"We're gonna have a party like it's 1999!"
And the 90s certainly didn't disappoint. It was quite a decade.
It was a decade that molded the future of the world, and yet it never seems to get its due. It gets lost in the decade shuffle.
Let's take a stroll down memory lane. Generation X had a ton to say.
RedditorYoucancallmesizzleswanted to reminisce about a decade long debated as one of the most controversial and underrated, they asked:
"What do you miss about the 90's?"
The music. The music and movies do it for me. "Titanic, Scream, American Beauty, Seven," those are just some of the classics. And who doesn't remember the first time they heard Nirvana?
The Edge
"My Super Nintendo being cutting edge technology." ~ detectivebabylegz
IRC
"I honestly miss the internet from the 90s. I spent so many hours exploring, reading things. Every webpage felt like I was visiting someone's house, they were so personal as design standards did not exist yet. I enjoyed my netscape navigator. And I LOVED my IRC chat rooms. Keep in mind I was like 9 and 10. lol, so I mostly spent time in Pokemon Chat rooms that had bots. Discord is not the same as the IRC days." ~ UnusualSoup
Fridays
"Blockbuster/Pizza Hut on Friday nights." ~ EdwardPackard
"My parents would always rent a movie and they'd let me rent a game. We'd walk to pizza hut, place our order, then walk to the brand new blockbuster and browse. It was amazing as a kid."
"I remember they had an N64 kiosk in the middle, and I actually begged my parents to let me stay and play Starfox 64. Got it for Christmas that year and played it all night into the morning. I fell asleep at my grandma's house at the table during Christmas dinner that night haha. Good freaking times man." ~ Hammose
Go outside. That was it.
"That Friday afternoon after school feeling, when you knew you had two glorious days before you had any responsibility again, so you'd call your friends on the land line and hope their parents didn't pick up so it wouldn't be awkward, and you'd get together and just. Go outside. That was it. There was no plan, but maybe somebody would bring a football, and you'd have a pickup game at the park." ~ Surewhynot62189
MUSIC
Performing Mtv GIFGiphy"Music, MTV, and listening to my huge 5 disc CD changer boom box." ~ jasdq
Oh MTV. What happened?
Too Much
Season 6 Chris GIF by Parks and RecreationGiphy"The quietness before every freaking idiot in the world had access to the internet and a camera phone." ~ -RUNPMT-
Everything
"Building cubby houses, playing in the creek, rollerblading, then coming home and playing Sega/Nintendo. I miss taping stuff off the tv 🤷🏻♀️ hanging out in my room, still playing with toys, reading cool magazines, going through my card collections. The hype of the cinema back in the 90's. Not being a slave to technology, but still having wicked gadgets like Walkmans." ~ Ultimatelee
Trajectory
"Watching grunge music videos on MTV and Keebler chips." ~ kittenya
"MTV has had such a weird trajectory over the past 25 years. First into just not playing music anymore by the mid-2000's, and now it is literally just Ridiculousness 24/7 with an occasional 16 and pregnant thrown in. I don't even know what demographic they are going after. Who the hell is wanting to watch a middle aged bro comment on YouTube videos so much?" ~ TogarSucks
Like it's 1999!
"Think about some of the biggest hits of '99. The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich. These movies (and a few more around this time) all had a unifying theme of the general ennui of living in a time without strife. They were about people making problems for themselves because they didn't have enough real ones."
"I'd love if the world were going so well that the escapism was about nitpicking how pleasant the world is. The Onion had it right in 2001. Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over." ~ GavinBelsonsAlexa
The Good Ole Days
Music Video Dancing GIFGiphy"Going to the mall, and hanging out with friends. Malls were awesome, and I hate that the strip mall style has taken over."
"Especially up in Canada, where it gets to -40 in the winter. Back in the day you could legitimately spend hours wandering the mall, indoors and warm. Now it is depressing. Maybe the big malls like Mall of America or West Edmonton Mall are still okay, but the ones in my city are crap." ~ Lexi_Banner
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...Looking Back...
"I found my mom's Geocities page from 1996 using some super specific keywords and lots of digging. Seeing her guestbook with her friend's little messages to her, then lurking around their pages and seeing her's to them, it was surreal to see that the way she typed back then was the same as the way she'd send text messages to me in modern days. "
"She died in 2016 from cancer. She was a very private person in general with no modern social media presence at all so being able to go and visit those little time capsules is very special to me." ~ yoobikwedes
The Calm
"The 80's was Cold war paranoia, and the 00's was Terrorist paranoia after 9-11. The 90's was this oasis of calm in between two paranoid decades." ~ Scallywagstv2
"Yeah. I grew up in that chill period which actually lasted into the late 2000s outside the USA and Iraq and now I find myself in a Transformers setting of robots, autonomous cars, disasters, and government/oligarch misconduct that I have no precedent for...as I grew up almost entirely in a desert for Transformers media." ~ NineteenSkylines
Hollywood New...
"Think about some of the biggest hits of '99. The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club, Being John Malkovich. These movies (and a few more around this time) all had a unifying theme of the general ennui of living in a time without strife. They were about people making problems for themselves because they didn't have enough real ones. "
"I'd love if the world were going so well that the escapism was about nitpicking how pleasant the world is. The Onion had it right in 2001. Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over." ~ GavinBelsonsAlexa
Back when...
"Before we had mobile phones, my wife and I would plan to meet at a certain street corner at a certain time after work. We sometimes had to wait for the other person to show up, but we knew they would." ~ i-will-be-dead
From a Distance
"In 1998, I was flying to California from Florida, with a stop in Atlanta. My boyfriend lived there; he was flying back to California the following day. While I was on my layover, I went to the customer service desk and asked if I could just stay overnight in ATL and fly out the next day, on his flight."
"The lady said, 'Sure,' and booked us seats together on his flight, no charge. I just took my carry-on and went to his house for the night. When we got to LA my bag was waiting. Try that now, it would cost $2,000." ~ ObjectSmall
And so it began...
"We didn't live online yet. The internet was in it's infancy and was a fun way to pass the time, but it hadn't consumed us. Business was still being done in brick and mortar stores, our social lives were offline, etc. There was almost nothing to be purchased online, other than the online bookstore called Amazon. Pretty cool because they had a bigger inventory than you could fit in a building. And so it began." ~ Scrappy_Larue
Leave Me Alone
"The privacy. I was just a kid/young teenager but I only knew my best friends intimately. The rest of my class I didn't know or care. Now it's like all your followers are in your bedroom/home when you post to social media. Anyway." ~ Phishstyxnkorn
"I can tell give you the details of the lives of people who I haven't spoken one word to in 17 years, simply because they friended me on Facebook back in 2005. I've started to realize that the best sign of a happy relationship is there being barely any mention of it on social media." ~ Dahhhkness
The Fun!
Frustrated Video Games GIF by FurryheadGiphy"Arcades. Music stores everywhere. Music TV. People buying music." ~ nohumanape
What's on the newsstand?
"Something my wife just brought up while talking about this post... Magazines man! Everyone had their favorites for what ever hobby or interest you had. For me it was Guitar World, picking up the issues with bands I loved and plinking along to the Tab on my crappy electric guitar! For my wife it was 17, checking out the most recent trends! Or Thrasher when it was just a skate magazine and not a clothing brand."
"Even Rolling Stone was a big deal for mainstream artists. Then those of us into an alterna crowd there were tattoo mags like Savage. Me and my wife used to scour our local 7-11's waiting for the new issue of Savage to show up! I get that you can find blogs, etc online with the same info and most of these mags still exist but it's just not the same!" ~ jackfairy80
Painful
"Not for myself but I feel bad for kids who have to experience bullying 24/7. When I was a kid in the 90s I went to school and these kids made fun of me but then I went home and it stopped. Now, with social media, the bullying can invade kid's lives outside of school." ~ METAL_AS_F*CK
The 90s were a special era. And we learn just how special by each passing year. Let's keep digging, because there is still much to discuss.
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Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.