what do you remember of the first 10 years?

2010, a new year, a new decade. A fresh start.

I’ve been talking to a lot of friends, co-workers, peers (etc.) about the last decade, and the first real start in the new millennium. And we’ve come to a conclusion about this first introduction to the 2000’s.

It’s sucked.

We’ve had war, terrorist attacks, tsunami’s, earthquakes, economic downturn (on more than one occasion) murder, rage and hate. In general, the first ten years of the millennium have been a downer. When you ask someone about what they remember about the past ten years, it’s hard to think of the positive stuff, since the negative has been so prominent.

So, that being said, I thought we should try to find the positive in the past 10 years! Yea, we did have a rough decade, but there was some positive stuff too! What I did was, with the help of friends, co-workers, and even guests at the restaurant, I have compiled a list of some of the GOOD things that have happened in the past year.

Here we go…

• Ipods and itunes – everyone can afford one now, they are the new way to enjoy music. You can have 5 albums, or 5 weeks of music on something as small as a matchbook or as large as your palm (which is still pretty awesome!) all the music, movies and radio you could want at your fingertips. And with the development of shared music and itunes, there is no limit to what you can enjoy
• Dove “Real Beauty” Campaign – It was about time someone took a look at the media and say ‘this is not right’. Creating a campaign acknowledging and praising all types of women, body types and declaring them beautiful. Hopefully is helping this budding generation of girls that are being so overwhelmed with Hollywood enjoy the beauty they have and make their individuality hot.
• Celebrity Arrests – I know, I know, but these indiscretions of the rich and famous remind us that not only are they human, but also really, really stupid.
• Kanye West – He’s a jackass. We all hate him, we all love him because we all hate him. Jackass.
• Red Bull – who needs coffee when you can have a caffeine surge in a can? Plus, this one you can mix with alcohol more easily! Hyper drunkards for all!
• Obama – okay, there seems to be some nervous people now, since it’s taking time to get stuff done and he’s backtracking on stuff. Welcome to politics. He’s still made a huge impact on what the future is to become, he’s our first black president, AAAND he thinks Kanye is a jackass too.
• Pageants – This is a little known fact, but National beauty pageants (minus the Trump franchise of course) are no longer aired on national broadcasts. Booyea.
• Youtube – you can watch anything from any era, from any person, from any theme, mood, or personal style of the video poster. Whether it’s breakdancing, epic fails, music videos, tv and movie clips, the options are endless, with thousands of videos posted every day, there is no limit to your procrastination.
• Social Networking sites – Keep up with friends from all over the world, whether you’re BFF’s, random bar friends, or just want to stalk, you can now do that without the fear of that restraining order!
• Nunavut.
• Gay rights – There’s still a LOONG way to go, but at least there’s a start.
• Life – This one is a little broad, but it seems that in the past few years, we have demanded a better quality of life and we’ve demanded a simpler life. Simple is better.
• Technological boom – wii, cell phones, IMAX, etc have really developed a lot in the past decade. I remember by cell in 2002 and game cube. Fast forward to PS3 and skype and the interwebs. We’ve come along way, baby.
• The euro
• Breakdown of the US empire – suck it, USA.
• SARS-stock – Toronto was almost destroyed by the SARS outbreak. Music and people coming together saved that city. Sweet.
• “Your mom’ and “That’s what she said” jokes – You know you love them.
• Style Evolution.
• Books into movies – Not all of these were a good thing, but some were amazing.
• Y2K – that was fun, wasn’t it?
• American politics – We all got a good laugh. Thanks Sarah Palin!
• Tax-Free Savings Accounts
• Hybrid Cars
• Letterman brings NY back on the air – This was huge to me. Even after all the chaos and tragedy of 9-11, David Letterman came back on the air and reminded people that it was okay for people to laugh and move forward from the tragedy. He made us laugh again and saved us from the pain.
• Wikipedia – fun facts and useless info, not to mention the power to change the info!
• Blogs and websites about nothing – TFLN, MLIA, FML, Fuckyoupenguin, etc have made procrastination more fun and just allowed us to laugh and vent and share more of ourselves to each other. Occasionally, it’s a bit much, but some people forget the power of the interwebs.


Now, Obviously this is only grazing the surface of good things that happened. But, like I said, it’s hard to find the positive when the negative is so prominent. Even some of the positive builds out of the negative.. Definitely not the easiest thing in the world. Either way, there was some good, there was some positive, and we were able to move forward from the bad that has happened, or at least, we’re working on it.


Here's to another 10 years, and here's hoping they are awesome.

-janeovision