POPPIES Poppies poppies poppies

I've been having a lot of weird, existential thoughts lately. Did I use that right? Let's see... Existential - adj - pertaining to existence. Yeah, I think that's right.

Anyway, a few of the media outlets I read, listen to and watch have been talking about the end of the decade. It has hit me a little funny. It's been 20 years since the decade has been the big thing. I mean, at the end of the 90's we were all talking about the end of the century.

I've seen top lists of music, movies, and all manner of things. I've heard about things we're thankful about in the past decade and things we wish never happened (i.e. fashion disasters and fluff like that). I've given some transient thought to those sorts of things but nothing too profound.

I have been thinking a little more deeply about life - my life, specifically. (see, this is where the existential part comes in) I remember trying so hard to grow up and get to 21 when I was a full citizen and the state and government held no restrictions over me that they didn't hold over everybody else. 21 years later, I wonder what happened to the time between then and now. The first 21 years seemed to go so slow, the second 21 seemed to go so fast. Maybe that's because when you're less than a decade old (see how I tied that in?), a year seems so much longer because your entire existence only consists of ten of them.

I don't have a lot of regrets. I have had times when the rug has been pulled out from under me and times of great success. I wonder where I'm going from here and if I'm competent to make the journey. I fear the unknown but look forward to enjoying the next howerevermany decades I'll be sticking around.

I told you they were weird. So, what about those best of lists? Here's one for you.

Bubby's Top Ten Innovative (or just plain cool) Things From The Last Decade:

1. MP3 Players
2. DVRs (OK, they were introduced in the late 90's but they really took off in the last 5 years)
   
3. Abilify
4. Two words: Blu Ray
5. Affordable flat-screen TVs
6. Magnetic, clip-on sunglasses for prescription glasses (no more dork shades!)
7. S.A.M.E. weather alert radios (no more alerts for cities 150 miles away)
   
8. Social networking (I have [re]connected with so many people via Facebook)
9. Camera phones / smart phones
10. GPS
11. Text messaging
12. Wikipedia
13. Hybrid cars
    
14. Nintendo Wii

Okay, so there's 14 of them.

(33 1/3 bonus points if you know how the title relates to the post)