1992:
Average New House Cost: $122,500
Average Yearly Income: $30,030
Average Monthly Rent: $519
Cost of Gas: $1.05
Cost of a Pound of Bacon: $1.92
U.S. President: George H.W. Bush
Movies: Aladdin – Batman Returns – A Few Good Men – Sister Act – The Bodyguard – Wayne’s World – Basic Instinct – Honey, I Blew Up the Kids
Musicians: Pearl Jam – Color Me Badd – Nirvana – Boyz II Men – Madonna – U2 – Kiss – Mariah Carey – Bon Jovi – Eric Clapton – Def Leppard – Metallica – and of course, Michael Jackson
TV Shows: Law & Order – America’s Funniest Home Videos – Home Improvement – Rugrats – Jerry Springer – Ren & Stimpy – Matlock – Oprah – Married… with Children
January 1992: George Bush pukes in the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap.
February 1992: Mike Tyson is found guilty of rape.
March 1992: Bill Clinton is declared the likely winner of the Democratic primaries.
April 1992: Microsoft releases Windows 3.1.
May 1992: Space Shuttle Endeavour makes it maiden flight.
June 1992: I graduate from 5th grade!
July 1992: Drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from prison.
August 1992: Hurricane Andrew hits Florida and kills 23 people.
September 1992: Over 165 people are arrested for money laundering in relation to cocaine trafficking in the U.S., Colombia, and Italy.
October 1992: Cartoon Network is first broadcasted on TV.
November 1992: Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States.
December 1992: President Bush flies spends New Year’s with U.S. troops in Somalia.
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In case you missed it, the most important thing in 1992 happened in June – I graduated from elementary school! This is a big deal, people! It’s your last year as a “kid” – Next year, you’re off to the dreaded middle school to begin those years of non-stop obnoxiousness, bad attitudes, and raging hormones.
All of us in Pakansink Elementary’s Class of ’92 were nervous and excited at the same time about getting ready to say goodbye to our baby school and enter the terrifying world of lockers and changing classes. That was obviously back before the days of cell phones, so we all said our goodbyes to each other, knowing that most of us wouldn’t see our friends until that September, when we would be standing, lost, in the halls of middle school hell, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of each other during lunch.
Of course we all had yearbooks in which we scribbled our promises to keep in touch and call each other from the rotary phones that hung by tangled cords in our kitchens. But everyone in our class also got a t-shirt. The teachers passed around marker pens so we could all sign our names on our BFFs’ shirts, in an attempt to never forget the good old days of chasing each other around the playground.
And that’s just what we did… We created memories on that last day of school that some of us may have forgotten in time. But not me… I still cling to those memories of not having a care in the world. I reminisce often about the days where we were still embarrassed to talk to that cute boy or shopped for hours looking for the perfect Barbie birthday present.
Fortunately, I’ve reconnected with my closest Class of ’92 BFFs on Facebook. It’s amazing to me how more than 20 years can pass between conversations with girlfriends, yet we can pick up right where we left off, updating each other on the highs and lows of real life without missing a beat. Friendship is truly an incredible thing.
July 29th, 2013 at 12:42 pm
I was 6 so I was most likely in 1st grade? You’re old 🙂
But not as old as Eugene!
July 29th, 2013 at 1:45 pm
As always, thanks for the reminder!
July 30th, 2013 at 8:23 pm
And here I was thinking how YOUNG you are.
July 31st, 2013 at 8:48 am
Hahahaha!! This gave me a good chuckle!
I’ve gotten a lot of responses from people BORN in 1992 – they’re to blame for making us all feel old!! 😉
July 29th, 2013 at 12:43 pm
your last year of being a kid–my last year of being a grown up kid–I was 39
July 29th, 2013 at 1:46 pm
🙂 Not too bad… you’ve only got me by like 30 years! (Just kidding… it’s not really that many.)
July 29th, 2013 at 3:12 pm
25!
July 29th, 2013 at 3:14 pm
Hahahaha! I love your precision!
July 29th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
Pakanasink? I was living it up as a college freshman in 1992 so it may have been the best of times for both of us!
July 29th, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Yes, but you probably weren’t Barbie doll shopping. (At least, I hope.)
Pakanasink is in NY, btw. And yes, that’s really the school’s name.
July 29th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Amazingly weird how young you were and how old I am. I was in my first year of college for the first half and on my mission the second half. I was all growed up.
July 29th, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Yes, I used to think I was young… until my kids’ teachers all started becoming younger than me!
So you’re saying you’re old enough to be my dad?? 😉 Just kidding!
July 29th, 2013 at 5:57 pm
I’m old enough to be a 19 year old when you were in fifth grade. So probably yes.
July 29th, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Hee hee 😉
July 29th, 2013 at 3:22 pm
In February of that year I turned 29 and cried and cried and cried. I thought it was the end of vitality – man was I wrong!
July 29th, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Awwww!! The sad part is when we cry every year AFTER that one, too!
July 29th, 2013 at 3:28 pm
That was my worst year! I loved my 30’s (seriously) and then I loved my 40’s even more! And I just turned 50 this year – I’ll get back to you on that but so far so good!
July 29th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
I feel like I went through EVERYTHING in my 20s (kid 1, marriage 1, kid 2, divorce, move 1, marriage 2, step kid 1, step kid 2, move 2, separation, move 3, reconciliation 1…), so my 30s HAVE to be better, right?!
I hope your 50s are your best yet!!
July 29th, 2013 at 9:01 pm
(smiling) It’s all in what you learn and take with you! You’re 30’s will be great!
July 30th, 2013 at 9:26 am
Wow, you are making me feel old! I graduated from college in 1992…ack! Enjoyed your recap list of that year, and I love that you reconnected with all your old classmates.
July 30th, 2013 at 9:44 am
I don’t know what we did before social media took over!
Oh, and don’t worry – after a certain age, we all feel the same, I’m sure. And I think I’ve now reached that age!! 🙂
July 30th, 2013 at 9:27 am
Love how you start this one out! I was born in 1992 so it was fun to read through all the stats there. Good for you for remembering those carefree 5th grade years! Isn’t it great how social media can keep us connected so long after the fact?
July 30th, 2013 at 9:45 am
Geez – you’re still a baby! You make me feel old! Lol!
Yeah, I thought the stats were neat. They make you reminisce!
I really don’t know what we did before social media took over!! It’s amazing!
July 30th, 2013 at 11:30 am
Yoinks. I graduated from university (the first time) in 1992. The guy next to me in the office was in nappies in 1992.
Way to make me feel old 😉
Imagine going all the way through school and university with no world wide web!
July 30th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
holy crap. I’ve been feeling old lately but after reading this? i’m more than old.
July 30th, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Haha! Hey, they say 40’s the new 20, right?! 😉
July 30th, 2013 at 5:15 pm
I graduated high school in 92 and already had a child…..urgh…. wow I wish the gas prices were just under $2 again!!
July 31st, 2013 at 8:42 am
Well, if it’s any consolation, you look far younger than I do! I would have guessed that you were born in the 90s!!
I agree on gas prices – It hurt to even TYPE that amount!!
July 31st, 2013 at 9:06 am
Wouldn’t trade growing up in the seventies for nothing…..the crazy pattern overalls, avocado green bell bottom pants and pointy collared shirts my parents made me wear have only made for some funny “what were they thinking” conversations. Plus….I got to experience the 80’s ….which I loved!! Madonna, MTV…neon….Aqua Net..jelly bracelets..leg warmers can’t beat that!!
July 31st, 2013 at 9:08 am
And not just MTV… but MTV when they actually played MUSIC!!
Ooh, I LOVED leg warmers and jellies!! And side ponytails!! 🙂
July 30th, 2013 at 7:27 pm
Wow… I was born in 1992. It’s times like these that I feel like one of the youngest of the blogging community. But I think, regardless of age, you’ve hit on the head what we’ve all been through in middle school. At the time, high school seems so scary, and then college; then you get to college and you think, “Wow, those days were so easy.”
July 31st, 2013 at 8:47 am
You ARE one of the youngest in the blogging community! You’re still a baby! [bitch!] Just kidding 🙂
You are exactly right – at the time it seems like the worst years ever, and then not so long after they’re over, we wish we could have them back! Life is ironic, isn’t it?!
July 31st, 2013 at 12:38 am
Loved this list! I looked through what was happening in 1991 when I wrote my post a few weeks back on Milli Vanilli. I was in 9th grade, so not much older. Have fond feelings of the 90s. Thanks for bringing back memories, not just of what was happening, but what it was like to be in school and making memories and saying goodbyes and writing in yearbooks.
July 31st, 2013 at 8:54 am
Ah, Milli Vanilli… I need to find that post ASAP!
And those years. What were we thinking?! Every time I look at my yearbooks or old pictures from the 90s, all I can do is giggle and shake my head!
July 31st, 2013 at 3:12 pm
I miss being a kid too! I remember graduating from elementary school, I was so excited and I thought I was soooo cool and grown up to be a 6th grader. Kids are funny..
July 31st, 2013 at 3:13 pm
Oh yes – there’s nothing you can tell a rising middle schooler that they don’t already know! 😉
July 31st, 2013 at 3:17 pm
haha they’ve seen it all
July 31st, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Crap! Now I feel old. In 1992 I was the Engineer on the USS Trepang (SSN 674).
July 31st, 2013 at 3:42 pm
That makes you my hero! And that makes it okay that you’re old! 😉
I’m just kidding about the old part!
July 31st, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Annnnd now I truly feel old. I was finishing my freshman year in college in 1992. Sigh…
July 31st, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Lol! I guess I could have left the specific year out… hee hee! 😉
July 31st, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Yikes…June of 1992 I was still trying to hold onto college friends I had left merely one year earlier. It is amazing what we keep and how times and distance mean nothing in the right friend.
July 31st, 2013 at 9:39 pm
I did the same thing after both high school and college – tried to hold on to relationships that maybe weren’t there to begin with. But you’re absolutely right… those true friendships can withstand anything.
August 1st, 2013 at 1:52 am
1992, I was in 3rd grade and got a B for handwriting. It was my lowest grade yet, and eventually… ever. Twas a rough year for me. 😉
August 1st, 2013 at 8:37 am
Ooh, girl… I know how you felt! I cried and cried when I got my first B. I thought my life was ruined. (So did my mom…) 😉
But a B for handwriting??! Come on… Didn’t they know that one day in the not-so-far future, kids wouldn’t even LEARN how to write in cursive anymore?
August 1st, 2013 at 5:19 pm
I know it! I think that’s why I took to typing so immediately– it was the easiest way to cover up my handwriting. My handwriting is, as you know since I sent the bracelet your way, still completely atrocious.
Which reminds me that I’ve had a post, by you, on handwriting bookmarked for forever and ever. The quote subject caught my attention but I just blanked on reading it. Off to do it now!
August 1st, 2013 at 10:23 am
well, i graduatedcollege in 92… so a whole new era was closing for me and a different world opening. so i love your flashback. but i totally get the end of elementary… my oldest just ‘graduated’ elementary and i think it’ll stay with him always as well.
August 1st, 2013 at 10:39 am
I think we all feel, at the time, that we have such rough lives and so much stress and drama… then, as we grow older, we look back back and wish we could relive those days!
It won’t be long before our “elementary graduates” are off to college… scary!
August 1st, 2013 at 11:18 am
I like how at the beginning, you set the mood! I was a little behind you – I graduated from 5th grade in `94. What gets me are the prices for everything! If ONLY a house still cost under 3K…
August 1st, 2013 at 11:19 am
Oops, 300K.
August 1st, 2013 at 11:20 am
Tell me about it! And those gas prices!!!!!!!!!! Too bad the last time gas was cheap was long before I could even drive!
Those were the days, weren’t they?! Ah, to be young again… 😉
August 1st, 2013 at 12:36 pm
I love Facebook for precisely that reason. I just talked to my grade school BFF this morning.
August 1st, 2013 at 5:39 pm
I’m feeling old right along with Christina! haha I was married and touring with my band in ’92. Can’t believe how long ago that was! 🙂
August 2nd, 2013 at 4:14 pm
Some days it probably seems like only yesterday, though! Isn’t it funny how that works?!