Retro

When I was much younger, my dad would buy ‘best of’ CDs… such as Best of Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, ABBA, Boney M… and I would listen to these CDs and think to myself “these ‘classic’ songs are great”… the word ‘classic’ or ‘retro’ were used to describe those songs… and it was fine then… because I mainly listened to the ‘top 40’ hits on radio and occasionally put on a ‘retro’ CD…

Never did it occur to me that those ‘classics’ were actually ‘top 40’ when my dad was young… all I heard from my dad was how those songs were much better than the ‘garbage’ that I listened to… I just laughed it off, thinking my dad was just out of date…

Now however things have slowly started to change… the music I listened to is now considered ‘retro’… some songs, like Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana is even considered a ‘classic’!!

How the heck did that happen!?

A couple of months back, I was heading back to KL. So the band wouldn’t have a singer during that week’s jamming session… so one of the guys asked his friend to sing for that week… she looked through the song book and had not heard of most of the songs there… there were comments like “I think I’ve heard this song before… but who’s this Pearl Jam?” Obviously, she was much younger than me… what are we teaching in schools that kids don’t know who Pearl Jam is?

Now when they say ‘retro’, their talking about songs from my ‘youth’…

Then it hit me… I’m old… whenever they have a retro themed show on the radio, I find myself saying ‘aahhhhh, I know this song!! Haven’t heard it in a long time!’

Another thing is, I can’t seem to enjoy listening to songs that my nieces and nephews listen to… it’s just ‘garbage’…

OMG, I’m my dad!!! (That’s a scarier thought than the fact that I’m not young anymore).

I guess we can add ‘likes retro songs’ to the list of things that tell you you’re ‘not young anymore’…

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I have, for the last few years of my life, been afraid of losing my hair. If the hair loss is genetic, then I’m screwed! You see, my dad has been losing his hair since I can remember. An amazing fact, considering after 30 years of losing his hair, he’s still got a substantial amount of hair left. You can, however, see his shiny scalp.

My late uncle (my dad’s elder brother) only had hair around the sides of his head when he passed away around seven years ago… My cousin, who’s about 15 years older than me had started losing his hair many years ago. So if that’s any indication, then I better start worrying.

It’s not that I have really great ‘Fabio looking’ hair. It’s normal. But it’s one of those things that help to give me a ‘youthful appearance’. Some people still assume that I’m much younger… around 26-27. Heck, three years ago, bouncers at a club wanted to see my ID, thinking I was under 21! (Funny how when you were younger, you dread being asked for your ID… now you smile from ear to ear when they ask for it).

It’s not just the youthful appearance. You see, some people look good without hair. I have a friend who is ‘quite large’. He has been losing his hair since our university days. Fortunately, a bald head looks good on him because of his large size. Gives him a ‘macho’ appearance.

I’ve got another friend who is of average size. His balding head gives him a ‘mature aura’. He looks like he has fully experienced life and has a lot of wisdom to pass on to others.

Bald and skinny however DOES NOT WORK! I tried imagining it. My friends have tried imagining it. It looks BAAADDDDD!!!

So I’m now always ‘monitoring’ my hair… examining my hairline, just in case there’s any movement there. It’s not like I could do anything about it… it is, after all, genetic. I have however notice a slight upward movement in some areas… but then again, it could be paranoia.

Why can’t my dad pass down a more useful trait… such as a high confidence of himself or financial prudence… heck, I’ll settle for his better sense of direction… anything but his hair, or more accurately, his lack of hair.