Hello new generation...

Am I really that old?

So blog spot is the new thing, well I guess it's not all that new. But I still remember when Xanga was the coolest thing in the world, to us, my generation. No one uses Xanga now, well at least I don't think so.

I can't believe the world is moving on so quickly. I can still clearly remember those days where watching T.V. was a rare thing to do, for most kids. And going out to play (literally, not to "hang out with friends") was the most fun thing in the world and that's all we ever wanted to do. We would stay outdoors and play until street lights turned on and parents yelled for us from the garage door to get inside and eat dinner and we would beg for "just 10 more minutes" without friends. Bikes, roller blades/skates, and helmets were the best gifts in the world. Our dream gift from Santa would be a new bike that could change gears, or a new Yo-yo that could sleep longer when you threw it down hard enough or lit up. Playing basketball, swimming, handball, tennis, these weren't our "hobbies" or what we liked to do, it's what we did on a daily basis. Recess was the time of our lives, the only arguments were over equipment/toys, and "I'm telling on you!" were the worst words you could ever say.

We fell down and got scabs on a daily basis. We learned to stop crying over it because a band-aide would make it all go away. Getting an award wasn't "too nerdy" because we were always rewarded properly. Saturdays were worth getting up for because cartoons were worth watching. There were no such phrases as "Wow look at the graphics!" Right after our cartoons (Adventures of Jackie Chan, Anamaniacs, Doug, Rugrats, Ahh! Real Monsters, Roccos Modern Life, Ren and Stimpy, Pinkey and the Brain, Bobby's World, the list just goes on and on) and breakfast, it was off to Chinese School. Even though we all hated it, we learned to deal with it. It became a second place to make more friends, finally learn how to play Big Two, learn things you would forget within the next week, but we were young and we didn't think past what we were going to do next week and our biggest goal was to get to the highest class because that's where all the "cool, big kids" were.

Was this all really over ten years ago? (It took me a while to guesstimate how many years.) It saddens me how America is now a leading country in obesity because no child actually goes outdoors anymore. Everyone has an Ipod. Kids are starting to get laptops that are better than mine, and when I was their age, all I wanted was a new helmet. Profanity is nothing. Middle schoolers (or even younger) are hanging out at places college students would be, college students just stay at home to avoid the little middle schoolers, and adults just work all day to keep up with the economy.

Is it really bad to live in the past? Where everything was simple? Where global warming didn't exist? Where the endangered and extinct species list wasn't as long as our intestines? Is it that bad to look backwards, instead of forwards?