1999 New Years!

I was 25 in 1999 and the biggest fear was the Y2K bug that would supposedly send the world into apocalyptic destruction. That New Year's Eve, the guy I had been dating for a few months, took me to one of my first full-blown adult celebrations. Til then, New Years was always celebrated with family pr the youth group at my church. He took me to a very fancy party at the Hilton Hotel. They had a sit-down fancy dinner complete with linen table cloths and napkins! There was a live band and dance floor. At first I was horrified at the idea of dancing in public. However, my friend quickly got me out there and we had lots of fun. The tickets he bought included 3 alcoholic drinks and up til that night, I'd never had alcohol He thought it was hilarious at the wrinkled nose and funny face I made when I tasted the things HE suggested for me. After a sip or two, HE ended up polishing off my drinks as well as his! At midnight, there was a champagne toast to usher in 2000 and again, he got to drink most of mine. We danced until about 3AM, then the Hotel put out a buffet that included black-eyed peas, cabbage, sliced ham, and cornbread. It was a memorable night. One I won't likely forget because it made such a big impression on me.

My very same friend mentioned above also gave me my very first cell phone! I didn't know whether to be happy or pissed.He had to spend the better part of an hour going over all the details and how to use the contraption. I have to admit, most of the time it stayed on my nightstand unless I had a date with HIM...Then, I made darn sure I had it on me. Additionally, HE had a computer in his apartment. I'd only ever used them at school or at the public library. He introduced me to AOL chatrooms and AOL emails. It was all confusing and mind-blowing to me. The very idea I could be talking to someone in another state or even country, without the telephone and without an outrageous phone bill just completely amazed me.

2000, I was working as a caregiver for Martin Luther Homes which provided group homes in the community for adults with physical and mental disabilities. I was also promoted to the Head Teacher of the Day Hab center. There, I was responsible for teaching clients basic life skills. Everything from counting to tying their shoes, to laundry and housekeeping skills, social skills, and tons of other things. I lived in College Station, Texas at this time on First Street which was only two or three blocks from Texas A&M. The biggest thing for Friday nights was to either go to the Movie Theater and watch whatever was playing or, more often than not, we'd go to BlockBuster, spend about thirty minutes browsing movies then, head back home to watch VHS tapes on our VCR. That was our cheap entertainment lol