I am told i am growing old...

There are several indications of it which have been pointedly pointed out to me... just yesterday a colleague messaged on our internal office chat.. we were talking about something.. and she used a phrase, rotflmao.. now i know rotfl.. actually i use rofl.. but i could definitely guess what rotfl meant.. but i had no clue as to what mao was.. and i asked!!!! While i did get an answer.. there was an incredulous.. "you didnt know????????" response.. and a min later people came jumping out from various nooks and crannies and pointing a finger at me saying rotflmao!!!!!!!!!! And several others joined the party and said.. well in "their" time these phrases were not there.. and "their" abbreviations are like from dinosaur time.. extinct now.. well they did not say that exactly.. but well, you get the gist.. "their" was basically yours truly and some other almost extinct mammals..

I turned 30 this year.. and ever since i did that i have been not able to forget it.. as i am reminded of it often.. apparently i have gone to the other side (the nether world) .. basically our lunch table is kind of divided into 2 groups ..by age i mean.. the mid-late 20's and the 30+!! So now i have been shoved over to the 30+ group.. in fact when we we present to clients, i realise when i say the middle -older age group people i mean me.. rather when i say youngsters like something, i definitely do not mean 30 yr olds!!!! Did i make sense there? And in a few yrs, i will not be considered as TG for most of the researches!!!!!! I will be striked out as a relevant TG unless the product is Ponds Age Miracle perhaps!!!

Then there was a young researcher award recently.. wherein the "young" researchers had to write and submit a paper!!! While i did not really want to write anything much, there was much debate about my falling / not falling in the "young" category.. there was some confusion.. and mail was sent to some global people organising it.. i mean really (even though i had no plans.. absolutely no plans of writing anything).. to check if i qualified.. and i did not.. i missed by a few months!!!! Maybe i can participate in the "old researcher" award!!!! Maybe i am in the twilight year.. and wont qualify for that as well!!!

Ho hum... i never had a tendency to put on weight ( i still dont.. ha!!!).. what i mean to say i never had a paunch.. i was always on the undernourished side.. so i used try to gain weight by eating cheese everyday.. icecream.. chocolates .. ghee etc.. but to no avail.. just before marriage my weight used to be around 42-43 kgs!!! And now, while my weight is ok... i am told my metabolism levels have gone down (age again, you see).. and hence everything is catching up with me.. got this paunch to show for it!!!

I am told i will start waking up early.. i hate to admit it.. these days i cant sleep till 1pm like i used to when in college etc.. on sundays you would never find me up in the morning.. and now on weekends i am up at 9-9.30!!! My parents are equallyastonished everytime i speak to them before 10am on a weekend.. and these days i positively need my 9-10 hrs of sleep.. 1 hour less and i am like a zombie at work!!!!

And i am told i should start taking care of my skin more... :( .. its not young and supple anymore.. oh well.. isnt it?

But hey despite all this .. i love being 30.. it is not any different from being 29 or 28 for that matter!!! And it is quite cool telling people that i am 30.. kind of like "i have arrived" in life.. who are you minions.. not seen life.. i have been there and done that... i talk down from my own lofty position.. ha!!!

I am quite enjoying it actually.... i still do what i used to do (watch movies / read/blog)..no change there.. but some traces of change..more pubbing (thats because of bangalore i think).. .. traveling (some).. not worried about spending.. rather, not penny pinching i should say.. yeah.. a good sign.. i have been looking for some change.. cant find it..

Only at times.. this once when i was talking about starting to work in 2001 in this small company wherein we had to share computers.. 4 comps shared between some 10 people at least.. and how we used to write our presentations/ proposals on paper and then give it to typists for typing.. or how we used to get reams of data printed.. everyone looked at me.. as if i came from the stone age or something!!!! That was possibly the time i felt.. yes i am older than the people around me ..

Is it very different... naahhhhh.. not really!! Nobody even calls me an aunty!!!! rofl