Sometimes I miss the old days.

[starfish]

Don't get me wrong, my life is great right now. Though sometimes, I miss the old days. Back about 10 years ago.

Specifically with my computer hobby. There are so many little things I miss from then. Like the computer flea markets. Most are gone, and what few are left are just retail vendors selling standard PC parts. I miss going from table to table and then finding some esoteric part. Going home and spending a week to get it to work.

Then the early days of Linux. I remember when the 2.0 kernel was a big deal. The half a day it would take for my system to recompile a new kernel.

The internet was a much different place back then too. Kind of wonder what happened to some of the people I used to chat with.

They disappeared and resumed their lives, hopefully. I oft wonder that myself.

"What happened to those people I bonded to playing online games? Those faceless characters who's voices I only remember on off days my memory serves well?"

"I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all."

I miss those days too. It's true about never knowing what's gone until it's actually, well, gone. Same can be said for ignorance and responsibility.

[Lexington]

I've found myself "living in the past" a bit more often than I used to. And it's not in a "things are so much better back then" way, really. But you know how when you got to a restaurant, and they say "by the way, we're out of cheesecake", suddenly, the cheesecake sounds really good? Same thing. Once the option is gone, and you can't experience it anymore, I start wishing I could.

A couple examples I've been thinking about:

* There was a small shopping center (not really a mall) near where I grew up. One of the stores there was a Woolworth. I think they're still open in the UK, but they've been closed in the US for almost a decade now. Hard to describe the store if you've never been. Maybe split the difference between a 7-11 and a Target. Anyway, the one near me had this counter for T-shirts. You could buy a plain T-shirt, and they had these iron-on designs - pictures, backgrounds, and letters/numbers in various fonts and colors. And I used to go there and look at them all. Because I felt somehow I could design the perfect shirt. Get just the right picture with just the right words spelled out in just the right color and font, and it'd be just amazingly super cool. Never did make one. Now, of course, you can design a shirt and use any artwork you please, and spell it out in 1000 fonts with 256 colors. But it isn't quite the same as marching down the Woolworth and pulling the letter P (in round font with sparkles on it) from a little drawer.

* Malls in general. It's easy to lump this into 80s nostalgia with Culture Club, but it really was an integral part of our lives back then. The mall nearest me when I was a teen was pretty standard. A few anchor department stores, arcade, music store, Orange Julius, you name it. And "going to the mall" could mean a bunch of things. It could mean "time for back-to-school shopping". It could mean "wasting an afternoon with friends". It could mean "having money burning a hole in my pocket, and off to find something to spend it on".

Me being me, I'd spend much of my time at the music store. Staring at the Billboard pop singles chart they'd tear out and post on the wall to see what songs were doing well this week. Flipping through the sections of my favorite bands to see if they had anything new. Going to the "cutout bins" to see if there were any bargains worth getting. Then I'd get a drink somewhere, and then maybe hit the clothing stores to see if I could find that elusive T-shirt I thought I'd really love. Or swing by the arcade and waste a couple quarters on Asteroids Deluxe or Pengo. During the holiday season, they'd bring out these animatronic displays of elves painting toys and what not, and spread them all through the mall in between the small fountains. I'd go to the "Giving Tree" and pick a name off - some random needy child who would write what s/he wanted for Christmas on a paper ornament. Then you'd buy that gift, wrap it, and donate it. (I always looked for kids who wanted Lego, although I was excited by a girl who wanted an Erector set.)

The late 90s were a tough time for malls, and mine was no exception. More and more stores closed. The fountains were turned off. They still dragged out the animatronics in December, even though many of them didn't work, and the few that did buzzed loudly as they moved. And going to the mall started giving me a weird feeling. It took me a while to figure out, but I did. Part of my life was slowing fading into history. When I look at or listen to things of the recent past - newsreel footage, old 78s, whatever - I sometimes forget that this was someone's present. Newsreels weren't kitschy time capsules, for instance - they were a way for people to stay informed. But to me, they're an artifact of a bygone day. And I watched as malls sunk into that category.

It's hard to explain "going to the mall" to anyone who wasn't there. Yeah, we can now jump online and buy almost everything the mall had without leaving our room. But the mall wasn't just about shopping any more than EC is just about coming out. There's an entire feel, an entire social aspect, that one can't really convey. Lamely, we say things like "Well, you had to be there". And as I do so, I think of my grandparents and their stories of farmer's markets and cotillions. And, several years too late, I finally get it. You DID have to be there.

Lex

[Just Adam]

im happy the past is gone nothing but bad memorys. anything left thats good about them days i brought with me....it aint alot, now adays things are still hard but they are bareable

[pirateninja]

Originally Posted by Lexington

* There was a small shopping center (not really a mall) near where I grew up. One of the stores there was a Woolworth. I think they're still open in the UK, but they've been closed in the US for almost a decade now.

Nope, Woolies has gone because of the recession. It's a shame really; no more last minute Christmas shopping or buying a cheap last minute easter egg for a friend.

Good times

[Just Adam]

Originally Posted by pirateninja

Nope, Woolies has gone because of the recession. It's a shame really; no more last minute Christmas shopping or buying a cheap last minute easter egg for a friend.

Good times

thats prob the saddest thing i know of

every christmas my grandad would take me late night shopping on a wednesday and it would be dark and cold it was busy people rushing everywhere then i would see it bright red letters and goi inside and be surrounded by a world of toys


makes me teary remembering those times ill never experience them again

[Tim]

Originally Posted by The Enigma

They disappeared and resumed their lives, hopefully. I oft wonder that myself.

"What happened to those people I bonded to playing online games? Those faceless characters who's voices I only remember on off days my memory serves well?"

"I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all."

I miss those days too. It's true about never knowing what's gone until it's actually, well, gone. Same can be said for ignorance and responsibility.

I see many people online just disappear, and I hope they just stopped logging on, or such...

A month or so ago, something that people don't ever want to see happened. A prominent member of a forum for a MMO I go on passed away, and how it happened was leaked. One of her friends decided to inform everyone that she had a "Horrific death", and she was gone. A few hours later, an admin of the site confirmed via looking in the info, checking the location, checking newspapers.

Sometimes those faces aren't something you want to know what happened to them, sometimes it's best just to hope for the best.

On a side note... I often find myself looking back on my younger years in school... (God, I feel old, and I'm only 20 ._. Side effect of EC XD) I miss the carefree years of elementary school, and the transition of middle school... and even the hell of high school.

[Kenko]

Ah yes the good old days when installing RAM meant setting weird jumpers, installing a hard drive meant setting several parameters in the BIOS, sound in Linux was more reliable than it is now, connecting to BBSes or the internet started with "ATDT" yet with all the complexity, reinstalling the barebones of an OS could be done in 30 seconds with "SYS C:"

I like my Netbook, but they're too common place. I drew more attention 10 years ago with my 8086 laptop. Only cost me $20.

I think it's a shame so many people are unintialized / afraid of Command Line Interface and other intricacies of operating systems. Even in Windows it's still useful.

Re: Malls: I like malls! These commercial shopping parks seem stupid because there's so much traffic and you basically have to drive from store to store while a mall is more laid back and encourages more interaction, and more browsing. Around me there's 3 malls that have gone from bustling to ghost towns in 15 years, and there's only really two malls left.

I too have a couple online friends that I sometimes wonder what became of them. Sometimes I'm amazed at how much has changed even in the past 4 years.

Sometimes I look back on some of my younger years. Heck most of my music is 8 years old or older. But right now I'm in a state of flux and I'm sure I'll be better when I get a little more established.

[NkyJ]

Originally Posted by The Enigma

They disappeared and resumed their lives, hopefully. I oft wonder that myself.

"What happened to those people I bonded to playing online games? Those faceless characters who's voices I only remember on off days my memory serves well?"

"I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all."

I miss those days too. It's true about never knowing what's gone until it's actually, well, gone. Same can be said for ignorance and responsibility.

These days I find myself looking more and more into the past and what was. I stopped playing WoW last year before I started college and sometimes I wonder what has happened to those friends I've made through that game. The people with whom I spent countless hours playing that game (I started playing WoW when I was invited to play the beta, which was some time in 2004 and I played that game up until very late 2008). It might be considered sad for some, but towards the end the only reason I was still playing that game was because I loved just spending time with those friends. They made the game, not the game itself. I guess that's the way it is with MMORPGs anyway.

[the ry guy]

I miss my high school years, life was sssoooo much easier and carefree for me. no bills, no work, tons of free time, lots of friends, i actually got along with my family, i still played sports, i had every weekend off and saturday morning cartoons lol i'd get up at like 6am just to watch sailor moon, transformers, and GI joe XD. Life is too hecktick now, i work two jobs and go to school, the economy's in the gutter, life is just so much harder, I liked it better when i didn't have to worry about anything other than getting good grades which was easy.

[xequar]

Every so often I find myself waxing nostalgic over my college days. I hated having to write papers and all that crap at the time, but now I only remember the times hanging out playing pool with my friends or doing some of the awesome video projects I had to do or even just hanging out in Westview Dining Commons BSing with my friends about whatever shit had happened that day. The food was horrible, but I somehow forget about that...

Now I'm all sad and depressed...

[redsapphire]

I miss the people that I'm never going to get to see again.
My life actually wasn't that different 10 years ago, I was always fucking something up with one of my friends.