How do you remember 1999?

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dahlfan

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I moved to the United States in December of '99- less than four weeks before the new millenium, am I qualified to write a story set in that year, in the US even though I didn't experience the bulk of '99 in America?Also, what do you remember from '99?I remember senseless Y2K hysteria, and culture shock mostly. How was it for you?
 

Wayne K

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Unless you're writing a memoir and are claiming to have lived there when you didn't I say sure. Research it and write it well and the reader wont even think about it.
 

Rowan

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I was in Academy that year and we were sent home for a long holiday break as they feared the computer systems would go belly-up, etc. (usual Y2K hysteria). :) I think you're qualified as the entire year seemed to be hype about Y2K (from what my muddled brain can recall).
 

maestrowork

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Two weeks before the New Year I was in Paris, then London, then just a few days before 2000 I came back to New York and counted down to 2000 in Time Square (after waiting in the cold for 14 hours). A few days later I was in Vegas.

Good times.
 

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I remember watching Manchester United win the Treble, and the fireworks on New Year's Eve. Must have been my first year of secondary school, but happily I've forgotten that.
 

Wayne K

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I was on a regional tour that year, so I remember lots of hotel rooms, hotel bars and packed theaters.

In other words, I don't remember much. I was either drunk or onstage.
Will you be in the northeast anytime soon :D
 

Cranky

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I was pregnant and newly married for most of 1999. It was a pretty darn good year for me, personally, and so I was pretty selfish and not paying much attention to the outside world, heh.
 

Smish

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I graduated from high school and started college in 1999. It was a year of change for me, and a very happy time in my life.

:)Smish
 

Stew21

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New years eve 99 I was in a new town, alone, didn't know anyone and fell asleep on the couch (with a party raging at the bar across the street), with my dog at the foot of the couch.

That year was a new beginning for me. I remember 99 vividly. :)
 

aadams73

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1999 was the year I also moved to the US. Less than a week before the Columbine shootings, actually. That year was a blur of moving countries, moving cities, buying/selling a house, and all the fun things that accompany all those events. At times, I remember thinking I'd moved to a different planet, so yeah, the culture shock thing was pretty huge for me, too. The Y2K thing wasn't even a blip on my radar; I knew it would never amount to anything.
 

Akuma

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The perfection of marketing techniques (commercials), consumerism, and paranoia.
 

ellisnation

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1999... I was 18. Clinton/Monica jokes were still fresh. I rolled my eyes at the Y2K thing.

Go to BBC and look at their years in review. 1999 - JFK jr died. The purple TeleTubby was labeled as homosexual.
 

Red-Green

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I was living in Tampa, FL, working for a small non-profit agency. My boss was a hysterical nutjob who apparently thought that "Y2K" would cause all of our electronics to rise up and kill us. Maybe she thought Terminator was a documentary or something. At any rate, she made us turn off and unplug everything when we left for the holiday. Everything. Including our server and the microwave. So, when we got back to work the next week, of course, nothing worked.

Oh and New Year's was a crazy riot of drunks in Ybor City, singing along to Prince's 1999. So crazed and drunk that nobody even realized the moment at which midnight struck.
 

Wayne K

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I remember Y2K, but this was one of the drinking years I'm afraid.
 

Xelebes

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I remember by filing away bits of information that happened to me and attempt to recall them on certain occasions. The less I am able to recall, the less I am able to remember. The original process of filing leaves me with an incomplete picture before I even start but that's ok. Not everyone is going to recall the same picture as everyone else. Together, a complete picture is made.

1999 was no different for me than, say, 2000. I have fond memories and I have not so fond memories. MY ability to recall is patchy but I can muster a picture together which is always good.
 

Katie Alender

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1999 was the year of the dot-com blowup. I remember being young and poor and doing all of my Christmas shopping online using massive coupons and freebies from all the big sites. Well, big back then--eToys, that type of thing. (It didn't surprise me that they all went out of business... they were basically giving everything away!)

It was before reality TV hit, but "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" brought game shows back.

Computers were dirt cheap and basically disposable. A lot of them were practically free, if you signed a contract for three years of dial-up internet service.

And you could still walk people to the gate at airports.
 

panda

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I remember partying like it was 1999...don't remember too much after that. :D

Actually, I remember beanie babies...lots and lots of beanie babies.
 

colealpaugh

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I remember watching Manchester United win the Treble, and the fireworks on New Year's Eve. Must have been my first year of secondary school, but happily I've forgotten that.

Something else happened in '99?
ManUtdCup_468x312.jpg



I've never been to East Pukapuka, but it's not stopping me from writing all about it...
 

mscelina

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Will you be in the northeast anytime soon :D

I usually take a couple of trips to NYC every year. I totally dig the whole, "Can you believe she gave up theater for writing?" conversations that generally occur when I show up.

Mostly because after a few drinks, I don't know why I did it either. ;)
 

Cella

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I was still in high school and worked at the GAP. I think I remember more about folding sweaters than what I learned in school....(j/k) ;)
 

aadams73

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Actually, I remember beanie babies...lots and lots of beanie babies.

Oh my God...

I parked at the supermarket a couple of weeks back, and the car nose-to-nose to me had a dash covered in beanie babies. They were stacked two high and three deep. I have no idea how the driver managed to see over the top, or how they did fly everywhere when turning a corner or stopping in a hurry.
 

dahlfan

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In '99, I didn't know what Nickelodean was, and I wasn't familiar with a lot of the slang that kids were useing. Someone said to me once, "your outfit is the bomb," and I asked her what she meant because, even if she was speaking figuretively, I couldn't wrap my head around my Tommy Hilfiger get-up being potentially explosive.
 
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Regan Leigh

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I graduated from high school and started college in 1999. It was a year of change for me, and a very happy time in my life.

:)Smish


Same here! :)

I spent NY on a lake. My friend lived in a neighborhood of houses that circled a lake. Four of us went out in his canoe and parked in the center of the lake with champagne. We waited to see how ridiculous the y2k thing had been blown up. We also toasted to one thing we loved the most about the other people. It was great. :)
 
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