I'm starting to hate hanging out with women my age.

I don't want to hear about how you micromanage your teenage kids. I don't give a rat's ass if your kid wears designer clothing. The fact that your kid bought their way into school doesn't impress me.

Shut the hell up and talk about something real. I am not impressed. Aren't there any middle aged women who don't care about superficial crap?

but maybe middle aged women don't consider their kids to be "superficial crap".

I could be wrong...

Kids arent special.

A couple of attractive middle class women having lunch at the bar next to me. I was shocked to hear what they were talking about. It was worse than teenagers. They dedicated at least 15 minutes to what their kids were wearing for the Summer and another 10 to Adam Lambert with a small side conversation about carpet and drapes.

I guess we really are all devo.

DOES THE CARPET MATCH THE DRAPES?!!? :)

Or were they talking about the carpet and drapes (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more)? :shrug:

x's 10

we are devo

:D

they watched a lot of TV and were very focused on superficial material crap. That crosses many generations these days, unfortunately.

I have a lot of young guys working for me and their conversations consist of: women who are hot, cars, women who are hot, cars, women who are hot, new cell phones, cars, computer stuff, women who are hot, cars and so on.

...these women are in two camps:

1.) The vacuous, popular bitches from high school who still remain vacuous and bitchy--but now they have tons of money,
they're on the school board and they make sure that their children are as popular, vacuous and bitchy as they were.

2.) The wanna-bees in high school--who never quite made it into the popular groups, but desperately wanted to. They
grow up and *become* vacuous and bitchy--and hell no, NO ONE is going to knock them down out of the inner circle
status that they were denied in high school.

Both groups contain nightmare women, but the women in group two will tear your face off.

my middle aged female friends and I talk a LOT about rock bands. Also issues with other friends, our lives, pets, politics, and how we can all save enough to travel to more shows. We all hate shopping, never talk about room decor, and we all love going out to eat or watch silly movies. We're weird women though and have sick senses of humour. ;)

often ones I don't like.

Having friends means hearing pointless crap from time to time. I'm sure they've heard their fair share. :shrug:

I have a few female pals, but most of my social outlets are male or they are wives of men I get along with. It always seemed to me like the women I met were into crap I could care less about or else they were just too catty and bitchy to deal with.

I asked my husband one time how in the hell men put up with women outside the bedroom and he laughed because he knew exactly what I meant.


Laura

LOTS of women out there looking for interesting, well-rounded contemporaries to chum around with.

A good female friend is a gem.

They are about as rare as a top quality gem, too!

The women here at DU, typically tend to be not quite the same as the general population--you DO realize that--right?

I work in a government office in a professional/technical capacity. This is an office where the population is dominated by a female clerical staff. There is not a DAY that goes by that I do not encounter women sitting around talking about the latest American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, or swapping gossip about each other.

I do not have an issue hearing about the kids or the latest boyfriend drama, but I am totally NOT interested in hearing about the cat fights and spats that are going on in that office or in OTHER offices. I don't WANT to know who answered more phone calls yesterday, nor do I give a crap if somebody walked out of the break room to take a phone call on their cell phone.

The sheer cattiness and the vapid nature of some women just leaves me horrified that I might be viewed as somehow LIKE them.

I enjoy sitting on the stoop having a beer or two talking politics. I enjoy talking about books or movies, food, current events, sports, kids, music, the education system, real estate, the stock market--pick your subject as long as it isn't about other people's business or behavior!

I think a lot of women are often just plain evil to each other for no evident reason, and that just leaves me cold. I have seen men do it too, but somehow it just doesn't seem as widespread or as deeply rooted in the culture.

YMMV.


Laura

...completely intolerable.

I live in the suburbs, and most of them are God-obsessed but they lack basic decency. They're whiny, materialistic,
ruthless gossip hounds who are highly competitive and two faced.

I tell ya though...the really cool middle-aged women that you meet--who don't act like this---are total gems! It's
so nice to meet someone who is in their 30's, 40's or 50's--who isn't a vacuous, religulous fake.

Funny...the guys around this age group are very cool and mellow, for the most part.

We have plenty of friend in our age group over here (we are 57, and our friends range mostly
from early 40s to early 60s). NONE of the women are in the least religious, whiny, materialistic,
highly competitive, gossipy or two-faced.

It sounds like you need to expand the geographical boundaries of where you hang out.

Whoda thunk it?

I'm 44 and I have no straight female friends in the State I live in. I have several single middle aged female friends in other parts of the country, and one married on with kids-but my relationship with her is strained. She only talks about her boys (who are completely out of control future inmates), and clothing-especially shoes. It baffles me because we were both tomboys growing up together and she's always been quite liberal. I just don't know why she has changed so much in the past ten years. :-(

I can hang with the guy I met and talked with about politics and finance at Starbucks, select friends 'here,' and that's that!

i've always related more to men than women.

never, never, NEVER take women for granted. :sarcasm: ;)

But I do have a teenage kid. She thinks I'd be happy as an Amish since we don't have internet, Ipods, and all that stuff I can't afford. We like to wear jeans and t-shirts. So let's get together after work for a pint of ale, eh'?

Mostly because we don't have/want any.

And yes, we're way old. I'm 44.

>And yes, we're way old. I'm 44.<

I hang around with other romance authors. We talk about crap like plot, characterization, the work in progress, who signed with whom, whose sales are up, men, and if there's any time left, we talk about sex.

I kid you not.

I'm 48. We never had kids, either.

My women friends - ranging in age from 20s to 60s - are great: we talk about writing, politics, sex, writing, music, writing, sex, books, writing, sex, travel, writing, movies, writing, sex, writing, pets, writing, sex, writing, history, writing, sex, writing, food, sex, science, writing...

And sometimes we talk about writing about sex!

I am 29, talk about the same stuff and have made a decision not to have kids. If I do get married I am looking for a DINK (double income, no kids) situation.

I wonder if there is a connection between not wanting kids and devoting your intellectual pursuits to more artistic or global issues. Maybe people feel kids will hold them back, I don't know.



EDIT:

On another note, one of my good friends at work is a 56 year old woman who doesn't have and never had/wanted kids. She had problems with a mental illness when she was younger, and she used to be a hippie. We have decent discussions about serious issues (personal issues, metaphysics, social issues) all the time.

There are older women with decent personalities, you just have to find them. I think people who know the sting of pain, rejection and humiliation are the ones you want to look for. Its harder to be obsessed with social status when you realize how fickle it is.

I'm the only one of my female group of friends in the area that has a kid and she loves to come along and hang out with them! We always have fun - and I'm 44 too. Way, waaaaaaay old!

I don't have kids so I often can't relate to women my age (late 40s).

I guess that means we're pretty fucked

And I'm 43 & a mother of 2 daughters, 5 & 7 years old.

So many of the women I know care most about their nails, American Idol, & the latest sale at Macy's. I have no interest in any of that. When I do discuss my kids, I tell them about how proud I am that my older daughter is a budding scientist & straight-A student, & my younger one is the star of her gymnastics class. Never about clothes. And they look at me like something must be wrong with me.

I would much rather discuss football or the Stanley Cup finals with the guys!

So there are moms out there who aren't vapid & shallow, just for the record. (Of course, I was a geek in high school.)

Peace.

:hi: I will make the beverage of your choice, give you my favorite blanket to snuggle under, and talk and listen the day away!

My friends are cool. But we do tend to talk about classical music a lot, if that bugs you. :hi:

I can talk about it all day long...especially with people with music degrees. They know more about it than I do, which means I learn new things!! :hi:

:hi:

Piano player, fiddler and singer here!! :hi:

I use "fiddler" to refer to anybody who plays classical violin, viola, cello or bass.
It's easier than saying "violinist". :D

That's where my grandfather came from. He moved to the DC area to be a cop.

Fiddle works for me. It's the same instrument... :toast:

I went to the Polka Fest last year to see Brave Combo, my favorite band. They played there this weekend. I didn't make it this year, though.

Very cool. I live in a place where you peel off I-45 at Corsicana & go SE for a ways...

My BF is an electronics genius and guitar player (Engineers rock!).
He makes CDs and DVDs.

I just thought of a very weird reggae song I could orchestrate for string quartet.....I'm weird. :D

here.

And aside from the occasional "Oh Look how nice Michelle's Dress is".. we are pretty focused on more important fare.

Which is one of the reasons I hang out here so much.

At no point in the sexual experience do I wanna hear...

"You wanna do....WHAT?"

You never get that from middle aged women. Chances are they have at least heard about it, if not had it done to them more than once.

Dull people are dull regardless of age. Interesting people are interesting regardless of age. It takes all kinds.

:eyes: and say that men have dumb ass conversations too! :o :wow: Amazing!!

Not me, of course, but other men... :D

:hi:

RL

SPORTS! SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!

They're engineers and computer nerds. And they can fix things. :D

Real men only love SPORTS!

I wouldn't hang around that crap, either. I would be showing off the jeans I just bought at Goodwill, and btw, my daughter had to get loans for college as I can't afford to pay her way.

I would call you if I learned Kroger had skinless, boneless chicken breasts for 1.99/lb and offer if you were too busy to pick you up a pkg or two.

Needless to say, I don't have time for that superficial shit, either.

But I'm holding on to her permanently, period.



If you know someone who is good at cloning, I'll consider donating some of her nail clippings.

and I say that as a woman. :D

This one was from when we were 29:


She was, and is a cutie, indeed. My luck that 1.) she is nearsighted,
and that 2.) our daughters inherited a lot of HER genes.

you're both lucky!

She'll change when she's good and ready, I guess.

There are always the minor things, like getting cancer and going through a year of treatment,
having and raising two girls, taking care of her father who died of Parkinson's, taking care
of her brother who just died of brain cancer, beginning arthritis in her hands, and, especially,
putting up with me for 35 years. If you look closely, she doesn't really look 29 any more (more
like 39 LOL).

But she's still with me and still has that smile that melted me into silly putty so many years
ago, and there is no greater luck in the world than waking up next to that smile every day.

One morning at about 4:30, when I had to run off to Brussels or some such place, she grabbed me
before I could crawl out of bed and repeated (in English, no less) the line from "Young Frankenstein"
when the monster crashes through the door of the blind man's shack, and the blind man calls after
him: "Wait! Where are you going? I was gonna make espresso!"

I'm only along to make up the rest of the "couple."

But I'm not complaining. 35 years ago this summer, a
mutual acquaintance leaned over to me in a folk cabaret
and said, "you should meet my friend, here." I took one
look and thought to myself, "oh, yes, indeed I should!"
She is nearsighted, so luckily for me, she did not take
one look and think to herself, "I have to get home and
wash my hair!"

which is really a lot harder than it sounds....

Most people you run into everyday never developed mentally beyond high school.

mark

ADDED: you might want to PM some people here - there are a lot of interesting, worthwhile people regularly at the Lounge who would be very happy to talk online...

like, totally, have to text guys constantly, the losers they meet on facebook who only seem to ask them if they wish to be dominated sexually by men. :eyes: plus I will not sign up to be rated on "hot or not".

(my friend, she's learned NOTHING from her divorce from a total creep)

I'll admit, I have a youthful outlook (ready to try new experiences, enjoying the ride of life, etc) but getting nipple rings and jeans only teenagers should wear is a tad extreme.

I want to evolve as a human being, travel, develop my creative talents, develop relationships with interesting, unique people. I DON'T WANT TO BE A TEENAGER ANYMORE AND FRIENDS WHO DO ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF ME!!!!!

but I digress......

I'm tired of hearing from the Mommy martyrs as well. Their kids are late teens and early twenties and they STILL cater to them.
They never seem to realize their darlings seem quite annoying to the rest of the planet. :)

I know what you mean. When the women start talking about child care details, that is the time to tune out and go hang around with the other men--unless they are talking about sports, then I'm pretty much screwed.

C'mon over! (if I'm not too old to hang with you!!!)

Men have been more interesting to me all my life. It just seems like a lot of women care about a lot of stupid, stupid crap.

Many of them are hereabouts.

:rofl:

How bloated they feel.....how they have to go all the time. And I hate how they belch constantly.

;) Seriously, if anything REALLY pisses me off about women, it's this.

I'm 44, don't have kids, been working at home for five years. Before that when I had to be around other women my age and they'd yammer on and on about Suzie this or Johnny that, I'd just roll my eyes and put on my headphones. Always got me a reputation for being a real bitch, which I did not mind in the least.

Wait, "Hell" is a bad word... let's try "Utah" instead.

I'm lonely as "Utah".

I'd say "Idaho" except there's a bit of a double-entendre in there... O8)

no kids and I am NEVER boring

:)

I'm 52 and dating an airline pilot and a SWAT guy - heck, the SWAT guy says I am more elusive than any target he ever had :D