Wendy’s changed the spicy chicken sandwich. The new one isn’t bad, but the old one occupied a very specific spot in my memory that will be missed.
What I miss can never happen again. There was some mystery of the world lost with the internet. I miss opening a pack of magic cards and that was what you got, no hand picking the best build online. I miss hearing my friend say some bullshit in a game, and the only way to discover the truth was to try it. I am thankful for the speed of information nowadays and how much more accessible the world is. But sometimes I’d like to recapture that magic of the unknown, the closeness of having to converse with others to even guess at the depth of your hobby.
North East US. There used to be a fsst food chain called D’Angelos. Their #9 sub was Legendary. Everyone got it. Too bad, They’re gone now.
Taco Bell and the Quesarito.
Fuuuck, why did they remove it? It was the whole reason to go to Taco Bell!
The scent of my grandparents’ house.
It had a very distinctive sweet aroma. I was never sure what is was, and I never asked. The scent followed them when they moved into a condo in a retirement facility. The last time I visited them in their condo was 2019, and they’ve both since passed away.
They gave me a book many years ago, the pages of which used to smell like their house. I know if I dig that book out of storage, it might still have a trace scent in it. But otherwise, it is now just a memory.
My grandparents had one of those ottomans that you could open up and put things in. I grabbed it after my grandpa died and will occasionally open it and take a big whiff of that granparents’ house smell.
There was an helado shop very near where I live now, just a wonderland of flavors, nice lady with a hundred tubs of different interesting mostly fruit flavored ice creams. Not expensive. It’s been gone for years and I still miss it.
Also there was this house I used to pass on my way home that had a crazy paint job, I think it had been orange and someone tried to cover that with green - the result was a house that looked like it was ripening and I just loved to see it. Eventually someone “fixed” it by making it gray, I miss it.
Being able to eat peanuts. Developed an allergy 4 years ago.
The park in Oregon where I used to walk every day and see the most amazing water birds.
Freaking out my friends BBS modems by calling it and whistling into the phone.
Seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6 of Firefly.
I also miss Sobeys (Canadian grocery chain) Take n Bake pizza. They changed to a new recipe many years ago. I bought one of their new pizzas, it was very disappointing.
I miss places that weren’t overrun with traffic.
I lived in LA right at the end of “it’s LA. Everything is 20 minutes from everything else.” Which was mostly true other than a rush hour that politely lasted from 3:30 to 6:00pm. Only places like The Valley or Long Beach or Montebello/West Covina took 30+ minutes.
Every time I visit now, everything is stop and go traffic. Not just there, every major city. Road infrastructure hasn’t, and can’t realistically, keep up with basic population growth. Sprawl is a disease. It’s urban planning cancer.
I think you missed the “ultimately inconsequential” part of the prompt…
That sounds pretty cool tbh, sometimes I’m still a little bummed that the American Dream™ can’t be a sustainable thing for everyone…
Yeah, it was awesome. Beach? 20 minutes. Work? 20 minutes. Every friend? 20 minutes.
It really is something special to live in a time and place when infrastructure matches demand. Life becomes about living, not about the logistics of daily life as a struggle.
They keep tearing down buildings that have personal significance to me. My grade school, my first job, my favorite skate spots, teenage hangout spots, etc. Some spots became better things but most were turned into parking lots. I know Joni was singing about nature and whatnot, but Big Yellow Taxi hits me hard.
there was a coffee shop in my town in the 90s where we all hung out after school. It closed a long time ago but now it’s just a concrete slab. I drive by that empty lot every day on my way to work. It always makes me a little sad. Lots of good times there.
If you’ve never heard it before, look up the song Gold Rush by Death Cab for Cutie. It’s about losing places that are tied to memories.
Go ahead and add Come Dancing by The Kinks to this playlist.
I’ll toss in “My City was Gone” by The Pretenders
My best friends joined the Marines out of high school. Anytime they came home on leave they’d get to town in the wee hours of the morning and we’d meet up at Denny’s. That Denny’s was torn down and turned into a car wash :(
I live in close proximity to my old high school. Its very old, one of the oldest in the country, actually. It’s being shut down soon and I’m not thrilled about it. I feel the same as you about my old stomping grounds being clear cut and paved or developed. Its really sad 😢
The Cheesy Gordita Crunch used to be $0.89. Not 99, EIGHTY-NINE cents. Now it’s like $3.79. Used to be my favorite thing on the menu, but there’s no way I’m paying that much for it now. I tolerated $0.99, $1.09, even $1.19 but $1.29 is where I said “no”. Haven’t had one since.
The city made my grandparents cut down their weeping willow because it was taller than the electrical lines. That tree was like 40 years old and massive. Then they cut down all of the willows at the city park to build in a stupid marina. We used to have willows.
The forest near my childhood home. It’s still there. I’m not.
Last summer I went there, and the place was so familiar to me that I recognized individual trees.
I miss incandescent Christmas lights from the 70s.
the colors they had were warm and magical.
you could go down the street at night and the whole neighborhood was filled with this technicolor dream rainbow that you just can’t make anymore.
You are not the only one and your are being heard!
There are several companies that make modern lights with the same feel as the old school Christmas lights!
I knew the link before I even clicked. Love his channel.
I’m really glad the companies are making LEDs with the old school feel. Best of both worlds.
The technology connections YouTuber is obsessed with this and has a number of videos about this.
I love Alec’s channel, I appreciate the way he covers topics.
sorry, not inconsequential. those lights were objectively better and made countless people’s lives better than the LED shit, whether or not they even realized it.
the change to LED has been a real loss with consequences
I used to love turning off the living room lights, getting under our Xmas tree, looking up, and watching the lights blink. It was silent and peaceful, almost like watching the twinkle of stars in the night sky.
And the bulbs popped with such a wonderful sound
Also the crunch when you accidentally shattered one. My grandparents still had some in the 00s
I wish we could roll back the last 30 years and have a do over. Everything is shit anymore.
need 50 to really set things right
You’re not wrong, but Columbine and 9/11 cooked American’s brains. And then algo based social media doubled deep fried it.
We bring back a tac nuke for a particularly well attended meeting of the John Birch society.