1990s Memories From Our Visitors

A very small cog in a very big wheel

Memory Posted By: Anon

Today I have now been sat at this desk in this office for exactly 10 years, I remember the day I started full of hope and ambition , 22 years old fresh out of College and keen . When I started we were still running Windows 3.11 and at least two times a day the screeen would go blue.

The other thing I remember as I look back was using a key to lock my old car it had central locking but no key fob and I didn't have a mobile phone or internet at work.

Looking back so many things seemed to have happenned that year the first cloning of a sheep, Diana was killed in a car accident and The Titanic movie came out and I started on my "career"?.

During the 10 years when I first think about it nothing else seems to have happened but then I remember I am now married and have a young son and almost forgot a house and a mortgage so maybe I have not just been sitting here for 10 years it just seems like it when I watch the clock all day

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My Uncles Wedding U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: Anthony

At the age of six, it is rare that many memories stand out, that anything from my past stands out clearly and vividly. Ironically, the same medium that often served to glaze over those memories that tend to die from our childhood has resurfaced one or more of those very same long forgotten memories.

It was June of 1990, only three days after my birthday, and my family was packed into the long since forsaken interior of a 1972 van that my dad had kept since his bachelor days before my birth, bouncing up and down over the ruts and tears in the road of a small town somewhere in the vicinity of the middle of nowhere.

It was one of those times in life when things collided, when my own life overlapped with the goings on of the grownups, always running around and worrying about some stressful event or another. My birthday, only three days before and my brother’s birthday, he turning three, that very day, we set off from one of those neon flashing children’s play centers and a birthday party that I ironically do not remember.

I do remember the play center though, as we returned there over the years more than once for their batting cages and battered go kart circuit, a place where I gave and received my first black eye in a fight over the exact nature of having the right of way on a kart track. As for me, I had the right of way.

From what was likely a lively party though, I was placed into the back row of seating in my dad’s van, beside my sugar comatose brother and my grandmother. As one of the few last clear memories of her, it is surprisingly hard to recall if she said more than two or three words to me. Not only was it entirely too hot, us trapped inside of a tin can on wheels, barreling from suburban Seattle to the foothills of the Cascades, but her eldest son was getting married.

The trip to my uncle’s wedding had been planned for weeks. His fiancé had sent the invitations out in February, set the time and place, asked me and my brother to carry the rings, and had multiple conversations with my father about the exact reliability of his tin can. Everything had been set, right down the exact moment we would leave that play center with an hour to adjust for traffic, pit stops, and flat tires on the way.

It was only a 200 mile drive and none of us assumed it would be anything more than a quick affair. We would be staying with my Uncle’s new inlaws in Yakima and from there return the next day. Of course, as I would learn much later in life, things are never as simple as they seem. Stressed as they were, my parents did an admirable job of staying in time with the birthday celebrations, keeping their tone subtle with me and my brother even as we were surely slow and constantly complaining.

But it was not a three or a six year old that would ruin that trip over the hills of Western Washington. Rather, it was an 18 year old, a relic in its own standards and a properly maintained tin can that apparently didn’t care how properly it was maintained. What my father did not take into account was the sharp rise in temperature that occasionally occurs when one crosses the mountain passes and enters the Eastern half of our coastal state. No longer within striking distance of the Pacific Ocean, air tends to wallow and become entirely too hot.

By the time the van’s hood popped open and we lurched to a stop, the only person in that metal beast not sweating was my Grandmother, and to this day, I’m sure I can remember her clenching her teeth. It was some assortment of tubes and cooling related machinery that had decided to disconnect, break in half, and slide out from underneath the van, disappearing into the countryside.

Occasionally, with particularly vivid memories, the kind that I’ve discussed with my family and heard different versions of, I can envision the proceedings in a detached, third person perspective, floating above it all, amused by the drama that’s come before in my life. It’s in that mode that I see me and my brother leaning against the back seat with the door slid fully open, sweat pouring from our bodies, while my grandmother attempts futilely to shove water down my brother’s throat from a gallon jug. My dad is leaning torso deep into the open maw of the van and my mother is trying her hardest not to cry as she watches the clock tick slowly closer to the start of her brother’s wedding.

The ensuing hours, filled with the searing heat of the Eastern Washington sun, the simmering rage of my father, heartbroken shudders of my mother and her mother, and the absolutely bored, blank eyed silence of me and my brother, dragged on and on. The van was towed to the nearest town, sent into a shop, into which my father immediately followed, his sleeves rolled up now that tools and parts were at hand. It took only an hour for him to put that beat back together, but it was too late by then.

Five hours had passed, well beyond our one hour leeway and the wedding had begun without us. My mother’s attempts at calling the church were in vain and without the luxury of cell phones and a instant connect society, there was no way for her to tell him that we had been stuck.

I spent that night sleeping with head against a cold metal rod in the back of the van, my brother leaning against me, and for the first time in my life, me not caring that he was. For a six year old, the meaningless 12 hour trip meant nothing more than discomfort and a wasted day, time I could have spent playing the new Super Mario Bros. or chasing the dog around the yard with a water pistol. It wasn’t for another half a decade, when my grandmother passed away that I realized the reason I didn’t see my uncle anymore, why he and my mother had stopped talking so suddenly. The naivete of childhood clouds certain memories longer than others, but it’s always a thunder bolt when the fog finally clears and things make sense.

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Growing Up and Olympics United States

Memory Posted By: Anthony

The first Olympic Games I ever remember watching were in 1992, in Barcelona. I don’t recall this specifically because it was a time that was special to me or depressing, or interesting at all, but because it brings back one of those few rare memories that’s so finite and insignificant that it may be a key to an entire part of my childhood. You have them too I’m sure. The memory of sitting on a particular park bench on a particular day with your grandfather feeding birds or watching men play chess, or reading a book. It means something, because that’s all you remember from that year. And the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona are all I remember from that summer. My parents would never allow us to stay up and watch TV. I was just barely eight years old and my brother on the bottom bunk only five. And so, when my father came home from a particularly long day of work with a surprise in his truck, a tiny 14 inch black and white television for our bedroom, we were ecstatic. We could stay up and watch TV!

It wasn’t so simple of course. The antennas were removed and we were left with a fuzzy mess to watch unless my mother came in and took the trouble of pulling out the small monstrosity of a television, itself probably 20 years old, and plugging in the coax antenna and then carefully positioning it against a cracked window for us to get any kind of reception.

The results were often paltry in comparison to the vivid cable TV of the living room, but we were excited none the less. And when it turned out that channel 5, on which the Olympic Games aired every night came in perfectly if you tied the antenna to the cord on the shades and opened the window a little further, we were given a privilege beyond measure.

For those four weeks of August in 1992, my brother and I were allowed to stay up as late as we could (often only until 11 o’clock) watching the Olympic games on our small black and white television. I knew absolutely nothing about sports other than teeball and pee wee football at that time and the wild gesticulations of the gymnasts and flailing speed of Tom Jager in the swim relay were intoxicating to me. I never went on to try my hand at any of these sports. In fact, I would find in the coming years that I was physically incapable of most sports, my hand-eye coordination miscalculated by nature a good five degrees.

But those warm summer nights watching team USA in Spain and getting my first taste of a global society that I would grow up into, something an 8 year old in the rural backdrop of Winlock, Washington has no concept of, are one of the happiest memories I have from my childhood, a singular snapshot of an entire year, compressed into a single evening, a series of evenings. Ever since then, I’ve been enthralled with any iteration of the Olympic Games, however invested I may or may not be at the time. I couldn’t tell you who won anything that year, except for Team USA’s dream team in Basketball. Honestly, I looked up Tom Jager’s name, because all I remember is watching the swimmers. Not a single name sticks out. For me, it’s not necessarily a matter of remembering the essence of sportsmanship or eternity of sport, but remembering a part of my childhood.

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Melody Remembers the 90's Canada

Memory Posted By: Melody

The 1990’s began the year after the Montreal massacre at Ecoile Polytechnique in Montreal, so that event had a profound effect on me and my life, because I had a two year old child and became pregnant with my next child. I was quite concerned about what kind of world they were being born into if a man could walk into a university classroom and shoot that many women. It was the largest massacre that had ever taken place in Canada. During that decade I was quite involved in all kinds of activism around gun control, working around groups of women and (trying to)end violence against women. My husband became a member of a group called, “Men for Change” and there were more and more feminist groups emerging that involved men. It was also a difficult decade because it was the time of a recession in Canada. There were a lot of political things going on like the Gulf War, the wall came down in the Soviet Union, there was some economic instability.

My husband and I were both working in Toronto. I worked for a consulting firm and the writing was on the wall – I was told that those kind of ‘crack filler jobs’-- middle management--were going to be coming to and end. Robert and I were both working in those kinds of jobs. We had to look for a way around what was going on. So between the economic situation and our growing political consciousness we opted to spend the 90’s going back to school. He got his Phd. . I completed some work in social work and then adult education and we shifted our gears. He started teaching in universities and I started working with people with disabilities and other underprivileged groups. So it was quite a raucous decade for us and our lives. So many things were going on. New legislations were coming into place in Canada around sexual harassment—the need for places to have sexual harassment policies. I was involved in those for a lot of nonprofit organizations. Politcally, Clintons’ “sexploits” were going on.

I didn’t have a lot of time to listen to music, but I certainly remember that it was a period of time when there seemed to be quite a good emergence of some female musicians like Celine Dion. Having young daughters we were very much immersed in the phenomenon of the Spice Girls. Alana Morisette was big. Boy band were emerging. I was sort of moving out of that pop culture phase of my life and more focused on having children. I remember going to Bruce Coburn concerts around issues like raising awareness about apartheid and problems in South Africa. … very political times. In addition, that decade ushered in the Disabilities Act. (Also) in 1993 the United States military introduced their ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ era where people in the military were advised don’t say anything if you want to stay in your careers. The shows I remember watching were one like “Ellen” where Ellen came out of the closet. I remember everyone getting together to watch that.

Remember Commuting UK

Memory Posted By: JT

I remember many years commuting to work each and every day, this ranged from a 1hr car journey each way to a 2 1/2hr journey each way involving car -- train - tube, I found the commute to be soul destroying and after many months quite depressing.

Together with this normal daily routine other factors had a big impact and made it even worse including, car breakdowns, trains running late and tube strikes, on top of that were the other worries of being packed in like sardines including worries about having your pocket picked and other crimes.

And I forgot to mention how costly it had got with bigger and bigger increases each year in Petrol and Rail Passes.

The costs of commuting both in financial and emotional terms effect health and overall quality of life and although commuting enabled me to live further out in the suburbs and hopefully provide a better life for my family. I often wonder if the cost to my health and sanity were worth the better lifestyle from living further out in the country.

For any others who do or have commuted I think the worst part is during the winter leaving home when it's dark and arriving home when it's dark, it very quickly makes you wonder what its all for.

Yippeee I no longer have to commute and feel sorry for those of you who still do due to supporting a young family

College Days U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: Chad

I started college right after high school. In my day – the mid-1990s – that’s what everybody did. I got a full scholarship to go to the local community college for two years. That was great because most of my friends planned on staying around Flint, too. Besides, that meant I would get my basic classes out of the way for free. Mott Community College was the one I chose because it was accredited and their credits transferred anywhere. This was ideal because I planned on moving to South Carolina to get my four-year degree.

After two years at Mott, I did move to USC – the home of Hootie and the Blowfish and the place where the band was formed. My major was psychology and my roommates were pretty cool. But two weeks into the semester, my dad got sick. He started falling down and my mom was already in bad health. I counted on my dad to take care of her, but with his new illness, I was forced to move back home.

It worked out for the best, though. I began attending the University of Michigan – Flint. I was never a party guy or a drinker, but I was glad to be home around my friends. I also met the girl that would be my wife in a chat room while using one of the school’s computers. I continued my psychology major, but I didn’t do very well. I had my impending wedding and my terminally ill parents on my mind. It was hard to concentrate and I eventually dropped out.

In the next couple years, my parents lost their battle with their respective illnesses. At the age of 28, I returned to the University of Michigan – Flint to continue my degree. I changed my major to English – my first love. After doing that, I got A’s in all of my classes except one. I enjoyed school much more and made some awesome friends, even if they were almost a decade younger than me. I graduated in May 2006 and my wife, the one who has stood by me through everything the past few years, encouraged me to do the traditional graduation walk across the stage. It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.

Old 90's TV Shows U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: show

my favorite show that used to go on in the 90's everyday before the guy in the show died. he used to be this guy and there used to be a train and he used to go some other place in his house and there used to be puppets what wat the show called? oh yeah mr. rodgers neighborhood on channel 13 and i remember another show its a cartoon though i used to have the type i forgot what you call it but the charaters name was bobby he had a mother father and a older teenage sister when i had the tape my god i cant believe i remember this but one eposode he and his family went to his grandmothers house and his sister yelled at his or something and by accident he broke his grandmothers vase and he was worried she would find out. he always used to be on a bike like when the theme song went on there was a guy introducing the family the kid was on the bike and i also remember in the theme song the whole family was in a tent oh my god i cant beleive i remeber i was born in 94. i used to watch those two shows in around 96 when i was about 3 or 4 years old and other shows like rugrats and the big comfy couch flinstons and the jetsons ! im 14 right now and i still watch all those shows i still love them and cant get old habbits out. and something that i really think is funny im 14 going to highschool and i am still afraid of one eposode in the show rugrats the one when angelica wants to play hide and go seek and she says you cant wear those glasses during the game what scares me is the back round beat that goes something like this "uahhhahahah" it scares me {lolsz}which means laugh out loud (1-29-08)

Buying First Computer U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: Computer Man

I remember buying my first computer in 1995 at age 15 for $2000. To date, it's still the single most expensive things i have ever bought (still young). It was an IBM Aptive sporting the new Pentium 100MHz CPU, 1.2 G HD, 8MB RAM , 4X CD ROM and 15" monitor. It didn't get much better than this back then. I still own this computer and it runs fine. Every few years I bootup it up to play a game of Decent. Today my computer sports a 3 GHz, 3GB RAM, 512MB video, 500G HD, 52X CD/DVD-R, 24" and 17 LCD monitor. I'm always amazed at how far we have come in such a short time

Highschool Mid 90's U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: cg

I was in highschool in the mid 90's. I remember grunge, My so called life, Jared Leto was so...hot! I remember meeting my now husband as a freshman in high school. Music was very different, but very cool. I remember listening to The Sundaes singing Wild horses while I was driving My Honda Accord(first car) all over town, cause I was a legal driver. Tats and piercings were just normal, even in 16 year old kids. I think the eyebrow, belly button and noses were the thing then, to pierce. I remember people were smoking everything and taking X and I had no clue about any drugs as well as any desire to do them. It was definitely a weird but great decade.

Snake Bite Australia Australia

Memory Posted By: Max

In 1995 I took a year out to backpack in Australia and it was the most important thing I ever did except for finishing my degree.

I had an old car which gave me a place to sleep and a means to travel round , it also meant I could pick up other backpackers from every country on earth it seemed who would then pay for the gas , in 9 months I managed to go fully round the coast and for money I would work fruit picking or on a ranch , the pay was never great but the life that allowed me to work when I was broke and travel and surf when I had money must be the ultimate lifestyle.

In the whole time apart from some major stomouch bugs the only bad thing that happened was towards the end of my trip I was bitten by a King Brown luckily I was not far from civilisation and was given some antivenom pretty quick so no real harm done , but it did scare me that if I had been couple of hundred miles from civilisation what I would have done.

The snake bit me when i picked up my backpack off the ground , it must have slid under there and when i picked backpack I disturbed it , It happened so bloody fast they are quick.

Well hope you liked my memory I may spend some time putting another on from my time backpacking but reliving this memory has helped me make my mind up to travel again next year so starting to plan now.

1998 Ice Storm U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: April

I remember the ice storm of 98 it happend the year i was pregnant with my oldest child in maine trees were down no power stores were closed we went 2 weeks with out any power living by candle light or possibley going to the neighbors house who had a woodstove or generator to stay warm and maby get a shower it was awful we had power trucks from 8 diffrent states working day and night to try and restore power . This is how i will remember the story of Ice Storm of '98.

children's McDonald's Parties U.S.A.

Memory Posted By: Annie

It only seems like a short while ago I was always taking my children to birthday parties in McDonald's. Now mine have grown up past that stage but I realised it is ages since I last saw a Children's Birthday Party at McDonald's . Do they not have them any more. I am sure they used to make up balloons and cordon off part of the restaurant and even have a dedicated staff member who would set up party games for the kids, and can even remember seeing Ronald MacDonald at some of them , is it because I am older and going at the wrong times of day or do children not want them there anymore or Have MacDonald's stopped doing them