The 1999-2000 transition was not too momentous for me. I was back from California and living in Waltham by then; I'd have to dig out my resume to remind myself which of the largely interchangeable doomed tech companies I spent that period working for I was on at the time. We were closing in on the end of the regular series of Neon Exodus Evangelion (the last episode to come out in 1999 was 3:7). Symphony of the Sword wouldn't happen for another year and a bit.

That was the last Christmas-New Year I spent in Oxbow, although I didn't know it was going to be at the time. I didn't make it up there the next year, and in 2001 they abruptly sold up and moved closer to (but still not into) the nearest town that had a hospital. I think about that sometimes, how you don't always know that the last time you do something is the last time you'll be doing it.

Not directly related to the above, a random musing about 2020:

Back in the 1970s sometime, there was a secondary feature in a few Superman comics featuring the Superman of the year 2020. I'm pretty sure he was meant to be the original Superman's son, although who his mother was never came up. It didn't really matter, because he was presented as exactly like the regular Superman of the day, just in stories set in that unimaginably distant future year, 2020. I only dimly remember the stories now, but one thing I distinctly remember is a scene in which Superman saves a rich person from jetpack bandits who were trying to carjack (although that word was unknown when the story was written) his flying Rolls-Royce, as one does. They weren't after the car itself, though; they were after the Lincoln Memorial penny the rich man was carrying, which, the narration solemnly assured the reader, was the most valuable collector coin in the world.

And of course there was Cyberpunk 2020, which I played when I was 19. The funny thing is that at 19, I couldn't really imagine being 46, but at 46, I can easily imagine being 73. I dunno if I'll make it there, we can't predict these things, but I have no trouble envisioning what it'll be like if I do.

Only 12 years until Bubblegum Crisis becomes a period piece!

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I'm not going to get into my personal life--things are actually going well now for me generally speaking, far better than in 2000, but that's not the topic here.

I'm only a couple years younger than you, Gryphon, and I've felt much the same way. They say that youth is wasted on the young, and it wasn't until I hit my mid-30's that I really understood how little I was even -trying- to understand how the world really works. Now I'm older, wiser, and reflecting that 1000 years ago I'd be on my deathbed now, barely able to share that hard-earned wisdom with anyone. Instead I'm in a good IT job, training people half my age, and it feels good.

Mind you, even in the 90's I looked at Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun (originally set in 2050) and realized that the latter might not and the former definitely would not reflect what technology is really like in that year. A lot of the gritty realism of any cyberpunk genre piece is about how no matter how cool the technology is, human nature (particularly, corruption and greed) is still what drives the story. That general principle is just as true for virtually any sci fi anime.

That said, we may have a unique opportunity upcoming. I don't know how old Mike Pondsmith was when he invented Cyberpunk 2020, but he's deeply involved in the new CD Projekt Red Cyberpunk 2077 game. Since he's seen that same sort of change, I'm interested to see if that sort of insight translates to the new setting. (Of course, in game technology still reached unreasonable heights in 2020, so if the rate of change didn't slow down, the point may be moot.)

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

My roommates and I have plans for New Years Eve 2032, and it absolutely involves a marathon viewing of Bubblegum Crisis.

Not sure what else it involves yet -- tacos, probably, but that's a given for NYE -- but we first planned that viewing almost ten years ago.

--sofaspud
--I kind of want to play the 'spot the anachronism' drinking game but I suspect we'd be shitfaced before the intro to Tinsel City Rhapsody is even finished

So thanks Gryph. =]

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.