So I've been on a journey the past few weeks. The topics I've been exploring including things that existed and were apparently very popular but that I had no part of when I was a little kid, and things that existed and I had no part of because I wasn't born yet.
It started with a Meridian jacket. It's a windbreaker rain-style jacket, mostly teal with indigo elbows and accent on the lower half of the back, and black velcro and straps, with a very worn out but workable waist cinch string. I thought it had the aesthetic that fit a combination of what I love: practicality for my job, and a certain 90s styrofoam cup throwback style that I got a few comments on from the guys nearly twice my age but way cooler than me when they were mine.
A few conversations and days later, I have a Member's Only jacket that fits just right, a hat with the original Polaroid logo, and... I download Winamp. I get Dosbox and install Windows 3.1 on it and play some old RTS games. I'm listening to what they now call "Intelligent Drum and Bass" like Aural Imbalance.
I find myself looking for true birth-of-the-internet era content so I can somehow find the source of the nostalgia I feel for a time I wasn't really present for, and my perception may be skewed by the fact that it's all through the perception of those who tell me what it was like; I've seen that this is called anemoia.
I understand the reality of the late 90s and early 2000s wasn't all "everything was better and nothing was bad." I just like to see the stuff that, if I was there, I would've liked to have gone back to. I'm currently enjoying going back to it probably more than if I was there.
Does the fact that I'm discovering new things make it less of a tearful nostalgia? I believe it's true that people had it harder, but I also have a principle that leads me to see that people who have it the worst tend to be the strongest and most capable, ceteris paribus. Even more creative in ways we might never think possible. I mean, just look at this.
I just spent 30 minutes downloading skins and lost my train of thought. Hope this tickled your thoughts. I hope you are having a great 2025.