Okay, so I'm standing there in the bathroom of the Oakland Coliseum. My nose
is all red from the wind. But that's not all. What the heck is wrong with my
face? What are those, wrinkles?
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Teresa Lommatzsch just happened to be in there as I was screaming.
"I don't know, Katie. It just hit me the other day, 'I'm not one of the
*kids* anymore.'"
It's true. Teresa and I were a couple of those autocross babies. Turns out,
we BOTH grew up in the Pleasanton Fairgrounds parking lot, but on alternate
weekends (her parents were with PCA, and mine with SCCA).
Now Teresa owns her own house, and TWO autocross cars. Well, good, she isn't
THAT grown up yet.
Back to my face. I have been wearing this Clinique sunscreen DAILY. It's not
stopping the wrinkles. Never mind the wrinkles. I don't look like a teenager
anymore, and this is REALLY bothering me.
So, anyway, we stood there and gloomily faced our reality: we're NOT the
kids anymore. Oh my gosh. I might be thirty in a very short amount of time,
like maybe within this century, but possibly, remotely, much later, I am not
saying. We have real jobs and responsibilities, and people rely on US. This
sucks. Now the little superstars are Brianne Mitchell, Catherine Liao, Tony
Collicchio, Erick Van Waganen, and whoah, Derek HEAD. What is he, 12? Good
gawd, we're old.
In fact, I went out with a few of these upstarts after attending a car show
in San Francisco. We had gone out for pizza, and I said, "Okay, who's up for
going to a bar?"
"Uh, there's just one problem," said Darren Maddams. "We're all under 21?"
NOOOOO!
WE used to be the wonderkids. It was Teresa, me, Shauna, Brian Hobaugh, Vic
Sias, I dunno, so many of us. Everyone was just amazed that these teenagers
knew how to drive. Now WE'RE the grown-ups, and they EXPECT us to know how
to drive. And they EXPECT us to do all these other grown-up things, like
chair events, and even worse, ACT like responsible adults.
Yes, you SHOULD be troubled by this.
(On a side note, look who we're trying to impress. Autocrossers. It could be
worse.)
So, we left the rest room in a blue funk out into the wind and hail. I was
determined to hold on to my youth, so I decided to make a run for it. We all
know that young people just have too much energy, and darn it, I may be
nearly almost thirty within the next several months of even years, but I
FEEL like I'm twelve, and I FEEL like doing windsprints and yes, even
cartwheels!
Teresa took her time, and what's this? Who's this waiting in her Porsche?
Oh, it's Aaaaanndy McKee, giving her a ride! What is this, is she too old
and tired now to at least WALK back to the autocross!
"Well, Katie, we may be old, but we're not stupid," said Andy.
Katie Kelly
Technical Publications
SPSS Bay Area
(510)412-2812
mailto:katiek@spss.com
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Guilt slows your metabolism.
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