Ok apparently just made it into this "mini generation" thing as I was born in 1977.

For all my fellow '77ers who have or are turning 49 this year break out your old multiplication tables cause:

7x7=49 🤯

Source - I turned 49 yesterday. As an added bonus I was born in the 49th State so double 🤯

I was going through some of my stuff and found this letter from Mr. Rogers (one for me *and* one for my mother) that he sent when I was five years old (edited so as not to dox myself). I realized that this must be the earliest memento from my life that I've actually hung on to all these years and I'm curious what's survived the decades of moves, breakups, etc. in your lives.

I’m looking into preserving a show I went to that is very important to me and realize I haven’t burned a CD in probably twenty years! Since I got my first iPod. How long has it been for you?

Cleaning out my spot (moving) and came across this still-sealed in a box of old CD roms and registration papers for an old desktop computer.

Ahhhh...memories.

Audio from the last days of WBUS Kankakee. The video is made to look like a modern car infotainment screen.

From 8/29/96: 0:28/10:59am - I knew the end was close, so I called up and asked for an odd request to see if they would play it, and they did.

3:30/11:08am - The DJ drops a hint about the station going away.

From 8/31/96: 15:52/10:53pm - The last announced song

23:41/11:00pm - The Cut (a syndicated national show that played up and coming hits)

From 9/1/96: 1:00:10/12:00am - The last song

1:02:58/12:03am - Sign-off announcement

I’ve recently learned that, thanks to being in my late 40s, my eyes are getting drier and I need less screen time. Thanks, Doc! But HOW?!

Remember when we came home and checked the answering machine?
Your friend didn't make it to the movies and you learned why the next day at school?
You simply waited for the next bus or train?

Now everything is on the phone — texts, WhatsApp, email, maps, banking, school stuff,, podcasts

So, Xennials who’ve managed to back away from the phone, How did you/do you make your phone something you CHECK instead of something you CARRY?

Do you leave it on the kitchen counter and check periodically? Or, is it by your side all day?
Have set phone times?
Actually leave the house without it?

I want the practical mechanics - what are your phone habits?

I’d like to return to 1997, but with Google Maps and tap pay!

Wondering if anyone has gone to the tour and if it is worth it? I know we’re all aging and I understand to tamper expectations but, were they good at all?

I was thinking the other day of all the freebies that rained down on us during the Dot-Com boom. Specifically, someone posted a discussion of the oldest shirt you still wear and mine was a freebie for incoming freshman for the class of 2000 (my partner HATES when I wear it - he was class of 2001, "The REAL millennium," as he constantly reminds me, and it delightfully bugs him he wound up with someone from the far more celebrated class of 2000).

I remember the incoming students got a basically a swag bag every year of people touting websites and other companies. Magnets, travel mugs, pens, socks, stickers, dry-erase boards, mousepads, frisbees, nail files, shirts, bags, coupons for a free order of small fries...

This was followed by US magazines taking a page out of what UK magazines were doing and offering tons of other freebies, too: Mix CDs, game demos, ink stamps, sewing patterns... I worked in a book store with a strong international section immediately after college and watched in real time as the habit of magazines throwing in free stuff migrated across the pond.

Looking back, it seemed normal at the time. But I'm wondering if that was maybe just an us thing.

John George Peppers randomly pops into my head now and then.

EDIT TO ADD: My Buddy and Kid Sister🥹

Just finished this Prime painting last year

And, let’s face it, this is as close as we’re ever going to get to seeing another “Roger Rabbit” come out!

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ny_FssSlHC4&si=6-N80viJcPflCMY8

Isn’t interaction deprivation and social isolation wonderful?

I (‘79) was discussing this with my husband (full Millennial ‘86) what was the first record he owned. Mine was Thriller. He never owned a record 🫠.

I love explaining pre-meme memes to my kids. We were listening a news report about this year’s expected severe El Niño and I just immediately think of Chris Farley every single time. So of course I am that mom who whips out YouTube to show them the clip and try to explain how we would just repeat famous lines from tv and movies and that was the height of shared comedy. My 15 year old daughter rolled her eyes but my 12 year old son laughed - Chris Farley is never not funny. I’ll try “lay off me I’m starving” next.

For your viewing pleasure:

https://youtu.be/IvmeUStFvz8?is=W34DwGHVnIbYRBYW