Tuesday, October 21, 2003
I suppose I always knew the day would come when I would utter phrases that began “I remember when…” I just didn’t think it would happen before my 30th birthday. But there I was the other day in South Station having just missed my train home with a dead cell phone preventing me from calling home to inform the wife. So I saddled up to my first public telephone in years, reached into my pocket for a quarter and nearly choked on my iced cappuccino at the big 50-cent logo starring back at me. Fifty cents? I remember when pay phones cost only ten cents. This of course got me thinking about what else has changed so much in my 28 and ten-twelve’s years.
I remember when showing up to college with one of those 25-pound Brother word processors had me ably prepared. Those days, the only folks with computers were either rich or geeks. The Brothers were big, bulky slow and loud. Nothing will ever beat with the time my roommate and I were simultaneously printing out 35-page history reports on dueling Brothers. I think our entire floor thought they were under attack.
I remember when candy bars were only a quarter and the stale bubble gum in the baseball card packs of the same price was the best gum going. The highlights of every summer day were the daily trips to the corner store to pick up another pack of baseball cards. We still traded them back then and there were even a couple of kids in the neighborhood who stuck them in the spokes of their bikes. But the gum, the gum was the greatest tasting flavor there was, even if it only lasted 20 seconds.
I remember when kissing a girl in middle school was the most risqué thing in the world. I’ll never forget my first seventh grade dance, spinning around to the required Stairway to Heaven last dance, and looking over and seeing two of my classmates kissing. Coming from a catholic school, I instantly was shown the light on how cool public school would be. I made it my mission to find that ever-elusive first kiss, a kiss I finally got a bat mitzvah of all places that spring. Sitting at Mother’s Day brunch the next morning, I recall a sick feeling in my stomach, as if I just done something terribly wrong. These days, kids are having sex in the hallways.
And to get back to telephones, I’m not even sure I remember what life was like before cell phones, oh yeah, much quieter. You were actually able to go out to dinner or a movie without having to overhear someone’s annoying conversation or disgusting novelty ring. I miss the time when cell phones weighted about 15 pounds and were only carried by doctors and folks who needed to flaunt their wealth. I suppose the notion of cell phone is good for emergency situations, but I don’t need to hear what is going on in every stranger’s life.
Yes, I sound like some sort of old curmudgeon despite my relatively young age, but the rapid progress of technology has made it possible. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t given into many of the latest gadgets, but I still enjoy the way life was. I guess I’m a romantic in that sense and I can only imagine how what I’m going to be like when I’m 50. Although by then, I imagine we’ll have something that does our thinking for us.
I remember when showing up to college with one of those 25-pound Brother word processors had me ably prepared. Those days, the only folks with computers were either rich or geeks. The Brothers were big, bulky slow and loud. Nothing will ever beat with the time my roommate and I were simultaneously printing out 35-page history reports on dueling Brothers. I think our entire floor thought they were under attack.
I remember when candy bars were only a quarter and the stale bubble gum in the baseball card packs of the same price was the best gum going. The highlights of every summer day were the daily trips to the corner store to pick up another pack of baseball cards. We still traded them back then and there were even a couple of kids in the neighborhood who stuck them in the spokes of their bikes. But the gum, the gum was the greatest tasting flavor there was, even if it only lasted 20 seconds.
I remember when kissing a girl in middle school was the most risqué thing in the world. I’ll never forget my first seventh grade dance, spinning around to the required Stairway to Heaven last dance, and looking over and seeing two of my classmates kissing. Coming from a catholic school, I instantly was shown the light on how cool public school would be. I made it my mission to find that ever-elusive first kiss, a kiss I finally got a bat mitzvah of all places that spring. Sitting at Mother’s Day brunch the next morning, I recall a sick feeling in my stomach, as if I just done something terribly wrong. These days, kids are having sex in the hallways.
And to get back to telephones, I’m not even sure I remember what life was like before cell phones, oh yeah, much quieter. You were actually able to go out to dinner or a movie without having to overhear someone’s annoying conversation or disgusting novelty ring. I miss the time when cell phones weighted about 15 pounds and were only carried by doctors and folks who needed to flaunt their wealth. I suppose the notion of cell phone is good for emergency situations, but I don’t need to hear what is going on in every stranger’s life.
Yes, I sound like some sort of old curmudgeon despite my relatively young age, but the rapid progress of technology has made it possible. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t given into many of the latest gadgets, but I still enjoy the way life was. I guess I’m a romantic in that sense and I can only imagine how what I’m going to be like when I’m 50. Although by then, I imagine we’ll have something that does our thinking for us.
