Monday, December 22, 2008

Signs of Aging?

I know I'm not that old, but there are some definite signs I'm getting older. And by getting older, I mean, becoming slightly cantankerous.

For example, what's up with this?

Old interface...



New interface...

Or is it?

Yahoo keeps going back and forth. I never know what I'm going to get when I launch their site to check my email. It's really kind of annoying. I know I'm getting old, because it annoys me. This wouldn't have annoyed me a few years ago. Now it annoys me. Ergo, I'm getting old.

Yo, Yahoo! Make up your friggin' minds already. Sheesh.

Another sign I'm getting older? People wear me out. I get peopled out a lot faster than I use to.

When I was younger, I was more extroverted. I drew my energy from being around, in the midst of, and engaged with people. Lots and lots and lots of people. People, people, people. Everywhere. All the time. PEOPLE!

Now? Now I have to choose my people participating moments carefully, because people tucker me out. I still enjoy socializing and I have a great time when I get together with people--especially people I know and love--but by the end of the evening or whatever, I'm done.* I want my quiet corner, my down comforter, and a good book or crossword puzzle. Maybe some quiet music in the background.

The holidays--between Thanksgiving and New Years--leave me especially peopled out. Between the shopping and the parties and the family gatherings and the festivizing, I find myself getting to New Years and not wanting to see or interact with anyone. I want everyone to please.go.away.now.

Yep, I'm a crank.

Those four paragraphs to say that on the Meyers-Briggs, I've become an I. For introvert.

Go figure.

*****

* Please note, it isn't the people themselves who people me out as much as it's just the interaction and having to "be on" for extend lengths of time. Most of the people I socialize with are delightful, lovely folk who I love seeing and being with. There are a few exceptions, of course. In the case of the not so delightful and lovely among us, I walk away. Again, that makes me a crank.

18 comments:

RoeH said...

I have tried to use Yahoo more than once or twice. This is the one thing I get tired of. Everytime I get on I never know what has changed in the last...mmm...48 hours. Or so. I closed my yahoo account yesterday which was no easy task.

Gilahi said...

One word: iGoogle. I got so incredibly disgusted with Yahoo, first when they added advertisements to their IM and later when they just couldn't leave their freakin' MyYahoo homepage alone. I, along with many other people, sent them a nastigram, informed them that I was moving to Google, and then did so. Thing is, they couldn't care less. They're unresponsive and couldn't care less about their users. No wonder they're going under. Gmail is better than Yahoo mail. The Google Reader is a better blog reader than Yahoo's. Their phone interface is better if you ever access the web on your phone. I'll never go back to Yahoo.

lacochran said...

From one "I" to another: I suggest giving yourself a time out. Quiet is bliss.

Anonymous said...

Lucy: Oh, the hours we spend on this stuff. Wouldn't you like to get them back? I would. *sigh of empathy*


Gilahi: I signed up for Gmail a year or so ago and 99% of my inbox is spam. It's worse than AOL. I suppose I should check out iGoogle more closely. Maybe I missed something. (I can be slow that way.) *sigh of exasperation*


LA: Quiet time is bliss. *sigh of contentment*

Katherine said...

And this year, the Peopling is even longer, what with the Inauguration and all...

Also, did you turn on your Gmail spam filters? That catches all the "enlarge your man parts" emails.

Anonymous said...

Katherine: Good point. Ugh.

And yes, my spam filters are on. But the volume of spam?! Oy. 236 spam messages in my spam folder today! I mean, seriously? Who needs that many enlargements of their man parts?!

Cele said...

I have noticed the older I get the less I....
1) embrace change
2) like noisy place/people/things in general
3) endure idiots

The older I get the more/less patient I am depending on the situation.

The older I get the more I love my quietness. And I never get invited to holiday parties so I don't have to deal with much loud craziness. And yet I still get people-out'd.

Wicked H said...

Have you ever considered that Yahoo is the cranky old one? Is it not Seniors who cannot make up their minds thus waffling back and forth?

Hmmmmm......

Anonymous said...

I quit yahoo once, too. But their spam filter IS good, and they don't keep track of where you surf like iGoogle does.

So I'm back with yahoo. But also what I hate about yahoo is that stupid advertisement for wrinkle cream that pictures a woman's face crackling and crinkling into a hell-hag face, as if wrinkles were the worst thing that could happen to somebody.

Now, that makes me cranky.

RoeH said...

I have a lot of spam with iGoogle but it was my own fault. I got into a site and put in my address. StupidStupid. So the next day I have about 300 spam. It irritated me to heck at first and I wanted it gone but I finally put it on automatic delete after so many and I'm happy now. From about a 1000 per 24 hour period it's down to about 200. I wish they would do a better job of filtering it. I'm sure they could.

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

Cele: I think we have the same list. Quiet is a much-sought-after commodity as I get older.


Wicked: Touche!


Anon: That wrinkly hag ad creeps me out! (And it offends me, but that's a whole separate blog entry about the evilness of advertising.)


Lucy: The only thing Spam is good for is making sandwiches.

Jess said...

This is weird. I always get the first screen. The second one looks like the main Yahoo page and not the Yahoo Mail page. But maybe not?

RoeH said...

No thanks. I tasted Spam in a fried form in the fifties and I'll take starvation.

foundinidaho said...

Amen to the Yahoo thing. I am getting old.

I've always been something of an I, with sometimes flashes of extrovertism (new word!), but the older I get, the more introverted I get. Which makes me dread that crowd in London New Year's Eve, but it's my own damned fault, so must deal with it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(Or Happy Holidays, if that better applies).

Scenic Wheaton said...

I know what you mean about technological change. I had a complete anxiety attack after I changed my email from yahoo to gmail.

Anonymous said...

Jess: It is truly a mystery. All I know is, I never know what I'm going to get when I type in "yahoo.com" in my browser.


Lucy: I'm with you on that page, my friend.


FII: If you're an introvert with a smattering of extrovertism, then I guess that makes me an extrovert with an chronic case of introvertism?! I don't know. What I do know is, I'm not sure I could do New Years in London or New York's Times Square. I'm not a big fan of huge crowds. Does that make me a phobic of some sort? Anyway--Merry Christmas!


Scenic: It's ridiculous, isn't it? And we're not even that old! (Well, I am. But you're not.)

Anonymous said...

Weird how people's experiences differ, eh? I am not a Yahoo fan at all. And I switched to Gmail over a year ago now -- and I seriously get one or two spams in any given week. And they go straight to the spam folder, too -- so I don't have to deal with them.

- Di

Maya said...

Ditto. I rarely go places with mobs of people anymore. Just Too Tiring!

I can usually handle one on one interactions much better. That is not quite so overwhelming.