What was going on when I was born?

Foreign ministers from the 10 Common Market countries failed to reach agreement tonight on an extension of economic sanctions against Argentina, which were imposed a month ago in support of Britain over Argentina's seizure of the Falkland Islands. The foreign ministers agreed to meet again Monday night, just hours before the midnight expiration of the sanctions, in a final attempt to decide whether to extend the measures. The failure represented an additional blow to Britain's hopes for an unequivocal display of European Economic Community support and a further hindrance to any major invasion, which is believed unlikely to occur while an extension of the sanctions is being considered. 'There Is Time' ''The measures taken already do not expire until tomorrow night, and so there is time for us to take a decision tomorrow,'' Francis Pym, the British Foreign Secretary, said as he emerged from tonight's 90-minute session. ''We need to take that decision, and I expect that we will.''

In this mile-square borough, the elevation is 913 and the population slightly less. Downtown amounts to a pizza parlor across the street from a pharmacy. Fresh blueberry muffins cost 30 cents and a barbershop quartet warbles in the local school on Saturday nights. The government, still known by its English title, the Board of Warden and Burgesses, tends almost exclusively to matters of street lights, recreation and the police force, which consists of one parttime officer.

International Two Argentine ships were attacked by British planes in the channel between the two main Falkland Islands, and one of the ships was abandoned by its crew, the Defense Ministry announced in London. The attacks were carried out by harrier jets from the carrier Hermes. One of the jets was struck by Argentine antiaircraft fire, but returned safely, the British said. The two ships were believed to be supplying food to the Argentine troops on West Falkland, the more sparsely populated of the two islands. (Page A1, Column 6.) The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires denied that it was guilty of any ''inappropriate conduct'' in the Falklands crisis. The unusual statement followed Argentine newspaper reports that Ambassador Harry W. Shlaudeman and other embassy officials had met with opposition political leaders in an attempt to ''destabilize'' the military junta lead by Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri. The newspaper reports had cited unidentified sources high in the Government. Argentine journalists and Western diplomats said the sources for the accusations were leading officers in the junta. (A1:4-5.)

OPEC convenes in Ecuador this week for its semiannual price-setting meeting amid strong signs that the world oil oversupply is ending. The mood of crisis surrounding the group at its last meeting appears to have dissipated. (Page D1.)

British warplanes attacked two Argentine supply vessels today in the channel between the two main Falkland islands, forcing the crew of one to abandon ship, the Defense Ministry announced tonight. The attack came a few hours after Defense Secretary John Nott said that it might be only a matter of days until Britain had to take more decisive military action in the South Atlantic. Harrier jets from the carrier Hermes carried out the attack. One of the two planes was hit in the tail by Argentine antiaircraft fire but returned safely, according to the British. Argentina acknowledged the attack, saying one ship had been set afire.

''What bothers me most is not the question of the recent British attacks but the delay in the negotiations, the refusal to accept a normal and reasonable dialogue, which is due entirely to the intransigent position of Great Britain.'' - Foreign Minister Nicanor Costa Mendez of Argentina. (A1:5.)

More than 200 General Motors buses that have remained undelivered because of a dispute over a faulty rear-door mechanism will soon be on their way to New York, officials of the Transit Authority and the company said yesterday. The officials said they had reached agreement on repairs for the buses, the advanced-design RTS-04. The authority stopped accepting the buses last month after three riders sustained minor injuries when the doors opened unexpectedly.

''The talks are still alive, but time is not on the side of negotiations.

Americcan officials said today that they expected negotiations on Palestinian self-rule to resume soon after President Reagan conferred with Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel next month. The negotiations have been blocked by Mr. Begin's insistence that Egypt accept Jerusalem as a site for the talks, and Egypt's reluctance to seem to give implicit recognition to Jerusalem as Israel's capital at a time when Cairo is trying to restore relations with other Arab nations. The American assessment that the problems probably will be resolved in Mr. Reagan's session with Mr. Begin was made known after Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. received a briefing from Richard Fairbanks, his special Middle East representative. Mr. Fairbanks was in Cairo and Jerusalem last week for talks with high Israeli and Egyptian officials. Avoiding Jerusalem Issue The United States has proposed that the talks be held in Washington to avoid the Jerusalem issue, and there are expectations that the issue will be finessed, with Washington or a neutral site being chosen, reporters were told.

Amid persistent uncertainty and mistrust, local officials are trying to reopen the shuttered apartments of Love Canal in an ambitious but contested plan to rebuild the neighborhood. Nearly four years after the toxic chemicals buried here made the Love Canal a synonym for environmental disaster, and two years after much of the surrounding neighborhood was emptied at Government expense, houses remain boarded up, some fire-scarred and vandalized. But even as officials await the long-overdue results of a $5.6 million Federal health study, more than 160 people have put their names on a list of people interested in buying homes in the area. They argue that the Love Canal area is no more risky now than other neighborhoods of Niagara Falls, built cheek by jowl with gargantuan chemical plants. 'Same Thing Anywhere Else' ''I've lived in Niagara Falls all my life and its the same thing anywhere else,'' said Joelle Leo, a 30-year-old accountant. ''I know people who live there without problems, and I know people who live elsewhere who have problems.''

When Indonesia, Hong Kong and South Korea made their first contributions to the Asian Development Bank last month, it should have been a cause for celebration. In theory, as the member nations that now rely on aid from the bank make progress, they will begin to help the other poorer members. The new contributions were thus confirmation that the development bank theory was working. As it happened, however, the bank's new president, Masao Fujioka of Japan, was too busy to celebrate. He was working furiously to make up a shortfall caused by the refusal of nations such as the United States, Britain and West Germany to maintain or increase their traditional percentage shares of contributions to the Asian Development Fund, which lends money to the region's poorest nations.

MANAGERS, Gene Mauch says, come in ''every conceivable size, every conceivable shape, every conceivable personality.'' No one, not Branch Rickey, not George Steinbrenner, has ever developed a mold from which the perfect, unbeatable manager can be manufactured. ''Every type of manager has had degrees of success and degrees of failure,'' noted Mauch, the dean of today's 26 major league managers. ''You go from John McGraw to Mr. Mack; there are no two people less alike than those two. From Leo Durocher to Walter Alston; no two people in the world are less alike. So it isn't a certain mold that anyone has to conform to. If you understand your business and your players give you credit for understanding your business and you never lose your enthusiasm for what you're doing, and you have just a normal amount of smarts, you can manage.'' Many have tried; relatively few have succeeded for any length of time. Connie Mack, born Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy, managed longer than anyone else - 53 years - but he might have lasted 50 of those years with the Philadelphia Athletics because he had a special relationship with the owner - himself.