Chickenpox, Pluto, and gas prices - feeling old

Each day I feel older and older. I guess technically, I am getting older each day, but there are moments when the realization of time passing suddenly strikes hard. For example, yesterday in microbiology we learned about chicken pox (Varicella zoster) and our professor told us it is now a reportable disease. When I was about 7 years old all of my friends and I got horrible cases of chicken pox. This was considered a good and normal event, because our parents wanted us to get it when we were young. A couple years after my week-long chickenpox nightmare experience, the chickenpox vaccine came out eliminating the need to go through this fortifying childhood experience. Now due to the vaccine, chickenpox is so rare it is a reportable disease, meaning that if a physician sees a case of it he/she has to notify the public health department. It seems just like yesterday that I was sitting home from school completely miserable trying not to scratch the hundred of red lesions all over my body. My, how time flies.

Chicken pox, which is apparently now a very rare disease to see. (picture from Google image search)


Another event that makes me feel old is the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet. I feel that learning about the "nine planets" was an important part of my childhood akin to learning the "ABC song" and how to count to 20. Now children learn about the 8 planets (see figure below). Doesn't it just feel so wrong? What are kids going to say, "My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine ___(nothings because Pluto is no longer a planet to make the whole 'pizza' thing work) ___"??? There is no longer anything to serve and there are no longer nine things. Educational crisis. Maybe they should focus attention on trying to teach kids how to read and do math instead of devaluing innocent celestial bodies.

To cope with my grief, I joined the group on Facebook entitled, "When I was your age Pluto was a planet." If you are going through a similar planet induced age identity crisis I strongly recommend seeking out a similar support system.

New solar system classification system (from Google image search). Apparently there are now 8 planets and 3 dwarf planets for a totally of 11. I can't keep up with it any more.

Poor demoted Pluto (from Google image search). We old timers still care about you...

Lastly, I feel old (and slightly panicked) whenever I see a gas price sign. When I started college in 2000, gas was $0.98 a gallon at the Chevron Station across from the college I was attending. I looked up at the sign and thought that I should probably bring a camera with me the next day and ask someone to take a picture of me under this sign because the price of gas would probably never be under a gallon again. I didn't bring a camera, but I was right, gas prices were never that low again.

Gas prices are even higher than this now (picture from Google image search). I think it was around $3.79 a gallon the last time I filled up my tank.