How was the world different for you, ten years after high school?
 

Was sitting here thinking about this the other day, when I realized that my high school graduation was ten years ago this past June.

Gas is more expensive, sure.

Air travel is a different beast from when I visited colleges in the Midwest in 1998.

Broadband has gone from that really cool technology that seemed just out of reach to something ubiquitous that I consider part of everyday life.

The Internet gone from that place I go to catch up on news to a place I can go to watch news happen, and interact with others as it happens.

It has gone from a place to go to check out-of-market scores and box scores to a place I can go to watch or listen to the games as they happen.

The first Big XII college football game I ever attended saw Missouri get shellacked by Nebraska, 40-10. The last two years have seen 41-6 and 52-17 Mizzou wins, respectively.

The Arizona Cardinals went to a Super Bowl, the Ducks won a Stanley Cup, and the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox have both won at least one championship since I graduated high school. The Dodgers won both their first playoff game and their first playoff series since 1988 during this window.

The Pirates went from "that team that seemingly loses every year" to "that team that loses every year, we're not kidding."

Sega released its final home video game console, and Nintendo was given up for irrelevant at the start of the decade before storming back in a big way in the last couple of years.

I attended my first rock concert a year or two ago, after having never been to one while in high school.

Oh, yeah, and the 2008 elections gave us the choice between the country's first minority President and first female Vice President. I might've picked one of those things to happen within ten years of graduation, but not both - and certainly not a choice between the two in the same election.

How 'bout the rest of you? Context of the question is within ten years of your own graduation, whenever that may have been, not within ten years of mine. ;)

We must have graduated about the same time..

I would add I still listen to the music of 10 years ago..

Everything got a helluva lot more expensive. And wages really haven't kept pace at all. Plus it is hard to find a 40 hour mcjob these days.

I got married in 2004. Holy crap did things get different after that.

I am too lazy to even begin, but it's a journey.

Wha??

I never went to a single concert until college either.

Deaf on the right, and protective of what I've got left, so I stayed away from rock concerts in high school and even most of my 20s.

I got an invitation to attend a "Rock Band" concert Harmonix was hosting during E3 a year or two ago, couldn't get 'em to tell me who was playing, rolled the dice, and got to see The Who. Worth it.

Ah ok, that makes sense, never really thought of hearing problems. Good reason to stay away.

Now, unless Coffee Warlord has some medical reason as well, I'm just going to assume he's weird.

Cell phones.

I'm no longer fucking 17 year old girls

Don't worry. In another 10 years, you'll come back around.

I'll let you all guess the year:

* The Internet went from something for the military and ultra-geeks to being (somewhat) safe for people like me.
* Pagers were hot, cell phones were developing. I had neither.
* CDs were the place for music. Cassettes were continuing a long decline, and LPs weren't cool yet. Not much downloadable music yet.
* VHS held off Beta to become king of home video.
* Sparky Anderson was about ready to hang it up, plunging the Tigers into 10 years of darkness (though the previous 10 weren't all that great).
* MSU football transitioned from George Perles to some guy named Saban.
* Wayne Fontes was still around. So was Barry. The Lions were making the playoffs every other year. Those were the days...

Well, I'm in my 10th year since high school this year. Pains me to even think about it.

I didn't really do much of anything before I left school, so I honestly don't know how different the world is, as opposed to how differently I look at the world with that I know and have experienced since then.

Maybe the one major change I've noticed is the acceptance of technology - computers and consoles in particular. Back when I was in school, especially early-to-mid high school (meaning junior high, as you crazy Yanks call it), it was still considered pretty damn geeky to play video games. Now, everyone does it.

I went from being a single geek to being a married man with kids. My world perspective changed more from that than any other influence tbh.

(on a geek level I remember my disk storage at university being considerably smaller than the processor cache in some machines 10 years later ;) )

God I hope so

I can't even remember what I did last week...GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

At ten years, I was just about finishing up the series of catastrophic life decisions I would spend the next ten years trying to clean up. :)

Yeah in 10 years I went from 17 yr olds to 19 year olds.

In 10 months, I can answer the question.

My first and only concert was Rush's Test for Echo tour in 1996 when I was 23. Unless if you count the time when the "Village People" (which yes, should be in quotes) came to our college campus.


I wasn't doing 17 yo girls at either juncture. Or at any other for that matter.

Wow, what a shitty band to have as your only concert experience.

What? Rush = not shitty. At least imo.

I am guessing around 1992-93?

Petr Klima was still lacing them up

and the Dead things turned into the Red Wings again.

and aren't they glad that's the case! ;)

10 years. Pfft. Get off my lawn, all of ya.

Same with me. First concert I went to was THIS year... and I'm 29.

Who was it?

I'm getting close to ten years since ten years after high school. :(

The Kills.

man, I couldnt have said it better.

Yeah, I'm 27, and I still haven't been to a concert. I've had to opportunity to go to some, but were contests that I won and sold the tickets, or people got me a ticket to go, and I had to work, or something else came up.

This was a great tour, IIRC. I think this was the one with two sets and an intermission. Or was that the Counterparts tour?

Fuck, I dunno. Either way... not a bad first and only concert.

I was, though unfortunately sex with 17 yo girls was wasted with me being 17 as well. :(

Never heard of them, unless you are referring to the Killers....?

I didn't go to high school, but I think that Iheanyi Uwaezuoke's career ended around the time I would have graduated.

I met him.

So did I.