I was just trying to think about what I was doing ten years ago and it was really, really hard to remember until I looked at the news events that year...

Tony Blair was elected as Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Princess Diana died in Paris.
The UK hands Hong Kong back to China.
Katrina & The Waves win the Eurovision Song Contest.
Mother Theresa dies in Calcutta.

And more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997

I always thought that ten years isn't a long time, but I guess it is really.

I was still living with my parents and had started work at the utility company I worked for (until I quit last year). I met loads of great people at that job - I'm still regularly in touch with a couple of people. My old boss, Helen, texed me yesterday to say hello.

I seemed to go out a lot more but I suppose I had more disposable income whilst living with my parents (although it didn't feel like that at the time). I had four distinct social circles at that time which later amalgamated into one as they all met through me - and hooked up with each other! My family and friends would give Fleetwood Mac's bed-hopping a run for their money. It's all a bit complex.

I decorated my bedroom that year. I loved it. I had orange and yellow patterned wallpaper on three walls; open brick on another wall; azure blue coving, skirting boards and windowsill; I painted the radiator with metallic copper paint and the ceiling was silver.

My album that year was 'Drag' by k.d. lang. I was obsessed with it. I know I bought the Crystal Ball album that year, but I was so over Prince at that time that I don't remember playing it more than once after purchase.

I was still writing songs at this time with my cousin. He's no longer interested, after settling down into domesticity (which is a shame). I used to visit him every Thursday and we'd drink a mind-boggling amount of booze. I'm talking like a litre of gin plus a bottle of red wine each. I don't know how we did it. I was never hungover. I watched Tony Blair's election win at his house. We stayed up until stupid o'clock and then we both went to work the next day.

It's weird but looking back, I see 1997 as the time when everything changed around me. The world seemed bigger than it does now and I was optimistic for the future. I used to have a Swatch pager in the early nineties, but I believe I bought my first mobile phone this year. Everything seemed exciting and new at the beginning of the year, but by the end, everything was already slipping away.

All in all, it was a very transitional year.

I remember that NDRU saw the movie Scent Of Green Papaya.

I was living it up and partying hard and completely miserable.

I never had to organise a babysitter

JustErin said:

Same.

Though not completely miserable. That came later.

I was 9 (or 10 years old) considering the month.


-No Limit Records was at the top
-Family Matters was still on the air
-Kenen & Kel was the shiz-nit
-BIG died
-I was into wrestling a lot

ZombieKitten said:

me either

i was a holiday rep in majorca!!!

naughty times

I remember mobile phones looked like this:

Jochem said:

Mine didn't! In 1997, they looked a bit clunky, but more like this:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

My sister was obsessed with that show.

I was living at a boarding house and was writing for the Danish gay and lesbian newspaper.

I kinda miss those days. I was so full of optimism and hopes for the future. Here I am ten years later, very disillusioned.

scififilmnerd said:

JustErin said:

I was living it up, patying hard, and can't remember much else.

Life is very much better now, but the scars still show.

mdiver said:

Hey, scars visible or invisible, show us we have lived. There is a story in each, shows how strong we can be and we are still alive.

MissMe said:

And i sure wear every one with pride, they make me who i am

mdiver said:

My friend who was in a car accident has many scars, but each are beautiful. It shows what he has been though and what he has survived. Unfortunately his wife to be couldn't cope and left him, so his emotional scars cut deeper than his physical.

That was 5 years ago and he is a different person, better, a much better person, and stronger, in all ways.

At the time I was working at a museum and the job paid very little. I was living in a rat-hole apartment and had just been offered a new job that paid more but that I would eventually hate and be fired from a year later. 97- August 98 was a rough time financially.

MissMe said:

That is a shame, but in some ways it is better to know and move on with strength

10 yrs ago this coming December I experienced someone close to me pass away.
It was my first experience with death on that level.

Though I had only known this person for about a year and a half at the time of her passing I have many fond memories of her.
She welcomed me into her family as if I was one of them ~ she gave me the best Christmas I had ever had in my entire life.

I tried really hard to do what would have made her happy but in the end I messed up a bit and I am not sure if she would be very proud of me now.
I hope she knows I had the best of intentions and I wish things could have turned out differently.

shanti0608 said:

If she is half the woman you say she is then she would know the truth

MissMe said:

Beautiful!

mdiver said:

Totally. He learned the hard way, with her being a complete shit, but he came out better for it in the end.

MissMe said:

I know how that feels, ten years on the emotional scars i bear are nothing in comparison to the pain i would have endured later on.

Justin1972UK said:

They are thinking early 80's

Serious said:

You're a dear.

scififilmnerd said:

I have a habit of comparing and contrasting the present compared to 5 years ago, or 7 years ago, or 10 years ago, or 15 or 20 years ago all the time, it plays like a tape in my head. I think a part of me regrets not living in the present and missing out on fun when I had opportunities to do so, and was too shy to really appreciate them

10 years ago, I was in 9th grade, totally into rap and hip hop and bashing boy bands (as well as totally into janet, michael, the spice girls, timbaland, and the bad boy crew)

hung out at my cousin's place every weekend and met tons of people, now we only hang out once in awhile, though when we do, I feel like it's 1997-99 again

lost and confused about who to be friends with

thought I was better than anyone else in some ways

my grandfather was still alive

my parents were still together

I wrote songs and poetry and seriously wanted to become an artist

I wanted a pager and my own cell phone so bad, or at least my own phone line

NOW:

my parents aren't together anymore, and my dad remarried

I have a degree and am working/in transition

I've dated a few guys

I'm not into rap much

I'm more knowledgeable about my religion and try to be aware of getting caught up with worldly things

I accomplished a lot of singing and dancing stuff through lessons, competitions and entertaining friends and at school

I'm still trying to find my place in a way, and am trying to enjoy the present instead of being shy like before

I have my own car and can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I feel like a teen again, but with no limitations

I'm a fast typer

I care about being myself and different more than trying to be like everyone else, and like to rub it in at times

I'm more blunt in general

I still make dumb jokes, though they're funnier than back then

have my own phone lol
[Edited 10/15/07 20:10pm]