Analog Childhood, Digital Adulthood

Maybe its inspired by some recent twitter post, maybe its a consequence of turning 44, maybe its muse. With that in mind, I am feeling a bit nostalgic. I want to talk about being a kid in the 1990s.

I started riding my bike to school in the 8th grade, it was likely a mile down the road, but that was no problem to a 13 year old boy. Road bikes a lot, often with a destination in mind and usually that destination was adventure. We would get into mischief, toss the football, sometimes box each other in the backyard, play video games in the heat of the day, and just experience life.

MTV was still relevant, if you go back far enough it was still at its peak honestly. Beavis and Butthead, actual music videos, and the dreaded seed of what became reality television; The Real World. I remember the day Kurt Cobain was found dead, I remember watching the OJ Simpson chase on my friends tv. A camcorder was such a novel thing to us that sometimes we would video tape ourselves doing stunts in our buddies living room, and even when we played old Black Sabbath and Metallica songs in our various garage bands. You found out about concerts from the radio and word of mouth in your social circle. When you went to the concerts that we liked to go to, often you found yourself within a mosh pit, unless you brought a pretty girl. In that case you stayed close to her, because after all you were still on the floor, and this was the gentlemanly thing to do.

House parties were a thing, and when you grew up 15 minutes from Bourbon St you learned about the allure of alcohol, drugs, and sex. A young man tried to strike a balance between partying too hard, staying grounded with his real friends, and balancing the love of some girls, trying his hardest to make good decisions under complicated circumstances. Girls were sexy back then, when I hit high school it was like another world. Trips to the shopping mall on weekends to go look at things we couldn't afford, talking about all of the cool cars and what kind of material items we would come to own one day. The idea of not being able to afford things in perpetuity never really existed back then, and none of us thought ourselves poor.

Once you reach a certain age, when you go do social things you can expect there will be fights. You could expect yourself to wind up in a fight, so you learned early to try and be respectful. Sometimes no matter what you did, it was going to happen. No one brought guns or knives, with only one exception...and that guy was a douchebag of the highest order. There was no internet, kids had beepers if they had anything, and usually if you wanted to find out where people were going to be on a Saturday night, you just drove until you found them.

I didn't spend a lot of time with my parents in the 90's, but we did have a family vacation during the summer. We really enjoyed camping near the Smoky Mountain National Forest. Meeting other kids every summer was a lot of fun, mostly straight edged until those final vacations around 17 years of age. A sweet summer crush with golden skin and the most beautiful shape, I mean smile. She is probably the reason I still have an affinity for a proper southern lady to this day (Mrs. Binswitch is southern to her core, and even though she has lived throughout the country, it is still undeniably there).

Video games were a lot of fun, especially during those times where you were trying not to spend every waking moment partying. I liked to have a girlfriend, and I enjoyed hanging out with my childhood pals the most. We would spend our obligatory time with our women, and then bring them home before commencing with a late nights of experimentation with various substances, a big dose of video games, and a trip to Taco Bell because it stayed open until 2am. On a Friday if you had $5 for gas, $20 for food for you and your buds, and $5 for a Goldeneye 64 rental, you were doing great for the weekend.

You could see this amazing part of your life coming to its end, not possessing the life experience necessary to fully understand the implications; just the knowledge that things would never be the same again. Slowly life starts to shift before your eyes, your first place, your best friend leaving for college, work, the gradual increase of responsibilities. Even while understanding that my childhood was coming to the end, I could never foresee what the world has become.

I might make this a series, let me know what you think about it. I don't have anything else to say right now. Until next time, Jack.

The NFT featured in this piece is #3 from the Mars Woman Collection

*The easiest way to DCA your Stacks here