Generation X

I am participating in the Blogging From A-Z Challenge. Each day in April (except the last 4 Sundays), I will post topic themes that begin with the letters of the alphabet, from A-Z. Today's letter is X.
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There are a million different opinions on where generational cut-offs are, but I have always considered myself a Gen-Xer. (Wikipedia agrees, so stuff it non-believers.) This term carried a lot more weight in the '90s than it does now.  Now I hear the term & I cringe a little at the angsty intensity we all had back then.  How even the smallest things were epic as all hell & usually not in a good way.  It was cool to be pissed off & depressed. For some of us, the depression was just a natural response to our lives at the time. For others, it was something they faked to seem tortured & deep. 
Now us Gen-Xers are metamorphosing into a decidedly more awesome version of "middle age".  We've hung up our flannel in exchange for baby slings.  We're tattooed & tired.  We've got kids (possibly even grandkids) and we try desperately not to make the same mistakes w/ them that our parents made with us.  The only exception to the coolness of our middle-agedom are those of our generation who are still living in the '90s.  I'm not talking about keeping the dream alive Portland-style, b/c that's pretty rad if you ask me.  I'm talking about the Eeyore-esque whiners who are still soooo filled with angst they can barely stand it.  Or maybe they're just late bloomers.  Whatever the case, it gives the rest of us a bad name.  Melancholy isn't cool anymore, guys!
Thinking back to when Generation X was a big deal (the early 90s, mostly), I'm reminded of the great tunes & trends of yore.  Okay, maybe doc martens w/ dresses were a bad idea, but there was a lot of awesome stuff started w/ my generation.  Let's traipse down memory lane, shall we?!
What can be said about Nirvana that hasn't already been said?  Nothing, that's what.  We all know what kind of an impact they made, particularly in the early 90's. 

My So-Called Life was a staple in my television watching repertoire.  I actually tried to re-watch every episode of this show a few months ago.  I made it through 2 episodes & had to stop. It was AWFUL.  For those who may have missed that time period: yes, we really did act like that.

My personal favorite band from the 90s was Hole.  Courtney Love is, was, and always will be bat shit crazy, but I'm strangely hypnotized by her.


Spin magazine was the shit. Period. End of story.

Reality Bites.  The go-to movie of the 90s. The quintessential Gen X film.  Yes, I own it on dvd.  Yes I watch it sometimes to relive the glory days.  Moving on.

Real World New York, the beginning of reality shows.  The brainchild of MTV, which was a juggernaut of entertainment in the 90s. (Hardly seems possible that such a cutting-edge network would eventually belch out shows like Jersey Shore & The Hills. *shudder*)
Honestly, I could go on & on.  I skipped over so much, but how can you possibly expect me to fit all things Gen-X into a single post?!  I really only touched on the young adulthood/teenage years of us Generation X babies.  I don't think that was necessarily the pinnacle of our lives, though I would say those were the good old days.  We still have a lot to accomplish before we head up to the great mosh pit in the sky.  But if there was ever a time I felt that I was really plugged into the world around me, it was in the 90s.  I may be much more self-aware now, but the world-at-large is a mostly confusing & frustrating anomaly.  (That's the Gen Xer's way of saying "damn kids these days!")