GI Generation
"michael jackson is black?" said a pamangkin as he was seeing the artist's looped videos and his kinky do plus the racial rawness for the first time. this youngers cohorts werent even born when the tunes of billy jean and beat it first looped over the airwaves. the day the jackson died was the day i turned 30 (there goes the move from being teen to the twenteens and now to the thirtyteens). the pamangkin is only 12 as of this writing.
which underlines the gapping changes 18 years between our youth that todays crop would never enjoy (or struggle). i speak a few paradigm realities as example:
- coke was only coke (no cherry, vanilla, light or zero). burgers were eatan as plain or with cheese.
- getting a nervous breakdown when brownout hits while illicitly watching porn on betamax. the tape wouldnt eject without electricity, thus the panic. brownouts were a fairly common occurence.
- before microsoft word was wordstar and wordperfect. excel evolved from lotus 1-2-3. but even before these electronic marvels came the typewriter.
- faces, euphoria and limits. peps, fat tuesdays and third world cafe.
- that makati supermarket, true to its name, was located at greenbelt and not at alabang town center.
- top sider, espadril and tretorn.
- gasoline was 18 pesos a liter. or taking the love bus between cubao and makati to enjoy fiesta carnival. and a pocket full of lrt tokens.
- no keyboard to use for chat but by the tenacity of your vocal persuasion. telebabad was the common outpouring (lagot ka lang sa partyline). telephone numbers werent dialed then by the push of a button but by, true to the verb, dialing a wheel.
- and radio communication devices, walkie talkies and other puch-to-talk handhelds paved the way for a conference. Before YM became lingo for yahoo messenger was AKA for young man.
- no airsoft nor paintball. it was habulan or cops and robbers with matching wooden guns.
- piracy over recordings in casette tapes and betamax. your friendly video rental shop would always have a backroom (or a kahon) to choose your R, X or XXX-rated flicks. and gay porn was rarely in circulation.
- playgirl was the only pink paper on shelf. but it was taboo to even look at it back then. visual redress was derived from seventeen and GQ magazine.
- oh yes, the BMX generation. karate kid. rambo. rocky balboa. top gun. and beverly hills 90210 with jason priestley, luke perry and shannen doherty on it.
- cable TV and internet were at its infancy. dial up speed was then the fastest way to zoom over the digital highway.
Eternal Wanderer... says
sabi ng mga nakakatanda kong mga pinsan, uso din daw ang k-swiss, vans, at dragonfly na sapatos.
tapos gamit daw nila sa school ay trapper keeper at coleman.
at ma-gel daw sila at ma-spray net.
sabi ko sa mga tito ko, di ako maka-relate.
at all.
WAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Tristan Tan says
I found myself nodding with everything you've mentioned. I ended up missing Bazooka Joe. LOL.
gillboard says
I feel old cuz i remember most of the things written on this post.. Not that there's anything wrong with that. lolz.
cloudy says
ahahaha, kamusta naman ang panonood ng porn sa betamax tapos nagbrown out bigla, lols.
cool post. mejo nakakarelate ako sa kalahati ng entry, haha.
:)
ash says
@eternal wanderer - i thought your student number starts with an 8 and you keep a healthy collection of vinyl records.
@tristan tan - i remember those! with the comics printed around the plastic wrapper.
@gillboard - cheers to being older! thanks for reading my post.
@cloudy - naabutan mo rin ang betamax! tanders ka na rin!
Mugen says
Too bad, I only regained consciousness at the dawn of Alternative Music (Mellon Collie, Jagged Little Pill), Twilight of Internet (Virtual Asia) and Windows 98.
But I know the Love Bus, the Party Lines, Carebears, Batibot, Sesame Street, Astroboy, Knight Rider and McGuyver. Lol.
Anonymous says
Shucks. Nasa transition generation talaga ako. Aware na ako sa mga bagay na nasulat...
WV: noans
Anonymous says
naabutan ko yung time, i think early ramos administration, when frequent ang brown outs, i think on a daily basis ata. pati betamax since andun nakarecord yung nuptial ng parents ko before. and naalala ko yung BMX bike ko na nawala nung naiwan ko overnight sa loob ng terrace namin, hahaha. those were the days.
Allan says
i actually cannot relate to most of the things listed. probably woke up to the world quite late (sa edad ko kasi dapat alam ko na yang mga yan e). though don't get me wrong, bata pa po ako. 22 to be exact... :D
ash says
@knox galen - regained? i can still recall vividly how windows 3.1 became a jaw dropper after a jump from DOS.
@d beat goes on - welcome to the club! hahaha
@maxwell5587 - shucks i miss my bike too. brings back old memories of childhood and being careless.
@allan - its never too late to waking up and start enjoying the flowers.
wanderingcommuter says
getting a nervous breakdown when brownout hits while illicitly watching porn on betamax. the tape wouldnt eject without electricity, thus the panic. brownouts were a fairly common occurence.
--- hahaha... sobrang nakarelate naman daw ako... nyahaha! napaghahalata ding palapit na ako sa thirteens...
citybuoy says
it's funny because i'm 22 but i grew up with so many adults so i actually aged earlier than i should have. my friends find it weird when i know the lyrics to nondescript songs from the 80's. anyway, it'll pass. sooner or later, everyone starts talking about common things like politics and money. when that time comes, it won't matter which madonna reincarnation you grew up listening to. :D
Mr. Slutty says
"before microsoft word was wordstar and wordperfect. excel evolved from lotus 1-2-3."
Shet, alam ko ito.
You forgot Swatch and Kaypee shoes. Hehehe =)