Generation Gap

Recently, I have been noticing the few significant changes that has been occuring around me in terms of fashion, technology, lifestyle and even the thinking of the people especially those of born in the generation younger than me. It's not bad, but somehow, I do feel like my generation is not so "current" anymore hehehe. Let me enumerate a few:

Music. There was one time in Cla's house, when I got inside, Charlie was playing at the computer and he told me that he already started with his guitar lessons. So I borrowed his guitar and Charlie told me to play a song. So I did strum some chords and plucked some strings, then he asked, "Anu yan?" I was stunned and said, "More Than Words, hindi mo alam yun?" Haha! It was stupid of me to ask that coz he was born in 1993 and that song was around the early 90's, hehehe! I should've played something from the likes of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus or any emo song, it's the in-thing anyway for the current music trend hehe. I even thought of Oasis, my all-time favorite badboy band, pero malamang laos na sila haha!

Hairstyle. I started with one common hairstyle when I was in elementary to high school. It was a 1" x 2" simple haircut and a little trim on top. Then I moved on to, "Barber's Cut" haircut which was somewhat the same haha! Then in high school, there was a haircut trend we called "Cool Kids Haircut", which was the hairstyle that Ross, from the series Friends, had back in the early seasons of the series. Basically, it's short hair then lots of gel on top then it's brushed forward in a wavy manner and leaving the short bangs pointing up, it was cool back then, haha! Now, puro emo! Haha! I honestly don't get the emo look, bangs down with the back of the hair pointing up and the length is between regular short hair to almost long hair, hehe, it's obviously hard to describe hehehe. Basically, it's a one-sided bangs look hehehe. But at least, there is still one hairstyle trend that will never die, the long-hair rockstar hair! Haha! Dumaan ako dun, haha! Kaya ngayon, pakalbo na lang para generic hehe!

Games. Just last weekend, I was joking around with Charlie and trying to trick him to buy me a Playstation 3. Then it came to a point when I had to joke around about Family Computer games, and again, I felt stupid saying something like that because the Family Computer (or NES) started during the early 90's. I even got my Super NES when I was in grade 4 I think. Before, one kid could be labeled as a "rich kid" just because he had a Gameboy in his hand. You could even be considered a "richer kid" when you're holding a Sega Game Gear in hand. Now, even a 3 year old kid has a PSP or a Nintendo in his hand, and this is not just one kid, a lot of kids! Considering the price, a PSP or a DS is way more expensive than a Gameboy during my generation. And cheat codes with recent games, it's not about up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, A, B, A, B, start (select then start for 2-players) anymore, you need to have a Gameshark or something just to cheat a game, hehe. But somehow, one common game has passed through generations and up to now, it's still alive and kicking, Counterstrike, it will never die, haha! At least, there was also a time that I got crazily addicted to DOTA hehehe. Meron pa ba nung brickgame? Hehehe!

Speech. In my elementary days, kids who try to speak in English during a conversation got beat up coz they were labeled as trying to be conyotic. Nowadays, when I pass by the Ateneo Grade School, all the kids (while playing touchball or tayaan) are speaking in English! Maybe the kids who speak tagalog are the ones getting beat up and are now labeled as jologs, hehe. Maybe it's also the effect of the country trying to develop the English language as somehow a first language for us Filipinos so that we can compete with other countries. But c'mon, we are still Filipinos, teach your kids Tagalog first and let them speak Tagalog, it's still our first language. And for me, some of my friends already label me as English-speaking and conyo just because I came from Ateneo, and take note, I entered college with a subject called "Basic English" which had no credits and it was a special class for those who scored low or very low in grammar or in vocabulary. Eh mas marami pang conyo na bata kaysa sa akin eh haha!

Lifestyle. We all want to be rich, that's a fact. With lifestyle, of course, all kids have this I-Want-To-Be-The-Coolest-Guy attitude so they tend to showoff anything that would make them look cool. Well, that's one thing that didn't change from any generation hehehe. But at the same time, one thing has significantly increased, and that is the number of young gay kids. I've heard of rumors before that Ateneo High School has now reverted from an exclusive boys school to a co-ed school because of the number of gay kids in the campus, hehehe. I have nothing against them, if it's who they are, I respect them. I have nothing against gays too, I actually admire them because they really show who they are inside their hearts. It's just something that I noticed because back when I was in high school, our batch had only a few (or baka lang marami ang hindi lantad). But no matter how many they are in high school as of today, go on and live as who you are, don't be ashamed, just don't wear short Winnie the Pooh baby-tees that expose your bellies hehehe.

These are just some of the changes I've noticed, there are more but I'm already getting tired of typing hehehe. Kids nowadays have changed compared to my generation, but one good thing I really noticed recently, kids of the current generation are nicer in general. Maybe it's because at the current society, people tend to have the camaraderie attitude and media has always shown barkadahan and family-values in commercials and shows. Kids do tend to see that and at a young age, maybe they can already understand how to be friendly and how to empathize with people. Maybe they are already influenced with the concept of "pakikisama". Even if at a young age, they get exposed to violent games like Counterstrike and DOTA, but they also learn the importance of teamwork and having fun with your friends (as long as they don't imitate the games they play). I do miss being a kid, even if there are lots to study in school or there are homeworks needed to be done, it's more fun being a kid or being a teenager or being a college student. You have more energy, more enjoyment, more barkadas, more parties, and more dreams to look forward to. So when did I actually notice that I am not that really that young anymore, it was a simple experience, aside from the fact that I'm getting fat, hindi ko na rin kayang magpuyat, period. Hehehe! :)