Lockport Union-Sun & Journal — A wise man once said “The new millennium is just the best parts of the 80’s done over again.” This is an especially persuasive theory when one realizes that the Hall and Oates classic ‘Out of Touch’ was released in December 1989 and thusly, just makes the cut.

For those of you who have forgotten, or were never acquainted with the upbeat ‘Rock and Soul’ styling of the Pennsylvania duo, the song is a classic piece of 80’s goodness but the chorus of ‘Out of Touch’ is a statement that rings true through the ages and has felt especially relevant to me in recent days; “You’re out of touch, I’m out of time…” The rest of the song is pretty much gibberish (sample lyric: “Waking up to fantasy…Broken Ice still melts in the sun”) but the chorus resonates with me.

Out of Time: No matter how easy the people on Good Morning America make it seem, squeezing extra time out of my day to clip coupons or grow my own tomatoes in a shoe box, or whatever fun project they’re promoting seems almost impossible.

By all accounts I’m not even that busy; I work regular hours, I get weekends off, I don’t have any kids or pets, yet at the end of the day I’m typing these articles on my phone while I wait in line at the bank and I don’t have enough time or energy to take on normal projects like getting my college loans consolidated or taking all of the empty coffee mugs out of my car.

I couldn’t imagine how hectic life would be if I had actual responsibilities. You expect me to get the kids on the bus, go to work, buy milk, come home, and use my free time to watch my favorite shows? All in the same day? Sounds impossible to me.

Out of Touch: I’m going to let you in on a secret; I have no idea who won the most recent seasons of Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. A shocking admission that I am sure may take some time to get over, but it’s the truth.

When you’re in school you wonder how it’s possible that your parents and teachers don’t know a majority of the songs on the radio. When I was young I remember being shocked that my pediatrician didn’t know any Hanson songs outside of “Mmmbop,” I met adults who couldn’t name any of the Spice Girls, not even Ginger, but look at me now; no I haven’t heard ‘Boyfriend,’ since when does Justin Bieber Rap?

During your childhood nobody really explains to you that as an adult you’re not only expected to work and manage a schedule and pay for things but people will assume that you’ve put some effort into keeping up with what’s going on in the worlds of sports, news and pop culture.

Every day of every year is full of responsibilities, every season sports teams have new player rosters to name drop in conversation. No, I haven’t started teaching myself Spanish in my free time, I haven’t found a way to schedule more of said free time and my loans are still not consolidated, but not all is lost.

One thing kids don’t tell you about having free time; it’s super boring. Have you ever tried to grow a shoe box tomato? It takes forever. Everyone is busy, and being an adult is harder than it looks in sitcoms, but current adulthood is a small price to pay to have been a child during the Days of Hall and Oates, those guys were awesome.

Vincent Davis II is a Cornell graduate, DJ, and market development specialist in the IT industry. His column appears on the second and fourth Friday of every month. He can be contacted at vincedavis06@gmail.com.