How old am I?

Wow. An immaculate moment yesterday let me know once and for all that I have absolutely, positively NO connection to my generation once and for COMPLETELY all.

I have my facial with a lovely, tall, peppy creature named Sarah. She's my facial/waxing person. Waxing out of the way (demonic screams being buried in Pilo Arts's basement), we move onto my seaweed facial. Proof positive that I must be a mermaid--I dig the smell of seaweed, which makes most people gag and run screaming. As I change into my spa-approved towel/robe thingie, I look at a bunch of cds--one of them is Sade's Lover's Rock, a continual favorite of mine. I ask her to pop it in, and we proceed to shoot the breeze.

"I've been listening to Sade for 20 years," I say.

"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking, " she replies.

"I'll be 33 in 10 days," I answer. "This year will be the 20th anniversary of Live-Aid, too."

"I never heard of that group. Live AID?" she asks.

I blink slowly and concentrate on not falling off the table.

"Live-Aid, you know? Bob Geldof set up the concert for the African famine? It was viewed in every country around the world on July 13, 1985. It was impossible to miss. It's on DVD now, too."

"Wow, I'm only 2 years younger than you. I don't know that at all."

"It's a moment in history. You should get see it. It's our generation, you know." (CONFESSION: I had to keep the acid from burning my stomach when I said "our". If I remember it, and she doesn't, what does that mean?) We proceed to moisturize, steam, and glop green guk onto my face. Then the picking and squeezing begins.

I also mention how the masks in the corner remind me of the Mummenschanz from Germany, who used to appear on the Muppet Show all the time. Sarah does not know who they are, either. A mention of Shields and Yarnell also elicited a strange look. Not only do I feel like an art snob, I feel like a dinosaur despite our two year age difference.

Is two years that much? I'd like to think not. Then again, even with my fucked up family, I was not raised in front of a tv. It was only on to show me interesting things like a German performance group who put putty on their faces and toilet paper and amused audiences around the world. My world, apparently. That and books. Can't say I didn't have an imagination.

All in all, good facial. But it only shows how deeply the divide is between people my age and people that actually understand what I'm talking about, who are usually five-ten years older if not older. Yikes.

Now when people ask me, "What world are you from?" I can honestly answer it's one only I'm aware of, I guess.

Yikes.

(and happy birthday Tom! You're still the greatest teacher I ever had!!!)