Things that Make You Feel Nostalgic about The '90s

The nineties... when Luke Perry embodied 90210, Clarissa explained it all, and the Olsen twins were cherubic. Barbie and G.I. Joe could marry if you or your friend didn't have a Ken doll.

There was no such thing as sleeping late on a Saturday morning for fear of missing cartoons on TV. MASH decided what our future would be like. And if you doubted it, Mr. Feeny was always there to dispense sound advice every Friday.

You wouldn't know what's on TV if you didn't get the TV Guide for the month. And even Justin Timberlake had an upturned bowl of spaghetti for a hairstyle.

Whew! Reminiscing about that glorious decade is something only those born between January 1, 1982 and December 31, 1991 (including yours truly) can perfectly appreciate. So, as a fitting ode, here's a list of things that screams the nineties in the loudest possible manner.

Writing a report meant going to an actual library, getting a few actual books, actually reading them, and actually writing it on paper.

Computers mostly existed in school labs, and not in our pockets.

Text messages were creatively written on bits of paper, ingeniously folded to be passed around in the class without being detected. And no, we didn't "text" each other all day long.

Risqué items in school included slam books and slap bracelets.

We were possibly the last bunch of people who honed their detective skills, thanks to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. And of course, we were the ones who got to read the Harry Potter series, fresh and warm out of the press.

The poshest kind of slang was "wassup?", and ended at "psyche!". Saying stuff beyond this led our moms to clean our mouths with soap.

Thankfully, this was a time when you graduated from high school, then went to college, graduated from college, and landed a (decent) job. Thankfully.

Malfunctioning electronics could be fixed by giving them a hearty shake, or a few whacks, as they weren't as insanely delicate as they are today.

Playing meant that you had to go outside the house most of the time. A few scrapes would not send us home, but mom's holler would.

Cupcakes, donuts, éclairs, frozen yogurt, gingerbread, ice cream sandwich, and jelly beans were things that we ate, and not mobile phone software that we flaunted.

Speaking of which, food was stress-free and non-confusing. Peanut butter could be consumed everyday, and so would chocolate milk. Until the health brigade took over in the noughties.

Free messaging implied that you had to walk over to the person to relay it.

Last minute cancellations of important plans were comparatively rare, since the devices that help us do it today were just coming on to the market and happened to be phenomenally expensive.

Blog, Twitter, Google, Bing, Flickr, reddit were sounds that the dial-up modem would make while intermittently stumbling upon an Internet connection.

And of course, the Internet connection had not severed its umbilical cord from its darling mamma, the telephone.

Those days, the best cartoons on TV came on Saturday morning, which meant you could never dream of sleeping in. Don't even think of suggesting to look for the missed episodes on YouTube.

Speaking of cartoons, you're sure to remember CatDog, a cat and a dog who were joined at the hip to be one animal. It is freaking out while thinking, but surprisingly, it never did back then.

Will Smith was not the Hollywood biggie that he is today, but he still reigned supreme as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Back then, Music Television or MTV stuck to its name and showed music videos all day long. Unlike the travesty that's occurring these days.

You may be raving about Barney Stinson today, but to us he will always be Doogie Howser, M.D., just so you know.

Yes, the nineties music was all about Girl Power of the Spice Girls and other pubescent boy bands, but alongside, the alternative rock movement was also burgeoning. Their anthem, undoubtedly, was Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Along with Nirvana, it was bands like Alice in Chains, R.E.M., Pearl Jam who heralded the alternative rock scene in America. Across the pond, Oasis, Suede, and Blur were bands who made noteworthy contributions to this genre.

Of course it is impossible to chronicle the nineties music scene without some honorable mentions like New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, 98 Degrees, and 'N Sync (Justin Timberlake is a relic of the bygone era, after all).

Sometime in the mid nineties, there were these tween boys who wore their (very baggy) jeans backwards, along with their (baggy again) hooded jerseys. They were called Kriss Kross, and they made us Jump! Jump!.

The World Wide Web first came into the spotlight in the earlier part of this decade, but it took us another five-odd years to come to terms with its significance.

The O.J. Simpson trial had snagged the unified attention of the entire country, and the verdict created a remarkable divide.

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
This line, along with the infamous blue dress managed to bring down the most powerful man in the world.

Forget about the 2012 apocalypse, we had our very own apocalypse in the form of Y2K, when we feared the world would shut down on January 1, 2000 at 00:00:01. Please don't ask us why.

It is hard to find a list of things that are synonymous with every member of the 1990s club. Every person is bound to have things that make their insides melt with nostalgia. These were a few that came to my mind. It would be wonderful if you come up with a few of your own. Until then, hold on to your beanie babies and croon to the sounds of Wannabe.