Lunchtime conversations
Not long after college, I got a contract job testing software for Apple. (Specifically A/UX, Apple's ill-fated first version of UNIX.) I sometimes had lunch with my co-workers, but I tried to avoid it, because they usually spent the whole time talking about what I came to refer to (outside of work) as "houses 'n' spouses." The work they were having done on their houses, what their spouses were up to, what ski vacations they were going on, a whole bunch of stuff that 23-year-old Jed was entirely uninterested in.
I was chagrined last week, at lunch with my current co-workers, to realize that the three of us who've relatively recently become homeowners were having an extended conversation about the merits of various kinds of closet doors, and how much they should cost to install, and the competence (or lack thereof) of people hired to work on one's house, and so on. My 23-year-old self would've been appalled. And bored.
(But I have to admit that it's nice to have something to talk with my co-workers about; there still aren't many topics of shared interest.)
