As I stare down the barrel of the twenty-second year of my life, I stop and reflect on the many diverse experiences that have brought me to where I am today, parceled out in a decade-by-decade look that should leave your eyes largely unglazed.

Decade 1: Big Hair and Trapper Keepers

1985
As Britain announced a phased withdrawal of red telephone boxes from her streets, Mike Tyson stepped through the ropes and into history.  Also, I was born.  This may or may not have had any bearing the release of the New Coke.  Thankfully, I outlasted it.

1986
I cried for hours when Challenger exploded.  Years later, I would learn of the accident, and be more rationally saddened.  Science, I perceive, has a price.

1987
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"  A love for freedom and capitalism is engendered.

1988
Stock Engineering Disaster Story #27 is formed when a Hawaiian Airlines jet experiences fatigue and half of the fuselage is ripped off.  One stewardess is killed.  Engineering, it seems, has failed the world again.  Those jerks.  Also, my fiancée is born.

1989
I wave tiny American flags as GHW Bush ascends the presidency.  While I harbor certain doubts about his political sanguinity due to his past in the CIA, I nonetheless welcome the new blood in the White House.  I am only 14 years away from participation in our great democratic institution!  I am tantalized.  Teddy Grahams and apple juice also rank high on my list for the year.

 

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