Reason 1 million I feel old

I took my 14-year-old mentee out for some fine dining last night, and we were chatting about school. I told her we had gone to a concert and how cool it used to be to wear your concert T-shirt to school the day after a show. She asked me who we saw, and when I told her, she had no idea who Hall and Oates were. She also didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned:

• Doc Martens (one of my obsessions; I must have seven pairs)
• Solid Gold
• Michael Jackson being relevant (OK, I made up that last one.)

Seriously, when did I get so damn old? I was born in 1973, people. I'm not a dinosaur. But we might as well be talking a different language. Another time, we were walking around outside in the cold, and she said, "Yo, it's totally brick out here!" Dork that I am, I had to look that term up on Urban Dictionary, which revealed the following definitions:

• (adj) Very cold.
• (v) To punch.
• (n) A quantity of cocaine.

At least the kids today still say cool. A little linguistic bridge between the generations, if you will.

And another sign spring is on its wheezy way: I got my Pollen.com allergy report this morning. When the pollen gets high enough to register on the 1-12 scale, I get an email. It's at 4.7. I thought I felt stuffy. Here comes one of my favorite -- and least favorite -- times of the year.