Being a teen in the early 2000s was great.
In 2000, I was a 14 year old kid. And I was a pretty stereotypical teenager.
All I wanted to do all day was play video games, listen to music, and watch music videos.
And that’s exactly what I did daily in the summer of 2000.
I’d wake up around 10 a.m., do my business in the bathroom, and head downstairs for breakfast.
Most mornings, I’d eat a bowl of Nesquik cereal (not sure if this is a Canadian thing, but this cereal is similar to Cocoa Puffs) but sometimes I’d fry myself an over-easy egg.
My parents, older sister, and uncle -who was living with us- would be at work at this time and I’d be home alone.
And like any regular teenage boy, I’d spend this time doing naughty stuff:
Playing video games in my sister’s room and eating all of her candy.
Around 11 a.m., I’d head up to my sister’s room, which had my gaming setup because it had a TV and wasn’t busy with people all of the time, pop in Tony Hawk 1, turn on my Playstation, and wait a couple of minutes for it to load. Then, I’d grab a seat on her sofa and start my “work” day.
After a few hours of playing and getting frustrated because I couldn’t beat a level, I turned off my PlayStation and took a break.
Now, I’d switch over to watching TV. I grabbed the remote and changed the channel to the TV Guide to see what’s on. As it scrolled, I noticed that at 2 o’clock -5 minutes away- was a rerun of the previous night’s episode of WWF Raw. I input the channel numbers into the remote control to watch it.
After 40 minutes, I got bored because I had already seen it and knew the outcome of the matches. So, I switched the channel over to Much Music (similar to MTV) to watch the top 3 music videos of the day.
“Oh, nice! Eminem’s ‘I Am Whatever You Say I Am’ is on!”
I started to get a little hungry so I leaned over to a jar half-full of heart-shaped cinnamon candies on top of a drawer and grabbed a handful. I munched on them as I watched the remainder of the list.
When the episode ended, I went back to playing PlayStation. This time, I played Gran Turismo.
I played it for about an hour before I rudely got interrupted by my uncle, who had just come home from work, telling me to go outside and play basketball with him.
“Hey, come outside and play some basketball. You used to love playing it. You can’t sit in here all day.”
Disgruntled, I replied, “Okay. I’ll come out in a bit.”
I finished the race, saved my game, turned everything off, and went to my backyard.
It’s about 4:30 pm now and I shot around with him for about half an hour. But my stomach started growling and my throat got a little dry.
I headed inside for a snack and drink, and my parents were both home from work.
I asked my mom when dinner was and she said soon.
So, I headed back to my sister’s room to get more “work” done. But she also just got home from work and was taking a nap.
After getting yelled at by her for sneakily trying to play, I stomped my way to my room and lay down on my bed, waiting for dinner.
All of a sudden, I hear someone yelling at me.
“Dinner’s ready. Wake up!”
“What?”
“Dinner is ready. Wake up and come eat.”
“Oh, okay. I’m coming,” I told my sister as I stretched to wake myself up.
I stumbled out of bed and down the stairs to the kitchen.
I chowed down on my fried salmon and rice, gulped a cup of apple juice, went to wash my hands, and headed over to the living room to watch TV.
It was about 7 p.m. and there was nothing new to watch because the channels were on their summer program.
Regardless, I mindlessly scrolled through the channels, searching for something to watch. But after half an hour, I gave up and went back up to my room, where I played computer games.
I played Command and Conquer, which my older cousin recently gave me, for a couple of hours before my dad told me to go to sleep.
It’s 10:30 and I’m in bed, pondering what I’m going to do the next day.
“Maybe I should go to the park and play some basketball. It was pretty fun shooting around today.”
“Or maybe I should try to beat the World Cup races.”
“I should try to…”