topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Friday December 13, 2024, 9:02 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Last post Author Topic: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?  (Read 16426 times)

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« on: March 19, 2012, 09:49 AM »
I'd love to hear from those that were around from the 70s or before.  For me, the most fun and comfortable decade was the 80s, when I was in elementary school.  I don't know if that's because of my age or if things were different.  But I seem to remember the adults having more fun back then also.  I can't put my finger on it but it seems like we are much more private and secluded now than those days.

I've heard from some of my older friends about the 60s and 70s, and boy, they sound fun.  It sounds like that sex drugs rock and roll were not an exaggeration, but I may have a weird group of friends.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,859
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2012, 10:44 AM »
70s hands down.

Sex, drugs, and rock & roll were not an exaggeration. But they were paradoxically not the big deal they've become today.

Sex was, among other things, highly political. As were most things back then. Sexual "liberation" (i.e. promiscuity) was a statement of rebellion and a manifestation of individual freedom for many people. It was entwined with the politics of the era. Something most people can't understand today. You had the Pill, the women's rights movement, and a general rebellion against all authority (brought on by the US government continuing its war in Viet Nam despite the widespread objection and outrage of a large portion of its people) - all of which had a big impact on throwing old sexual mores to the wind. Sex wasn't just about sex back then. And that had a lot to do with why people behaved differently than they do today.

Sex was also pre-AIDS. That made a huge difference in the degree of willingness most people had for engaging in sexual activities. People used to say: "A little roll in the hay never killed anyone." They can't say that any more.

Still, kids seem to be just as ignorant (in real terms) about sex as we were at that age. (Strange...I would have thought they'd be wiser since they start much younger than we ever did.)

Drugs. It was all almost innocent compared to today. They were largely done in ignorance of the long-term repercussions they would have for some people and our society as a whole. People also "did" drugs in a different manner and for different reasons than they do them today. And the drugs of choice were different and considerably less potent than the designer and lab created "products" they are are now. (And FWIW most stories about how much drugs people were doing back then are highly exaggerated. One thing I've noticed: when it comes to drugs - almost everybody exaggerates. Everybody from the users, to the dealers, to law enforcement. There's just something about drugs that makes it a "high-BS" topic.)

Rock & Roll is still rock & roll. Except now it's mostly a business which suffers from far too much self-conscious posturing, new-age angst, and market research IMO. I haven't heard too much I'd consider "original" or "definitive" in what seems to be a very long time now. Hope springs eternal however. Even if I'm not waiting up nights.
 8)
« Last Edit: March 19, 2012, 10:57 AM by 40hz »

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2012, 11:09 AM »
I haven't heard too much I'd consider "original" or "definitive" in what seems to be a very long time now.
I'm working on it, buddy.  i got a little something going...

Thanks for the 70s thoughts.  The one thing you said that bothers me the most is the drugs bit.  I am not a fan of today's prescription drugs, and frankly, they scare me more than they give hope.  Starting from when I was 17 and went to college, I learned that far more people take anti-depressant and other similar things (pain killers) much more so than I would have expected.  Probably my favorite girl of all time was a victim to it, through no real fault of her own, very sweet girl.  I know entire families on anti-depressants that most people have no idea about.

I almost want to say a lot of these prescriptions are just far too potent, or they have side effects that are bad enough to make the good negligible.  I also want to say...for some of these folk, wouldn't it be a lot more reasonable to just smoke a little sumptin?

Shades

  • Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 2,939
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2012, 11:45 AM »
The 90's for me.

Nice jobs, excellent coworkers, good money, PSX gaming with friends while having "added some extra dimensions" that were way better than the 3D from the theaters/TV's now, still having family.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,859
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2012, 12:02 PM »
Just as a follow on: the best thing about that era was (for me) The Whole Earth Catalog. :-*

Almost like Tom Swift and American Boy Magazine got together with Scientific American's The Amateur Scientist column.

Suddenly people stopped talking about doing things and just went out and did them. Farming experiments. Communal living attempts. Self-publishing (all pre-DTP too!), community organizing, art & crafts, independent radio broadcasting and film making, adventuring, lost arts like building a stone wall or building a waterwheel driven saw mill, geodesic domes, arcologies, street theater, beekeeping....it was awesome! It gave people inspiration - and some sort of permission to go around the way things were, and start doing their own thing instead.

And also asking questions...

Much of the entrepreneurial spirit of the 80s came directly out of the philosophy preached by Kevin Kelly and the Whole Earth crew. And by the "can do" attitude and skills of those who were inspired by it.

What's really interesting was that this mentality or attitude was nothing new. It was the way most of America used to think before the stock market crash back in 1929.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose... ;)

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2012, 12:05 PM »
The 90's for me.

Nice jobs, excellent coworkers, good money, PSX gaming with friends while having "added some extra dimensions" that were way better than the 3D from the theaters/TV's now, still having family.
Yeah, the 90s were pretty good too.  It's the internet that really opened up our (my?) eyes.  I'm far more aware of things going on all around me and in other parts of the world that I had no idea about...and that makes things different.  I can't be as delusional anymore...even though in a sense, I was happier.  But I wouldn't wish for that kind of happiness now.

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2012, 12:11 PM »
Just as a follow on: the best thing about that era was (for me) The Whole Earth Catalog. :-*

Almost like Tom Swift and American Boy Magazine got together with Scientific American's The Amateur Scientist column.

Suddenly people stopped talking about doing things and just went out and did them. Farming experiments. Communal living attempts. Self-publishing (all pre-DTP too!), community organizing, art & crafts, independent radio broadcasting and film making, adventuring, lost arts like building a stone wall or building a waterwheel driven saw mill, geodesic domes, arcologies, street theater, beekeeping....it was awesome! It gave people inspiration - and some sort of permission to go around the way things were, and start doing their own thing instead.

And also asking questions...

Much of the entrepreneurial spirit of the 80s came directly out of the philosophy preached by Kevin Kelly and the Whole Earth crew. And by the "can do" attitude and skills learned by those who learned and were inspired by it.

What's really interesting was that this mentality or attitude was nothing new. It was the way most of America used to think before the stock market crash back in 1929.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose... ;)
Yeah!  I want that!  i want to do shit!  I've spend 20 years learning HOW to do things very intensely, and now I just want to do them.  But it's hard, I run into a lot of obstacles.  But there's a lot I can do...and I'm going to do it.  I spent 10 years feeling "unprepared" for various reasons, all BS.  I feel like I was duped into inactivity.  Well, no more.  I'm in my prime, I have the energy, I have the skills, I have the community...I'm doing it.  What is "it"?  You'll see...music, art, education, content creation and whatever else comes across my path that is interesting.  I'm going to do my best not to hold back anymore.

CWuestefeld

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,009
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2012, 12:36 PM »
Having been born in '67, the first whole decade I'm really qualified to have an opinion on is the 80s. But I don't think it's possible -- at least for me -- to say that one is definitively best.

The '80s held the times of me discovering the world, and discovering myself. The music was great. There was so much to learn -- not just as a young person learning the standard stuff, but it's when the world of computers and automation took off, and I was at the front of that.

The '90s had its own special aspects as well, notably the memories of falling in love with my future wife, getting married, and creating a life together. And there was that whole Internet thing growing at that time, and I hooked my cart to that and made something meaningful with it (wrote a programming book; got a career that continues to be very successful). The music wasn't quite as good, but there were still high points that made it worthwhile.

From my perspective in 2012, the '00s have little to sell them, and of course this decade is just getting started. But the thing is, if you'd asked my opinion of the '80s or '90s as I was living them, you were as likely as not to get an answer like "this sucks".

Only from afar do we appreciate what our lives were at those points. I'm not sure whether it's because we didn't understand the good parts yet, or because over time the sting of the bad parts has faded.

cranioscopical

  • Friend of the Site
  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 4,776
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2012, 01:23 PM »
The 60's were good — very good —  but during the Cuban missile crisis we were looking over our shoulders quite a bit. Most people living around London, England could tell you whether or not the fire storm would reach them if the capital were hit.

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2012, 01:32 PM »
The 90s were a lot of fun because I was doing mostly university work  research. But for sheer fun, it was the 60s as a kid. The music was great, college was a special experience, most everything was cheap, and I didn't grow up being told everything from riding a bike to shooting a gun was insanely dangerous. The older I got, the less fun I had and the more I saw life as a need to avoid the easy but often life-changing mistakes that would cripple my chances in certain professions. Thus I'd choose the 60s every time.

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2012, 02:52 PM »
The 90s were a lot of fun because I was doing mostly university work  research. But for sheer fun, it was the 60s as a kid. The music was great, college was a special experience, most everything was cheap, and I didn't grow up being told everything from riding a bike to shooting a gun was insanely dangerous. The older I got, the less fun I had and the more I saw life as a need to avoid the easy but often life-changing mistakes that would cripple my chances in certain professions. Thus I'd choose the 60s every time.
Sounds pretty freaking good to me.  What about all the draft stuff we hear about in history?  How did that feel?  I don't know how I would feel...there was a time when I actually wanted to join the military, but not anymore (obviously).

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,859
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2012, 03:57 PM »
What about all the draft stuff we hear about in history?  How did that feel?

It sucked royally. And it was scary. You could watch the war on the news and get updated casualty figures twice (6pm and 11pm) almost every night. (That was before the era of embedding news reporters and sanitizing the news stories.)  

And you could also talk to the people that made it back.

I never met anybody, including my conservative pro-American relatives who served over there, who ever had anything much good to say about that war. Or their own involvement in it. My cousin (USMC) summed it up in a letter to his folks by saying, "It's going to be ok. We don't kid ourselves over here. We aren't fighting for Uncle Sam, or Van Thieu. We're fighting for each other. At least until the big guys back home figure out what they want us to do. When they do, it gets pretty busy for us. But most days, we just do what we can to keep each other alive long enough for them to send us back home."

I kept a copy of that letter in my wallet and used to read it to people when they said that "at least the people brave enough to serve" believed in what we were doing over there. (I still have it too!)

Somewhere around 58,000 didn't make it back. And well over 300,000 came home wounded. Many never got the medical or other benefits they had been promised. That's because superpower America had effectively lost its war against an army composed of farmers and other rural types. And we were embarrassed by it. So when it was over, the country mostly wanted to forget as quickly as possible that there ever was a place called Viet Nam.

And it never seemed a noble or inspirational war either. The news footage that came back was gritty and disturbing. Nothing like the glorious and grand thing we had been brought up to see war as when we were kids. In fact, it all looked rather ugly. Especially when the footage showed uprooted villagers and wounded civilians. This sickening photo was one of the most famous taken during the war. WARNING: it's still a very upsetting image. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.) There's plenty more like it you can find by Googling assuming you have the stomach for that sort of thing.

Adding to our overall disgust was also the little problem of explaining exactly what we were doing there. None of us (including half the people in government) seemed to have any idea why we were fighting. There were the usual "fighting communism" and "protecting freedom" arguments. But they had an oddly hollow ring to them compared to WWII, where it was painfully clear to everyone why we not only had to fight, but also win that war. (It took the Pentagon Papers leak to get to the real story behind our involvement.)

I was lucky. I was young enough to get a draft card (1A status) very shortly before they finally suspended the draft. Two years later, almost to the day, President Gerald Ford announced the US was officially out of Viet Nam. My cousin's outfit was among the last Marine units to leave in late April 1975. We didn't find out that he made it out alive and unhurt until almost a week later...

Those are my main memories of Viet Nam and the draft.

-------------

Note: some years after the war, the government Viet Nam acknowledged an estimated 4 million civilian casualties (dead/wounded) and approximately 1 million military dead and 600,000 wounded for both sides between 1955 and 1975.

Note 2: The United States first became involved in Viet Nam in 1950 when it began sending military and intelligence "advisers" to the French colonial government. The US did not send obviously military personnel (still classed as advisers) to Viet Nam until 1961-62. Actual U.S. military combat units were first deployed in 1965, which marked what most consider  the official beginning of what came to be called the Viet Nam War. So although the US government liked to claim it's troops were only in Viet Nam for about 10 years, in truth they were there in some capacity for nearly 20 - and were involved in direct military combat operations for most of them.

« Last Edit: March 19, 2012, 04:31 PM by 40hz »

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2012, 04:09 PM »
What about all the draft stuff we hear about in history?  How did that feel?

It sucked royally. And it was scary. You could watch the war on the news and get updated casualty figures twice (6pm and 11pm) almost every night. (That was before the era of embedding news reporters and sanitizing the news stories.) 

And you could also talk to the people that made it back.

I never met anybody, including my conservative pro-American relatives who served over there, who ever had anything much good to say about that war. Or their own involvement in it. My cousin (USMC) summed it up in a letter to his folks by saying, "It's going to be ok. We don't kid ourselves over here. We aren't fighting for Uncle Sam, or Van Thieu. We're fighting for each other. At least until the big guys back home figure out what they want us to do. When they do, it gets pretty busy for us. But most days, we just do what we can to keep each other alive long enough for them to send us back home."

I kept a copy of that letter in my wallet and used to read it to people when they said that "at least the people brave enough to serve" believed in what we were doing over there. (I still have it too!)

Somewhere around 58,000 didn't make it back.  And well over 300,000 came home wounded. Many never got the medical or other benefits they had been promised. That's because superpower America had effectively lost its war against an army composed of farmers and other rural types. And we were embarrassed by it. So when it was over, the country mostly wanted to forget as quickly as possible that there ever was a place called Viet Nam.

And it never seemed a noble or inspirational war either. The news footage that came back was gritty and disturbing. Nothing like the glorious and grand thing we had been brought up to see war as when we were kids. In fact, it all looked rather ugly. Especially when the footage showed uprooted villagers and wounded civilians.

Then there was that problem of exactly what we were doing there. None of us (including half the people in government) seemed to have any idea why we were fighting. There were the usual "fighting communism" and "protecting freedom" arguments. But they had an oddly hollow ring to them compared to WWII, where it was painfully clear to everyone why we not only had to fight, but also win that war. (It took the Pentagon Papers leak to get to the real story behind our involvement.)

I was lucky. I was young enough to get a draft card (1A status) very shortly before they finally suspended the draft. Two years later, almost to the day, President Gerald Ford announced the US was officially out of Viet Nam. My cousin's outfit was among the last Marine units to leave in late April 975. We didn't find out that he made it out alive and unhurt until almost a week later...

That's my memory of Viet Nam and the draft.
Well, I'm glad we don't have to go through that.  Although...minus the draft bit, it doesn't seem too different from our wars right now.

I wonder what citizens of the world would have felt about all those past wars had they had access to video and information the way we do now.  It's easy to stir up feelings of pride and patriotism when you can't see or know what's actually happening.

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,859
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #13 on: March 19, 2012, 04:46 PM »
I wonder what citizens of the world would have felt about all those past wars had they had access to video and information the way we do now.  It's easy to stir up feelings of pride and patriotism when you can't see or know what's actually happening.

The pentagon has acknowledged that following Viet Nam, there has been a direct commitment on the part of the military and our government to manage what news gets out to the public - and how the story gets told.

Reporters are no longer allowed free access to combat areas. This is officially the policy for reasons of their own safety and to preserve "operational security" during a combat operation. But it's an open secret its primary function is to control access.

Reporters who were in the last three US conflicts all reported (at least initially) they were obviously being "handled" and "managed" and "steered" by military liaisons.

And many news watchdogs have expressed concerns over the process of "embedding" reporters in combat units due to the natural tendency of humans to bond in crisis situations. Something that can have impact on a reporter's objectivity when reporting on the actions of "his" military unit. (Many observers have noted a distinct tendency on the part of embedded newspeople to become advocates for the units they're with rather than the critical neutral observers they're supposed to be the longer they remain with the units. Which is perfectly understandable.)

The government has also adopted a policy of not reporting casualty figures (military or civilian) on anything resembling a regular basis. And also blocking press access to members of the families of wounded or dead military personnel. (News photography is routinely not permitted at military funerals.)

So suffice to say there isn't much in the way of completely independent news coverage of US wars any more. Largely because the United States is no longer willing to allow someone other than official sources tell the official story. A practice the major news networks now seem to be willing to  go along with.

There's good arguments for and against about doing it the way it's currently being done.

But please let's not have that discussion here. It will only start one of those no-win never-ending arguments. :tellme:
« Last Edit: March 19, 2012, 04:54 PM by 40hz »

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2012, 05:36 PM »
But please let's not have that discussion here. It will only start one of those no-win never-ending arguments. :tellme:
ok ok  ;D
Who was saying over the weekend about how topics were spinning out of control? :stars:
Anyone dizzy yet?

joiwind

  • Participant
  • Joined in 2009
  • *
  • Posts: 486
  • carpe momentum
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #15 on: March 19, 2012, 05:44 PM »
Definitely the 60's for me - I was 20 in 1969 but an early starter and growing up in Souf London : soul music, bluebeat, Mods, the Who, the Stones... In fact I was in school with David Bowie (but not in the same year) and Peter Frampton.
On the beaches in the early 60's with the Mods, going to Stones' concerts in 1965 ...
I could write a whole list of the groups I saw live during the 60's and early 70's, the big and small free festivals (I can proudly say that I was at the first Glastonbury festival (actually strictly speaking the second really as the first doesn't really count)), hanging out in the clubs, in Soho...
Lots of drugs, the International Times, Oz, the Whole Earth Catalog.  8)

I know this sounds like clichés but things were great then - people were much happier then than now, more carefree, more idealistic, more fraternal ... but it was all over by the middle 70's : hard drugs (the Devil's Spawn), hate, greed and glamour.

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #16 on: March 19, 2012, 05:49 PM »
So...back to decades...

As a Laker fan, the 80s were good.  So were the 2000s, but not as good as the 80s even thought the championships numbered equal.  Better competition in the 80s.  Plus I'm ridiculously cynical about pro sports now.

Music...I tend to lean towards older is better.  But I'm weird that way.  Gimme acoustic instruments.

Of course, there's technology...and as far as computers go, the newer the better.  I love the media consumption.  On the other hand, I miss the social aspect of the inconveniences.  Nobody ever goes around anymore with a record in their hand saying "Hey!  Check this out!  Let's go listen to it!"  I miss that (even though I only caught the tail end of it).

Going out to the theater was way better in the 80s and 90s.  And from what I hear, it was even more exciting in previous decades.  The funnest movie experiences I ever had was watching the sneak previews on campus in college.

The one invention I am dying for and would instantly make the current decade the best ever:
automated in-home shirt ironing.  This is the last bit of technology I really need.  I hate ironing.  dry cleaning shirts is too expensive.  If anyone could figure out how to iron a dress shirt automatically that is affordable for normal people...well, that's a big one.

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #17 on: March 19, 2012, 05:54 PM »
Definitely the 60's for me - I was 20 in 1969 but an early starter and growing up in Souf London : soul music, bluebeat, Mods, the Who, the Stones... In fact I was in school with David Bowie (but not in the same year) and Peter Frampton.
On the beaches in the early 60's with the Mods, going to Stones' concerts in 1965 ...
I could write a whole list of the groups I saw live during the 60's and early 70's, the big and small free festivals (I can proudly say that I was at the first Glastonbury festival (actually strictly speaking the second really as the first doesn't really count)), hanging out in the clubs, in Soho...
Lots of drugs, the International Times, Oz, the Whole Earth Catalog.  8)

I know this sounds like clichés but things were great then - people were much happier then than now, more carefree, more idealistic, more fraternal ... but it was all over by the middle 70's : hard drugs (the Devil's Spawn), hate, greed and glamour.
Boy I really envy you guys that experienced the music scene in the 60s 70s.  I had a classic rock phase for several years, man that was good stuff.  It had the good balance of everything...powerful blues influence becoming popular, still largely acoustic with just a touch of the digital creeping in, still musical/lyrical, even the edgy stuff.

One thing I realized in college was that the classic rock people...how shall I say this...they weren't very good looking folk.  And that made it better!  Because after 1980, not only did you have to be talented, but you also had to be relatively good looking...and that just ruins it because you cut the talent pool by a whole bunch when you start considering looks.  I just want my music man!

1103010.jpg
I guess daltry's a good looking chap...but that's it.

superboyac

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,347
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #18 on: March 19, 2012, 05:58 PM »
Meet the new boss!  Same as the old boss!
 :(

40hz

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 11,859
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #19 on: March 19, 2012, 06:36 PM »
You know you're starting to get up there when you start sounding like your parents:

Parents: I miss the good old old days (40's). Those were  the war years (WWII) and the Big Band Era (Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Glen Miller).

Me: I miss the good old days (late 60's-early 70's). Those were the war years (Viet Nam) and the Big Band Era (Tull, Beatles, Who, Rolling Stones, Faces, Hendrix, Joplin, Joe Cocker).

 ;D

Here's an eerie one for you entitled When I'm Sixty-four. Someone's idea of how things might have been if the Fates had fewer surprises in store for us. Like Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

When I_m 64.jpgWhich decade was the most fun for you personally?

(click to enlarge)
« Last Edit: March 19, 2012, 06:42 PM by 40hz »

Renegade

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,291
  • Tell me something you don't know...
    • View Profile
    • Renegade Minds
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #20 on: March 19, 2012, 07:07 PM »
Not sure about which decade... They've all been so radically different for me.

I remember in the late 80's or early 90's saying to some friends, "Man... we've been stoned for 3 weeks straight... can we do something else for a change?" :P ;D (Not kidding.) That time was certainly fun. Not sure that I'd want to do that again though... Been there, done that. Lost the brain cells to prove it. :P

I'm having a great time now, but it's all very, very different than the past.

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #21 on: March 19, 2012, 09:07 PM »
@superboyac:
What I've noticed most acutely is how most of the "fun" has been litigated out of normal life. Whether it's corporations, patents, the failure of the political system, or the militarization of police, it seems that whatever "fun" I want to have, it is either illegal or I'll surely get sued for years on end. No wonder most folks take extraordinary comfort in being distracted by their phone or tablet!

barney

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,294
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #22 on: March 20, 2012, 12:09 AM »
Hm-m-m ... guess the best for me was a split decade, mid-fifties through mid-sixties, even with a stint in Southeast Asia (we were involved in the conflict a bit earlier than most are aware  ;)).  Too early for the hippie/free-love/drugs genres, but that was when rock 'n roll was really getting started (although I was mostly for jazz & classical), and there weren't eleventy-seven legalities in the way if you decided you wanted to do something.  A decent car in the US was ~$3,000, and I can recall my parents' laments when cigarettes and gasoline both went from $0.21 pack/gallon to $0.25 pack/gallon, and my dad's customers' wails when a cup of coffee went from $0.05 to $0.10  :P.

Never got involved with the hippie/free-love/drug scene after I got back from overseas, but I could have any hobby I wanted, with no suspicions if I ordered denatured alcohol (for glass blowing/bending) or various forms of powder (i.e., explosives) for rocketry experiments, homemade jato units for RC aircraft, and the like, and it didn't require an act of Congress to walk into any gun shop, buy a weapon, and walk out with it an hour later.  (Reason it was so long was that it took thirty to forty-five minutes to decide which one to buy  :P.)  I was neither a hunter nor a marksman, but the opportunity was there for me.

Oh, yeah, you could discuss politics or religion or most anything else w/o the discussion degrading into a knock-down, drag-out argument, even in a bar (OK, there were exceptions  :D).  Seemed as though folk thought a bit more, then, and a bit more carefully, as well  :P

Seemed that the evisceration of freedoms started late sixties, early seventies, although it took a decade or two (2) before those eviscerations began to show teeth  >:(.

Renegade

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,291
  • Tell me something you don't know...
    • View Profile
    • Renegade Minds
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #23 on: March 20, 2012, 12:55 AM »
This sickening photo was one of the most famous taken during the war. WARNING: it's still a very upsetting image. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.)

I'm heading back to Viet Nam next week.

I visited the Viet Nam War Museum in Ho Chi Minh a couple years ago, and it's full of those kinds of horrors - many worse. I can't begin to describe just how sickening it was. It's not something that you can look at and not have something inside you break. It takes incredible effort to keep it together.

Nothing has really changed since then though. The horrors of chemical warfare then are the horrors of DU now.

We haven't had a peaceful decade. When that one comes, it will be the best.

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

wraith808

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 11,190
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Which decade was the most fun for you personally?
« Reply #24 on: March 20, 2012, 06:04 AM »
With me, each decade has it's ups and downs... thankfully more ups and downs.  But, it's been getting better and better.  So, no matter how relative things may be, my best times have always been the current times. :)