What were you doing this time back in 1999?

[Lady Freedom]

I was packing in the necessity's! Wine, beer, whiskeys, mixers, slow gin,noise makers,etc.

[JohnKleeb]

1. 1999, 12 years old and a seventh grader

Wish I could be back in that time. In 1999 I didnt have a clue what would come with Bush. I was only a kid. Yes I was quite excited about the new year tho :). Did I expect that this is what I would do, no, I didnt.

[populistmom]

2. The same thing

...as I did today.
However, back in 1999, I was working part-time (which I miss, but now i'm in school again, so that's also good) and in a bit of a mess because I just found out my mom had uterine cancer. She ended up fully recovering, but eventually became angry and bitter at me because she resented my having children when she never could have more when she wanted to in her early 40's (she's 54 now). When she a hysterectomy due to her cancer 4 years ago, her bitterness and cruelty towards me lead to a unrepairable split in our relationship. I tried to be there for her and was simply pushed away out of her own anger. Makes me sad.

[NightTrain]

7. Let me get this straight....

Your mom feels anger, bitterness and resentment toward YOU because SHE couldn't have any more kids? Am I missing something? :shrug:

[populistmom]

10. Bingo!

She had her tubes tied after two kids when she was 26 I think, then divorced my dad, then they remarried each other years later. She had a reversal surgery done when she was 39 (I was 17 then). She couldn't get pregnant and ultimately divorced my dad again (for other reasons). I had just gotten engaged at 19 (wasn't even sure yet and planning a 2-3 year engagement) and I ended up getting pregnant. She always had a little resentment, but was really close to my daughter (my oldest, almost 12 now) when she was little anyway. This resentment just grew exponentially with her cancer. She actually said I don't deserve the happy life I have (nevermind, my life isn't the Harriet Nelson existance she seems to think it is) because I'm such a "bad" person. I'm far from "bad" (Jesus, as mom, I practically never left my children's side until they were 2), but until the last year or so , I lived this life trying to somehow prove to her (and to myself) I was this pure, perfect, giving person to the point I had no idea who I was or could speak up for myself in my marriage, etc.
Yes, she's a bit nutty, and I'm cordial, but that's it. I can't emotionally handle a relationship with someone like this anymore.

[NightTrain]

19. Your mom is the kind of person who caused me to create the acronym "FUBB."

Meaning, "Fucked Up Beyond Belief!"

Trust me, PM, you ain't the problem! :hug:

[populistmom]

20. LOL

I'll remember that. I have to see her tomorrow (only the 4th time this year though, thank goodness).

[Bertha Venation]

8. damn

I'm sorry, PM.

[BuckeFushe]

3. I was working my butt off implimenting Y2K solutions

sometimes 18 hours straight. It was a very scary time because no one was sure what would happen. I knew people who had flown down to the Carribean to cruise off-shore News Year Eve in case Armageddon hit. I will never forget how paniced the IT community was over the fact that the ancient computers that ran the power grid, water supply, elevators, etc. may shut down. I also couldn't believe the money we all made too. :)

[AlFrankenFan]

4. I was in Oceanside, CA

I was in fourth grade, nine years old, and not doing anything about the supposed Y2K. My parents didn't think it was real, and ultamitely they were right, but I still feared dying.
My dog, Shannon, had just passed away, and so had my great-grandmother. My sister was one year old.
Wow it seems so long ago.

[confusionisnext]

27. I can't believe you're so young

When I was your current age, I didn't know anyone who cared about politics.

[AlFrankenFan]

30. hehe

It's all thanks to Al Franken. Read his book at age 10 :)

[Bertha Venation]

5. oh, my . . .

. . . sitting in my little rented condo in Long Beach, CA, completely, utterly, stupendously dumbfounded.

I learned at about 11:00 PM on Xmas Eve in '99 that a woman in Virginia had fallen in love with me, and over Xmas day it slowly dawned on me that I had been fighting like mad not to fall in love with her, too -- and losing. So at this time in '99, I was spending time alone in confusion, grief, disbelief and joy.

[NightTrain]

6. Mourning Curtis Mayfield's death

As I noted earlier tonight, we lost Curtis on December 26, 1999. RIP, soul brutha!

[Catch22Dem]

9. I was in the Air Force living in Japan

Funny story. My mom was in line getting some beer and stuff a few hours before NYE. She was behind a lady who had 2 carts full of batteries and canned goods and shit. Anyway, she asked the lady why she had all that stuff. The lady said, "because we don't know what's going to happen at midnight." My mom explained to the woman that her son had passed midnight several hours earlier (it was morning Jan 1 for me by this time) but the lady just didn't understand. Further proof that people are so wrapped up in their own little worlds.

[blackcat77]

11. Listening to a lot of shortwave radio

Those guys were going NUTS about y2k and it was very entertaining... And, I'll admit, occasionally a little scary. About the only preparations we made was to have a little water ready.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. On December 26, 1999, I was recovering from my

worst respiratory infection in years.

I was supposed to have sung at the Christmas Eve midnight service in Portland and flown out to Minneapolis on the first flight the next morning, but on the evening of December 23, my temperature went from normal to 103 in about two hours.

I took a pile of vitamins and lots of herb tea and went to bed, hoping that this was just one of those 24-hour bugs, but it wasn't. I spent the 24th and 25th lying in bed, drifting in and out of consciousness with the radio going. By the morning of the 25th, I was coughing so badly that I wondered if I had pneumonia.

I phoned my apartment neighbor, another single, with whom I had a sort of "mutual assistance pact," and she took me to the doctor. The doctor assured me that I didn't have pneumonia, and that a really nasty respiratory infection was going around.

(When I heard about SARS for the first time, it sounded incredibly like what I had back then, but anyway...)

I was still tired and coughing the next day, but no longer feeling sick, so I decided to head for Minnesota on the 27th. I stayed with my mother and stepfather as usual, coughing all the while. It didn't help that their house was overheated and dry.

We watched the New Year's festivities around the world on CNN. I especially remember the Maori ceremony to welcome the rising sun. I was never really worried about Y2K, but when I saw that New Zealand and Japan were surviving, my mind was at ease.

A few days later, I headed back to Portland, still coughing. By this time, I knew that I needed moist air, and sure enough, my cough disappeared for good the day after I returned to Portland.

[corporatewhore]

13. celebrating my birthday !!!!!!

[Lady Freedom]

17. Well, happy birthday!

Whenever that was/is!

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. I was cleaning up throw up during the worst flu bug to hit the

Grumpy household ever....Blech! Then I ended up getting sick on New Year's Eve, and my family went off to a party (all healthy) and left me to watch a Sci-fi Twighlight Zone marathon...sniffle. sob!

[Lady Freedom]

18. NOT fair!

Hope you called them on it!

[Blue_Roses]

15. taking care of our

2nd brand new baby. It was great!

[Tripper11]

16. Drinking rum with my Dad...

while we had gone to visit for the Christmas holidays. It was the first time he met my wife and step-kids. We had a good time, got plenty drunk.
As for the whole Y2K thing I didn't worry a lick.
I just decided what was the point? There wasn't a lot I could have done about it, and if the doom and disaster had of hit the way these "scholars" were saying, I would deal with it at the time.
So rum and coke's with Dad and a doozy hangover the next day with the lights and water still fine!

[HEyHEY]

21. Assistant Manager of a shoe store

Working as the token white guy in an Asian mall. Wearing a crappy "Boxing day sale" shirt. Only good thing was working with a girl I really liked (not that way) she was cool and now you've got me wondering what she's up to now.

[He loved Big Brother]

22. Tomorrow is the anniversary of my getting arrested for shoplifting in 1999

I walked out of a grocery store with a huge stuffed bear at midnight. I saw it and wanted to carry it around while we shopped. I was with a friend and I was so tipsy I went through the line with it and out the door and nobody said anything until we were almost to the car. Blah. I only got a citation though, and 10 hours community service. I told them if I were going to shoplift, I'd be a little more stealth about it. The police weren't too happy about the fact that I was underage (20) and drunk.

It was all good though. Soon after that we drove to San Francisco for new year's eve to see Mike Patton perform in two different bands, and Jello Biafra joined him onstage, which completely rocked.

[NightTrain]

26. Hey, I got busted for shoplifting in 1984!

:hi:

[Bill of Rights]

23. Y2K prep

We had a generator, solar panels, $5000 worth of extended life tin foods.....

[Lady Freedom]

24. What did you do with all that food???

[Kat45]

25. My job had recently been shipped off to Manila, and I was laid off

and pondering what kind of job to look for.

Edited to add: four years later, and the company is laying off the few people it hadn't already laid off.

[Paragon]

28. Two thousand zero zero, party over...

Oops, out of time. ;)

[The Undertaker]

29. I was....

getting wasted and ice fishing. Ahhh, the good ol' days......:(

[aQuArius]

31. The same thing I did today....

except with no kids. Geez, life was easier then! I was a little concerned about Y2K, but didn't we all feel relieved when nothing happened?

[electricmonk]

32. Beats me

I don't remember what I was doing this time last week. :shrug:

[AlienGirl]

33. Visiting my family with my kids and my husband

And thinking it would last forever...

Tucker

[Alexander]

34. I was going to Maine with my girlfriend.

Which is where we spent New Year's.

Wow, that was a long time ago.

[Missy Vixen]

35. Reassuring the neighbors

My husband worked for a company that had been doing extensive Y2K remediation with multiple nationally known companies for the two years leading up to New Year's Eve 2000. I was very active on the "Gary North Is A Big Fat Idiot" board, too. For those who aren't acquainted with the magic of Mr. North, you might want to Google him. Be sure and Google Ed Yourdon as well. Gary North spent a lot of time on Art Bell's program insisting that society as we knew it was going down; Mr. Bell got a bit huffy with me one night on his program for faxing him that I believed the two of them were attempting to foment bank runs.

We did whatever we could to reassure family, friends and neighbors that things were fine, that there was nothing to worry about, and that the aforementioned men involved in the Y2K scam were actually trying to help themselves to other people's wallets.

One of our neighbors showed up at our house early afternoon, December 31st, in hysterics. It seems that there had been some panic buying at the local grocery store.

DH and I were supposed to spend all night at his company's main offices making sure that the rollover was a non-event. Everything was fine in every other time zone, so his boss called at 11:00 PM and told us to "go home and enjoy yourselves".

It was the one time in our lives that the phone started ringing at midnight. His colleagues (and a lot of our friends,) called and heaved a huge sigh of relief that there had been no problems. My friend Kris and I grabbed a boom box, the REM CD, and danced in our driveway to "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)".

Julie

[guitar man]

36. I was making 3 times the money I am now

Thanks a lot * !!!

[Lady Freedom]

47. Sorry!!?!?!

:shrug:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

37. Wow! This thread has provided me with some wonderful memories

On approximately December 14th of that year I had received my HSC (Higher School Certificate –the exams and assessments in some parts of Australia that you complete at the end of High School and which provides the eventual mark that determines whether you can get into the university course of your choice) results and was preparing to commence my first year of university. My HSC results were good and, as a consequence, it looked like I was in a strong position to enrol in a political science degree. My final year of high school had been totally wonderful and very enjoyable –despite the pressure of the exams-and I was enjoying a wonderful and relaxing Christmas with my family in Malaysia. My cousin had come down with his new wife and baby –both of whom I had never met-and life was an endless round of Christmas parties, spending quality time with relatives whom I hadn’t seen in years and celebrations over my HSC mark. It was also the time that my sister’s boyfriend (now husband) visited Malaysia for the first time and met the family.

Yet there was also more than a tinge of sadness that year and that overshadowed us throughout Christmas and New Year. My beloved Uncle had passed away earlier in the year and the legacy and memory of the wonderful time we had spent with him haunted us all throughout Christmas. We had a memorial service for him early in the New Year. We all missed him –and his absence during Christmas was especially mourned because he was the life and soul of any party. And he had looked forward to seeing in the new millennium –so we missed his presence as we welcomed in the new millennium as well.

Despite all the sadness about my uncle, the future looked positive and uplifting. We looked to the new millennium with confidence and enthusiasm –surely we would not repeat the mistakes of the previous century. We were all reaping the benefits of the peace and prosperity that the Clinton Administration had provided and enjoying every moment of it –but unfortunately also taking it for granted. I must concede that I was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and confident about the future, believed that the world was becoming a better place and looking forward to the years ahead. I couldn’t foresee what was about to come.

Actually I would have one year and eight months ahead of me before my world came crashing down. My first year of university -2000-was thoroughly wonderful and exceeded all my expectations. For the first nine months of 2001 -when we were still reaping the benefits of the world that Clinton had left behind-my life seemed to reach an unexpected high

What happened to those wonderful days? I miss them so much!

[dawn]

38. On the 31st - on my first date with the guy who is now my husband.

One of the happiest evenings of my life! :)

[FDRrocks]

39. Spending an entire week plastered...

in my careless youth-driven nihilism.

[Iverson]

40. quitting my bad old job

Life has only gotten better since then.

[VelmaD]

41. Not a lot...

I filled up the car, bought extra toilet paper, and then cuddled in for the night with my evil-ex. We watched the New Year roll in around the globe, stayed up really late. It wasn't all that exciting. I was less then impressed with the whole Y2K phenomenon.

[neebob]

42. Wishing the fat, abusive, psychopathic spongemonster on my couch

would go away. He finally did, but not without a great deal of difficulty. He was as freepy as he was creepy.

[Maeve]

43. Waiting for Hubby to get home

He was one of the Alpha Geeks laboring to prevent airplanes from dropping from the sky and all that...he caught one Y2K bug hours before it would have paralized a business. All December was "When's Daddy coming home?" That led to a much better job in 2000 for him, too.

[Booberdawg]

44. I was working

Overtime, as a matter of fact.

[Capn Sunshine]

45. I was going to my partners' funeral

he apparently wasn't Y2K compliant.

Miss him every day.

[Mrs. Venation]

46. On Christmas Day, 1999

in the wee hours of the morning, and after I'd been to midnight Mass, I wrote an email message to Bertha Venation and told her I loved her. It was the first time I told her. She lived in California; I lived in Virginia. I didn't know what to expect, I just knew that I loved this woman and I had to tell her. We had not met face-to-face at that point, but it didn't matter. I loved her. I love her more today, and I'll love her even more tomorrow.

Now, we are together and waiting for legal recognition of our marriage. It can't come too soon.