confident

That's true, it's not like when we were kids. Notebooks and pens or pencils, handwritten note-passing, doodling in the margins. All on some form of technology now. Though, you do bring up a good point and I may actually just change that to an extra credit assignment. That way, doesn't count against them in any way if I can't read what they wrote. With the typewriters, I could be nice and tell them the trick of using whiteout. Still some effort in there, since they gotta wait for it to dry before typing over it. Can't really record them though, at least not their faces. Privacy laws with minors, but I could have it recording me explaining it to them and get their verbal reactions picked up on the audio, I've seen a few teachers on social media doing that.

Extra credit is smart, honestly. That way you won’t have a bunch of angry parents in your inbox when their precious babies fail because they write like doctors with broken hands. And yeah, obviously I don't mean their faces. But I watch plenty of teachers do that format where the camera is on them and they're mostly reacting to the crazy shit kids say these days -- you should absolutely do it.

Oof, yeah the barely there, thin line of a brow trend. Glad that's something I never took part in. I've heard some people never were able to grow them back in after doing all that. But yeah, I think that’s what makes it feel weird more than anything, just how differently time feels now compared to back then. Everything moves so fast you barely get a chance to sit with it before it’s already part of some nostalgia post. Also now I’m kind of curious what other things are going to get slapped with the retro label next, because at this rate I feel like I need to start mentally preparing for 2010s stuff to show up any day now.

Okay but real talk? This whole “everything is retro now” thing is actually making me feel some type of way. Like damn, we really out here becoming classics without even trying. But enough sulking about being old, it's a little depressing now. Oh, hey, Founder's Day is literally right around the corner. You gonna have a booth this year?

Listen, I've fully seen a student attempt to "zoom-in" on a page on a book before realizing it's not gonna work that way, I can't imagine if they had to do all research for any class without google at their fingertips. Either way, Marley may have inspired me to consider giving them an assignment where they have to write it by hand, no typing it up on a computer. Maybe a typewriter, if any of them have access to one. Sure, depending on penmanship I may end up regretting it in the end, but still might at least make them appreciate how easy they've got it nowadays.

Half of them probably haven't held a pen for longer than thirty seconds since elementary school. You’re going to be squinting at those papers like you're trying to decode ancient hieroglyphics by the time you're halfway through the pile. Though, the typewriter idea is actually genius. It’s "aesthetic" enough that they might actually think it’s cool for the first five minutes, right up until they realize there’s no backspace key and they have to start the whole page over because of one typo. If you actually go through with it, please record their reactions when you tell them they can't just "copy-paste" their sources. I bet it's the type of thing that'd go viral.

Is it truly the internet or is it those younger generations that seem to never cease at poking fun at our trends, despite the fact so many trends of our hay-day are making comebacks with them? But no, I get it. Life was easier back when our biggest worries were scraped knees and who was getting picked first for teams in gym class, stuff like that.

You’ve got a point there. They’ll call us "vintage" in one breath and then go buy the exact same outfit we wore to a middle school dance in the next. It’s a specialized kind of disrespect, honestly. But hey, if looking this good is what they consider "vintage," I’ll take it as a compliment. I can handle the JNCO jeans and the claw clips coming back, but I am begging the fashion gods to not bring back those skinny, barely-there eyebrows. I spent way too many years looking surprised and half-finished. I am not recovering from that trauma just so I can see it all over my feed again. Hell to the no.

Oh don’t even get me started on some of those "songs that are turning 30 this year" videos. And it's even worse when a song ends up on them that's older than I originally thought. But yeah, I hear you Mercedes, no funeral energy, I promise. We absolutely are still fine as hell, that’s not up for debate. I’m just mildly offended on behalf of time itself. Also I fully agree with the golden era statement. We lived through peak childhood entertainment and didn’t even realize we were in the good days.

I’m glad we’ve established that we’re still in our prime, even if the internet is trying to gaslight us into thinking we’re ancient artifacts. But you’re so right about the golden era. We really had it all—the best cartoons, the best snacks, and the kind of summer vacations that actually felt like they lasted forever. I’d trade a lot of things to go back to a Saturday morning where the biggest stress was which cereal to eat and whether the neighbor was coming over to play.

No, seriously, and half the time you’d finally track the book down just for it to have like one paragraph that was actually useful. But yes, and now they’ve got everything instantly and still somehow complain about having to find sources. I almost want to make them do a “no internet” assignment just to see how long they’d last before revolting.

Honestly, watching them try to navigate a world without a search bar would be the highest form of entertainment. But honestly, as much as I complain, I’m not sure I’d have the patience to go back to the dark ages either. If I had to wait three weeks for a library book to arrive on inter-library loan just to finish a project now, I’d probably just quit.

I was talking about research for essays today and mentioned how we used to rely on encyclopedias and actual library cards...cue the blank stares. One kid asked, “You mean, you couldn't just google it?” I almost laughed out loud. Explaining that you had to physically pull books off shelves and write down citations by hand felt like a full-on history lecture. Honestly, I didn’t even have it in me to try and explain the card catalog system too. It’s wild realizing some of these kids have no idea what research looked like to all of us growing up.

I remember the hell it was using card catalogs and I feel like I aged 40 years just thinking about it 😭The little drawers, the smell of old paper, and you’d pray the book you needed wasn’t already checked out or you were DONE... It’s kind of funny though, because we really had to work for information back then. Now they just type a question and get like 47 sources, a summary, and a YouTube explanation in 0.2 seconds. Kids just don't know how good they got it.

Guys, you know what really hurts me in my soul right now? GameStop has officially declared the PS3, Wii, and X-Box 360 all retro consoles. And don't get me wrong, as someone who quite literally owns and runs a vintage shop, I know that when an item hits the 20 year mark, it's officially considered vintage but... my dudes, I was like a senior in high school when these consoles first came out. I gotta say it, I really feel like a dinosaur right now.

You want to talk about feeling old? Try watching your favorite childhood songs start showing up in “throwback” playlists. Now that will mess with your soul. But hey — we're still fine as hell, so stop acting like somebody died. These kids can call it retro all they want. We know we had the golden era.

I was at the store picking up some weekend essentials, and I saw a girl sprint to the other side of the car, climb in and buckle herself up, laughing maniacally the whole time, all the while her guy was just nonchalantly walking towards the car, shaking his head the whole time. When he got close enough, I could hear him saying "Nope, absolutely not". I thought he wanted to be a passenger princess or something, but nope. He opened the door, unbuckled her, full on made her get out, shut the door, and then opened it and held open the door for her to get in. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone take being a gentleman quite that seriously.

Oh, I love that for her. Honestly? That’s exactly the level of commitment I expect. If a man isn't willing to stage a full-blown intervention just to make sure he gets to open my door, is he even trying? It’s giving "dedicated" with a hint of "we are definitely going to be late to dinner," but I absolutely respect the hustle.

Okay, but like, for real all of those songs are so perfect for each of those seasons! Owen was saying Sweater Weather for winter though, which I could also see, but I agree with it being for fall so much! And another song with sugar in the title, Sam said Sugar by Maroon 5 and then that made me think of Sugar, Sugar by The Archies because of the movie Now and Then! Guess it just helps that summertime is like the best time for sweets like watermelon and ice cream and popsicles. And the Corinne Bailey Rae song for springtime, yes! That song is perfect.

Yes to the whole sugar chain! Summer is basically edible in song form—watermelon, ice cream, popsicles… honestly, if Sugar, Sugar came on at a pool party, people would just start dancing like it’s a law or something. Also, not to derail, but Now and Then is giving me full-on nostalgia vibes, and now I kind of want to rewatch it with, like, ten different snacks lined up. Total mood.

Well hey, like I said, sometimes the list doesn't always limit your buying to the stuff you need... though forgetting to get what's on your list when you have it does sound a tad troubling. And yeah, I get that about curbside. I've had instances where they do that thing of replacing something with something else when they're out of the item you ordered and it made absolutely no sense with the replacement. Like, the one time I ordered goldfish crackers and they were apparently out of the ones I wanted... they substituted goldfish food for the crackers. How does that make sense?? I don't even have a fish, though I'm sure Moose would love that if I did.

Wow, that's a really bad one actually. I've never had anything that wrong with my orders. I just don't trust them to pick out produce in particular, really. And it's not the shopper's fault, really. It's not like they know how I'm going to use the stuff I'm buying so they don't think it's a big deal to give me bananas that are greener than grass. In your case though, the only thing I can figure is they saw "goldfish" and went with that. What time did you go when you got that order? Just so I can try to avoid that shift from now on.

It be like that sometimes, honestly. And it's usually because you need it in a way that you didn't realize.

Feels like it be like that all the time, but I get you. I can't actually remember the last time I bought something impulsively that just sat untouched, too, so thank you for the extra validation there!

Self care is being a responsible adult, I see absolutely no issue here. And that is a VERY VALID point -- if it was important, you wouldn't need to write it down. It would just magically prioritize itself. Period. I rest my case.

Well, the defense rests, court adjourned, all the legal jargon that says we're right. It also doesn't help that stores literally put things at the front of the store to distract us from our original goal. We're victims, really.