Tag: BSB

It’s a rainy day here in Northern California and here I am wondering about something that has hit me ever since I listened to the song “Weird World” by the Backstreet Boys. Now, most people laugh and some even question why I listen to this group of thirty somethings but looking at their music, it is inspirational and most of the time they tell a story. Most of their songs are love songs, but this song finally put the nail on the coffin on something that has hit me ever since I started getting older. The chorus says “It’s a weird world don’t you know it, It’s a weird world and it won’t slow down, It’s weird world no matter how you roll it”. Many people will interpret this song in different ways but I see it as a way of viewing life as going so fast. I remember before September 11th, I was at an age where things change for a teenager. My voice started changing, I was getting into new things, I was setting up my priorities, and I was living a good life. Everything seemed to be peaceful because at the time I had little to no responsibilities. I also remember taking those small risks which seemed to pay off in the end. One example I can think of is going to Eastridge Mall in the golden days in the year 2000 with my brother and a couple of his friends. Now granted, I was 12 at the time but walking around with them made me feel like I was the man and nothing could stop me. I enjoyed hanging out those guys because they showed me a good time every which way they could and we still managed to have a great time. The funny thing was that one of my dad’s friends saw us there and he told my dad. My dad was a little upset by this but he didn’t really yell at us or punish us he just was wondering what we were doing all the way over there. I told my brother later on, at least it was worth it. Another example I can think of is every week my friend and I would hang out in the summer and go somewhere on our bikes. We would usually go to the Sunnyvale mall and everything seemed to go by much slower. There were no cellphones, no Ipods, no need for everything to be done online, no need to go everywhere by car, and it was just so wonderful. Now, with a cellphone or with an Ipod we can know right away what we can eat, what we can do, what movie we can watch, and back then my friend and I would have little to no need for this kind of stuff. Listening to this song by the Backstreet Boys made me realize that everything goes by so fast now. They mention that it is “just hard to stop when you’re spinning around” at the beginning and that hit me even harder when I think about it now. I have my regular routine of getting up for school, which I enjoy immensely because I get to learn new things every day, come home and study for a bit. Then before I know it, it may be around 4 or 5 and I realize that time has past me by so fast. There are other days when, if my studying is up to where I need it to be, I’ll watch some Weeds or watch wrestling. I still enjoy watching those things but back then it seemed like a joy to just wait for something to come one. I work anywhere from 20-23 hours a week and it doesn’t seem like a lot but when you take into account, commute, getting ready, running errands for people, and also making sure other things are running well, it actually takes up some time. The funny thing is when all that is taken into account the majority of TV that I watch is taped on my DVR. Not to say that it is a waste, but it is amazing to think that working and school has forced us to watch TV from a recorded perspective and not a live perspective. But back to my main point, on the date of September 11th I felt just strange and fuzzy inside not knowing what to do or say. I could see that after that we all changed a little bit. People became either one of two things and that was either they became closer or they just kinda drifted apart. Everything became digitized and instant very quickly. The next march in 2002 my family ended up buying me and my brother a computer which was awesome to have at first. But, then I started noticing VHS’s going away, radio was slowly dying down, people started buying these new things called Ipod’s, and pretty soon everybody had a facebook, myspace, and things got bigger. A perfect example I could think of is my brother who got into this way of thinking. He ended up buying a Samsung Plasma which was about 50 inches, he bought the coolest phone (in his mind), he bought himself two PS3’s and ended getting up a facebook as well. I love my brother to death but seeing him into this way of thinking made me not appreciate the material things so much. Some of these things are convenient but what this made me realize is that technology has made us complacent and everything has to be fast because if it’s not then you’re not in. The simplest example I can think of is Facebook and it’s effect on human beings. The other day I was having a nice conversation with a good friend of mine about how Facebook has made us think of what people are doing every moment of the day. At most, it is possibly engraved in our minds that we have to check on each other to make sure that we are all okay. But why would I need 150 friends on an internet website? Do I talk to all of them on a regular basis? If you do then you have a LOT of time on your hands. I can see this at work, school, with my friends, and other people as well. Whatever happened to people sending pictures to someone by mail or even e-mail? At least this is decent and not degrading yourself. Saying something benign and repetitive about your day is almost strange and unusual. I remember my friend saying that people look at Facebook because they are constantly wishing to be other people that are on Facebook. I agreed with him on this as this gives people the key to establishing any sort of relationship. The effects that 9/11 had is simply astonishing because a lot of good and bad came from it and I can’t even do justice to the may other things it has established. I remember also that before 9/11 I used to be a big fan of going to the library and not just for school stuff but also for going on the internet there. The joy of walking or going by bike made me wait for it even more as my friend and I would bond over going to the library and doing things that pre teenagers only know how to do. Going on the internet was free and a library card of course was also free which made it even funner. I can remember going there just to look at Dragon Ball Z pictures and printing out tons of them and funny enough I still have most of them stored for safekeeping as a reminder of all those fun times I had at the Sunnyvale library. But, after all this the question still remains, is it just our willingness to go along with things or have times changed because we change? Maybe it is both as I have seen this weird world go fast ever since I started getting older. I wasn’t the same person I was ten years ago as I have many different experiences, seen things change in my life, seen people come and go, and I can honestly say maybe some things are not meant to last forever. These things now are maybe just temporary or maybe they may get bigger than it already is. Maybe the Backstreet Boys saw something before I did as the song “Weird World” was made when I was still in high school. Even now, most of the things that I long for in my childhood probably wouldn’t be the same. I know arcades wouldn’t be the same because now every kid, old or young, has a Wii, PS3, or an Xbox. I know riding a bike or taking a bus wouldn’t be the same because everyone would laugh at me and wonder what I was doing. Life is passing by so fast now and it won’t stop but I know there is something we can all do about it. Do the things we like because those will hardly ever change, take a walk for a change, do something that is time consuming, or maybe do something productive and see how you feel. All I know is that it won’t be changing for a while but while we’re at it have fun. To anybody who’s curious here’s the song Weird World by the Backstreet Boys: