72 years after Poland invasion (ASD-related, I promise.)

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Wow, it's been awhile since I started a thread in here.

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939... and now it's seventy-two years later.

It happened fifty-six years before I was born, but I still find it hard to believe that it's been seventy-two years because sometimes I just get so immersed in that time period by means of literature, film, etc.
Sometimes it just feels so... real.
Same with Kennedy and his presidency; it was a special interest of mine for around seven or eight years, and it's hard for me to believe that it's practically been half of a century since he last walked the earth (partly because it had been a bit over forty when I started being so interested in him/his family/his administration, and partly because I would get immersed in that time as well.)

I always remember this anniversary, though, even though my ability to remember dates with 100% accuracy is diminishing due to interest in other things.

And now it gets to special interests...
Do you ever feel that way about them?
I know we all get immersed in them, so I should probably elaborate.
If it pertains to anything that happened before the present, do you ever feel like it just couldn't have been that long ago, even if you weren't around during that time?

Sorry for not being all that articulate; I hope that someone might understand this.

I immersed myself so much in trivia about World War 2 that it was always easier for me to have something to talk about with members of that generation than with my own. When I met veterans and they told me what type of tank they drove or what ship they were on, I could contribute details of that tank or that ship to the conversation from my immense store of knowledge about the events, people, technology and culture of the World War 2 period.

On the Red Baron's birthday every year I used to calculate how old he would be if he were still alive. Since he was born in 1892 though, that has been a ridiculous exercise for at least the past twenty years. I pretty much stopped doing that in the 1990s. JFK was also one of my childhood heroes, although his reputation has tarnished some over the years. I did things like memorizing his inaugural address, even attempting to copy his accent. I used to have a lot of Kennedy memorabilia: books, vintage magazines, wall hangings, etc. Most if not all of these were gotten rid of during my last move (May 2010) when I had to move all my possessions without having a working car.

I have been so caught up in the history of the atom bomb and Soviet espionage that I still think the Cold War is going on.

I'm still waiting for that next Seldon crisis.

I understand what you're saying JM, because I have experienced it but with something totally different, while researching my ancestry and reading different things my ancestors wrote about during and around the time of the American Civil War, I got so caught up in their lives and all that was happening to them - some of which was really tragic. Then later, I realized how long ago it was from the time I was doing the research and it was so strange because it didn't seem that long ago to me at the time, it's weird. I did the same thing when I was tracking and researching some other ancestors who came to America at the turn of the century. The realization of time makes me feel so small and insignificant.

It has little to do with ASD or special interests, and has everything to do with age.

Am about the same age as the OP.
When I was a little kid in the sixties I had appointments at the dentist that took longer than the entire Bush Administration, and sat through church services that took longer than the entire Clinton administration.

I understand what you're saying. I can remember some things taking forever as a child, like you mentioned. And I know the older you get the faster it seems time is passing. But I'm at least twice the age of the OP and it was only a couple of years ago when I experienced what might be the same issues with time as JM. So I'm not sure that were talking about the same thing.

I have to remind myself that we haven't invented warp drives yet.

Oh, I hate that. When I was really into Doctor Who I would bring up time travel as though it was a common mode of transport.

I don't think it has to do with age but that we get so absorbed into our special interests that we begin to forget what's going around us.
I have to remind myself to watch the news once in awhile just so I know what's going on in this crazy world.

Exactly what I do.

OH!
I missread the OP. I thought he said he WAS 56- bout my age.


Instead of being my age he could be my grandchild.
So we really arent talking about the same thing.

But being absorded in a period that you find fascinating is perfectly fine.

And as Faulkner once said "the past is never over. In fact the past isnt even the past." So being long ago does not necessarily mean it is not relevent.

When I was around thirty I was constantly forced to educate the oldsters about thier own time before I was born.

Like the one older guy in church who said "world war two was short compared to world war one".

I told him it wasnt- world war two was six years long, and wwI was only four years. He seemed shocked and said "I didnt know that."

"She."

So regarding the OP, when I was in high school - 16-17, World War II aviation and naval history consumed my life. I devoured everything I could read on the subject (and sadly misplaced my copy of B.H. Liddell Hart's history of World War II before I finished it).

I don't remember that I talked to many people about this interest, but I recall even picking up World War II strategic and tactical wargames - the best, I think being one called "Air Force," with the expansion "Dauntless." Sadly, I lost both of those in a move.

Also, when I first met my biological father, I ended up spending several hours on his computer doing dive-bombing runs on Japanese aircraft carriers. He had some WWII flight simulator (Warbirds? I forget, this was in 1988 or so). I remember getting people to play a lot of Axis & Allies - none of the other games were short enough for people to really want to get into them.

The interest isn't as strong as it used to be, but it's still there. Recently I watched Valkyrie two days in a row (it was on some cable station or other) just because it was about World War II.

I designed my own world war two naval war game ( inspired by games I had played-niether totally originally nor totally not original) back in the late seventies- complete with board and dice and crude moveable pieces of card board to represent ships. Had rules about accuracy and armor penetration torpedoes, airial bombs, etc. Was totally addicted to it for some years.

@ NaturalPlastic, 56 years old, I hope not, that would make me 112 years or older.

It could be, but maybe we just don't know it.

[/end conspiracy theory]

Somewhere in amongst my stuff I have Task Force Games' Battlewagon. I know I played other naval games, some of them much more fun and streamlined than Battlewagon, but right now my brain is producing no information.

I don't recall anything that had a good way to portray carriers and their aircraft. Like, I think Battlewagon just ignored aircraft entirely and kept it ship to ship.