Day 11: Feeling the Effects, Mad Cow, and Mad About You
Over the last couple of days my capacity to cram more 1996 down my own throat has been constricted by being a little extra busy at work. Unfortunately an excess in meetings has meant less opportunities to even listen to music. All of that to say, today’s entry will be brief.
The news in early April of 1996 once again seems not so distant. A headline reads, California TV Crews Tape Police Beating. This is in reference to a pickup truck with illegal immigrants inside who were pulled over and assaulted by police, all “videotaped” on camera. Headlines from across the pond indicate some worry over the Mad Cow epidemic plaguing the UK at has reached the point that the World Health Organization is contemplating barriers to prevent transmittance to other countries.
In sports, Michael Irvin has been indicted on cocaine possession less than three months after the Super Bowl I just watched him win and legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus just won his 100th victory.
Last night I watched the first episode of Moesha, a sitcom that started in 1996. It’s weird to have been a kid during this time and still not understand half of the teenage jargon that gets tossed around on that show. I also watched an episode of Mad About You, a show I had never seen before but was aware of, and I was surprised that I kind of liked it. Generally, it stands as a little too fluffy of a premise for me but Helen Hunt is pretty fun and Paul Reiser is reasonably tolerable. In the one episode I watched, Reiser’s character was shopping for a book to read while he worked out which made me once again realize how spoiled I am by smart phones or any eBook options. I never had to experience it first-hand and can only imagine a time people had to sweat all over hard copies of books if they wanted to take in a story while they worked out. Gross. Nowadays I can put a wireless earbud in my head and set an audiobook to 2x speed and knock that same book out in no time and not even have to make a book soggy.
“I got that head nod shit make you break your neck
Woo hah, I got you all in check”
I have also reached the point of this experiment where I am starting to become tired of what is available in 1996 and I miss some of the modern things I enjoyed. I had a hankering to hear some newer music the other night but had to settle on a 1996 playlist once again. I had an itch to return to my Curb Your Enthusiasm rewatch I was in the middle of, but had to resort to Moesha or Mad About You, and whatever else is available to me. While all of this seems silly, I remain committed. I want to experience what the effects of withdrawal from modern entertainment is like and what could come of it. So far I am pleased with how this has gone and I have moments where I do feel as though time has shifted in some hard to describe way. Since I still have to go to work everyday and talk about advanced futuristic technologies over high-speed internet, things that would have made a regular 1996’er gasp in disbelief, I can’t truly bury my head in 25 year old sand. But there is something about this experience that is enlightening. I once again have to point out that the reduced options for entertainment has helped my mind make itself up on several occasions. Decision paralysis and the small bits of anxiety that I often experience even when deciding how to round out my last waking moments before bed have diminished.
