Badger badger badger badger badger badger Badger badger badger badger badger badger Mushroom mushroom

I remember watching the Berlin Wall coming down on the news. I don’t remember the Challenger explosion (edit: though I was alive for it, to be clear). I was out on my own during 9/11, worried as hell about being drafted. Whether or not I am gen-x depends upon which of the dates for its end you choose.

I was born in 1978

I remember playing games on channel 3

When we were kids the telephone man gave us the secret code you could use to make the phone booth phones call themselves to test the ringer. Loads of fun. I used to wake up early to watch Saturday morning cartoons. I know how to use the yellow pages, and I used to be the kid who would help you plug in and program all the old people’s tv and vcr and cable boxes. Most of the neighborhood kids had to be on by the time that one streetlight came on at dusk, but I was allowed to stay out later but usually went home too because it was boring after everyone else went home. We used to play tag football in the middle of the street and I was the wide receiver because I was the third or fourth oldest and the oldest two were always the quarterbacks. We used to all hang out at little jimmys house who was 8 or 10 years old because he had Mike Tyson’s punch out on NES. If one of our parents needed cigarettes we could walk up to buy them as long as we had a note from our mom.

I was using 5,25″ discs.

8 track tapes, Intellivision, rotary phones, my first crush was David Cassidy.

I saw Return of The Jedi in the theaters, as well as The Black Cauldron, and The Fox and The Hound. Oh and I vaguely remember watching a 2 hour long advertisement for The Power Glove, called “The Wizard.”

I have also paid $0.60 per gallon for gasoline.

TVs have a UHF switch so I can finally watch more channels. I really hate putting tinfoil on the rabbit ears and opening the window to sometimes get these new channels though, but they work better if I hold onto the antenna. It’s hard to see what I’m watching if I do this, but at least I can mostly hear what they’re saying, and the picture is dark anyway, so even if I could see at this angle, it would be too dark and snowy.

Let me sing you the song of my people:

Boop beap boop boop krssssh GANG GANG GAN ssssSSS sssSSS sssSSS ieeee chchchCHCHCHCHCH SHSHSH

I was born in 1983

My first coding class was Cobol and we used punch-cards.

(Side story, nothing strikes a feeling of dread more than the sound of cards being shuffled behind you.)

LOAD “*” ,8,1

I have the touch. I have the power.

Grif:

It’s one of life’s great mysteries isn’t it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don’t know, man, but it keeps me up at night.

Simmons:

…What?! I mean why are we out here, in this canyon?