University students are actually relatively old. If you think about it, we’ve all been alive for about a fifth of a century, and there’s a lot of things to be nostalgic about. Back in the day, we used to have VHS tapes, Power Rangers, decent Disney movies and PLUTO (not Mickey’s dog). Here are a few other things some of our staff (and Tim) remember:
When I was wee lad, I lived in the Philippines, and one thing that I always loved was playing with firecrackers around Christmas and New Year’s. No, I don’t mean lighting the nice, big ones that go up to the sky and explode in pretty colours; I mean those small, potentially dangerous sticks of gunpowders we called “watusis.” We would rub one end against the rough concrete to light it and it would immediately start popping. As it reaches the last bit, it would start going off in random directions. They were probably very dangerous, as they didn’t really have safety mechanisms other than our own reflexes, but that’s exactly what made them so much fun.
-Hans Tee, 2B Nanotechnology
You know those old things that you had to rewind before you could listen to them? Those prehistoric-seeming artefacts that made scratchy sounds once they got too old? They used to be called “cassettes” back in the day. If you were lucky, it was a double-sided cassette which you didn’t have to rewind. My favourite part was actually being able to make my own recordings. As a kid, listening to my own voice coming out of a plastic box was a source of endless wonder. It still seems kind of magical today.
-Kate Heymans, 2B Chemical
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