Getting ready to graduate college, and help build a better world...

Things did not go as planned.

I think I was fresh off my divorce and in my man-whore era. Owned my own house. Had lots of friends and played a lot of roleplaying games. Lots of World of Warcraft.

I guess I'd say I was at peak personal freedom. I had money, time, and minimal responsibility. It felt awesome. Then apparently you were born and fucked it all up.

Kidding. Things were cool for a good while. Few years later got bit by the bug to settle down and have kids of my own, which was a big transition to a different kind of enjoying life. Lots of good memories from 2007. If I could go back in time and live my life over starting at any point, that's probably about when I'd choose.

I learned this trick where if I sold mortgages as a bundle deal, they would be considered less risky than if I were to sell those mortgages separately. It tuns out I could just keep doing this and make a ton of money and there was absolutely no downside!

I was sailing the North Atlantic and being black out drunk while ashore. I think I had a couple port visits in the states, but mostly just patrols of Canadian waters

I graduated highschool in 2007.

I was burning CDs off of mp3' I downloaded, someone taught me how to use IRC (internet relay chat). I had a lot of NoFx, and was really getting into Punk music from the 90s. I spent a lot of time downloading/seeding music. I had an old computer I can still visualize.

Internet dating was brand new, and I dipped my toe in. We would have parties with 10-15 people, and played beer pong with beer in the cups, not water, I learned kings cup, and shortly after refused to play it.. but we also played cards a lot, five card stud/draw and Rummy. My group loved card games, we'd play Bullshit and Spoons while wasting late into the night.

For a time, I was going with some buddies Friday nights to the capital city, where they'd have car races, and then we'd be chased away by cops. Not my scene, but it was sort of fun.

Weed wasn't legal and obtaining it was not difficult but more expensive. I paid $60 for an 1/8 for the good stuff, $40 an 1/8 for the shit stuff. Today, there is no shit stuff, least I haven't seen it in over a decade. We made a giant bong out of a water cooler jug, that summer, attaching hoses and gas mask pieces. It took a half to fill the bowl on it, and when we woke up the next morning, the chamber still jad smoke. Ten people, and we couldn't clear it. We used to have "smoking apparatus" competitions. We'd set 20 mins, and you can only use what was in the house to make something to smoke out of. Then see what people came up with.

We'd go swimming and (lol a lot a weed, we were always trying to find place to smoke the more interesting the better) we'd stick joints and lighters into dry empty bottles and swim with it out to the docks at midnight and smoke under moonlight. One time, my brothers friend was on the junior police force or something, and we were at the lake after hours, and he rolled up and hit is siren he had intalled in his geo. We buried the blunt in the sand :( only to find out it was him. Aye those days.

One night we stayed up and played the longest game of mario party of all time. Nearly 18 hours of mario party, on an old game cube. We set the turn limit to max and just didnt sleep.

But we we're always hanging out with folks. I was a social reject and still had good people always around. There are no pictures really and definitely no videos from that time, only memories. We didn't bring phones with us out to the dock, we didn't post about our adventures. I had a lot of fun. We did some cringe shit, I remember telling my brother's friend, who I wasn't physically attracted to, that I wanted to fuck his mind, like I think back, like girl, what are you doing, and laugh. So much cringe shit, but it didn't matter, and tbf, I meant it in that moment. We often spoke about existential stuff and discussed weird philosophy of 18 year olds trying to find their place and values. I read old books. I still read 100 year old books. We talked about ideas, a lot, while stoned.

Went to college shortly after, got a job, learned my tolerance with alcohol, and yeah.

2007 was an interesting year for sure, I'm only sharing what I did in my free time, which was hang out with buddies, with no cares.

In 2007 I left everything and everyone I knew behind, and moved to another country across the ocean

My son was 3 and I had recently made the decision to be a stay at home dad. So parks, play dates, and household chores! He’s now in college and I’m working that 40 hour grind and reflect on these as some of my best memories!

Runescape

Eating mushrooms with the homies in the woods instead of going to prom. Zero regrets, would do it again.

Gettin' tortured by my family for the gay, leaving home as a minor, learning to steal, learning how good a liar I could be, losing every person place and pet I loved for the first of several times. Sleeping in a lot of unusual places.

The company I was working for went bankrupt (part of the mobile phone market disruptions that latter also killed off Nokia) and I had to find a new job.
Moved near my hometown, a few months later meeting my now wife.
Eventful times for me! 🙂

In 2007, I made a VirtualBox virtual machine with Windows XP, and basically all the software I could get my hands on at the time. It's something of a time capsule of computers of the era. I call it Blue Emerald.

ETL ERP via SQL

To approve a corporate merger the Federal Trade Commission required us to sell off a division to prevent having a monopolistic market share. To avoid software licensing complexities and for business continuity, the purchaser was allowed to be umbrellaed under our existing software license and remained hosted on our servers for two years. Environment was CA-PRMS Enterprise Resource Planning on an IBM I-series. Created a new instance, updated key values while porting master files and transaction history data into the new instance. Scrubbed same data from old instance. Set security to prevent cross access. Hard due date or merger would be cancelled. Federal auditors inspected through process. Trickiest was incomplete transactions like a partially complete work order, AR unapplied cash or AP/PO partial match in receiving. Some of the most challenging fun I had in 30 years of IT

LAN parties.

Half-way through Sixth Form (end of high school before uni in the UK) and working a retail job.

Was going to gigs in London and local house parties any opportunity I could

Apart from that a lot of TF2

I got engaged 🥰

Started working at the Apple Store. That was a 5 year journey that spanned 3 states.

I'd finally secured a permanent, full-time job in IT at the age of 29. Then my new girlfriend, who was a charming alcoholic with borderline personality disorder, convinced me to quit and travel the world with her. Which I did. We broke up somewhere in Malaysia. I sent my 30th working on reception in a Backpacker joint in Brisbane. I regret nothing!

Now happily married, 2 kids (11 an 9) and working as an IT manager back in my hometown.

I was 30 but I remember 2007 about as well as you do. I think indie music was good? You could still go to a bar and see a cool band most nights?

I was an incredibly awkward high school student in 2007. Coincidentally, I think that's the year I really got into alcohol...

Jumping on the bed while at our cabin in the woods. I was five years old, and my parents had a big bed you could jump on. The cabin is now gone, but I recently found a dvd with videos taken there, one of them even has the voice of my grandfather in it, which I haven't heard in thirteen years. The cabin got tore down last year after a disagreement with the owner of the plot we were renting. I guess being there with my family for over 45 years, and paying for her entire education was not good enough.

Not much happened until October when The Orange Box came out. After Oct 10th, I was just playing TF2 all the time and acting as Community Ambassador/Event Coordinator for a popular set of servers.

I was in my early 20s and had the best times of my life. I just moved out of my parents' home and lived in a place with a friend. Since I was one of the first to do so, our place was a very big hangout for other friends. I had a real job that I just started in 2006 but didn't care much about it like I sadly do today (still at the same place). I discovered what I love, which was music and beer. We went on half country road trips to hit up breweries and bring home the best beer we couldn't get back home. I went to concerts in NY weekly, and around this time, I had a record 180 concerts in 1 year. Had the time of my life just hanging out doing everything I wanted to.

I was a kid, can barely talk, didn't even speak a word of English, I was still in mainland China, probably in kindergarden or something, no internet access (too poor and live in slums), bored as fuck when at home, barely any entertainment, I don't think I had much toys, if I did, I broke them, my parents would leave me and my older brother* at home and my parents warned me not to climb near the windows (lived live around 5 stories high), there's a "safety cage" around the windows so like I wouldn't fall out or anything, but still I had intrusive thoughts, also told me not to touch the electricity stuff so I don't get zapped to death, also don't touch the plant fertilizer stuff because... poisonus to humans or something... (lived in the city, but there are houseplants and there are people that grow stuff on land in a mountain nearby).

I vaguely remember Mr. Bean, 猫和老鼠 (Cat and Mouse... aka: Tom and Jerry), and um... yea I don't remember much, since I kinda suppressed the memories because something bad happens around this time.

So... shit is about to go down...

So basically, because... you know... I was a kid, I kinda touched my older brother's toys... he's like 5 yeard older than me btw... and I'm not even sure if those count as "his" because resource in the house is kinda pooled, I viewed it as communal property (unrelated to the political-economic system btw, it just my worldview as a child, since my parents always used the words “你哋”/“你们” (you in plural form) when on the topic of buying toys and stuff, so I assumed its shared).

So I think this is how it goes: I might've touched "his" toys, he got mad at me, he used plastic zip ties and he fucking tied me up. WHAT THE FUCK?!? Also "CPS" isn't a thing, so I was just his hostage for a FEW HOURS, until parents got come. WHAT THE FUCK FUCK FUCK.

Also dude plays with fire in the house (separate incident), he pours white-out liquod onto a piece of paper, then IGNITE IT ON FIRE. My retrospective reaction rn: 😱 Like how the f we didn't die? Concrete/cement buildings is probably a factor, if it was a wooden house, it's GGs.

And then shit went down when one time, we had fight, he was chasing me around the house, so I ran and went to find my mother, grandmother was at home but bitch didn't stop shit. I could've gotten kidnaoped that day. Cops were searching the neighborhood but they didn't expect me to take a bus all the fucking way to my mother's workplace. (Bus drivers didn't give a fuck lol), I couldn't find her, so then I later came back home. I missed a few stops and then I had to backtrack. My most lonely moment in my life, and my first Adverse Childhood Experience. I wasn't even 8 years old at the time.

*For context, I was not supposed to be born, my mother violated the "One Child Policy" and gave birth to me.

God damn, my older brother has the "Little Emperor Syndrome", got so jealous that other kids were their parents sole attention, but my parents had to split attention, dude was probably so furious he didn't get all the attention he could've gotten had I not been born, since that's the situation in almost every other family.

Wrong spawn location, I need to restart this game, it sucks. NORWAY PLSSSS 😭

Actually fuck Earth, give me a Type III civillization, and PLS NO "HIVE MIND" SPECIES, I HATE THOSE.

starting high school in a different town. biking a lot to get around (work, friends, school), playing a fair bit of guitar that I got a year earlier, tons of call of duty modern warfare after school (pretty much my first online game experience other than RuneScape), teaching kids to ski in the winter, washing dishes at a restaurant year round, and I think I got a 'real' job at the hardware store that year, too

oh and Christmas still had snow, I think

Finishing up high school. Had a passion for animation, was practicing flash animation for a while.

Was in scouts, specifically venturers. Was at the age where I finally was able to have some confidence and just enjoy life, had some camps that I remember fondly to this day.

I think I won most improved in Drama Club? I know I won something. I was in primary school.

Finishing up my medical college and starting my internship one of the most fun I had in a year. Where I could actually play doctor. Working for 36-48 hours covered in blood, pus, urine, luckily no faeces.

I had just finished high school and enrolled in TAFE (think vocational/skills training) studying a certificate III in IT, then certificate 4. Then in 2008 an advanced diploma in network security.

I've forgotten most of the specifics over time, but the core ideas I've picked up then and along the way have definitely helped in my current IT job.

Backpacked through Europe for a couple of weeks.

Freelance developer and picking up some stray jobs here and there. It was the last year before landing something steady that became my full time career that I still do to this day.

But those debugging hours and stray jobs showed the kind of versatility my next job would need.

Recording an EP, going to lots of concerts, writing for a couple of magazines, working at a coffee shop, drinking too much, living in a little studio apartment, binding books with salvaged leather from roadside furniture.

Long enough ago that everything blurs together but would have celebrated a third wedding anniversary. This year was 21.

By April of 2007 I had completely burned myself out working for my third tech startup in the Boston area. By the end of April I was in New Zealand followed by Australia on a month+ long solo trip to unwind and recover from the burnout.

Preparing for my high school graduation exams, playing computer games and drawing shit.

My son turned 10. I was 1 year into my job that I still have, climbing communication towers. Mostly for cell phone companies. But also state, DNR, and DOT towers.

Wasn't making the best decisions before and was living in my sisters extra room. This is where I turned things around.

Edit: spelling

I can't recall anything in particular - I was working, I had a dog... But I had a look at a "what's in my bag" photo I took that year, and it included a cheque book, a diary, a Nokia phone, a Palm Pilot, an MP3 player, a compact digital camera and a portable radio. All of which have been superseded by one single device. Amazing.

I graduated highschool in '07

Sex drugs and rock n roll

I was around 10 so I was probably playing games like Crash Bandicoot and Need for Speed on my PS2 and playing at the parks around town

I was coming into my own as an adult.

I'd been in an adult job for a couple of years and I bought a car and started renting my own place. I was able to travel a lot in those days and life was more interesting and affordable, as the 2008 crash hadn't yet occurred and most third spaces were still around and thriving.

It felt like we all had a good future ahead for the most part.

We had heated debates about force fields in my kindergarten class during recess lol

getting rolled around in my stroller at marching band shows

Toontown I think

My side hustle website got big enough in 2007 to allow me to quit my day job and go all in with it.

I officially graduated early and was working drywall while taking a light college workload. I crashed my old schools senior day with a 30 block to see my friends who were finishing their last year of highschool and got kicked out lol. What else.. I was going to post hardcore shows at little venues that would close within 3 years and I was a warlock class leader for my world of Warcraft guild, getting bored of 4chan and phasing out of insurgen.CC. I think at this point i also started looking for a fake ID and got recs from coworkers with stolen SSNs but most of the contacts wouldn't bite. I was also playing bass in a metal band but got alcohol poisoning and had to drop out.

In highschool with a huge red mohawk and playing bass.

I was 12 years old in middle school learning to talk to girls without pulling a Stan Marsh and throwing up all over lol

I graduated with a degree in Mathematics and ended up working part time delivering newspapers.

Finishing up College and feeling generally anxious about entering the "adult" world.

Playing with dolls mostly likely since I was a toddler at the time.

That would've about been the year that I dropped out of college and quit my job to play world of warcraft every waking hour of my life

Finishing senior year of high school, completely unaware that it was nothing but downhill from there.

It took me over a decade after high school just to find a job that actually paid enough to move out of my parents house. And then another 8 years for me to find someone and settle down. But now I feel too old and out of energy to start a family. I'm just barely starting my life and it's already halfway over.

We don't get enough time on this planet.

I have a terrible memory for what year events in the past took place. Luckily I keep all my old resumes! So I just found out that was the year I went back to school to study music, after having dropped out of high school and working random jobs for the previous 5 years.

I quit a boring office job to work part time in a comic shop at the same time as studying.

Music school was great until a minor drunken injury cause me to defer my studies until the following year.

I was a few years into my first post-college job. It ended up involving a lot more coordination than I thought.

Getting ready for the birth of my first kid

Just moved abroad for the first time.

being a grad student and living on 10K a year income.

i used to buy expired food a lot to not starve and barely ate any protein. but i was living the dream and realized it was actually a nightmare.

In high school, in another country whose language I was leaning

That was my junior to senior year of college. I was majoring in aeronautics at ERAU.

My son was also born in 2007. So, I was up to all the excitement and worry about becoming a new dad, is what I was up to the most of 2007!

Also, painting and putting together a lot of baby furniture. And reading the baby books. And feeling more terrified than I ever had before. And also more excited, than I had been for anything in my life.

Great year.

Frolicking around in the evenings while all the other neighborhood kids looked on in annoyance.

My wife and I had just moved 400 miles the previous year and bought a house. She started a new job and we had our first child, who apparently is the same age as you.

Still vaguely optimistic I'd graduate from uni some day in the near future and find work as a translator for English and Japanese. (I only stopped trying to graduate 10 years later and I have been paid a lifetime total of 150 euros for translations.)

I was also able to sleep 8 hours most nights. Those truly were the days.

On the upside, I hadn't yet discovered Doctor Who which two years later would, depending on who you ask, either greatly improve my life (quote me) or make me an obsessed weirdo (quote the husband).

All within about a month, early summer:

• working at a startup
• got married
• honeymoon (visited 2 new countries)
• moved into a new job-role
• first IPO

Oh man, probably deep into World of Warcraft, absolutely “no-lifing” it. Dropping in and out of community college. Not many friends. Living on my own for the first time. Not taking care of myself.

Playing Supreme Commander on a PC I just built.

D&D

High School Junior (Grade 11) chronically depressed holding down a job with illegal hours ran by an old man who I suspect dabbled in cocaine.

A woman moved from out-of-state (country?) to date or marry him or something. They went to Vegas for a trip, while taking a shower she rifled through his wallet and saw that he was twenty years older than he told her and dumped him. He was unpleasant for a couple months.

Uhh... I had a flash card on my DS, replayed Earthbound around that time. I don't remember much about my doings around then.

I was in college, fresh out of high school. I started learning PHP that year. I think I was working at One Stop Systems, a company that produces enterprise PCIe equipment.

I was still using Windows at that point, and I would switch to Linux the next year.

Mostly scraping by but also shopping for my next house after selling my first right before the market crashed. Worked a lot of 70+ hour weeks that year. Had 2x car accidents (neither my fault) that totaled out my cars, both of which netted me more than I had spent on the cars in the first place.

Quitting my job as a secretary and finally starting college after an 8 year delay.

2007 the first iPhone was released.

I was in my last year working as a loan underwriter. I was otherwise living in a way that excited me, and played into my antisocial tendencies. It was a fun time.

At the end of the year, I was being made redundant for the second time. I ended up being self-employed for around a decade as there were no jobs to be had in my industry after the August 2007 credit crunch.