The "Aughts"

It's December 30, and tomorrow is the last day of 2009, and I can't help but reflect on the last decade of my life. There is no way to overstate that the aughts were the most significant decade of my life so far. I loved living this decade, even though a lot of really bad shit was happening in the surrounding environs. Yes, these were the Bush II years, and terrorism, war, natural disaster, incompetence, and death were in the news every single day. But they were also my 20s; they were when I moved to NYC; they were the years I lived on Park Ave. in Manhattan; the years I was truly independent for the first time; the years that I found people who think like me and are interested in similar music, movies, and books as me; the years I quit being a waitress; the years I went back to school, and on and on.

I think this last decade was also really cool for me because a lot of the people I got to see in bands or in comedy shows or whatever were finally people that were my age. It was nice to see my generation coming to the forefront and putting their own stamp on popular culture and other artistic endeavors. Like any generation, there have been both wonderful and terrible sides to that. It was also cool to see so many people of my age group rally around Barack Obama and help get him elected. Even if he ends up being just as crap of a pres. as the guy who came before him, it was very cool to be swept up in that historic election and to see the looks on people's faces and feel the energy in the streets here in NYC on election night.

Mostly, though, it's about NYC. I can't help it, it has defined the way I live my life and the type of person I currently am and also the person I am striving to be. I think that even though there have been some terribly empty and upsetting times for me this decade, NYC has managed to fill a lot of that with distractions that I otherwise wouldn't have had. Just going for a walk in this city can change my entire view of a day or a month or even my whole philosophy of life. Maybe that would be true for any place, but for me it is only true here. Hopefully one day I will find a less stressful place for that to be true, but for now NYC is what works.

The best two years out the last ten for me were 2004 and 2007. I moved from Queens to Manhattan on December 31, 2003, so 2004 was the beginning of some of the best times of my young life. There is nothing like leaving your apartment every day and having the hustle and bustle of the city right in front of your eyes. Of course, I almost went broke living there and ended up on not so great terms with one of my roommates, but overall that was a great experience, and I had a ton of good times living with Lester and Jim and Judith. We went to lots of fun parties and shows, got drunk and made fools of ourselves all over downtown NYC, always had cool people over to hang out with, stayed up half the night watching movies or tv, and had some fun dinners together. The pinnacle of 2004 was the night we had our '80s Prom. We rented a limousine to go and pick up several of our friends, everyone had on formalwear, we played awesome music all night, made out with strangers, and I could barely stand the next day. We put some hard work and lots of money and creativity into that party, and for me it really paid off. I had so much fun!

The reason 2007 was good for me is because that was the year that I finally quit waiting tables in Times Square. I really liked most of the people I worked with and I made decent money, but I knew I didn't want to be a waitress for the rest of my life, and I knew I was miserable with the routine of the job itself. I am still working in the restaurant industry, and that is fine, but I am at least learning new skills as a bookkeeper and assistant manager, and I am also back in school earning my Bachelor's ten years after dropping out. So that was the beginning of the progress that I am now on. I also moved back to Queens in 2007 and started saving money again. Finally, 2007 was the year that the final Harry Potter book came out, and not that that should be some HUGE deal, but reading those books and theorizing about what would happen with other devotees was a big part of how I spent my time this decade.

I like that for most of the years of the aughts, the '80s were trending. I have been listening to 80s music since, well, I guess I never really stopped listening to 80s music, so it was great that everyone else was finally on my wavelength and helped me to rediscover and relentlessly play some of those gems from my childhood years. It was also cool that this happened sort of simultaneously with the release of the iPod and iTunes. That device and software has made it so easy to enjoy all my music whenever I want.

I don't know how much more digital ink I can spill about this decade, but whatever anybody says about, I'll always love it. I loved a lot of the fashions, I loved the indie rock, I loved living on my own, I loved living in New York, I loved buying a cell phone for the first time, I loved having an iPod with me at all times, I loved that celebrity gossip exploded hugely on the internet, I loved that television shows started to catch up with and cater to smarter audiences, blah blah blah.

I'll remember the aughts with love, and that is the best thing I can ever say and feel about anything in life.