What really happened to Generation X

Generation X, with their 90s angst and cynicism, brought a faux-generation gap that got everyone listening. At its inception, Gen X was the generation to be in—you know, with their REM, Alanis, and Nirvana; with their long hair, tattered jeans, and flannel; with their spray paint, mix tapes, and guitars. The generation was rebellious, slightly intellectualized, at the brink of the Internet age—and everyone (including themselves) thought they were going to change the world.

That is, until Gen X turned 30, realized they needed real jobs and had babies. Hampered by their cynicism, they failed to get beyond their angst and influence the institutions they loathed. Instead, today, at their corporate McJobs, they use the time they have after five p.m. to reminisce the good ‘ol days

-- From Pepe Diokno's article at the Philippine Daily Inquirer

You shouldn't believe everything you read, especially on the world wide web.

However, there are times when the words just dig in to you like a punch in the gut. And you end up copying and pasting these same words on your blog just to let everybody know your feelings on the subject.

Behold, my 30's! A new saga begins...

I officially turned 30 years old a few hours ago.

If I were to date a girl 5 years my junior and her friends found out how many summers I've spent, they'd frown and say "He's a bit old though, isn't he?" Jump back in time to yesterday and the answer would have been quite different, "Oooh! He's 29! When do we meet him? I always liked older guys." This double standard is quite funny, especially when you're 29 and the butt of the geriatric jokes is a 30-year old colleague at the other end of the dinner table. It's not so funny anymore when you realize you're the 30-year old guy yourself.

It is a bit depressing to note that a single iteration in age can change people's impressions on you as a person. 29 is ok; you still have a vague impression of yourself as being in your youth and your friends and colleagues seem to think the same way or at least you're hoping that the girls do. 30 is not so ok; you are old, nobody in their 30's is still considered to be in their youth and the fact of the matter is, young women (in their early twenties, hopefully) tend to look elsewhere when faced with a prospect your age.

I apologize if I had girls (or at least my impression of their impression of myself) as the focal subjects of the two paragraphs directly above this. I had to vent out the frustrations that I'm pretty sure my ego would feel the moment this "iteration in age" becomes quite apparent to everyone else (or all the other young chicks, whichever comes first). Don't get me wrong though, I have a girlfriend that I've been with for over three years already and I'm pretty happy about it.

It's just that I always had this belief that made my ego feel good.

Regardless if I was off the market or not, I always thought that out of a hundred girls I'd get to meet, there would always be 1 or 2 (or 3?) who would be infatuated with me or at least find me attractive. The ratio would, of course, go up or down depending on my mood that day or the amount of alcohol I've consumed. Generally speaking, this number was fine for me and fine for my ego. A geek such as myself would find the ratio very acceptable. And quite flattering, frankly speaking, when the narcotic illusion is established that this number is actually a conservative estimate.

Now that I've turned thirty and jumped the shark, I fear my ego would need to be recalibrated to accept new realities. My above musings on the subject could perhaps be my way of trying to handle such a crisis.