What was going on when I was born?

International Oil prices tumbled in tumultuous trading as traders reacted to the mounting perception that OPEC would fulfill its threat to wage a price war against other petroleum-producing countries to protect a fixed share of the market. The price of crude oil for January delivery fell a remarkable $2.28, to $25.23 a barrel, after dropping $1.23 on Monday. Less than a month ago, by contrast, a comparable contract was trading at about $29. [Page A1, Column 2.] Countries should use all types of aid, including covert assistance, to advance their diplomatic goals, according to Secretary of State George P. Shultz. In a major speech in London, Mr. Shultz sought to persuade the Western allies to support the approach being followed by Washington in such countries as Afghanistan, Nicaragua and now Angola. [A1:3.] The Nobel Peace Prize was presented to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, a Boston-based organization headed by two cardiologists, one American and the other Russian. The Oslo ceremony took place amid a controversy over the fact that the Russian, Dr. Yevgeny I. Chazov, had joined in signing a 1973 letter denouncing Andrei D. Sakharov, the Soviet physicist and dissident. [A10:5-6.] Ferdinand E. Marcos was nominated by acclamation to be his party's Presidential candidate in Philippine elections set for February. President Marcos was expected to name his vice presidential running mate in his acceptance speech today. [A3:4-6.] National A bill to require a balanced budget by 1991 advanced in Congress when House and Senate conferees agreed on a compromise.

The GAF Corporation told its stockholders yesterday that if it succeeded in taking over the Union Carbide Corporation, it would sell off close to half the company. The chemicals and building materials producer, which is based in Wayne, N.J., said it intended to sell Union Carbide's consumer products division, its metals and carbon products companies and a substantial number of its technology, services and specialty products operations. These operations accounted for nearly half of Union Carbide's $9.5 billion in sales last year. By contrast, GAF's total sales last year amounted to $731 million.

THIS country can be as mysterious as it is enchanting. So in a quest for the ultimate mole (pronounced MOH-leh), the king of sauces in Mexican cooking, it came as no surprise to discover a hall of a thousand mirrors with a secret in every corner. Mole is not the thick, bittersweet, chocolate sauce so familiar to American aficionados of Mexican food. Rather, it is as individual as the uncounted Mexican mothers who for generations have passed their recipes to their children. Mole can be so saturated with peanuts that the temptation is to spread it on bread with some jelly, but the chiles make that seem improbable. It can be so sweet and chocolaty that a scoop of vanilla ice cream seems called for, but then the strong coriander undertone makes such a combination absurd. Mole can be hot. It can be mild. It is brown; it is green; it is red. It can have a dozen ingredients or three dozen.

Stan Livingston of McFarland, Wis., tried those chewy home-style cookies that the likes of Procter & Gamble, Nabisco, Frito-Lay and Keebler have been touting. But Dr. Livingston, a 32-year-old physician and a longtime connoisseur of the homemade chocolate chip cookie, was not impressed. ''They really don't taste that good, to tell you the truth,'' he said. The problem for cookie companies is that millions of cookie munchers apparently agree. They just do not seem to believe that the cookies are as good as the ones mom makes - or those sold fresh-baked by specialized chains such as David's Cookies and Mrs. Fields.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that members of the Atlantic alliance should not shrink from using all kinds of aid, including covert assistance, to advance their diplomatic goals. In a major speech to the Pilgrims Society, a British-American group here, Mr. Shultz seemed bent on persuading Washington's European allies to support the approach being followed by Washington in such areas as Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and now Angola. Both secret and open aid is being supplied to anti-Communist rebels there in the absence of diplomatic solutions. Aid to Angolan Rebels He said that the United States and its ''European friends'' have had ''tactical differences'' over the correct mix of ''power and diplomacy.''

The House of Representatives today overwhelmingly approved a plan to assist the financially troubled Farm Credit System, a nationwide farmer-owned lending system that holds a third of the nation's $214 billion of farm debt. The House bill, approved by a vote of 393 to 32, is meant to avoid any cost to the Federal Treasury unless specifically approved by Congress. The legislation calls for establishing a corporation to absorb nonperforming loans; reorganizing the system's governing bodies, and enabling stronger units in the 37-bank system to transfer funds to weaker units.

House and Senate conferees tonight approved a bill designed to shrink the Federal budget year by year and lead to a balanced budget by 1991. Leaders of both chambers said they expected Congress to send the proposal to President Reagan on Wednesday. Mr. Reagan, in a statement released this evening, stongly endorsed the bill, although he said he had reservations about the effect on the military budget. Conflict in Priorities The President said he would propose budgets with continued increases for the military. Congressional leaders, however, have said such increases would be politically impossible without tax increases, which the President opposes, or the elimination of 30 to 50 nonmilitary programs. The proposal represents a major revision of the current budget process, which Congress established 10 years ago.

An article on Saturday about high rent's effect on the arts misidentified the school at which Suzanne Farrell and Patricia McBride trained. It was the School of American Ballet.

Companies A judge upheld the full award that Texaco is to pay Pennzoil for having used unethical tactics to break up a merger between Pennzoil and Getty Oil. The Texas judge said that interest so far has brought the $10.53 billion award to $11.1 billion. He also said that Pennzoil would not be allowed to file any liens against Texaco property during an appeal or make any attempt to collect the award without the court's permission and that Texaco would not be able to file a bankruptcy petition. [Page A1.] Texaco approved a plan to make it prohibitively expensive for an unwanted bidder to take over the company. Analysts said the company acted in the expectation that the judge's ruling could depress Texaco's stock and attract a company hoping to buy Texaco at a bargain price. [D4.] The decision shocked many analysts, who said the ruling would have a dramatic impact on the nation's third-largest oil company. [D4.] GAF said it would sell close to half of Union Carbide if it gets control. The sale would include Eveready batteries, Prestone antifreeze, Glad Bags and Simoniz car wax. [D1.]

A Texas state judge today upheld a jury verdict requiring Texaco Inc. to pay $10.53 billion in damages, plus interest, to the Pennzoil Company for interfering with Pennzoil's agreement to acquire the Getty Oil Company in 1984. The total award, $11.1 billion, is the largest in the history of the United States civil justice system, dwarfing a $1.8 billion award obtained by the MCI Corporation in 1981 in a case against the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. That award was later reduced to $113.4 million. Texaco said immediately that it would appeal the judge's decision. Under Texas law, this normally would require Texaco to post a bond of $12.2 billion, a sum equal to roughly a third of its assets. But Judge Solomon Casseb Jr. waived the requirement ''at this time'' after an agreement was reached in more than three hours of negotiations this afternoon between lawyers for the two companies.

''In the 1980's and beyond, most likely we will never see a world in a total state of peace - or a state of total war.

W. R. Grace & Company said yesterday that it would repurchase a 13.6-million-share block of its stock for $596 million, or about $43.75 a share. Grace said it would sell all of its retail businesses, which include the Herman's Sporting Goods and Channel Home Center stores, to pay for the holdings, which represent 26 percent of Grace's common. Some analysts interpreted the move as a defensive tactic against a potential takeover. The stock will be purchased from Deutsche Bank A.G., West Germany's largest bank, which is acquiring it through the bank's purchase of the Flick Group, current owner of the Grace stake.