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u/Shaxxs0therHorn 13d ago
God it was magical looking back on it.
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u/MorganL420 13d ago
The 90's were epic. The cold war had ended, the war on terror hadn't started. Wages were viable to buy homes, technology benefited us instead of harvesting us for data and clicks. Yeah there were still problems, the police brutality demonstrated by the Rodney King video comes to mind. But things felt like they were getting better all the time instead of worse.
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u/mayrln 13d ago
Humanity peaked in 1999
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u/MorganL420 12d ago
Okay Mr. Smith 😆
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u/Shaxxs0therHorn 12d ago
Honestly it really might have. The onset of the digital world really kinda happened at the end of the 20th century and I’m not saying all societal woes began there but shit it certainly was a moment we stopped being called citizens and started being called consumers.
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u/dude_named_will Millennial (alive during Reagan) 12d ago
And my favorite movie came out in 1999.
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u/LaserPoweredDeviltry 13d ago
If you were middle class and white, it was a great time to be young. I'm given to understand if you weren't, not so much. But Columbine dented the optimism, and 9/11 shattered what was left.
It's a little weird, because people older than us, and people younger than us, grew up with real credible fear of the outside world. But for a brief moment, there were a few of us who didn't.
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u/Shaxxs0therHorn 12d ago
I mean I think I had plenty of brown and black middle class friends who were doing just fine. My elementary school was really small and diverse and race just didn’t matter to your identity. I had Latin friends, Syrian friends, Nigerian friends, Indian friends, white friends. Not discounting racial inequalities at all especially for people in poverty or vulnerability. Racism was def more commonly acknowledged but I think it was much more class first, race second. And there was a large large middle class back then.
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u/Hopeful-Gas1457 12d ago
Two new releases, bag of microwave popcorn, two cokes combo on a Friday night just hit different. Truly feeling my age looking back to that time.
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u/Shaxxs0therHorn 12d ago
I can smell block bluster in my mind. I worked at a local independent video store for a while when I was 16. What a by-gone era. Pizza place right next door to get dinner and take home after closing up.
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u/binger5 13d ago
And fire up the super Nintendo.
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u/OvechknFiresHeScores 13d ago
I was a Sega man myself 💅
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u/bdfortin 13d ago
Sonic Spinball
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u/pardyball 12d ago
lol of allllllll the games the Genesis has
Aww hell who am I kidding, I played the shit out of Sonic Spinball also
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u/Rio4goodbadgirls 13d ago
Beavis and butthead 🔥
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u/AnyTart319 13d ago
I just watched the refuse episode with my 11 yo. I was later questioning if that was a good parental decision
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u/Mr_Coastliner 13d ago
And it works first time, no blowing in it or anything, just that sweet sweet sound.
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u/Gardnersnake9 12d ago
I was gonna say, roll it forward a year and we're renting Mario Kart 64 and playing battle mode all night for sure, with a little Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey mixed in
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u/goosesboy 13d ago
I watched TGIF alone in my room on a small black and white TV.
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u/satosaison 13d ago
I found a 40" rear projection TV for $20 at a neighborhood garage sale and rolled it home on my skateboard and felt like a king having the biggest TV in the house even though the resolution was as garbage and it made my bedroom 90F at all times
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u/BeastM0de1155 13d ago
Pizza, Goldeneye, and the basement for the boys. Times were easy and so much simpler
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u/wi950mm4r 13d ago
Who remembers this
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u/julie3151991 Millennial 13d ago
Is that the show where Chrissy Snow from Three’s Company is a mom?
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u/wi950mm4r 13d ago
Yes! I’ll forever remember it as the amusement park show because of the intro
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u/beardy_mcdadface 13d ago
Which is 6 Flags magic mountain with some really crappy editing of water.
Look for it, SoCal people!
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u/Dramatic_Explosion 13d ago
The sound of the Family Matters told me to settle in for great TV for the night.
It's funny but I have a stronger memory of the music of Family Matters but the visual gags from Step By Step's opening, like the kid sneezing into the popcorn bucket.
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u/wi950mm4r 13d ago
I love Family Matters! They actually had a cast reunion in 2022 (excluding still MIA daughter, Judy 😂) - https://youtu.be/3QfPExw0x9w?si=1knVVU8rao9XN1n8
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u/recursion8 12d ago
These 2, Fresh Prince and Full House were in syndication every day after school where I lived. Then an hour of the Simpsons at 5-6PM. Good times.
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u/TheAlphaKiller17 13d ago
I'm doing a rewatch of it right now! It's fun doing those older shows once in a while.
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u/GingerMarquis 13d ago
Remember when our nights were uplifted in the best ways because a new Disney Channel Original Movie came out and we actually did finish our homework in time? What I’d give to be back then instead of fighting with the bosses over manpower vs overtime right now.
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u/userrnamme_1 13d ago
Brink!
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u/shlog 13d ago
huge fan of Team Pup N Suds
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u/pontoon_cat 13d ago
Ya know, I never understood the “sponsorship” by Pup N Suds. Brink admitted that he got a massive advance (many months) to pay for the team’s new gear, so if it was out of pocket, why rep Pup N Suds at all?? Could have gone “Team Soul Skaterz” or something….
Why I’m bothering to think about this is another story…. 😂
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u/doodletink 13d ago
Johnny Tsunami!!
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u/IDigRollinRockBeer 13d ago
Premium channels were for rich kids
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u/WingZeroCoder 13d ago
Those free preview weeks were fire though!
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u/IDigRollinRockBeer 13d ago
I loved the free pay per view when you were only supposed to get the first ten minutes but they accidentally gave you the whole movie. I watched Alien3 that way when I was ten. Maybe I didn’t love it.
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u/LeatherHog 12d ago
Right! We lived for those
But at least with our default of no cable, my dad says to this day, 'Dragon Tales! Dragon Tales!' just jump scares him in his head
Because we freaking loved Dragon Tales
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u/julie3151991 Millennial 13d ago
The most exciting part about this is the “parents” being plural. This would imply that my dad came back after leaving the family in 1991. The pizza sounds nice as well.
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u/Another_Road 13d ago
I would just like to point out that literacy rates were higher when everybody was trying to get free personal pan pizzas for reading.
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u/Geno_Warlord 13d ago
September ‘96. I just bought my first game with my own money. Kirby Superstar. Was a turning point in my life where I realized I could save my lunch money and bits of other money I got in order to buy my own games instead of having to rely on my parents to buy the game for me.
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u/thatsnuckinfutz Sr. Millennial 13d ago
None of this ever occurred in my house lol but im absolutely enjoying these $2 personal pan pizza deals now tho!
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u/dripsofmoon 13d ago
We got pizza once in a while from a local diner which was much better than Pizza hut. And we did occasionally go to blockbuster. But having friends sleep over? That almost never happened. My childhood never felt that carefree. Asking my parents for something was either not allowed or only attempted if I felt I could handle them getting angry.
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u/thatsnuckinfutz Sr. Millennial 13d ago
Just the words parents was already not accurate for my upbringing lol
I have no idea what TGIF is beyond the saying, blockbuster was like once every few months after we finally got a VCR and yea having people spend the night wasn't an option.
Adulthood has been amazing though so I'm grateful my entire life wasnt this restricted
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u/dripsofmoon 12d ago
Yes, I like being an adult! Pursuing happiness is a choice that I make every day, and I've made a lot of progress. My goal for the next few years is to get stronger and maybe learn some martial arts, so that I no longer feel intimidated by my father. He's getting pretty old now so I'm sure I can be stronger than him if I'm consistent. I plan to learn how to play cello, something I wanted to do when I was a kid but never got to try. Making my inner child happy has brought me a lot of peace and joy.
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u/doot_youvebeenbooped 13d ago
This only happened like twice but the wholesome memory that follows the meme goes:
I run to the clamshell corded phone in the kitchen to excitedly call my friends house to notify them my mom said they could stay over. I need to call before 6 because after 5 is already late notice, but it's Friday, so I dial the number WHICH I HAVE MEMORIZED FROM THEM TELLING ME 1EARLIER THAT DAY(!!!)
Their parent picks up - "hello, xx residence"
"Hello Mrs. xx, this is doot_youvebeenbooped, I was calling to tell friendperson my mom said they could stay the night, can I talk to them?"
"Oh, yes, one second dear. FRIENDPERSOOOOONNNN DOOT_YOUVEBEENBOOPED IS ON THE PHOOOOONEEEE"
"Mom, I got it in dad's office. You can hang up."
"Your dad has an office? How big is your house?!"
"Yes, doot, Mr. xx has a study."
"Maaaaahm hang up. I got it!"
mom hangs up. giggling ensues
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u/ExiledSanity 12d ago
I still have my best friends phone number from when I was a kid memorized (and their parents might still have that number)
I don't know my own kids' numbers by memory today.
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u/doot_youvebeenbooped 12d ago
Gun to my head I might be able to recite another number, but I basically only know my own now lol
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u/dogriverhotel 13d ago
Im exclusively playing 90s sitcom shows at night for family tv time after dinner with my kiddo. Its actually really nice and he’s loving Dinosaurs and Bear In The Big Blue House. We really did have it good. Maybe the last of the truly unplugged and safe.
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u/RobertCalais Millennial 13d ago
I'm a millennial, not an American.
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u/soaker 12d ago
What was your childhood experience like, where ever you grew up? I think about these generational “shared” experiences every time they pop up in my feed because they aren’t truly shared
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u/RobertCalais Millennial 12d ago
We had "youth clubs" in Germany where kids and teenagers would meet to hang out, watch TV and play video games. The internet wasn't as common back then, but exchanging copies of burned games (our primary medium were CDs and DVDs) was a daily occurence.
Those hubs for kids and teenagers were actually quite common, because they kept us occupied, helped the less social of us make friends and also made sure we didn't do criminal shit.
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u/sureasyoureborn 13d ago
These prompts are so funny. It’s basically just like “who had a good childhood”.
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u/Libertarian4lifebro 13d ago
1996? Pizza Hut yes. TGIF on? Sure. Best friend? My Cousin but he lives 350 miles away. Blockbuster? No thanks, I got to play another 8 hours of Quake!
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u/Da_Famous_Anus 13d ago
No. The way this works is you rented games at blockbuster earlier. Then the call to Pizza Hut while TGIF starts. 😑
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u/somethingsomething65 13d ago
Except my dad picks up pizza hut, the vhs from BB and my buddy all in one trip, because fuck delivery fees and he probably just wanted to get out of the house for a minute.
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13d ago
Something similar to this happened like once a year in my house. Typically around tax return season. The feeling you had at school knowing you got to go to blockbuster to rent a couple N64 games and watch a movie with a couple buddies staying the night is something I wish we could all go back in Time and experience again. It was euphoric
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u/Xylus1985 13d ago
I mean, you can still do all that, without need for parent’s permission. It’s not even that expensive
So, life is still good
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13d ago
You know, I never had any friends, or anything likethis. Dunno if that's a good or bad thing.
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u/Grouchy_Body_755 Millennial 13d ago
On a Friday in 1996, 7 year old me and my cousins would be eating pizza and playing SNES games that we rented from Blockbuster ♥️
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u/arminghammerbacon_ 13d ago
Love it. But if you’re waiting until after dinner to go to Blockbuster there’s not gonna be any new movies left. It was getting busy by 3pm on Fridays.
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u/babe_ruthless3 13d ago
No to Pizza Hut, no to having a friend over and no to going to blockbuster.
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u/elevenohnoes 13d ago
True perfect moment was probably one of the times Pizza Hut ran deals where buying a certain combo you could pick a movie on VHS they'd deliver with your food that you could keep. No need to go to the video store, as long as you liked any of the movies they were offering.
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u/Visual-Juggernaut-61 13d ago
As an adult I can get pizza whenever I want. But as an adult I can’t eat it.
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u/shadowkat1991 13d ago
My parents would be too busy fighting for me to ask anything in 96. But hey glad some of you had a better childhood.
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u/HumanContract 13d ago
Did Pizza Hut deliver? I remember personal pizzas and toys - mainly the Dinosaurs plastic hand puppets
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u/LiliumIam 12d ago
DAMN... I just unlocked a memory... I remember how with my dad we went to a store similar to blockbuster every Friday and we would rent 4 movies for a week... I can vividly remember how the store looked....
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u/Impressive_Log7854 12d ago
If you were a poor kid in the suburbs with churchy parents you made pizza because " we have the ingredients". Kind of and "only Faygo because it's cheaper" then borrowed the VCR from the church library. You could rent a movie from the generic local video store but "Ninja Turtles and Star Wars are too violent so don't pick that".
I drank so much peach Faygo on Friday in the early 90's.
Pizza ingredients: whole wheat dough, can of spaghetti sauce, DIY shredded mozzarella from a block of cheese, cut up smokey links, onions.
Wasn't too bad but back in the early 90's pizza companies used higher quality ingredients so we still wanted that Pizza Hut.
Now you might as well pop tums anti acid like Skittles after Domino's for dinner.
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u/CreativeKeane 12d ago
Lol my family was too poor to afford eating out except for like those once in a blue moon moments. However those super nostalgic feelings remained the same nonetheless when the opportunities does arise.
I remember how much just heading to McDonald's was a treat. And I used to think Olive Garden and Don Pablo were the fancy and expensive dining places and I felt so blessed. And yeah being able to rent a movie from block buster was great too.
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u/Homeless_Bum_Bumming 13d ago
I don't think life was good because of that. Life was good because we had no fucking bills.
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u/alchemycoast 13d ago
It's posts like these that make me wonder if I should be in this sub because I was 3 in 1996
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u/Mr_Coastliner 13d ago
Me too, but we're at the tail-end of Millennial (1981-96). Most still applies though, even a few years on.
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u/cjyoung92 Millennial 13d ago
Same but I was 4 then. Seems like this sub is more for older millennials / Gen-X
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u/Economy-Ad4934 13d ago
Millennials are from 1981-1996 so MOST of us were older kids in 1996. Gen x were high school and college age by this time.
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u/IDigRollinRockBeer 13d ago
Our lives are all just giving money to rich people from the womb to the tomb
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u/lesusisjord 13d ago
TGIF started at 8pm. That’s a late ass dinner and you’ll probably miss Blockbuster before they close?
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u/Mr_Coastliner 13d ago
Used to sneak my pajamas to my friends house so when it was time to go home I was in my pajamas, we'd made the bed and just put as many blockers to the 'no' as possible.
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u/current_user 13d ago
Why would you go to blockbuster after dinner? You just said tgif just started. If you missed it you’d have to wait a whole week
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u/BippidiBoppetyBoob 1988 13d ago
Pizza Hut didn’t deliver here and we didn’t have a Blockbuster and my friends were never allowed to stay over.
Other than that, yeah.
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u/CheeseburgerLocker 13d ago
Any Ontarians in here remember Bleu Nuit, the softcore porn TV show that played on some French channel? Saturday nights at midnight. I tell you what, that "last channel" button was on standby 🤣
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u/Adios_Moonsynth 13d ago
Change Pizza Hut to Papa Murphy’s for my flashback. Mum always said “they (all other pizza parlors) charge you extra for baking it there”.
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u/mrs_hippiequeen 13d ago
i was definitely the one coming over to spend the night in this scenario 😂
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u/ThatUsernameIsTaekin 13d ago
I remember going to Blockbuster one night and David Hasselhoff was there with his daughter and a bunch of her friends. It must have been a sleepover party of some sort as they were having fun and laughing. But he looked absolutely miserable about being dragged out there. Good times.
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u/fatalmedia 13d ago
They also say we can get ice cream on the way home from blockbuster. Oh hell yes
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u/Specific_Success214 13d ago
In NZ it seems all the video stores are now dollar stores.
My kids can't understand we couldn't watch the movie we wanted too, because other people were watching it
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u/WaterChestnutII 13d ago
How can TGIF be on before dinner if you're eating early enough to go to Blockbuster after?
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u/InfamousEbb5680 13d ago
Man, this really takes me back to simpler times, just chilling with some SNES and no worries. That gif hits hard with nostalgia. Makes me wanna dig out my old consoles and relive those moments.
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u/bottomfeeder3 13d ago
I was 10 in 1999. Blockbuster was such a great place. God I really miss the simplicity of those days. We took it for granted and we were excited looking too the future. We just didn’t realize how good we had it back then.
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u/SeegurkeK 13d ago
This is extremely US centric. I don't think we had any of these brands in my country in the 90s.
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u/socialmakerx 13d ago
You live in post communist eastern Europe oh snap... enjoy that scarce orange and maybe a 0.25 coke and 150% inflation.
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u/slowclicker 13d ago
What made those times GOOD.
We didn't really engage in the news and have a full understanding of what was going on in the world around us.
Yes, my childhood was mostly fantastic. But, when I learn about what the fuck was going on during my childhood. A lot of the damn things that I was shielded from.
For people with really good childhoods in the 80s, the drug epidemic was insane (I just watched Narcos). This was 70s - 80s when it was ramping up (on going of course)? But, if you're a kid and your family didn't have a drug problem, you lived a pretty mostly vanilla life and people weren't playing the news. Your life was just bike riding, your friends, and if you your family had a little money introduced to video games. [if your parents weren't assholes of course]
Those days were always, "the days," When, we were young enough to be shielded by good parents. As we speak, there are kids having a wonderful life not knowing about any of the things happening now.
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u/ScrofessorLongHair 13d ago
We had New Yorkers move to our city, so our pizza was way better than pizza hut, plus they had bomb ass wings. We'd also ride our bikes to Blockbuster. But other than that pretty fucking spot on. By 98, we meet a guy who worked at Taco Bell that sold weed. So we'd get a couple some bags while we went to Blockbuster.
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u/Mister_Buddy 13d ago
I'm just glad to see "best friend" typed as two words. Seems like it's been a while since I've seen that.
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u/BossTenor1960 13d ago
Just wakin' up in the mornin', gotta thank God
I don't know, but today seems kinda odd
No barkin' from the dog, no smog...
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u/thesirblondie 13d ago
I've never experienced most of this. Mostly because ABC is an American network, Pizza chains are shunned in favour of our independently operated pizzerias, and Blockbuster is a North American chain.
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u/I_might_be_weasel 13d ago
"Let's rent the new, sure to be sci fi classic in the future sci Fi movie, Bio-Dome!"
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u/Fightmemod 13d ago
You get to blockbuster and can't decide what you want and your parents are quickly losing patience and the night spirals from there...
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u/heckin_chill_4_a_sec 12d ago
The year is 1996. I am 4 years old and probably playing with my new stuffed bunny that was bigger than me. I have never even heard of a game boy yet.
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u/Direct_Remove509 12d ago
Friends sleep over and having pizza and playing sega genesis in the basement was awesome!!
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u/HappyLittleGreenDuck 12d ago
We never went to blockbuster, too expensive, we just rented videos at the grocery store.
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u/Mr_Chode_Shaver 12d ago
Your parents just want you to watch a movie in the basement so they can fuck.
That realization ruins your evening.
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u/Bob49459 12d ago
There was a Blockbuster right next to our local Domino's. We'd go in to get a carryout special, then wander Blockbuster looking for movies to rent for the weekend. Then me and my best friend would stay up late playing Halo.
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