writer
>The Death of Ivan Ilyich
>Scary as fuck

[Anonymous No.10922894]

>>10922716
Lol what is your job IT or being an accoutant?

[Anonymous No.10922908]

>>10914392
>30
>Melbourne, Australia
>Entertainment journalist
>'Daydream and Drunkenness of a Young Lady', Clarice Lispector
>I think the pressure of ageing has actually made me handle my life better. I'm less fat, less disorganised, less worn-out and less unhappy than I was at 25.

[Anonymous No.10922995]

>>10918501
I've been considering joining the Navy for these reasons. I did Peace Corps a year ago, which was transformative basically for the reasons you describe, and I'd like to push myself farther. I don't want to become comfortable and inert; I want to keep growing.

[Anonymous No.10923003]

>>10922995
uh bro i'm not sure you can join the military after serving in the peace corps. it's one or the other, i'm given to understand.

[Anonymous No.10923008]

>>10914392
>20
>Brazil
>Psychology's student
>The time of contempt
>Solitude is bless, going old is going more alone day by day until death and peace.

[Anonymous No.10923011]

>>10923003
Having been in the PC rules out doing intelligence stuff like working for the CIA, but I don't think it's an impediment when it comes to something like being enlisted in the Navy.

[Anonymous No.10923053]

>>10923011
oh hm. well i was intel, so maybe that's what i remember signing. and it does make sense, limiting your options in straying from your allegiance to the US once you've been down in her nethers.

[Anonymous No.10923071]

>>10914392
>26
>North Dakota
>student/ printer fixer at my uni
>Red Harvest
I still feel young. I spent about 5 years in my late teens and early twenties drinking every day and jumping from job to job, sabotaging myself every time a potentially life-changing opportunity came up. Ended up with two DUIs, completely miserable and filled with self-hatred. Then I went to rehab and got sober almost exactly two years ago. Things are better now, but I still generally feel like a directionless fuck up. I recognize that self-loathing is incredibly unhealthy and not at all conducive to improving life, but it’s become a source of comfort for me. I’m still hopeful about the future and I’ve got a lot of aspirations, but the day to day is painful.
It’s nice to see so many people doing well though. A good reminder for me to keep moving.

[Anonymous No.10923115]

>>10922513
The giants are legion. There are major and minor gods, like in any pantheon. In short, the great minds we encounter in literature will always cast shadows on our own efforts. Personally, the figures that tend to weigh heavily on my mind include the likes of Jünger, Schmitt, & Schopenhauer.

Aging has helped tear away the illusion of mastery. It’s not just age, but the accumulated time, the continual exposure and unexpected discoveries of wise men, thinking men. It harkens back to the old adage, “there is nothing new under the sun.” We are constantly striving to rediscover, with each successive generation, the nature of existence. In turn, it is our duty to capture this knowledge, to the best of our ability, and repackage it for posterity.

“Writing serves to restore unity to the consciousness of the human race, which is constantly interrupted by death, and therefore fragmentary; so that the thought which has arisen in the ancestor is thought out by his remote descendent; it finds a remedy for the breaking up of the human race and its consciousness into an innumerable number of ephemeral individuals, and so bids defiance to the every hurrying times, in whose hands goes forgetfulness.”

[Anonymous No.10923140]

>>10923053
Oh yeah? What was that like?

The perception that PC volunteers were “spies” was fairly common, although god knows why the US government would need anyone to spy on some hamlet in the middle of the woods for two straight years.

[Anonymous No.10923142]

>25
>USA, east coast
>it varies with my life, rn Valet and Concierge
> quite a few things (see below)
>It happens


Reading:
-Diophantus - Arithmetica
-Vilfredo Pareto - Manual of Political Economy
-Plato - Laws
-Hamilton, Madison, Jay - The Federalist Papers

Just started Diophantus. It can be a bit tough to understand what exactly is being said. But overall it makes sense, and is relatively easy.

Vilfredo Pareto is the hard part.

[Anonymous No.10923148]

>Age
36
>Location
Brazil
>Occupation
CS student and Balconist
>What you’re currently reading
Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
Thus Sprach Zarathustra - Niet
>Your thoughts and feelings on aging
I've learned to accept that. I'm just waiting for the day i die.

[Anonymous No.10923178]

25
Prairie Canada
Student/Web Developer
The Prince

I feel too old already. I've missed out on a lot of life experience by letting my depression paralyze me. I wish I could go back just 2-3 years and take some opportunities I missed. I threw my adolescence into video games and now I feel like all that time was wasted. I'm now aggressively opposed to wasting time and it's leaving me constantly stressed.

[Anonymous No.10923247]

>>10923140
>Oh yeah? What was that like?
Long hours. I loved it at first, and got in the best shape of my life, but everyone gets salty after a while. Got to see the inside of certain conflicts, read classified reports, and got treated like shit the rest of the time. Overall it was a good experience but I'm older now and feeling it. If I go back into service I'm straight up going to be a Navy deck hand or something.

>The perception that PC volunteers were “spies” was fairly common,
Yeah, not surprised. That's how intelligence agencies in other countries operate. And ours, for all I know.

[Anonymous No.10923251]

>>10922894
without getting too specific I'm a climate scientist grad student/research assistant. Was an engineering major before. It's a soulless field full of soulless people

[Anonymous No.10923294]

>>10923247
>If I go back into service I'm straight up going to be a Navy deck hand or something.
Why? I mean, this is the kind of thing I'm thinking about doing, but obviously you're informed by your prior experience.

[Anonymous No.10923333]

>27
>NEET, no prospects
>Living life for art, drawing pink wojaks on /biz/

[Anonymous No.10923368]

>>10923294
Because the "fun" part of the military is going out and seeing the world as a fit, carefree lad.

Army Intelligence locks you up in an office all day, then expects you to practice squad movement techniques or how to react to mortar fire. And a few years ago it was a dumping ground for GWOT vets who needed a career change. Basically the military (all branches, except maybe USCG, but especially Army and Navy) promotes bad leadership and doesn't recognize this as a problem.

Don't get me wrong, I loved serving and I love doing Army shit. But not if I'm being paid less than some Navy fuck who has fewer responsibilities AND I have to work twice as hard.

[Anonymous No.10923375]

Addundum: And there is no real Army camaraderie in this type of unit. Just typical whiny, backstabbing office workers in fatigues.

[Anonymous No.10923398]

>27
>New Zealand
>Dog sitter
>A whole bunch of my own medical history notes from six years ago
>Unavoidable reality. I don't really care. I'm more upset that my dog is becoming elderly than the fact I'm getting older as well.

[Anonymous No.10923409]

>>10914392
>30
>southern utah
>entrepreneur
>coplestone's history of philosophy book 2
aging has been both a process of dissolusionment and a slow sinking into myself. I have see the tactics and reasons for manipulation by others and have seen my own. I have seen the vanity of their goal chasing, that vain anxiety, and ive seen my own. I have discovered who is behind many of their beliefs and life decisions and ive questioned the ownness of my own choices, actions, and thoughts. Aging is wonderful, I have enjoyed life deeply, I have begun to love it dearly and have gained an abiding awareness of the shortness and therefore importance of life. Those close to me have passed, and have suffered due to their own flaws and ignorance. I have seen them being taken advatage of by others. Those I love have felt lonliness and sorrow. I know sorrow, I know the burden of sin, and I am more gentle to others because of it. Everyone is part of some family, everyone is loved by someone, everyone has felt what I have felt, therefore I have found a love and admiration for everyone and cant help but treat them like they are my mom, dad, brother, or sister.

[Anonymous No.10923417]

>>10923409
where in Southern Utah? At least it's gorgeous there.

[Anonymous No.10923444]

>>10923417
St george. Yeah zions used to be our own personal park, but now there so many tourists that its impossible to get in

[Anonymous No.10923520]

>>10923368
Any idea what it's like as an enlisted person doing photography or other media stuff? I have a background in journalism, so presumably I'd have an advantage in getting into that type of position, but I have no idea what day-to-day life for an enlisted military person who's doing media stuff looks like.

Thanks for sharing your perspective, by the way.

[Anonymous No.10923959]

>>10914392
21
Mexico, Veracruz
Physic engineering student
The pleasure of finding things out, Feynman
The non-stopping train of responsability increase scares me, i now it'll get much worse.

[Anonymous No.10924111]

>29
>Pacific Northwest
>Finishing M.A. in international studies, thinking about taking a sweet job, but it's a night shift which is shitty and don't know if I can put up with it for more than 2 or 3 months without quitting and ruining my reputation for said company, but really want the experience, it's in my field and pays well, too.
>Mythology, The Noonday Demon, and listening to The Black Swan
>Not so great. Haven't been in a real relationship since 2015!!! Used to have sex with pretty girls, not sure what happened. Was a lot easier when i was teaching English abroad, American girls seem so vapid, empty, and vain...

[Anonymous No.10924128]

>>10916303
>Enlisting with the intent to become an officer later is completely idiotic. Everyone who recommends doing this is clueless.
>If you want to be an officer and the way that you "fucked up in a lot of places" doesn't preclude that, then go straight through a commissioning program.

can you explain to us civilianfags what it means, if you're say 29 and have a college degree and want to enlist/join the air force or army and don't want to start off as a private? Does that make you look like a faggot who refused basic training or something? What do people generally do if they want to join later in life or after they have work/educational experience?

[Anonymous No.10924324]

>>10914392
>30
>Melbourne, Australia
>Senior tech doing managed IT services for tightass small businesses
>A History of Seven Killings
After rebounding from suicidal depression for the past two years, I'm not worried in the slightest about ageing. I'm still horribly disorganised and I'm still blowing heaps of money on /tg/ and (very recently getting back into) /lit/ things, but at least my diet has improved (still need to exercise though) and I feel a lot more optimistic about being able to get my life back on track. I feel like I have a lot of time to get to where I want to be in life, I just need to work on stopping my mentality of feeling that everything has a sense of urgency (though my job enforces that stress on me and I've been wanting to focus more on documentation rather than doing tech work)

[Anonymous No.10924365]

>>10914392
>26
>Sweden
>Programmer

When I became 26 this year I have for the first time in my life started to feel like time is running out. I'm not going to be young for much longer and my opportunities for changing my life drastically are getting fewer as time goes. I want to try game development but I have zero experience in it and I'm not sure I have time enough to become good enough at it to make it a living. 4 years until I'm 30 and then I have to think seriously about getting kids and I can't live at my mom's house by then, meaning I can't just take some year off to pursue some dream because I have to save money so I can move out some day.

I have zero hobbies outside of work. I've been wanting to play piano or guitar since I was 15. I own both a guitar and piano but I've made almost zero progress, I haven't even had a teacher yet. I can't get rid of the feeling that it's now too late to become really good at something that I thoroughly enjoy. Makes me wonder what the hell I was doing with all the free time I had when I was at school during my early 20s, sure I might have realized that I didn't have any talens for my dreams but at least I would have known it by now and stop wondering what could have been.

[Anonymous No.10924406]

>>10923520
How old are you?

I can only speak for the Army. Your journalism / combat camera school is at my old duty station. Nice weather (even winter kinda) and beautiful forests, and the eastern shore is nice, but the nearby areas kind of suck. As a student you won't be allowed to fraternize with cadre or permanently stationed enlisted. If you're older/have adult life experience, being treated like a child might bother you. There isn't anywhere to left off steam nearby except Baltimore and DC, and they're both trash.

Once you graduate you'll receive order to go to a unit, and that could be literally any unit in any corps of the Army. Intelligence, chemical, armor, aviation, engineers, infantry... anything. In years past you would have deployed with your unit and documented the mission downrange. Now more than likely these kids are doing public affairs or putting out official zines or something.

Because it is relatively peacetime, and I haven't checked the in-out calls in years and never seen the promotion points for that job, but I can tell you right now promotion past Sergeant will be nigh impossible. The MOS itself might not even be availble when you go to MEPS, and you'll have to choose something else or withdraw your application. Happened to me, actually. I wanted to be a Cryptologic Linguist. 0 slots available at the time. I got my second pick, instead. Instead of enduring two+ years of hell learning a foreign language and suffering in a training environment, I went to a six month school by the beach and was then stationed in paradise. It all worked out in the end, I think.

If you're really interested, go to /k/. They have a military enlistment general.

[Anonymous No.10924429]

>>10924365
26 also, same shit. idk what to do.

[Anonymous No.10924444]

>>10924365
get a guitar/piano instructor and work hard at what you want to do. stop struggling and failing all alone. give it a real try, but don't depend on it to bring in any money.

also don't go into game dev. i wasted my early 20s on that shit. if you already have artistic talent and can do concept sketches and implement them in 3d, put together a portfolio and submit it to studios but competition is fierce and kids come out of art schools for that shit.

you can do a lot if you get organized and actually work at it like a job. you will surprise yourself.

[Anonymous No.10924544]

>>10924406
>How old are you?
30. Too old for the Marines, but still in the game for most everything else.

>If you're older/have adult life experience, being treated like a child might bother you.
Yes-- I definitely would expect that to bother me. On the other hand, I feel that I've improved as a person largely through going through things that have made me miserable and that I was uncertain ahead of time whether I was capable of making it through, so that's I'm seeking more of. The US military leaps to mind as an option because it's right in that sweet spot of being pretty intimidating and uncertain but not out-and-out terrifying.

>Once you graduate you'll receive order to go to a unit, and that could be literally any unit in any corps of the Army. Intelligence, chemical, armor, aviation, engineers, infantry... anything. In years past you would have deployed with your unit and documented the mission downrange. Now more than likely these kids are doing public affairs or putting out official zines or something.
Should I take this to mean it's likely that I wouldn't be "in the field," i.e., I might end up having to spend the entire time in the US or somewhere else reasonably civilised? I really want to be out somewhere rugged again, or at least on a ship. I would not opt for something that would result in my being stuck at a base in the US.

>If you're really interested, go to /k/. They have a military enlistment general.
Thanks. And thanks for fielding my questions; I'm sure they seem pretty naive.

[Anonymous No.10924613]

>>10914392
>28
>Yurop
>Unemployed, have enough money saved up so that I don't have to work atm
>The Glass Bead Game by Hesse
>Oh boy. I don't mind aging, but I don't like what aging is doing to some of my friends. Some of them, especially my childhood friends now have families of their own, and don't want to do anything other than work a mediocre job and then go to their wife and kid. I have trouble accepting that people I've known for so long arw satisfied with so little. As for me, I somehow managed to go from a socially inept loser who women won't even look at, to that weird but 'funny'/'smart' outsider guy that women somehow end up liking, think a slavic Larry David. I have a huge stack of writing, most of which needs to be edited but the ones I've shown to people was well received

[Anonymous No.10924769]

>>10924128
Not him, but was also in the military. I guess I'm gaskun, too? Anyway
>doesnt that make you look like a fag
No, it doesn't. The only idiots who care about this shit are people with less than a couple years of service. All that matters as an officer is either your quality of character or leadership, or your ability to politically maneuver. If you wind up in a spot that appreciates the first, you'll never need the second. You are unlikely to wind up in a spot that appreciates the first.
>what do people generally do if they want to join later in life
You join. As long as you haven't hit the age limit and you haven't received a criminal record, you join. There is virtually nothing that precludes you from military service. I went to basic with a guy who was convicted of terrorist activity, and brother-flight's dorm chief was 35 with 7 kids (to be fair, he was joining the National Guard). I don't know what restrictions exist for commissioning, but the easiest way to find those out is to talk to an officer recruiter.

>>10924544
>I would not opt for something that would result in my being stuck at a base in the US.
Your ability to move depends entirely on your career and whether or not we are at war. The military was never the adventurous, rugged life-style that romanticism has made it out to be, at any point in human civilization. Most of it is humping equipment back and forth, or doing paperwork, even for direct combat related rolls. The days of getting stationed overseas and partying across a foreign country are also mostly over, as international incidents are heavily squashed in the modern realm of the U.S. not being able to drag its dick all over whoever's face we want to now. You want to join the military and actually go somewhere? Be a cop, admin, or medical. Those are the only careers guaranteed to get you around.

[Anonymous No.10924818]

>40
>deep south
>computer shit
>Decameron
The aging process itself doesn't mean anything. I wasted my life by being a lazy hedonist. Work hard, whoever is reading this, whoever is younger than me. Cut out the bullshit, sacrifice now to save later. You have time. I don't.

[Anonymous No.10924916]

>>10924818
at what age do I have time? And time for what exactly?

[Anonymous No.10925747]

>>10914392
>40+ here
>rural france (not far from varg desu)
>wannabe homesteading loser
>technical info about natural swimming pool filtration systems
>aging sucks and I'd be dead already if not for my parents, then my wife, and now my daughters

[Anonymous No.10925892]

>>10914392
>29
>London
>Comms
>Moby Dick
>My feelings veer wildly from extreme to extreme. On the one hand, I'm far happier and have much more self-confidence than I did in my mid-20s. However, this also makes me wish that I'd been where I am now five years ago.

[Anonymous No.10926659]

>>10924365
I relate to this very strongly.

[Anonymous No.10926665]

everyone over 25 should be put down

[Anonymous No.10926682]

>>10924365
>and then I have to think seriously about getting kids and I can't live at my mom's house by then
Anon, I...

[Anonymous No.10927893]

>>10924769
>The military was never the adventurous, rugged life-style that romanticism has made it out to be, at any point in human civilization. Most of it is humping equipment back and forth, or doing paperwork, even for direct combat related rolls. The days of getting stationed overseas and partying across a foreign country are also mostly over, as international incidents are heavily squashed in the modern realm of the U.S. not being able to drag its dick all over whoever's face we want to now. You want to join the military and actually go somewhere? Be a cop, admin, or medical. Those are the only careers guaranteed to get you around.
I figure if I join the Navy, I should at least be able to spend time at sea...

[Anonymous No.10927913]

>>10926665
>children having opinions
lol

[Anonymous No.10928394]

>>10926665
I wish

[Anonymous No.10928407]

>>10924544
>Should I take this to mean it's likely that I wouldn't be "in the field," i.e., I might end up having to spend the entire time in the US or somewhere else reasonably civilised? I really want to be out somewhere rugged again, or at least on a ship.
The station I'm talking about is joint service. I'm sure Navy sends their students there, and they go to their stations to do the same type of work. Public affairs, glorifying the service, documenting the missions (even if it is shoreside). Talk to a Navy recruiter about it. I'm actually in the middle of the hiring process for my dream police department but if it falls through for whatever reason I'm going active Navy. I still want that life, and it's not long until I've done 20. I can do it.

And you're welcome. You seem like a dude who would make it if he's desperate enough. In other words, someone who would be an asset rather than a headache.

posting old man music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfUSyoJcbxU

[Anonymous No.10928529]

>>10914392
>25
>USA
>Factory worker
>Bombs Away: The Hot War and From Stalingrad to Pillau

As I grow I realize that I've been more of a fuck up in my family than everyone else. I realize that all of my friends are getting married and settling down and being single is truly a drain, as well as being somewhat friendless. I have a steady job but it pays somewhat decent.
only thing I can do is pray and continue existing, I guess.

[Anonymous No.10928565]

>27
>American South
>Lawyer
>Rings of Saturn
>I have aged the perfect amount and wish to go no further.

[Anonymous No.10928580]

>>10928565
Hey I’m a lawyer. How do you have time to read? Do you also hate your job/life?

[Anonymous No.10928707]

>>10914392
>37
>southeast usa
>sales
>plan the start The Stranger tomorrow
a few times when asked how old i was after my birthday I said 38 instead of 37 so I guess I don't care. Also feel in good shape since I started running 2 years ago.
new music mostly sucks though

[Anonymous No.10928712]

26
Canadian Cascadia
Unemployed due to physical health problems
Venus in Furs

i'll let Blake speak for muh feels on aging:

I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

[Anonymous No.10928971]

>>10928580
Life is fine and the job is pretty cool. Pays crazy money so I can't complain.

Everyone has time to read. It is just a matter of prioritizing. You're on 4chan right now; you could be reading a book.

[Anonymous No.10929322]

>>10914541
Agree with: >>10914576

Would add, write your letters, memos and briefs well. There is some satisfaction in doing that.

And maybe someday when the kids are gone and you've made partner, you'll have the time to write and something to actually write about.

Keep your chin up.

[Anonymous No.10929451]

>18
>Brazil
>Part-time job on a hospital
>The Handmaid's Tale
>desu I don't care. I want to die young.