Sneak peek into my childhood

So I've seen a number of albums on here on childhood in the 90s. Here's my 90s childhood

You see this? This was the failsafe way I got a hold of my parents if the land line didn't work. Yeah I come from the time when having a cell phone wasn't a common thing. This box-shaped device is called a beeper for you millennials. They way it works is you call the number assigned to it, and the number you called from shows up on the screen. The fancier ones also showed the time/date you called.

the latest and the greatest cell phone

One of my first cell phones. A high school privilege. The bottom folded out, and the antenna came out by hand. I felt like a corporate executive for having one of these things, even though the only time it was meant to be used was for emergencies. That's right! In my childhood days using a cell phone was a privilege, not a right!

Transparent computers!!!!

This marks the moment I had the highest regard for mac computers. Having a transparent shell that showed the insides I thought was the neatest thing EVER when I was going through elementary/middle school.

How to pass time other than freecell and solitaire

And this awesome time waster (Catz) had to be installed using a CD! Imagine that!

Clippit

You either loved him, or you hated him (although I think most folks at this point hate him). Say what you will, but at least this guy's from the days when getting help on Microsoft Word didn't require an internet connection!

How I browsed the internet

And this was how we connected: by manually commanding the computer to connect and hearing this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

Happy/Kids meal toys based on these guys (and McDonald's equivalent) kept me coming to fast food restaurants

Spinning tops that lit up, spring-operated walkers, etc. The Burger King Kids Club (pictured above) didn't need outside influence to come up with cool toys!

If you discovered this in your fries...

... you hit the fucking jackpot. There was one Burger King branch in particular where this seemed to happen every time we went so I loved going to that one in particular. Unfortunately it got closed down years ago and a Chick-Fil-A stands in its place.

Cool cereal boxes

Never mind the cool toys inside; back when actual toys could be found inside cereal boxes. How about a fucking slide made out of the cereal box?!?!?!

For those still in grade school

I no-balls each and every one of you to communicate secretly to your classmates this way. I had middle school teachers who, if they caught this happening, would read aloud the notes being passed, and the naughtier ones were hung up to display in the classroom.

Speaking of school

This was the first series of books I completed. Yeah, before authors got the bright idea to put their works on the internet. R. L. Stine's Goosebumps, while didn't give me nightmares, certainly gave me a better understanding on things that scared me!

Give Yourself Goosebumps

Wait a minute. Mr. Stine is giving me the option to choose my fate? Oh boy.... After a couple of books I finally got smart enough to read ahead and cheat my reading fate so the hero wouldn't meet his/her end.

Childhood hero in a book

Well, maybe not a hero for me, but the Horrible Harry books nevertheless made for excellent reading when we had to read something in elementary school

After school

I would bug my mom each and every day to drive me home ASAP so I wouldn't miss this awesome show. My dad bought the original movie for me (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/Gargoyles_the_Movie-_The_Heroes_Awaken_FilmPoster.jpeg) and I was hooked from there.

Another favorite TV show

This TV show was what got me first interested in sciency stuff. Same goes for most 90s kids I know.

Mr Rogers Neighborhood

He made my mornings on TV. He became my reason to wake up early so I could watch it before going to school. You know how the world cried when Steve Irwin passed away? Well, a lot of us cried when Mr. Rogers passed away also. Besides being a good neighbor he taught me that a tiny bit of tape can go a long way toward your arts/crafts project.

Mystic Knights of Tir na Nog

My mom didn't let me watch this for long, but it was worth it for the short time I did. Watching their armor transform never ceased to entertain me.

Yeah, this movie

It came out in my childhood, and helped convince me that some of my toys truly were alive (obviously they weren't, but when the occasional spring let loose a toy projectile from an action figure, well, you can see where that led me). Honestly I still can't bring myself to throw away any toys without feeling bad for them.

Small Soldiers

This movie taught me that some toys can be assholes to people, and the movie itself became a big hit among my childhood peers.

And when toys came out based on the latest hit movie

I always felt like the cool kid on the block when I got one of the toys from said movie. I still have Archer somewhere.

A shame most kids don't know about these

If you knew you were going to miss your favorite show this was how you preserved it for your viewing pleasure later on! I once hogged the majority of my parents' recording VHSs and used them to record as many Magic School Bus episodes as I could.

This isn't my whole childhood, but I hope you enjoyed the bit that I decided to share. Who knows, maybe this hit a bit of memory for some of you other Imgurians out there.