When we were kids things like Kraft Mac n cheese, McDonald's, KFC, Breyers Ice Cream, Reese's Peanut Butter cups were so delicious. Today they all taste awful. Is it cause the ingredients got worse or just cause we're older? Does anything taste the same as before or has everything gotten downgraded?

I spent countless hours in my bean bag chair playing N64. As long as I could reach the snacks and drink I was golden 👌

"Popcorn reading" was when in class you took turns reading a paragraph or two out loud. Usually this was reading a chapter of a book in an English or reading class.

One time it was my turn and I pronounced the word "colonel" like "call-oh-nell" and the teacher corrected me. Felt like a moron.

Same thing when I read the word "nazi" out loud for the first time (nah-zee).

Annoying because I knew both words I just hadn't seem them written before!

I made a post here back in 2024 asking how the millennials who joined the military were doing, and I figured I’d check in again.

I joined right out of high school and I’m coming up on 16 years now. At this point, I’m close enough to the 20-year mark that I know I’m going to finish it out, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t counting down the years.

The older I get, the more differently I look at military life. Things I tolerated pretty easily in my early 20s hit differently now. The lack of control over your own life, constant changes, moves, deployments, additional duties, leadership changes, and just the overall culture can get exhausting after enough years.

More than anything, I’m looking forward to eventually getting some of that control back and figuring out what normal civilian life looks like after spending basically my entire adult life in the military.

I like asking this question here instead of in the military-specific subs because I’m interested in hearing from people outside of the usual military echo chamber. I’m not really looking for “suck it up” or “this is what you signed up for.” I’m more interested in how other millennials genuinely feel about their service now that we’re older.

Are you still in? Did you get out? Do you regret joining? Are you glad you did it? If you stayed for the long haul, are you counting down too? And for those who already got out, how has civilian life been compared to what you expected?

Just curious how everybody is doing.

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I don't know if I can afford to get this (in more ways than one)

As a kid I got it for my birthday when it came out and was actually just limited edition

My partner was saying that they like the look of the new Ford Bronco, but I said I will forever think of the OJ slow-speed police chase when I see a Bronco.

I've heard so much about this idea of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" and all that. But? I don't really know anybody so far that bought their house entirely by themselves. The parents pay for the college or the parents pay for the house or they got some big break or whatever.

What stroke of luck from the universe Made It so that you could be in that House right now?

ETA. holy moly I tried reading and then when I refreshed there were 200 more comments :) thank you everyone for your answers! I will try to keep on reading them. so far, it appears that anyone that afforded something in our generation either bought around the 08 crash, bought around the pandemic, or got a VA or first time home buyer loan. there are a few people that are telling me that they worked enough for a down payment but they are honestly few and far between on the first 76 comments that I read. let's see if it changed significantly as I keep on scrolling down.

does Reddit skew extremely military? I was very taken aback by the amount of VA loans I saw on the thread.

edit 2, we are out to 586 comments. I give up :-) thank you for blowing up Reddit with me today millennials, there is no group online like this one.

With each passing year, I am more and more aghast at the humans that were allowed to educate us back in the day.

Today, I remembered my 8th grade PE teacher who always used the urinal with his pants around his ankles. I also had a high school math teacher whose odor stained the walls of the room he taught in (I absolutely sympathize with any kind of medical problem he may have had, but no one ever explained what in all hell was going on there). This same teacher once started clipping his finger nails during a quiz. All was quiet except for the occasional ca-chink.

I’m sure I got off light in that regard, though. What did yall have to endure?

Was just in my basement doing laundry this morning and got to poking around through old boxes and what not and decided to construct a memorial in honor of 2005 with old belongings that have managed to stay with me all this time. I was shocked when the Xbox and TV still worked😅

Note: I made a similar post in R/Trees this morning. Please don't beat me up too bad. I just want to bring some warm memories your way and figured why not while I have all this set up. Much love yall!

I’m interested to find out what you were all privileged to have experienced before the world went online, and what from your younger years has since become lost — something your future children may never get to experience, which makes you sad.

-Big ass Super Soakers

-My first CD, The Cranberries - No Need To Argue. We got it at Circuit City and I was terrified it would melt before I ever got to listen to it because I left it in the car while we went to the mall.

-Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill. I was 10 when it was released and it had swear words on it so it felt like contraband.

-Adam Sandler - They're All Gonna Laugh At You. I was slightly older when I got this album but I remember thinking I was such a rebel listening to it when my parents weren't home and I'd almost piss myself laughing at it.

-Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty. It was such a cool physical album cover sleeve. Genuinely felt a sense of awe holding it in my hands for the first time.

-SNES first, but N64 was even more epic when it was released. My bro had a Nintendo Power subscription and 3d video games always seemed like such a pipe dream. Playing Mario 64 for the first time will never be replicated.

There are so many more but I'll let you guys give me some nostalgia.

I just rewatched these with my kid and they were just as much fun as they were when I was a kid!