We’re nearing the end of 2009, and with it the end of the ‘00 years. Lists are flying everywhere, and I must admit when reading these lists, a lot of things in them had already slipped from my memory. Here’s how I remember the last decade.
I was only 17 for the bigger part of 2000, turned 18 mid July. Just a frikkin kid. I was still in my “punkrock-only” music period, had bleached hair (the horror) and had to make the decision of going to college (my parents kinda made that decision for me) and had to choose which study to take.
Later that year I had my first real crush. A girl from my hometown that really got under my skin. Around the end of the year we were already history. In that time I never had relationships that lasted for more than 3 months. I kinda felt bad about us breaking up. Not at that time, but later, when I saw her with other guys. She’s single now. I’m not though.
I still remember what I was doing at 9/11. Sitting on my knees in our garage, making a stencil that would be used for making signs for a small punkrock-festival I helped organise. My dad came home from work asking me if I heard about what happened. I obviously didn’t as I was listening to a Pulley album. The one that has a cartoon-curse for a title. I hardly ever listened to the radio. Ever. They never played any punkrock, so why bother. We turned on the tv and watched the news. It felt like I was looking at a movie with very expensive special effects. Mostly it felt weird.
In the fall of 2002 I left for England for the first part of my 3 year in college. My second year in college left me a bit oblivious and kinda low-hearted by the shallowness of it all (the ability to drink beer fast equalled popularity), so studying abroad would be a nice change. Just a few days before I left, I almost got together again with “first-real-crush” girl. We were at a party of friends and ended up outside talking and having fun. I’m a guy that doesn’t really act on emotions, but more on the practical stuff. I really wanted to kiss her at a certain moment and was quite sure she would kiss back, but my practical instinct told me not to. Hell, I was leaving for a 5 months stay in England in a few days, how could I ever keep that relationship going? It would NOT be practical. So I decided to turn away awkwardly and we didn’t hook up.
I left for England and got an instant crush on a girl from Hamburg. She had the same name as FRC-girl. Coincidence? I think not. She was four years older than me. We kissed after just 2 weeks. (I actually felt bad, because I had the feeling FRC girl was waiting for me back in Belgium) I always figured we would break up before my stay in England would be over, but we didn’t. I returned to Belgium end of January 2003 and we still didn’t break up. I now found myself having a long-distance relationship. Something I told myself I could never have. Just think of how impractical it is!
We actually managed to keep the relationship going until April. I broke up with her then, because I couldn’t handle the fuss of it all anymore. FRC-girl went in and out of relationships, and me too, but we were never single simultaneously, so we never really connected again.
My stay in England opened my eyes with regards to music. I started listening to (for me) gateway bands like Thursday, Dashboard Confessional and even Coldplay. I remember being back home, putting on a Coldplay album, and my brother saying: “it’s so weird that you now like this kind of music”.
It’s was 2003 and I was back in college in Belgium. One of the main things was getting used to the smaller beerglasses again. Also having a computer at my students house meant it was the first time I now had an always accessible internet connection. Because I got really good grades in England, I finished that year with ease, rekindling my interest in college life. I accepted the shallowness and used it to my advantage.
My fourth year of college got me 2 friends with benefits. Which was nice for a while. In this year I would meet my current girlfriend.
I graduated in 2005. A lot of things happened for me that year. I moved back in with my parents, failed to get a job I thought I would like, got a job via a friend at a company I never heard off, selling IT stuff, broke up with my girlfriend (for valid reasons, believe you me!) and moved out of my parents house again. All that happened after my 23rd birthday.
In 2006 I reunited with my girlfriend. This is also the year I rediscovered Eels. Not having listened to hardly any radio for most of my life, left me with a lot of bands to rediscover.
2007 appearantly didn’t do much for me, except for my girlfriend moving in with me (We lived in a 50m² 1-bedroom “appartment” in Leuven for a year), and my brother getting married. I was getting more and more frustrated in my job. I got a new boss and he was the living example of “the peter principle”. Think Pointy-Haired-Boss, think David Brent, he could easily have his own show.
So in April 2008 I switched jobs and in July my girlfriend and me moved to a bigger appartment, closer to home, but not close to home. My friends all thought I was crazy for commuting to work every day. They said I would never keep it up. Well, I’m still here bitches! This is also the year that I learned about the existance of Frank Turner and got into punky folk stuff, americana and alternative country.
Now it’s the end of 2009. My girlfriend and me are planning to buy a lot to build our own house. Which is exciting to say the least. My brother and his wife had a son at the last day of August, from whom I’m the godfather. It’s great having a kid around, and scary at the same time. My brother is only 2 years older than me and is already married, has built a house and has a kid. I have my work set out for me. But I’ll try not to grow up too much. For my godson’s sake.
