Slap Watch Memories – Stuff We Miss From the 90′s

We used to live in simpler times.  A time when pants exposed no butts, where a simple Slap Watch was a raging style trend.  The 90′s was a time before we had faces buried in smartphones, before Facebook, and before Justin Bieber (there are reasons to want to go back…)

We had the Nintendo 64 (Goldeneye…amazing), Tamagotchis and some ultra-awesome things that are hard to let go of.

Life was simpler then.  It didn’t cost you an arm and a leg to see a 3D movie, and TV was good, wholesome and educational.

*cough*BeavisandButthead*cough*

Not that I would really petition to have a lot of things come back, because they don’t mesh with the hip new cool that we emulate now, but it’s always fun to remember.  If you love the Slap Watch for its retro-appeal then take some time and reminisce with me.

Carmen Sandiego - We all played the game at least once, and then they had the show!  Where in the world did she go?  I like to think she moved up in the gaming world and took over as some super-suited rough and tough on of the newest Call of Duty games.  Considering her stealth skills, she could probably teach Captain Price a thing or two..

Giant Cell Phones - You can’t say you don’t miss these.  You might be like “oh GAWD” but you and everyone else knows that feeling of nostalgia when you stick in an old movie and someone is walking around talking on one of these.  You can’t help but point and go “AH!”.

Furby - These amazing little creatures had their own language and were one of the freakiest little toys you could get your hands on.  I miss them, but at the same time  I kept waiting for them to come to life and destroy my home like a scene from Gremlins.  I remember opening a closet and having two of them tumble out while rifling through box.

One hit the floor and started babbling in its strange little noises… and I hadn’t changed the battery in years.

Stick on Earrings - We’ve got a history of keeping it classy here in America, and there was nothing more… American… than buying a pack of stick-on earrings.

Buy em in the 30 pack so you had a pair of stick-on earrings for each day of the month.  Do I miss them?  Well..  sometimes you have to take the good with the bad in order to miss an era.

Gameboys - We’ve always had something to distract us, but before gaming became super-mainstream it was mostly kids that buried their faces in Mario, Tetris and Zelda games on the portable gaming system.  They might not be as high-tech as an iPad but who cares?  You hand me a game boy and I’ll rock it out right now.

Mix Tapes - Miiiix taaaaapes.  Back when it took hours to painstakingly record all your favorites onto a single cassette tape.  Now we’re spoiled with digital music and playlists.  Mix tapes meant something because of the time it took to make one.  If we dug deep into our old belongings I’m sure many of us would turn up with one.

Pogs - Americans are versatile at finding ways to entertain ourselves, but it’s made easier when big brands push the stuff.  Pogs grew popular, really fast, thanks in part to McDonalds distributing the things.

The only people who had more Pogs than kids where teachers, who routinely filled their desks by confiscating them.  I’m pretty sure they just wanted to add to their own Pog collection.

Modem Connection Noise - You know the noise.  Why was it good?  If you remember back when AOL first launched and it cost $3/hour to surf the web, and servers were overloaded to the hilt, that connection sound was sweet bliss.  That meant “You’ve Got Mail!”, countless hours surfing chat and downloading .wav files.

Sky Dancers – OK, so the Sky Dancers didn’t really do a whole lot but for a young girl they were pretty, and who didn’t wish they could fly when they were younger!?

As I was finishing this, I thought about including Jurassic Park – my friend Jack was reading over my shoulder.  He told me I was living in the past and needed to let go.  Absolutely not Jack.  I love the 90′s.

I’ll never let go Jack… I’ll never let go.