I was born november 19th 1983. My first memory is from back in 88 or 89. I remember me playing in a swimming pool on our backyard. It's odd the way we remember things from when we are so young. I'm not sure I really remember that stuff or it was planted in my brain by my parents. Actually, I'm not completely sure when I became sentient. It's not like my first kiss. You can't put a date to it. I can't say September, 3rd 1993 I became sentient. It doesn't work like that.

Anyhow, I'm sure I became who I am around 93, 94. I remember 94 world cup, I remember using a computer for the first time, many things. I remember things from 93 too. However, different from 94, they are blurry and out of order. I definetely remember 95. The year of the Internet in Brazil. There was a soap opera about it. I sure remember 96, the year I first connected to the Internet.

I remember traveling to my grandma's house during the summer when I was young. I remember all my trips there as one big continuous summer. From 90 to 95, everything I remember about the summers from those years feels like they happened in the same summer vacation. It feels almost like I lived two lives: a summer life and a school days life. I remember the summer of 96 a little different, though. Probably because that was the summer I almost kissed a girl for the first time. I backed out in the last moment.

Anyway, I definetely have lived the 90s. I remember how it is to live in the 90s. College kids nowadays have no idea. I do, though. I'm not a college kid anymore.

Sometimes I get nostalgic of the 80s, even the 70s. That's the nostalgia of my parents, it's also the nostalgia of my older cousins. The nostalgia we see on TV, read on books, listen in songs. Heck, I'm even nostalgic of the 60s. I also get nostalgic of the 90s, but then, rightfully so. Weren't the 90s more romantic?

Perhaps I just wasn't the know-it-all that I am today. I think I know so much, with my Google, with my books. I think I know... Most brazilians do not have access to the Internet. And what do I know? All I know is the Internet. It's like I know about a world where most people don't even live in. Yet, I sit here with my know-it-all face... Nowadays we feel guilty if we don't know something, don't we? I do. Back in the 90s I didn't. I was a kid. Maybe it was me being a kid, not the decade. But the 90s were not so know-it-all.

We are now in 2012. Almost 2013. So far in the future... Now, a world without smartphones, tablets, Internet, Google, blogs, facebooks, and HD TV seem silly. Unthinkable. Even to me. Even though I lived in the 90s. Even though I don't own a smartphone.

However, I can't help to think the unthinkable world of the 90s was more romantic. And the 80s were even more so. And the 70s, the 60s, 50s, ... Each more romantic than the previous.

There is something romantic about not having a cell phone. Remember how people used to have a date with each other and then it was really hard to unschedule it? If you said you're going to be at a given bar at 7pm, you better be there. Nowadays, if at 6:30 pm something comes up, you just message your friend "hey dude, are you already at the bar?", "I'm just leaving the garage", "dude, I think I'm not gonna make it". Problem solved. Back then you had three options: you could go anyway, you could not go and leave your friend hanging, or you could call the bar and explain your situation. What if you don't know the bar phone? Look up google? Think again. Try finding it on the phone book. What if it's a new place? Well...

There's something romantic about not being able to talk to another person whenever you want. There's something romantic about being stood up and not knowing why. There was something romantic about waiting over the weekend to talk to your crush at school instead of chatting with her on MSN. I think romance is a lot about not knowing, a lot about wondering. The world is losing its wonder, I think.

Nowadays you hear about a song, you download it. The same goes with movies, books. Back then, things were not so easy. If you liked a band, you collected their albums with all their songs -- good and bad. You love even more the good songs when you endure the bad. You end up liking the bad too, because they weren't that bad, just different. It was hard to get your hands on an album, it took months -- sometimes years -- for it to get to Brazil. The sensation of unpacking a new album, listening to several songs you never heard before, just to get to the song you bought the whole record for... No author could write a better romance.

Remember when we used to buy books from physical stores? And how hard it was to get your hands in a certain book you want to read? Specially if it is a foreign book. It was frustating, but that's the point. You go to the book store, the book is not available, you come back home with nothing. You either wait a friend to read the book you want and lend it to you, or you ask the guys from the store to call you back when the book is available. The waiting make the book that much better. Nowadays, you can read whatever you want, whenever you want. Knowledge is losing its wonder too.

In 2050 they will have teleportation, instant knowledge pills and God knows what more. Then, the world will have lost its wonder. It will be the least romantic time of all times. It will suck. People will instantly read every book about the good old times. They will read this blog post. They will have an epiphany and they will forget everything they've learned. Probably with some crazy pills. Remember the old days, future people!