09/09/09

Today is 09/09/09, which is exciting to me because exactly one decade ago it was 9/9/99 and I feel like that doesn't happen very often. A lot has changed in the last decade, and a lot has stayed the same. On this day in 1999 I was in eighth grade in my bedroom in California and I was going to tape (VHS of course) the MTV VMA's that night, a night in which Lil' Kim left one controversial boob out (that Diana Ross would infamously jiggle) and the mothers of slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls met onstage for an emotional hug. Today I'm a recent college graduate and I'm sitting in my living room on my day off in Maryland, watching old episodes of Sex & the City on On Demand.

And now, for the greater picture.

9/9/99

We were sitting pretty in bean bags at hundreds of web start-ups in the dot-com bubble

09/09/09

We're searching for jobs and bottoming out of the Great Recession

9/9/99

Everyone was freaking out about Y2K and computers

09/09/09

Everyone is freaking out about 2012 and ancient Mayans

9/9/99

Mac made its comeback with those giant candy-colored computers

09/09/09

Mac is everywhere with the ipod, the iphone, the macbook....

9/9/99

AIM was the newest, most innovative, best way to instantly get in touch with one's friends

09/09/09

facebook, twitter, gchat, myspace, smartphones are a part of everyday life

9/9/99

The Democratic party was in shambles and Evangelist Republican Conservatives (cough Ken Starr) had successfully sank their claws into the American sense of self-righteousness

09/09/09

The Democratic party finally came together (for a couple months anyway) under Obama's HOPE campaign to sweep the nation

9/9/99

Don't Ask Don't Tell

09/09/09

Civil Marriage Is A Civil Right

9/9/99

September 11 was just a day

09/09/09

It's not anymore

9/9/99

Yugoslavia

09/09/09

Iran

9/9/99

Top Five Movies of the Year:

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, The Sixth Sense, Toy Story 2, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Matrix

09/09/09

Top Five Movies (So Far):

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Up, The Hangover, Star Trek

So there you have it. Ten years ago the economy was booming (albeit on the precipice of disaster) and the most technically innovative movie on the market was The Matrix. People were panicking about Doomsday, same as ever, and there was a war somewhere. Politics sucked, as always. Computers were a pretty big deal, a big enough deal that Y2K was a genuinely scary thing, but computers now are such a big deal that there is a small, reactionary movement toward "human power" because our reliance on technology has become a crutch.

A lot can happen in a decade, especially in technology. But, basically, we're all still humans with human issues. So there's that. Happy 09/09/09.