In the last couple years or so, I have lost a number of close friends and family and it's been brutal. The memories of spending time with these people,and the good times we had, just leaves an emptiness in me when I realize they're gone. All I hope is that they are happy in the next dimension where we can be reunited. I lost another friend, who was slightly older than I was, who played in local bands, was the life of the party but who would give you the shirt off his back and didn't have a mean bone in his body. Other than, he was an alcoholic who occasionally over did it and did sometimes become a bit obnoxious. And like so many others, it caught up to him. I made a promise that this column wouldn't be always about sadness and loss. I loved this guy- miss him, but I don't want to constantly dwell on loss and sadness. I promised to try not to.
So with that said, this isn't about that.
This is, instead, about... the mid/late 1990s.
It was a good time for me. Just out of college and everything was about partying and fun, being free-spirited, not being tied down with a serious job, a house or baggage. I'd get anxious sometimes thinking about the future but in the end it did all work out. It was about this time that I got my first real white collar office job, even though I was still a low paid "Grunt" office worker. Much like the "Office Space" guy (which came out right before the end of the '90s.)
So... some other mid/late 90's memories:
"I Just Wanna Fly. Put your arms around me baby, put your arms around me baby..."
"Livin' La Vida Loca." For a brief time, this song embodied everything about the summer of 1998.
"Beavis and Butthead." huh huh. Classic X-files. That silly Power Rangers kid show. MTV still playing music, even if most of it was stuff I found boring like Boys II Men and TLC.
There was no social media, no cell phones. You could connect with strangers on a face to face level, and more of your connections seemed deeper and less superficial. You could smile at people on the street and they'd smile back. People plugged into the moment, into the world around them, rather than what was on some hand-held screen.
There was less hate, and less push-back against tolerance, respect and love. While this darkness was always there, it was more deeply underground and more universally shunned rather than embraced.
The Denver Broncos were the NFL team to beat. Along with Brett Favre and the Packers, and Troy Aikman and Emmett Smith and the Cowboys. The Commanders weren't called that yet, and I don't think the Texans, Jaguars, Panthers, or Titans even existed yet (or not until the late 1990s at least.)
Seattle still had an NBA team.
Windows 95, Dial up modems, Shiny AOL promotional CD-Roms arriving in the mail at the frequency of maybe 2 per week. Some people even collected those. "You've Got Mail!" Ha ha.
"Heeeeeyyyyy Macarena!"
Jim Carrey.
Blockbuster video. "American Pie." "Forrest Gump." "The Phantom Menace" dissappointing long-time Sci-fi Fans. "The Matrix" satisfying long time sci-fi fans.
Lollapallooza, and later, the Vans Warped Tour.
So that's all I got, for now. I could go on but... hopefully some of you have memories of that era as well. I know it was a cliche to think it was a simpler time, but it was one of the happiest times in my life, and it's fun to look back on the good times.