Hello everyone!  It’s time once again to sit by the fire with a hot beverage and listen in as Old Man Barcia ascends my soapbox for my annual New Year’s Eve rant.  Feel free to read on, scroll past, share, comment, or just roll your eyes and wonder if I will ever end this nonsense.

Sigh.  Sadly as we look at the news, each year seems worse than the last.  I don’t recall feeling this way in years past.  In the 90s it seemed we were progressing in the right direction (maybe it was my optimistic 20-something age).  Of course there were bad times, conflicts, and problems – there always are – but it seemed we could conquer them.  Innovation, winning the Cold War, balancing the budget, a stronger and growing middle class.  Looking through my rose-colored glasses, it appears Gen X witnessed an upward swing on the curve of American history.

For better or worse, however, Gen X is often forgotten in generational discussions, as if we were skipped over with a Thanos snap.

The thing is, we like it that way.  We don’t need Boomers telling us what to do, Millennials labeling us unhip, or Gen Z-ers declaring us evil for a joke we found funny in 1987.  To be fair, generational descriptions are highly generalized; positives/negatives surface across the generations.  But this is about the time we experienced.  The Greatest Generation and Silent Generation navigated extremely difficult times and then oversaw huge economic expansion; Boomers witnessed incredible social change; Millennials thrived in a new technological world; and Gen Z is traversing the ups and downs of the social media age.  Nobody is better or worse, it’s just a different experience.

Gen X’s younger days sat in the middle – modern technology was in its infancy, social changes were still being understood, and traditional ways lingered.  We happily embraced this period.  So for this year’s list, rather than labor over impotent government, raging wars, oppressive social-media, or ridiculous zinger-fest debates, I will present 100 reasons it was great to grow up Gen X.  Probably well-worn territory, but here’s my take:

1. No devices (you knew this would be first)
2. Playing on the block all summer
3. Evil Knievel
4. Outstanding music
5. The Cold War was much simpler than the war on terror, or social media war on each other
6. No devices (it’s worth saying again)
7. Cheap tickets
8. Scoring coveted tickets after a long wait in line
9. We survived ubiquitous smoking sections (probably more of a negative experience)
10. 70s disaster movies
11. The Six Million Dollar Man seemed expensive
12. Area codes less necessary
13. Good Times, All in the Family, The Brady Bunch, The Jeffersons, Chico and the Man, What’s Happenin’, The Partridge Family, Sanford and Son
14. Cheers, Friends, and Seinfeld
15. Makeshift bicycle stunts
16. The dawn of PG-13
17. No devices (did I already say that?)
18. Caddyshack, Blazing Saddles, Animal House
19. Atari (OK the beginnings of devices)
20. Lining up quarters at the arcade
21. A lot less plastics
22. Roller skating
23. Last vestige of true muscle cars
24. Canceling was only for unpopular TV shows
25. Network Sunday night movies were a family event (remember the rush to the bathroom during commercials?)
26. 80s montages
27. Guy Lombardo or Dick Clark on New Year’s Eve
28. Edgy Halloween costumes (admit it, you wore at least one deemed questionable today)
29. The Godfather, Indiana Jones, E.T.
30. Star Wars
31. Mood rings
32. America’s Top 10, America’s Top 40, American Bandstand, Friday Night Videos
33. Linda Carter as Wonder Woman and Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk
34. Charlie’s Angels
35. Taking the subway at an early age . . . without parents
36. The Walkman and boomboxes (OK, ok, yes these are more devices but it’s not like we were in the dark ages, and devices didn’t overwhelm our lives)
37. Political debates between candidates were actual discussions
38. Weak moments from our past are not on record
39. Camera-free parties
40. Being human and erring, which allows you to learn
41. Saturday morning cartoons
42. Working your way up the ladder
43. Anticipation when developing rolls of film
44. Flexible Flyer sleds
45. Space travel was still news
46. Solid Gold and Dance Fever
47. Miracle on Ice
48. Amateurs in the Olympics
49. Paper routes
50. Enterprising ventures without parental micromanagement
51. Sinister intent wasn’t implied from every action
52. Interesting places off the beaten path stayed that way
53. Foreign countries were much more unique
54. Going away without contact back home
55. Love Boat and Fantasy Island
56. Riding in the back of a station wagon or Chevy Suburban
57. FM radio was cool
58. VW Bugs
59. Mix tapes (and the feeling of accomplishment when the last song fit just right in the remaining space on the tape)
60. TV going to static meant you got to stay up late
61. Street games
62. Block parties (often)
63. With no online shopping, stores stocked most items
64. Newspapers
65. Books
66. Action Park
67. Comic books bought with spare change
68. Ability to read maps and know directions
69. No caller ID, answering machines, or voicemail
70. K-Tel albums
71. Double albums
72. Ten albums for a penny
73. Cursive
74. Basic math was understood by most, including cashiers
75. TripTiks
76. There was always a guy on the block who could do a quick fix on your car
77. Playing in the woods; finding burnt out cars
78. Clubhouses
79. Creative and fun (although sometimes dangerous) toys
80. Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan (yet the Mets traded both)
81. The ’86 Mets
82. George Brett and the pine tar debacle
83. I will add Ozzie Smith even though he was a Cardinal
84. Ewing and Jordan
85. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson
86. The New York Sack Exchange
87. Umpire/referee calls stood without replay review
88. National League pitchers batted
89. No interleague play
90. NBC Game of the Week
91. Identity theft wasn’t a thing (as far as we knew)
92. College kids were fun and free-spirited
93. John Hughes movies
94. Starting pitchers finished games
95. Typewriter class in Junior High School
96. Howard Cosell
97. Dodge Ball
98. Transistor radios
99. Music videos were interesting
100. Lastly, at big events all attendees were engrossed in the experience rather than documenting (or completely lost in their phones – yes, no devices!)

P.S.:  I admittedly broke down and got a SmartPhone in 2020 since functioning in modern life without it was becoming impossible, but I still pine for the days before all these devices.

Happy New Year everyone!