Two thousands

December 31st, 2009, not only marks the end of this year, but also the end of the decade we're living in, the first decade of the 21st century. It's hard to wrap my mind around that! At the end of the 1990s, I was a sophomore in high school... not cognizant of the magnitude of the turn of the century. When I put my life into decades, it doesn't sound like I've been here for all that long and that's really humbling. We are but a blip on the timeline of humanity.

I got to thinking today about how much my life and life as a society has changed in this decade and thought it would be fun to put it all into perspective.

This decade saw me...

• graduate from high school and college
• have 4 cars, including a Nissan I only had for one month
• join MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• in 1 car accident
• in 5 relationships
• turn from a teenager into a twentysomething
• delete my Twitter account
• living in 7 cities and 5 states
• own 2 dogs
• reinstate my Twitter account
• buy a home
• in 2 professional jobs in 2 different industries
• break 1 bone (patella, which is the kneecap)
• vacation in 13 states and 4 countries
• in 2 weddings
• lose 1 close family member
• delete my MySpace account

I sprinkled in the social networking stuff for laughs, but it's all true! This decade saw the birth and rise of social networking, and it is the one thing that has changed my life the most drastically.

If you're feeling nostalgic too, check out these links I found that look back fondly on the 2000s:

40 Things that were popular at the beginning of the decade that aren't popular anymore
DeadJournal, Trucker Hats, Rubber bracelets...

Fads of the 2000s
The Big Mouth Billy Bass, Napolean Dynamite, Crocs, Uggs, Razor Scooters...

Popular baby names of the 2000s
Jacob and Emily were the most popular...

In the world of music, lots of people are giving their summations of the decade's best. Pitchfork says the best song of the decade was OutKast's "B.O.B.", while Rolling Stone says it was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".

IMDB says the best movie of this decade is "The Dark Knight", with "Avatar", a movie that JUST came out, in second place. Paste Magazine would have you believe it's "City of God." Moviefone, on the other hand, says it's "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Guess they'll have to agree to disagree.

I'm excited to begin a new year and a new decade. I hope that I can look back at the 2010s with this kind of satisfaction.

Happy New Year to you!