Things people did in the 2000s

124. retired from the public sector in their early 50s with enhanced benefits.

(3 examples in my family)

125. Replaced pub food with a Thai curry menu

126. Started “fusion” restaurants

Weren’t Pub Thai and Fusion 90s trends? I guess they hung around.

127. Noticed that some hipsters were beginning to grow beards and wear trucker hats.

128. Counted the days until Conan O'Brien would take over the Tonight Show.

129. Went to parties where we binge-watched Lost, then hung around for three hours waiting to download the next episode

130. Prat around on rooftops, staircases, and steps aka Parkour

131. Engage Momus in prolonged debate on ILE.

your 123 is a good one mike-t

132. L'd our F'ing A's O!

133. Got annoyed by GAPDY

134. Experience the curious paucity of decent locally brewed beer in London/the entire south east of England

135. Kept the trucker hat on during sex.

136. Awaited the next entry in the Sufjan Stevens 50 states project

137. "holy shit, did you see Bob Saget's scene in The Aristocrats? yes, that's Danny Tanner from Full House cursing and joking about fisting and incest and projectile shitting. I didn't believe it myself until I saw it (in The Aristocrats)!"

138. Traded their latest '320 dubs' with fellow bedroom producers on AIM

139. Googled '2 girls 1 cup'

140. Heard about 4chan

141. Attended midnight release events for Harry Potter books

142. Organized The Room screening parties

143. Voted for shitty centrist governments

What were some things that people thought were funny or incongruous at the time, but we don't think of them being funny now because, in fact, they were the new normal?

144. used Harry Potter book burning events as a pretense to get rid of unwanted copies of The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get

xp Ricky Gervais becoming popular Stateside

And maybe reality shows in general. Remembering the huge popularity of Big Brother's in its first five years seems particularly strange now (and even more so since the pandemic).

145. Thought Bitcoin was a moment's curiosity and that it's hit its peak

things people thought were funny - a whole lot of what now looks like proto-alt-right shit passed for liberal or apolitical at the time

146. Thought "homophobia is gay" was a clever and useful slogan

147. Made the apocalypse that much worse by spending years "debating" whether global warming was even a thing, to the point that more people doubted its existence by the end of the decade than at the beginning. great work everyone

148. Make some hackneyed comment about the rarefied beauty of listening to Coltrane when it's raining even though the only Coltrane you possess is a 128kbps copy of Blue Train in your soulseek folder.

rude. it was my favorite things

149. watched TED talks

150. Thought Malcolm Gladwell was deep.

i keep thinking this stuff is more recent than the 2000s because lol accelerating into old age i guess

Malcolm Gladwell is very deep .. into private healthcare

knew all their friends’ phone numbers by heart.

sorry that was 151.

152. considered internet anonymity a boon, using "screennames" and the like that couldn't immediately be connected to a real identity.

let's not get too carried away though guys. people also BREATHED in the 2000s and you know, CRIED in the RAIN just like they always will.

153. Burned CDs and DVDs
154. Compared results of thespark.com Purity Test with friends

the spark was a big deal!

155. "Metrosexual" discourse

156. Reacted to sports highlights with "are you kidding me?!"

157. described a great party as “retarded”

158. read magazines like newsweek and time in order to comprehend the political and cultural zeitgeist in an easy and breezy way

159. Checked Popbitch and Ananova for the latest “sleb goss”, read Heat magazine ironically.

160. drew mustaches on their index fingers and held them on their upper lip for photos

161. Praised R. Kelly to the heavens and beyond for the genius of “Ignition (Remix)”.