h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It depends. How much contact have you had with someone a lot younger or older? You can't rule anything out until you have tried it. Well, of course we're not discussing five years old here, or the deceased.

"HMMMM! Sounds like a bit of a generality there! Older men go for younger women because you're only as old as the woman you feel????

Well, I haven't had experience with women *much* younger than I, because there are laws about that sort of thing. However, I did date a girl who was 7 years younger than I. Legally, she was an adult. The law is a little bit more generous in this particular situation than I would have been. As for much older, I don't fall in for that sort of thing generally. However, there was that episode with the predatory married woman. She was about 17 years my senior.

Sorry, Colonel. I know about your personal experiences. I was speaking for the general audience. From personal experience I've found it hard to relate to someone much younger than myself. The youngest I've gone with was seven years than myself too, but that fizzled out every time he would open his mouth.

I've never been with someone more than ten years older than myself, but older men hit on me all the time. Just last night I had somebody's grandpa pawing at me. Eeewwwwww.

If I were to go for someone 7 years younger than me, that would be illegal. And disgusting, come to think of it.

I did, however, once try for a woman 7 years older than me. I don't think of her being that old, though, because she still looks and acts like a college student.

And I gotta chuckle at the old guys I see who were probably ladies' men when they were my age, but now are just dirty old men. That happens especially often when I go swing dancing; there nothing quite so funny as seeing some retired guy trying to impress a girl a quarter his age what used to be dancing skills.

Now I'd like to know how old you are, because I think I could take offense to these comments.

"I don't think of her being that old..."

Seven years younger than me would be 22. You figure it out.

There's a difference (don't ask me why, this is just how I feel) between a 27 and a 37 year old dating versus a 27 and a 17 year old dating. Difference/similarity in maturity levels, maybe?

Maturity is such an individual thing, though.

Oops, that should have said, "...his age WITH what used to be dancing skills..."

Meow! Hiss, hiss!
Catty little thing, aren't you?

When I think of 7 years older than me, I tend to think of people who've been out in the "real world" for a little while, and are done with the constant moving around and change of college life.

Not the person I mentioned previously, though. She hasn't "settled down," as it were. In fact, she's still in college.

I might as well reveal that I'm 21. At the time I was going for this woman, she was 27 and I was 20. People tend to think of me as older than I really am. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard, "You're only 21? I thought you were 25 or something."

Why do you think people see you as being older?

Anymore, there are lots of "non-traditional" university students. Usually they have bad choices earlier in their life, decided to do something new and different, or follow the dream that they have always had, and now have the guts, drive, and money to pursue their goals in life. Settling down has nothing to do with it by and large. My hat's off to anyone who goes back to college later on in their life. You're never too old.

I myself would like to go back and complete my Master's Degree. I now know I made a big mistake dropping out of graduate school. It just took me six years to realize it, though.

Wait, this has nothing to do with the original intent of this forum. Sorry, all.

I have no idea why people think I'm older than I really am.

I also have no idea why that person I mentioned is still in college. I say "still" because she's been in college more or less continuously since she graduated from high school. Furthermore, she's still an undergraduate architecture student.

There are those individual cases where someone's really just wasting their money. Or with some people, their parents' money.

I don't know if I'd call it wasting, per se. I do think college is the most fun time in one's life, the time when one has enough adult freedom to have fun, but not so much responsibility (family, career, etc.) that they don't have time to enjoy it. If you've got a source of income, there's nothing wrong with living it up as long as you can. If running out of money weren't a concern, I'd stay in college a good 4 or 5 more years than necessary, just to enjoy the experience that much more. Perhaps I'd get 3 more degrees and finally find something I like to do.

Most of the people I know who take a long time to graduate are heavily involved in extracurricular activites, and put class second.

Yikes, kid. You need to get some direction and get out in the real world. It's sounds like you're using college as an extension of the 'ol nest.

The most fun time in one's life is the present. There's no point in dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. Make the most of today, but for godsakes quit goofing around in the university system.

I didn't say I was going to do that. I'm on track to finish my degree in 5 years (total), and going to be a productive little engineer.

I was saying how I understand how someone might not want to go straight as an arrow towards graduation just to get out and work the rest of their lives. If I had loads of money already available, it would buy me the time to investigate other options besides engineering, perhaps find something worthwhile and enjoyable. Engineering isn't the most exciting thing one might go into.

Which 'ol nest are you referring to? My college experience is vastly different from my home experience. Even more so now that I'm self-sufficient and financially independent of my parents.

That part about having few responsiblites, having fun, etc. Don't get wrong, I'm all about having a good time myself. I happen to live in a college town. When I see others taking years to complete an education around here, it's usually because they can't deal with the real world. They're a bunch of wetbrains who don't realize that the cold, bad world doesn't give a flying &*$# about strip mining for gold, Afro-American feminist literature, or the Grateful Dead.

I just feeling a little grouchy today, sorry.

This post has been removed.

Okay, just had to say something. Sex only goes so far. When you can't even bring up half of your life because it wa before the person you are with was BORN, this creates a problem. A sucking black hole, as it were. I myself have dated both younger and older, but not by more than ten years. At some point, there are no commonalities, and you just have sex. Which in itself is not a bad thing, but it's pretty damned hard to have any sort of meaningful relationship with only sex as a basis. Besides, what happens when you hit that wall? For men, I mean erectile dysfunction, and for women, that whole vaginal dryness issue? Is that young hot lover of yours going to stick around for those times? Or are they going to go in search of the younger-than-you? And when that happens, what happens to the self-esteem you have falsely created because you are dating someone younger? Okay, so ya'll have some brain stewing to do.

"Viagra?"

QUOTE-Hugh Hefner "Viagra is the best recreational drug ever invented"

"He's a pretty old dude!"

Viagra and KY Jelly are all well and good...what about the inevitable loss of muscle tone, etc. Surgical methods, as well as exercise and good eating habits, may delay it for a while, but really. Unless you're Cher or Joan Collins, the lines of age take their toll on those six-pac abs, and love handles sprout wings. And again, physicality aside, do you really want to be with someone for whom half of your life is a history lesson?!