--when air travel didn't suck
--when there were far fewer idiotic chain stores/restaurants
--when digital watches were all the newest rage
--when my friend's little sister was kinda cute, but now I'm 49 and she's 45 and the magic has flown out the window like a sad birthday-clown's balloon flatulently deflating under the big-top Circus that one could poetically refer to as The Ineffable Pageantry of Time's Passage
--when you didn't have to pay to watch TV
--when a phone was attached to a wall
--when words like "influencer" "internet" "microwave" "alt-right" and "pegging" didn't exist.
--when you had to earn your right to talk about good and obscure bands by digging through tons of crates of albums, spending money, reading about them, and then taking the plunge to buy the album (even if it sucked), but it occasionally payed off, and then you could harbor the respect of your peers--instead of just going to YouTube.