NationStates Jolt Archive

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

Somewhere further down the river, you're 35 and remember those days of your twenties, wondering when you traded the unbounded exhuberance of youth for the gilded chains of success and career...

Yet flowing more distant, in your mid-forties, you see a picture of when you were in your thirties, wondering how you could have looked so young...

And as the waters make their final obeisance to the ocean, your lovely dark hair long since made white, you wonder if the past is ever as good or as bad as we remember it...as your eyes wander the faded map of your youth, filling in the gaps with imagination, you fail to notice that you are still so beautiful...

And as the waters make their final obeisance to the ocean, your lovely dark hair long since made white, you wonder if the past is ever as good or as bad as we remember it...as your eyes wander the faded map of your youth, filling in the gaps with imagination, you fail to notice that you are still so beautiful...

After reading this, I realized one thing. Tears are streaming down my cheeks.

Beautiful words, GAR. I'll try, as much as I can, to take them to heart and not yearn for what was, but for what is to come.

After reading this, I realized one thing. Tears are streaming down my cheeks.

Beautiful words, GAR. I'll try, as much as I can, to take them to heart and not yearn for what was, but for what is to come.

Back when I was a lowly physics researcher, a friend mentioned to me "there is no time, you know". This was a bit beyond my measly solid state area of study, but so many phenomena in my field were time dependent, I got worried...

So I looked into the idea...early on, I ran into the work of Feynman, and the idea that an electron moving forward in time is just a positron moving backwards, etc...I became fascinated with the work, albeit it was far over my head...

From all my examination of Feynman and his work, one thing sticks with me the most. Even with stomach cancer, he continued to teach until two weeks before he died.

In the maze of perspectives and definitions and theory and mathematics, I never really understood whether there is time. But I learned, from Feynman, a genius I never met, that there is never enough time.

Did you decide to marry?

ugh...I am the most nostalgic person ever. To the point where I blast the song Taking Pictures by Sam Philips and relate to the line "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be"...

The beauty of nostalgia is that everything is always beautiful. The pain is now funny. The jokes make you laugh harder. The good times are built up. The bad times fade. The tears you shed no longer matter, but the smiles mean everything and then some.

Ah, nostalgia.

That said, the present is just nostalgia waiting to happen.

Somewhere further down the river, you're 35 and remember those days of your twenties, wondering when you traded the unbounded exhuberance of youth for the gilded chains of success and career...

Yet flowing more distant, in your mid-forties, you see a picture of when you were in your thirties, wondering how you could have looked so young...

And as the waters make their final obeisance to the ocean, your lovely dark hair long since made white, you wonder if the past is ever as good or as bad as we remember it...as your eyes wander the faded map of your youth, filling in the gaps with imagination, you fail to notice that you are still so beautiful...
Are you drunk? High? Quoting something?
Because this sort of sentimentalism is the last thing I'd have expected from you.

Back when I was a lowly physics researcher, a friend mentioned to me "there is no time, you know". This was a bit beyond my measly solid state area of study, but so many phenomena in my field were time dependent, I got worried...

So I looked into the idea...early on, I ran into the work of Feynman, and the idea that an electron moving forward in time is just a positron moving backwards, etc...I became fascinated with the work, albeit it was far over my head...

From all my examination of Feynman and his work, one thing sticks with me the most. Even with stomach cancer, he continued to teach until two weeks before he died.

In the maze of perspectives and definitions and theory and mathematics, I never really understood whether there is time. But I learned, from Feynman, a genius I never met, that there is never enough time.

There isn't, you're right. But we do wish we had all the time in the world, and we keep procrastinating. "I love you, mom...", but I still have time so it's ok if I say so tomorrow. But tomorrow I forget. But it's fine, I'll say so the day after. But I keep forgetting and suddenly, she isn't there anymore. And I kept telling myself "there's time... there's time..." and suddenly, cruelly, time runs out. I never said what was important. That's how it feels staring at those old photographs.

Did time, really, flew past me and I am no longer the 13 year old I was? Yes, it did.

Did you decide to marry?

No. I just decided I was too tired and lonely to keep this up.

Are you drunk? High? Quoting something?
Because this sort of sentimentalism is the last thing I'd have expected from you.

Perhaps I'm a fool to believe in mythic things, like unicorns and angels and girls on the internet, but Nanatsu no Tsuki has always seemed so authentic to me.

So, to her, I post as I am.

post the photo i want to see you as a nerdy 8th grader.

Perhaps I'm a fool to believe in mythic things, like unicorns and angels and girls on the internet, but Nanatsu no Tsuki has always seemed so authentic to me.

So, to her, I post as I am.
Now I feel like I'm eavesdropping. So I'll just leave the room.

There isn't, you're right. But we do wish we had all the time in the world, and we keep procrastinating. "I love you, mom...", but I still have time so it's ok if I say so tomorrow. But tomorrow I forget. But it's fine, I'll say so the day after. But I keep forgetting and suddenly, she isn't there anymore. And I kept telling myself "there's time... there's time..." and suddenly, cruelly, time runs out. I never said what was important. That's how it feels staring at those old photographs.

Did time, really, flew past me and I am no longer the 13 year old I was? Yes, it did.

No. I just decided I was too tired and lonely to keep this up.

I rarely think before posting, but I'm going to go listen to some music, and ponder, before I reply in earnest...

Now I feel like I'm eavesdropping. So I'll just leave the room.

No need...there is no expectation of privacy here. Nostalgia is a fine subject for discussion.

And maybe LG will bring tacos...

I'm just a few months shy of 62. I'm looking fondly back at 42, when I was much thinner and my hair only just slightly frosted (looking as if I had done it deliberately). Nostalgia is part of every age. 15 looks back at 10, 21 back at 15. It seems better than now, and some of it is - you haven't yet made the mistakes that will haunt you later, but you also haven't made the friends that will lighten the results of the mistakes.

Sometimes, I wish I were 28, or even 48, again. Mostly I'm just grateful to be here and wishing my joints didn't ache.

I think I'll go listen to some Beatles - Yesterday, anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdCjaiXmUb0

No need...there is no expectation of privacy here. Nostalgia is a fine subject for discussion.

And maybe LG will bring tacos...

I think tea may be more appropriate?

No need...there is no expectation of privacy here. Nostalgia is a fine subject for discussion.
In that case...
I miss the South. I spent my teenage years in a shitty little town on Route 29. It had a population of less than 1500, and I spent the entire time I was there longing to go to a big city (as I have).
The funny thing is, I miss it now. I miss the idiots, pot heads, and losers I used to hang out with. I miss being able to wander from my house and into the woods (not a park, not a preserve, but honest to God woods) in about 15 minutes. Bobcats, Southern angst, that factory that was somehow capable of magically holding itself up with only one wall still standing, 130 proof moonshine, hanging out at Foodlion because that was the only place in the area that sold beer and cigarettes, the doorbell being destroyed by earwig infestation, mice in the basement, Southern Baptists, my next door neighbor's pool, nights that were actually dark, the tree I lost my virginity under, the other tree I fired a tommy gun into when my neighbor's crazy uncle visited, and the third tree that my head was cracked open on during my first fight (which wasn't a fight so much as me getting the shit thrashed out of me because I deserved it).
Wow, that was schmaltzy. Anyway, I recently went to my old High School's website, and they still have copies of the school paper that I worked on in archive. Reading my old crap really too me back, and seeing the names of people I haven't spoken to in years ...

No need...there is no expectation of privacy here. Nostalgia is a fine subject for discussion.

And maybe LG will bring tacos...

*brings tacos*

*brings tacos*

fluffles.

...these don't taste as good as I remember...

fluffles.

...these don't taste as good as I remember...

Do they ever? That's why I occasionally update my recipe. Right now, I'm working on adding pesto to tacos. *nod*

ugh...I am the most nostalgic person ever. To the point where I blast the song Taking Pictures by Sam Philips and relate to the line "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be"...

The beauty of nostalgia is that everything is always beautiful. The pain is now funny. The jokes make you laugh harder. The good times are built up. The bad times fade. The tears you shed no longer matter, but the smiles mean everything and then some.

Ah, nostalgia.

That said, the present is just nostalgia waiting to happen.

And here I am, listening to "Sasayaki Namiki" and, I think, your words make sense. The photos, although faded, when one stares at them, they seem to move and to have a life, in and of themselves. A life that one didn't know they possessed. And I was smiling in those photos. Those smiles, indeed, matter so much. Perhaps that's what's making me smile now, those old, faded smiles.

Iris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHd09ezbU1Q)

Music to remember by.

At the moment I want time to stop. I'm 20, have some of the best friends I could ever hope for, my family is at a stage where I don't want it to grow anymore. If only it were possible...

At the moment I want time to stop. I'm 20, have some of the best friends I could ever hope for, my family is at a stage where I don't want it to grow anymore. If only it were possible...

My own dissatisfaction spills like venom over the very keyboard and into this forum. Don't, please, overly think about what's inevitable. It's just that now, 10 to 11 years of graduating uni, 15 or more after leaving the halls of school, the words of my teachers back then are making so much sense, it's like searing fire on my mind. The memories are a jumble, and it hurts. I smile, those smiles, faded as they are, make me smile. But they also hurt me immensely, and this hurt is getting the best out of me.

At points in your life you always look back at the past & feel sad about some things. Maybe about how time has passed so quickly & you haven't done what you thought you would, or how you're no longer in touch with friends who were your world & didn't believe would ever be parted. It's good to revisit the past, but don't get too hung up on it, because you miss out on living & enjoying your life in the hear & now.

My own dissatisfaction spills like venom over the very keyboard and into this forum. Don't, please, overly think about what's inevitable. It's just that now, 10 to 11 years of graduating uni, 15 or more after leaving the halls of school, the words of my teachers back then are making so much sense, it's like searing fire on my mind. The memories are a jumble, and it hurts. I smile, those smiles, faded as they are, make me smile. But they also hurt me immensely, and this hurt is getting the best out of me.

It scares me that I'm halfway through my University life. There's a part of me that never wants to leave it. I miss friends who I have lost, people I had close relatiosn with etc.

Also while I was looking out of my window and suddenly I was overwhelmed by how much history could have occurred at the spot I was staring at.

A few weeks ago, I took the day off from work in order to visit my old hometown. It's not far, only an hour or so, but I haven't been there in almost five years. Did you know that there's THREE stoplights there now? :tongue:

I had to wait until late afternoon before I could go onto the school playground. (no sense in being the creepy old guy lurking during school hours.) I grew up in the allotment behind the school; I spent a lot of nights on those grounds, and have some very *special* memories of certain events.

The people who live in my old house painted it grey. They also took the swingset down. I don't blame them; it wasn't level, and was probably rusting through. And they replaced the section of the fence where I refined my fastball, curve, and slider. I wish that I could've salvaged that piece of chain-link.

Now I think I must post some sentimental, nostalgic songs.

Well, High School does me that way, although it was only about 3 years ago...

Id rather forget middle school however, lol >.>

I don't really do nostalgia much in general - my life has, to be perfectly honest, pretty much sucked, and so I don't tend to miss what I wanted badly to escape at the time.

That said, the one thing that can get me nostalgic is some aspects of my time at college. I was miserable most of the time there, but when I wasn't...it could be magic. I went to school in the most beautiful place I've ever seen, made some of the best friends I'll ever have, and learned an awful lot about myself.

I also barely slept or ate, fought with crippling depression, and fell in love with the guy who would spend the next several years tearing my life to shreds. So I don't get too nostalgic.

Five For Fighting - 100 Years. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmoE8_U-JTw)

I'm not sure if it's more about nostalgia, or just thinking about growing old. But aren't they kind of the same thing?

Barenaked Ladies - The Old Apartment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMv-xS8k42k&feature=related)

This is kinda how I felt about my house. The Me from when I lived there would've broken in.

Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOpIfbneeHg)

I want my chain-link fence, dammit.

Five For Fighting - 100 Years. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmoE8_U-JTw)

I'm not sure if it's more about nostalgia, or just thinking about growing old. But aren't they kind of the same thing?

Barenaked Ladies - The Old Apartment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMv-xS8k42k&feature=related)

This is kinda how I felt about my house. The Me from when I lived there would've broken in.

Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOpIfbneeHg)

I want my chain-link fence, dammit.

For me is this:

Sasayaki Namiki (http://www.imeem.com/bdrc/music/phwJQb5m/yo_hitoto_whispers_namiki/), from Hitoto Yo.

Perhaps I'm a fool to believe in mythic things, like unicorns and angels and girls on the internet, but Nanatsu no Tsuki has always seemed so authentic to me.

So, to her, I post as I am.

Once again, thank you so much if that's the way you feel about me.

I don't really do nostalgia much in general - my life has, to be perfectly honest, pretty much sucked, and so I don't tend to miss what I wanted badly to escape at the time.

That said, the one thing that can get me nostalgic is some aspects of my time at college. I was miserable most of the time there, but when I wasn't...it could be magic. I went to school in the most beautiful place I've ever seen, made some of the best friends I'll ever have, and learned an awful lot about myself.

I also barely slept or ate, fought with crippling depression, and fell in love with the guy who would spend the next several years tearing my life to shreds. So I don't get too nostalgic.

*smacks* stop that :p

No, my childhood sucked.

My life pretty much stopped after the age of 27. I've kept on putting one foot in front of the other, but I don't feel like I've done anything.

My life pretty much stopped after the age of 27. I've kept on putting one foot in front of the other, but I don't feel like I've done anything.

go back to school get another major start a new life.

go back to school get another major start a new life.

You should consider doing the same. Take some English grammar classes, learn to actually write, learn to capitalize, punctuation marks are your friends. I don't know.

Nah, that doesn't really happen to me.

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be, you know.

For me is this:

Sasayaki Namiki (http://www.imeem.com/bdrc/music/phwJQb5m/yo_hitoto_whispers_namiki/), from Hitoto Yo.
So we're swapping songs now?
As good a pursuit as any:
"Next Go 'Round" - Old Crow Medicine Show (http://www.metrolyrics.com/next-go-round-lyrics-old-crow-medicine-show.html)
A bit more regret than nostalgia, but similar feeling (wishing you had it all to do over again and the acknowledgment that there is no going back).
"Upward Over the Mountain" - Iron & Wine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1HY8KUkA4c)
This song nearly always brings me to tears. The necessity of moving on, of abandoning your past and religion in order to rise, but it acknowledges the pain and regrets of seeing everything you were devoured by time.
"For the Best" - Straylight Run (hhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaBjnjCHyyo&feature=related)
"As young as I was, I felt older back then; more disciplined, stronger and certain."
Or really any song off that album (Straylight Run). It is an hour long tearjerker, even when I'm stone sober, mostly focusing on lost youth and love.

Nah, that doesn't really happen to me.

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be, you know.

Darth Elmo is beyond these petty feelings.

Darth Elmo is beyond these petty feelings.

Perhaps he can teach the elf how not to feel as well.

Perhaps he can teach the elf how not to feel as well.

Don't learn not to feel. Please.

Don't learn not to feel. Please.
Concrete and stone are always in demand. Why would you deny the Elves a potentially advantageous transmutation?

Concrete and stone are always in demand. Why would you deny the Elves a potentially advantageous transmutation?

Because I like the Elves a lot, enough to not want to see them transmute into emotionless automatons.

Perhaps he can teach the elf how not to feel as well.

It is really quite simple. You must first suffer greatly. After the dust settles and everything you care about is destroyed, you will be the last one left. Nothing will be left of you except hatred and pain, and eventually even that fades into total silence, and you can no longer remember who you are. All that's left is ice and silence.

Also, your wife will lose the will to live, even though she has two children to live for. Then some jerk who used to be your friend will take your children and hide them from you on different planets.

depressing thread is depressing

It is really quite simple. You must first suffer greatly. After the dust settles and everything you care about is destroyed, you will be the last one left. Nothing will be left of you except hatred and pain, and eventually even that fades into total silence, and you can no longer remember who you are. All that's left is ice and silence.

I think I better head to bed before jumping off my mum's balcony becomes enticing enough. Some things need a bit of contemplating. I need to rename this feeling. I need to press my head against the pillows and take off the cat ears. They're no longer cute.

Don't learn not to feel. Please.

On days like these, one wishes to, even in hindsight they know what foolishness it is.

Because I like the Elves a lot, enough to not want to see them transmute into emotionless automatons.
"Automaton" is a strong word. They prefer "soulless, mindless entities with no purpose but to serve, and no will but the will of their controllers. Creatures so far gone from the light that even a momentary pulse of emotion would destroy them utterly. Entities so vile and existentially lacking that destroying them is no crime."
It is really quite simple. You must first suffer greatly. After the dust settles and everything you care about is destroyed, you will be the last one left. Nothing will be left of you except hatred and pain, and eventually even that fades into total silence, and you can no longer remember who you are. All that's left is ice and silence.

Also, your wife will lose the will to live, even though she has two children to live for. Then some jerk who used to be your friend will take your children and hide them from you on different planets.
Don't forget the part where you become, like, 6 inches taller than before. The extra altitude results in thinner air, which in turn causes reduced functioning in those parts of the brain responsible for keeping you from kill your children.

I think I better head to bed before jumping off my mum's balcony becomes enticing enough. Some things need a bit of contemplating. I need to rename this feeling. I need to press my head against the pillows and take off the cat ears. They're no longer cute.

If I find myself thinking about the past, I tend to quickly run into two thoughts. Did I learn from my mistakes? (Yes, although it sometimes took several tries)... and... "wow, I'm still here, and I can still remember". I'm a Gypsy in many respects (not least, by heritage) and I realised early on that there are many places I'll only visit once. The past is one of those. So I vow to move on (sometimes... literally) and I start building new towns of memory structures to live in tomorrow, and revisit, from time to time.

Don't forget the part where you become, like, 6 inches taller than before. The extra altitude results in thinner air, which in turn causes reduced functioning in those parts of the brain responsible for keeping you from kill your children.

Getting used to the height was very difficult. Also, the whole breathing thing gets really irritating to listen to after a while. Honestly, it wasn't the altitude - it was psychosis brought on by the heavy breathing and constantly hearing the same music every time I enter a room.

Getting used to the height was very difficult. Also, the whole breathing thing gets really irritating to listen to after a while. Honestly, it wasn't the altitude - it was psychosis brought on by the heavy breathing and constantly hearing the same music every time I enter a room.
That would get very annoying, I imagine. Why didn't you just force choke the piccolo players who kept following you around?

That would get very annoying, I imagine. Why didn't you just force choke the piccolo players who kept following you around?

Bastards were rendered immune by a man with much greater power than either I or the Emperor. We begged, but this man would not allow us to have it any other way. It's a curse for being the person who I am.

looking into my past I realize that at the time I had no idea how good I had it, how pretty I really was, how many friends I really did have and how ultimately stress free and easy my life was! Makes me stop and think that I need to make sure that I am taking time to really appreciate the people in my life now, the health such as it is that I have NOW the life I live NOW because who knows where I will be in ten or twenty years?

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

I can understand how you feel, sweetheart. Try being 41 and trying to make up for the fact that you've pissed away 2/3 of your life.

Don't learn not to feel. Please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jODtW4IkcW8

I think tea may be more appropriate?

Tea and tacos. Sounds good, I'll bring homemade bread and jam. I remember my grandmother baking bread and canning apricot jam when I was a kid, and lemon meringue pies *drools*. That's some of the good stuff that probably tastes better in memory than it actually did.

I can understand how you feel, sweetheart. Try being 41 and trying to make up for the fact that you've pissed away 2/3 of your life.

I won't make light of the fact that you're only 41. But you still have 30-40 years to do something meaningful, even if it's just to please yourself.

I used to get so mad at my mother because she was constantly living in the past, crying because my father was such a jerk and she stayed married to him for so long. She pissed away the life she had left because she was so busy feeling sorry for the life she'd already lived.

I won't make light of the fact that you're only 41. But you still have 30-40 years to do something meaningful, even if it's just to please yourself.

I used to get so mad at my mother because she was constantly living in the past, crying because my father was such a jerk and she stayed married to him for so long. She pissed away the life she had left because she was so busy feeling sorry for the life she'd already lived.

Point conceded. And I am trying to do something with my life. Last May I finished my BA, and if all goes well, I'll begin my Master's degree in September.

made some of the best friends I'll ever have, and learned an awful lot about myself.

That's how I feel about NSG/GM. . . :unsure:

depressing thread is depressing

*gives Nano Heimlich maneuver*

I woulda posted it earlier, 'cept I thought Obvious Joke would've already been made.

I get nostalgic, a little, except, overall, my life has improved so vastly. Maybe before I was 10 it was different. But since I was ten, I feel like my life keeps getting better, or at least I keep getting better at coping with it.

Before that . . . doesn't count. Things were too different back then.

Most days I wake up and thank heavens that it is a new day, and that I don't have to still be the girl I was yesterday. Today I have the option of being a different woman, making better choices. It helps me from dwelling too much on my numerous mistakes and missteps.

I get nostalgic for specific aspect of various periods of my life. But it's not the same.

I think the only thing that I've really lost good friends, people I truly cared about, to has been death. "Best" friends have faded away, become people I don't recognize, and I love them for who they were, who they've meant to me, but not really for who they are. But in their place I have been positively INUNDATED with people who not do I love for who they are, but who love me for who I am.

*Shrugs* That's an incredibly positive sounding post, I think. I was expecting it to be much gloomier.

If I find myself thinking about the past, I tend to quickly run into two thoughts. Did I learn from my mistakes? (Yes, although it sometimes took several tries)... and... "wow, I'm still here, and I can still remember". I'm a Gypsy in many respects (not least, by heritage) and I realised early on that there are many places I'll only visit once. The past is one of those. So I vow to move on (sometimes... literally) and I start building new towns of memory structures to live in tomorrow, and revisit, from time to time.

I like that.

This thread has reminded me of Clumsy by Our Lady Peace. I am known to be a very nostalgic creature (to the point where I waxed nostalgic one day, and three friends said "Wow. Sarky being nostalgic. Big fucking surprise." But then, there is the flip side. It is great to remember the past...to miss who we were, and where we came from. It is another thing to be so trapped in this past that we lose who we are today.

"Throw away this very old shoelace. Tripped you again."

An inherent part of nostalgia is accepting that what was can never be again. In that acceptance, we should not mourn, but should grow.

I'm about to graduate from Uni. I'm even more nostalgic now than when I left High School. I mean I think back to everything as a child,growing up. I think about the time with family, and it really chokes me up the most. I wish I could go back and spend more time with them. Or tell them a few more times that I love them. I wish I could go back to high school and hang out with people, more than I did.I wish I could relive college and get introduced to this ministry up here earlier than I did. I think the best 2 years of my life have been spent here. When I leave this place I will not know what to do. I think some of these people are closer to me that I have been with my family in the last few years. I find myself crying sometimes, praying that I could have just a bit more time with everyone. I wish I could stop time, and live as things are. :(

But the past is the past. Its full of great memories, and I will do what I can to keep those memories in my mind. I might as well just start writing them down.

we should not mourn, but should grow.
Mourning and growth go hand in hand, in my experience.

I'm about to graduate from Uni. I'm even more nostalgic now than when I left High School. I mean I think back to everything as a child,growing up. I think about the time with family, and it really chokes me up the most. I wish I could go back and spend more time with them. Or tell them a few more times that I love them. I wish I could go back to high school and hang out with people, more than I did.I wish I could relive college and get introduced to this ministry up here earlier than I did. I think the best 2 years of my life have been spent here. When I leave this place I will not know what to do. I think some of these people are closer to me that I have been with my family in the last few years. I find myself crying sometimes, praying that I could have just a bit more time with everyone. I wish I could stop time, and live as things are. :(

But the past is the past. Its full of great memories, and I will do what I can to keep those memories in my mind. I might as well just start writing them down.

My most realistic regret/wish to change things has always been say "I love you" more and hug more. If I knew people were going to leave, in all honesty, I still would've been a brat. But I would've made sure they knew, every day, without fail, that I loved them.

I think I do a pretty good job of that now. I can only think of one person who may not realize how much I love her, though, honestly, I don't realize just how much I love her. We. . . disagree, on a lot. We don't exactly see eye-to-eye.

Mourning and growth go hand in hand, in my experience.Growth through pain, no question. Growth through the pain of living in the past, no. We can learn from the past, but that isn't nostalgia. The pain I am talking about is that of "What was is no longer". We can learn our lessons from it, but cannot grow from that pain. That is the pain which holds us back. The old quote of "Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened".

Growth through pain, no question. Growth through the pain of living in the past, no. We can learn from the past, but that isn't nostalgia. The pain I am talking about is that of "What was is no longer". We can learn our lessons from it, but cannot grow from that pain. That is the pain which holds us back. The old quote of "Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened".

I smile through the tears.

Well, I'm not really very nostalgic. I was very messed up, angsty, unstable, destructive and violent when I was in primary school. Then when I went to secondary school I settled down into a desperately trying to be accepted and liked by my peers, failing miserably. At university, I now know where I want to go with my life, but getting there is very slow, and numerous obstacles are being thrown in front of me by the incompetence of others. Five or ten years down the line, I sincerely hope I don't look back on these times as the best of my life.

In that acceptance, we should not mourn, but should grow.

This.

Mourning and growth go hand in hand, in my experience.

Double entendre?

Double entendre?

:o Unintentional this time.

God this is depressing. I thought I'd be in for a slightly sad nostalgic thread, but this is messed up.

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

memories are great things.

I remember my school days (or as we say here, small kid time). times were better back then. the troubles I would get into, the adventures with friends long gone.

I remember when my biggest goal was to play a video game all weekend to get to the end in one session. and the fustration when random luck strove to make me fail (and it did.)

Those memories do make me sad sometimes. but most times they serve to perk me up when I'm down. to make me smile at those happier times.

Those memories do make me sad sometimes. but most times they serve to perk me up when I'm down. to make me smile at those happier times.

Agreed.

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

Plenty of times.

Plenty of times.

Care to talk about one of those instances?:)

For you Nanatsu I will. :)

But I am about to go out, so watch this space.

For you Nanatsu I will. :)

But I am about to go out, so watch this space.

Gotcha.:wink:

Are you drunk? High? Quoting something?
Because this sort of sentimentalism is the last thing I'd have expected from you.
Your game rank really, really fits here.
:(

All i feel when it comes to nostalgia is nausea.
I don't deal with that well at all.
If that isn't enough, the stuff i don't decide against - in bolded, concerted conscious effort - comes to visit at night, in those fleeting seconds of REM sleep, to remind me how rosy-tinted anythings are the biggest disservice to spirit i can possibly allot myself.

I have very little to be nostalgic about; maybe college... maybe.

:o Unintentional this time.

A likely story... ;)

Like a Christmas tree in the woodchipper, these are the days of our lives.

Like a Christmas tree in the woodchipper, these are the days of our lives.

Ah, Freddy Mercury...

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

I remember when I was younger, around 10, I remembered my friends before I moved and I really wanted to go back. I don't have that anymore, cause I remember nobody from that town and I got a lot of good things going for me. I suspect, despite a lot of bad times, I will be reminiscing about my life now when I'm your age.

Your game rank really, really fits here.
:(
I'm not sure why that would make you sad.

I remember when I was younger, around 10, I remembered my friends before I moved and I really wanted to go back. I don't have that anymore, cause I remember nobody from that town and I got a lot of good things going for me. I suspect, despite a lot of bad times, I will be reminiscing about my life now when I'm your age.

How old are you, Johnny? If you don't mind me asking.

Wow...is it wrong that instead of making me feel depressed this thread has given me hope? Is that a bad thing?

Wow...is it wrong that instead of making me feel depressed this thread has given me hope? Is that a bad thing?

Nope, it's not wrong at all. If this thread has given you hope, then I'm happy for that.

Nope, it's not wrong at all. If this thread has given you hope, then I'm happy for that.

Sweet! :)

Marvellous. I feel nostalgic and bitter at 20; a quick read of this only bodes well for the future.

Marvellous. I feel nostalgic and bitter at 20; a quick read of this only bodes well for the future.

Welcome to adulthood!

Gotcha.:wink:

Well it has been a couple of days but here we go.

There have been various times over the years, usually when I am feeling alone or depressed and I may see photos or something reminds me of times in the past. I recently saw pics of when I was with this girl I was casually seeing about 4 years ago. I remembered those times as fun, enjoyable and over all better than the life I was living alone, boring, going from day to day. Now thinking about these things always make me sad considering some of the stuff I may have thrown away with this. This went on for a few months last year and some times I would actually be crying, talking about it with a mate and drinking port would sometimes work and let me have a cry. It sucks big time when I feel like that and brings on a whole lot of other events and things which I feel like I have thrown away which doesn't help. I have been alright since early November mainly because I have been hanging out with more friends and having a good time, instead of sitting at home by myself on a saturday night I am actually getting out and doing things with mates. So I am happier now but yeah.

Hope that is a good time of when it happened, it comes and goes and has happened over other stuff in the past too but yeah you may not want me to go over every time.

Welcome to adulthood!

Thanks. Can't wait.

I'm already greying a little.

Umm no not really, my childhood was pretty crap, I'm glad that I'm an adult now, I really don't mind getting older either.

Umm no not really, my childhood was pretty crap, I'm glad that I'm an adult now, I really don't mind getting older either.

The funny thing is, no matter how crappy your childhood was, you will, as you get older, find yourself remembering good things (however slight they are) about it and forgetting the crap. It's not that things really weren't crappy, but that you tend to forget crappy.

You may find yourself remembering the one Thanksgiving when the turkey was really good and great Uncle Trevor didn't get drunk and try to get you in a corner. That may be the only good thing about your childhood, but it's the one thing you'll remember.

The funny thing is, no matter how crappy your childhood was, you will, as you get older, find yourself remembering good things (however slight they are) about it and forgetting the crap. It's not that things really weren't crappy, but that you tend to forget crappy.

You may find yourself remembering the one Thanksgiving when the turkey was really good and great Uncle Trevor didn't get drunk and try to get you in a corner. That may be the only good thing about your childhood, but it's the one thing you'll remember.

Ohh yeah there is some truth in that, I do have happy memories, but it was sooooo long ago now, they are starting to fade.

I have no memories of Thanks Giving though, seeing as I'm a Londoner!:D

The point though really, is one of no regrets, I don't miss my childhood, nor my adulecance, I'm glad that I managed to get through both, relativly sane, and in one piece. My future has always held much attraction, and I'm in a place now, where my present is fucking good!:D

Ohh yeah there is some truth in that, I do have happy memories, but it was sooooo long ago now, they are starting to fade.

I have no memories of Thanks Giving though, seeing as I'm a Londoner!:D

The point though really, is one of no regrets, I don't miss my childhood, nor my adulecance, I'm glad that I managed to get through both, relativly sane, and in one piece. My future has always held much attraction, and I'm in a place now, where my present is fucking good!:D

That I understand, memories are not meant to overwhelm us constantly, they're meant to be a learning tool and an occasional recreational trip back. The present and the future are where we live. When I remember my grandmother baking bread, it's a pleasant little trip, after which I might actually bake bread for myself.

How old are you, Johnny? If you don't mind me asking.

Sorry to answer for him, but just in case he's off on another of his long absences, 15.

Sorry to answer for him, but just in case he's off on another of his long absences, 15.

He's young. I hope nostalgia doesn't set on him until much later in life.

Welcome to adulthood!This inspires me with such confidence as I quickly approach the age of majority in my area. :(

This inspires me with such confidence as I quickly approach the age of majority in my area. :(

Don't feel discouraged. Besides, I said that in jest to that poster's reply.:wink:

Don't feel discouraged. Besides, I said that in jest to that poster's reply.:wink:Well, I'll be cautiously optimistic, then. :)

Well, I'll be cautiously optimistic, then. :)

That's a good plan.:D

That's a good plan.:DI suppose. I'll let my Grey hairs grow while I figure out how to pay for college without being more in debt than a person with five maxed credit cards.

I suppose. I'll let my Grey hairs grow while I figure out how to pay for college without being more in debt than a person with five maxed credit cards.

There are two alternatives to your plight. 1) Win the lottery and 2) get yourself a sugar momma.:tongue:

There are two alternatives to your plight. 1) Win the lottery and 2) get yourself a sugar momma.:tongue:Excuse me, I'm off to woo Vanessa Mae. (Or Lily Cole, whichever will have me.) :wink:

Excuse me, I'm off to woo Vanessa Mae. (Or Lily Cole, whichever will have me.) :wink:

Good luck, soldier!:mp:

Good luck, soldier!:mp:There's not enough good luck in the world to help me with this. :p

There's not enough good luck in the world to help me with this. :p

Perhaps, but you better try your best.:tongue:

Perhaps, but you better try your best.:tongue:Oh, you can bet I'll do my best, paltry though the attempt be.

Oh, you can bet I'll do my best, paltry though the attempt be.

I know, but let everyone know that, if you die in this mission, you did so trying your best. What should I compose for your eulogy?

What should I compose for your eulogy?Something that has absolutely nothing to do with me, and makes people wonder what you're doing at my funeral. You can cap it off by weeping on my body in the casket.

You can cap it off by weeping on my body in the casket.

Hahahahaha! My grandfather told me a few years ago of the women in his town that lived by going to funerals and crying and tearing their hair out during the burial. They would get paid by the family for this. Apparently the more weeping and howling at a funeral, the more important the deceased became.:D

Hahahahaha! My grandfather told me a few years ago of the women in his town that lived by going to funerals and crying and tearing their hair out during the burial. They would get paid by the family for this. Apparently the more weeping and howling at a funeral, the more important the deceased became.:DMaking a living by doing what you can, taken to a level that I find appreciable. Those were dedicated women. Tearing out hair hurts. :D

I used to feel nostalgic about my past, until I remembered how much it sucked and how much better my life is now.

Making a living by doing what you can, taken to a level that I find appreciable. Those were dedicated women. Tearing out hair hurts. :D

The funny part is that still, in some parts of Spain and Mexico, women actually do that. It's dedication borderline torture. But as Missy Elliot once said, "...get that cash, it doesn't matter if it's shaking your a**!", or something the like.

The funny part is that still, in some parts of Spain and Mexico, women actually do that. It's dedication borderline torture. But as Missy Elliot once said, "...get that cash, it doesn't matter if it's shaking your a**!", or something the like.Something like that, yes. Money seems to be a...motivating factor when it comes to some people.

Something like that, yes. Money seems to be a...motivating factor when it comes to some people.

It indeed is.

It indeed is.No nomination for an understatement of the year award? Aw. :(

No nomination for an understatement of the year award? Aw. :(

I have ran out of ideas.:(

I have ran out of ideas.:(Run, dear, you have run out of ideas.

:p

Run, dear, you have run out of ideas.

:p

You think?!:eek2:

*runs*

Sorry for the bad usage of verb tenses.:$

I'm not sure why that would make you sad.
Just a matter of posting nature on their part, really. And perhaps, a little bit of nostalgia. *erk*

Just a matter of posting nature on their part, really. And perhaps, a little bit of nostalgia. *erk*

By the way, thanks for that song you linked to on the Song thread the other day. I found the lyrics and I am addicted to it.:)

Hitotsume no kotoba wa yume
Nemuri no naka kara
Mune no oku no kurayami wo
Sotto tsuredasu no

Futatsume no kotoba wa kaze
Yukute wo oshiete
Kamisama no ude no naka e
Tsubasa wo aoru no

Tokete itta kanashii koto wo
Kazoeru you ni
Kin'iro no ringo ga
Mata hitotsu ochiru

Mita koto mo nai fuukei
Soko ga kaeru basho
Tatta hitotsu no inochi ni
Tadoritsuku basho

Furui
Maho no hon
Tsuki no
Shizuku yoru no
Tobari itsuka
Aeru yokan
Dake...

We can fly...
We have wings...
We can touch...
Floating dreams...
Call me from...
So far...
Through the wind...
In the light...

Mittsume no kotoba wa "hum"
Mimi wo sumashitara
Anata no fureru ude wo
Sotto tokihanatsu

Voices- Yoko Kanno

I just saw a photo of me when I was in 8th. grade. I feel choked up. Time has, truly, flown by me and I find myself sitting here, 28 years old, remembering. I still can smell those familiar halls. I still remember the voices of old friends, friends I haven't seen again. Friends that, sadly, aren't here anymore. I feel choked up. Has this happened to any of you here?

It will only get worse.

I had an aunt, well it was the aunt of my dad. She became 97 or something and in the end she started to be depressive because all she knew and what was familiar to her was gone. Cities, habits, technology, culture everything changed a lot. And worst of all, there was no one left to share memories. She could talk about the past with me, but that didn't feel the same as sharing those memories with her own friends.

Are you drunk? High? Quoting something?
Because this sort of sentimentalism is the last thing I'd have expected from you.
... so you're going to think less of what's said for the person who said it?

How old are you, Johnny? If you don't mind me asking.

Fairly young, I'm only 15.