If you still remember these things, you are really getting old
‘Oh my god! Does your birth year start with 19?!’ shouted a genuinely shocked teenager my way a while back. It was the first time I felt like someone thought I was old. Aside from that time the stock clerk at Albert Heijn called me ‘ma’am’ then, but I brushed that off as appropriate politeness. This comment, however, was too heavy to brush aside in any way. The teenager in question, who was staring at me with an open mouth, threw in a surprised ‘wow!’ as a cherry on top and turned away. Snot-nose, I thought. I’m not that much older. But then I realized she probably had never heard of the Free Record Shop or the struggle of having to cram your iPod Touch, Motorola Razr, and Sony camera into your tiny bag (because what was a smartphone?) How you had to blow on your CDs before playing them to prevent your favorite Britney Spears hit from skipping.
Does your 90’s heart start to race when reading the above things? Then you probably still know the following things, which unfortunately means that you are really starting to get old now:
1. Worrying about what would happen to the world when the year 2000 arrived. Would the internet crash irreparably? Would the whole world collapse? We now know that nothing happened when the clock struck midnight on January 1st, but man, was that exciting.
2. Brandi Chastain's sports bra moment. After she scored a winning goal in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup final, she took off her shirt and ran a lap around the field in her bra. Now, no one would bat an eye at that, but back then it was so cool.
3. Waiting weekly for new episodes of Beverly Hills 90210, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Saved by the Bell. Every now and then I had a different TV obsession with an accompanying crush. I still secretly dream about Dylan McKay and Zack Morris, and you probably do too.
4. The kiss between Britney and Madonna at the VMAs, which we still can’t stop talking about.
5. Hands in the air if you still hear your mom yelling that you had to get off the internet because she wanted to make a call. The trauma.
6. The moment Beyoncé left Destiny’s Child to start a solo career and how they assured us they were NOT breaking up. Can someone tell me when they last saw a performance by this group? Exactly. This will never happen again.
7. The Simple Life, America’s Next Top Model, and Newlyweds with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, aka peak reality TV. Now I’ve already switched channels before I even realize what it’s about, but back then you couldn’t pry me off the TV with the strongest pressure washer. I thought it was gold (and I still kind of do).
8. Never going to school without Pokémon cards and knowing exactly what each card was worth (who decided that anyway?) so you could trick your classmates into giving you better cards. Speaking of The Simple Life...
9. And last but certainly not least: the Jim-and-Jamai season of Idols where we all hung a poster on our windows to make it clear who we were voting for. Okay, this actually happened in 2003, but that was twenty years ago, right, TWENTY! Do you feel old yet?
10. Madonna and Britney Spears kissing on stage
