AOL, Away Messages & Anonymous Chats

Summary

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Episode Summary: AOL, Away Messages & Anonymous Chats

Podcast: You Had 2 Be There
Date: July 30, 2026
Hosts: Erin Miller, Kate Steinberg, Nicole Story Dent

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Overview

In this nostalgia-rich episode, the hosts of "You Had 2 Be There" take listeners on a hilarious and heartfelt journey back to the glory days of AOL, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), away messages, chat rooms, and the formative, sometimes perilous, thrill of anonymous internet culture in the late 90s and 2000s. The trio revive memories of clunky computers, primitive digital flirtations, fake screen names, and the social peaks and pitfalls of early online interaction—all wrapped in their trademark mix of humor, honesty, and self-deprecation. They round out the episode by sharing listener stories about online chat room antics, some cringey, some sweet, and all eye-opening.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Nostalgic Internet – First Computers, Early Online Culture

• Generational Symbols: The episode begins with Erin, Kate, and Nicole joking about generational changes in hand symbols (K-pop-inspired finger hearts) before launching into a discussion of their own coming-of-age digital culture.

• The Sacred Computer Room: Stories abound of massive family computers (some in bedrooms, others in “computer rooms”), negotiating dial-up access with siblings, and the euphoria and frustration of logging in via slow, noisy phone lines ([13:15]-[14:49], [26:15]-[27:08]).

  • Notable Quote: "It would take like an hour and a half to log into AOL. And that dial-up sound could raise us all from the dead." – Aaron, [25:56]

• Tech Privilege Flexes: Nicole describes her dad as a “big tech guy” and reminisces about having a clear landline phone and eventually her own computer and phone line—a huge flex in the era ([27:08]-[27:54]).

2. Screen Names & Online Identities

• Embarrassing, Iconic Handles: Each host recounts their AIM screen names, the accidental misspellings, and the classic “girl,” “QT,” or state-pride tropes ([04:29]-[09:35]).

  • Aaron’s: “QT4Life” (in elaborate upper/lowercase, numbers); formerly “Bigfoot” (from a soccer nickname)
  • Kate’s: “Wildcat Country 19”—with “country” misspelled as “counrty” from sixth grade on
  • Nicole’s: “Texas Chick” with underscores and numbers

• Fake Profiles and Roleplay: The hosts admit to creating secret/fake usernames for mischief, roleplaying as older, glamorous women, or getting “inside info” ([09:33]-[11:16]).

  • Notable Quote: “That was the best part… it was so easy to just jump into chat rooms and talk to anybody. But it was harmless. We never met up with—obviously we never met up with somebody.” – Kate, [10:03]

3. Chat Room Escapades, Dangers, and Actual Meet-Ups

• The Thrill (and Risk) of the Unknown: While initially claiming innocence, Nicole reveals she actually met up with a chat room friend as a young teen (after intricate phone and offline exchanges) ([14:25]-[18:45]).

  • Notable Quote: “We took Katie’s mom’s car. …We were 14. We drove her mom’s car …an hour away. …and snuck through his window and hung out. …It worked out. He was real.” – Nicole, [16:30]-[17:01]

• Parental Blind Spots: The hosts agree their parents had little concept of online risks: “Stranger Danger” existed, but only for “real life.”

  • “My parents had no clue what I was doing. And I had a computer in my room.” – Nicole, [13:16]

4. AIM Culture: Sounds, Statuses, and Buddy Lists

• The Soundtrack of AIM: Iconic login/logout sound effects are reminisced about, with Nicole even playing them on air ([20:48]-[21:07]).

  • Notable Quote: “Nothing brings me back like that.” – Aaron, [20:56]

• Status Warfare: Everyone had strategies for away messages—cryptic lyrics, status updates, or white lies to impress crushes ([20:23]-[24:03], [35:20]-[36:33]).

  • Kate: “I was always letting people know I was booked and busy. Sorry, like, at the mall. Going to Claire’s.” ([36:24])

• Buddy List Organization: Hosts discuss sorting crushes and friends into categories in their buddy lists, akin to early social media curation ([21:24]).

• Fonts, Colors, and "Coding": Fond memories of customizing chat fonts, colors, and using “coding” to stand out ([21:42]-[21:53])

• Acronym Speak: They trace the origins of “brb,” “ttyl,” “lol,” and their continued use in real life ([21:53]-[24:15]), sparking cross-generational debates (“I will never stop [using LOL], so suck it, Gen Z.” – Aaron, [24:23])

5. Chat Room Language and Bots (SmarterChild)

• The ASL (Age/Sex/Location) Ritual: The classic opener for all chat room strangers (“19/f/California”) is celebrated and lampooned ([38:44]-[39:16]).
• SmarterChild, the Original AI: Nicole relates the revelation that “SmarterChild” was not her brother, but a ubiquitous chatbot ([33:03]-[34:40]).
  • Notable Moment: “…I never questioned it... then come to find out…it was just a bot that I thought was my brother screwing with me.” – Nicole, [34:04]

6. The Creativity (and Drama) of Away Messages

• Secret Codes, Song Lyrics, and Busy Lives: Most away messages were cryptic, lyric-filled, status brags, or emotional venting ([35:20]-[36:52]).

• Printing Receipts: Sharing AIM “receipts” (printed chat transcripts) with friends became a regular, housewives-style drama ([37:20]-[37:44]).

7. The Wild West: Catfishing, Meetups, and Online Dangers

• Anonymous Story Lounge (ASL) Segment (Listener Stories)
  • Hacking Scare: Listener recalls a hacker who changed menu text to “I’m gonna kill you”—her dad had to fix it ([43:24]-[44:21]).
  • HotModelRoxy and the First Dick Pic: Listener describes being catfished, seeing their first explicit photo, and having all chats printed out by her friend’s monitoring parent ([44:58]-[46:12]).
    • “It was the first catfish. Sorry to everyone who thought Hot Model Roxy was their online girlfriend.” – Listener Story, [46:12]
  • Chat Room True Love: A Yahoo Chat room relationship leads to a 23-year marriage ([47:22]-[48:34]).
  • Celebrity Catfish Stories: Listeners believed they were chatting with NSYNC members—parents even did “photo shoots” to mail pictures to “JC” ([49:09]-[50:39]).

8. Shifting Technology & Nostalgia for the Past

• From AIM to Facebook: They note AIM’s sudden obsolescence with the rise of Facebook ([54:10]-[55:25]).
• Modern Messaging Overload: The hosts bemoan the lack of clear boundaries now: “Everyone’s texting 24/7…you can’t leave the Internet now.” ([53:19]-[55:03])
• AIM Was an “Event”: The magic of logging off and anticipation of what you missed is discussed ([29:54]-[30:43]).

9. Reboots & Nostalgia Overload – “Hear Me Out” Segment

• Hot Take: Kate argues against rebooting every 2000s and 90s movie, calling for originals instead of increasingly “costumey” remakes ([55:41]-[59:48]).

  • Notable Quote: “What makes an original special is that the stories belonged in that moment of time.” – Kate, [55:51]

• Hosts’ Consensus: Watching the originals (re-released in theaters) is better than remaking them.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “We were coding. We were coding.” – Kate, on customizing AIM fonts, [21:50]
• “That dial-up sound could raise us all from the dead.” – Aaron, [25:56]
• “We took Katie’s mom’s car. …We were 14… drove an hour away... and snuck through his window and hung out. …It worked out. He was real.” – Nicole, [16:30]-[17:01]
• “I would leave my own body if I had to be in that conversation.” – Nicole, on facing parental confrontation after chat room mishaps, [46:12]
• “AIM walked so Tinder could run.” – Producer Kayla (as quoted by Kate), [48:45]
• “My dad did a full photo shoot of me…so I could print them and send to my pen pal who I told my dad was a nine year old from Florida but…it was JC from NSYNC.” – Listener Submission, [49:09]
• “I will never stop [using LOL], so suck it, Gen Z.” – Aaron, [24:23]

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Key Timestamps

• AIM Screen Names & Stories: [04:29]-[09:35]
• Dangerous Meetups: [14:25]-[18:45]
• AIM Log-in Sounds, Status Games: [20:23]-[21:24]
• Away Messages, Fonts, Buddy List Strategy: [21:42]-[24:15]; [35:20]-[36:52]
• SmarterChild Chatbot: [33:03]-[34:40]
• Chain Emails & Internet Superstitions: [40:48]-[41:57]
• Listener Stories (ASL Segment): [43:07]-[51:04]
• Reboots vs. Real Nostalgia (“Hear Me Out”): [55:41]-[59:48]

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Tone & Style

• Language & Tone: The conversation is irreverent, honest, laced with self-mockery and genuine nostalgia. Hosts mix confessional stories with playful teasing and cultural commentary.
• Overall Vibe: An unfiltered sleepover energy—funny, sometimes shocking, occasionally wistful, and always relatable to anyone who grew up online in the late 90s or early 2000s.

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Useful for Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

This episode delivers an immersive, multi-layered trip down memory lane, complete with confessions, cautionary tales, and sharp observations about how early internet culture shaped a generation’s humor, anxieties, and social dynamics. Whether you remember AOL yourself or want to understand it from the outside, the hosts capture both the laughs and the latent hazards of early digital life.

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(End of Summary)

Transcript

[Narrator]

You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby.

[Nicole]

Welcome back to another episode of YH2BT

[Kate]

did I had to be there.

[Nicole]

You had to be serious. I just found the hearts, Kate.

[Kate]

Is that.

[Aaron]

That's not how you actually do a heart.

[Nicole]

You're 35 now.

[Aaron]

You're 35. You need it. You cannot be 35.

[Nicole]

No, don't be doing this. Kate's doing the finger. The two finger hearts. The Gen Z hearts, which I'm kind of. My joints are allowing me to do it.

[Kate]

No, it's crazy.

[Aaron]

This.

[Kate]

My recent, like, not vocal stem, but finger stim is like, when someone says something I like. I'm like. I'm like. I'll just throw that off.

[Nicole]

You just do the half heart. Oh, my goodness.

[Kate]

It's kind of.

[Nicole]

That's a little, you know, I'm just, like, adjacent, though. Be careful.

[Aaron]

People even don't even know.

[Kate]

There's also.

[Nicole]

Isn't this one where you cross your thumb.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

And your finger. Isn't that like the Is. I feel like that's K Pop.

[Aaron]

I've never done that.

[Nicole]

I think they've learned that from K Pop. The finger and thumb heart.

[Aaron]

What are you doing?

[Nicole]

See how it's kind of making a heart with the tips of your fingers? That's cuter, right? I like that a lot better than the. The fingery.

[Aaron]

Wait, what's the. This one? This.

[Kate]

I was doing this.

[Nicole]

She's getting lost.

[Kate]

Am I okay? That's the next evolution to cut hair in.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

What's left? What's Gen Alpha gonna do? There's really not many other options out here.

[Narrator]

Oh, boy.

[Aaron]

Have we introduced ourselves? Did we have a show? We haven't shown. What's going on?

[Nicole]

I'm Nicole.

[Aaron]

I'm Aaron.

[Kate]

And I'm Kate. And this is. You had to be there.

[Nicole]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

I have news. I don't know if I mentioned this to you guys. I was interested in seeing if I could get my belly button ring back in. Did I tell you guys this?

[Aaron]

Yes.

[Kate]

No.

[Aaron]

Oh, wait. Didn't you?

[Nicole]

I feel like I don't know that I've talked with you guys since I did the attempt, but I ordered some cute. I was like, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna full send it. I ordered like, five. Really? Because they make them like. You know, I feel like back whenever I got my belly button pierced in South Padre island in, like, 2006. Probably took it out. If I had to guess, like, yeah, it's. It's very crooked. They did not do a great job. It's very crooked. But I. I probably. It's been out for at least 10 years. I probably took it out when I got pregnant at the latest would be when I took it out. So at least, like, nine, ten years ago. But I heard somebody say that that skin never heals. So I ordered a bunch of belly button rings. They took, like, two weeks to get in because I was trying to support a local business or a small business online, but I got it in.

[Kate]

Shut the hell up.

[Narrator]

Easily.

[Aaron]

Like, how easy was it?

[Nicole]

Oh, no, not easily.

[Kate]

I did so good.

[Nicole]

I did reward.

[Kate]

Damn.

[Nicole]

Thank you. I know. It's really. I highly recommend.

[Aaron]

Okay.

[Nicole]

I don't. I recommend maybe going to professional because it did unfortunately get infected.

[Kate]

Wow.

[Aaron]

Oh, In South Padre.

[Nicole]

Did. No, like. Like, last. Like, last week. It got infected when I put it in. Well, my mistake. I put. Put. I could. I could put an earring through it. That was my thing that I was like, okay, this is. I'm onto something because I could stick one of my earrings through it, but earrings don't have as big of a gauge, you know, as, like, belly button rings do. So I didn't think about that. So, like, the hallway wasn't big enough for me to put it through, so I grabbed one of my knitting needles.

[Kate]

No, you didn't.

[Nicole]

And put. I did. And I, like, ran it through water, and I wasn't wearing gloves. I did everything wrong. But I. For some reason, I was like, well, there's not, like, anything exposed. It gets healed. It just needs to be stretched out a little bit. And within 24 hours, I was googling. Hey, what does it mean if your belly button has a big red circle on it and it's swollen and it has a heartbeat? Sure enough, it was infected, but we got on some antibiotics, and it looks great now.

[Aaron]

Nicole, did you learn nothing from Lindsay Lohan in the Parent Trap piercing her.

[Nicole]

I know.

[Kate]

Lindsay Lohan's.

[Aaron]

Come on.

[Nicole]

I didn't. I know. So I highly recommend getting. Getting professional help, but. Highly recommend. My God, is she wearing the new couture?

[Aaron]

Okay, guys, should we get into the chat room?

[Kate]

Let's do it. I don't even know what we're talking

[Aaron]

about because we're talking about chat rooms. Chat rooms in the chat room.

[Kate]

Hey,

[Nicole]

Scary.

[Aaron]

Okay.

[Nicole]

What? I guess I think we need to start with usernames.

[Aaron]

Let's. I know. Let's start from the top. Screen name. Screen names.

[Nicole]

Let's guess. I'm gonna guess Eric because I feel like. And maybe you've. Maybe you've told me, but I feel like Aaron's had a surfer vibe to it. If I had to guess.

[Aaron]

I wish it didn't. Roxy girl didn't. It didn't. No, mine was.

[Kate]

Wait, wait. I didn't guess yet.

[Aaron]

Okay.

[Kate]

Okay. I feel like you were volleyball girl 1991 or something like that.

[Aaron]

I love that. I did play volleyball, but. Okay, so first my. I had a. I had a screen name for a short period that was Bigfoot something, something. I forget the numbers because I was. I played soccer, and I was like. I was the girl who, like, kicked the corner. Kicks. Like, I had, like a. I could kick it far.

[Nicole]

Was that your nickname?

[Aaron]

My screen name was Bigfoot for, like. Because that was like, my nickname on the soccer team for. That was like, a short period, though, and I was like, let's change it. And then I changed it to QT letter Q, uppercase, lowercase T. Letter 4, uppercase L, lowercase I, uppercase F. Yeah. Case E063. Don't know where the 063 came in a guy.

[Nicole]

It was probably a recommendation because weirdly, like, other people. Because it would, like, add random numbers maybe. Right. If other people had the same one, you would just put random numbers at the end.

[Aaron]

Yeah. QT4 Life. This guy helped me come up with it, who was in my class. He's now a rapper. Anyway, he helped me come up with it.

[Kate]

Shut up. I actually admire the confidence like, that. You called yourself, like, you were Cutie, and I'm like, for life.

[Aaron]

It's embarrassing, but okay.

[Nicole]

I feel like there's a difference. There's a difference between your AOL screen name that you were talking to people you knew, at least. I feel like I mostly kept aimed to, like, that was actual acquaintances. That was like school friends. That was people you met. Like, you knew those people for the most part. But then you would have your screen name. That was like when you were a completely different identity for strangers. And I feel like that was where I probably was a little more brazen with, like, calling myself, like, Cutie, But I don't think I would have been brave enough to call myself Cutie to, like, my. My friends.

[Aaron]

I guess I don't know what I was, but that's what I went with.

[Nicole]

Confidence.

[Aaron]

Okay, so let's guess White.

[Kate]

No, I just want to say, like, the Bigfoot of it all, though, is, like, crazy.

[Aaron]

I Don't know. I don't know what that was all about. I don't. I was like, that's dumb.

[Kate]

You were battling, like, the twinkle toe out there. Because I feel like you were either, like. Like the soccer players were like, twinkle toe, and you're like, bigfoot. Like, I got that quarter kick and.

[Nicole]

So funny.

[Aaron]

Okay, okay, let me see. Kate, did yours have to do with cheerleading?

[Kate]

No, it didn't. Surprisingly. Well, actually, in some weird way, it did. So. Yeah. You're not far.

[Nicole]

Was it some. Was there a girl? Was there girl?

[Kate]

No.

[Aaron]

Grl.

[Nicole]

No. Okay. Did you name it?

[Kate]

No.

[Nicole]

Like a k and an 8? No.

[Kate]

I'll just give you one.

[Aaron]

Okay, give us a clue.

[Kate]

Country.

[Aaron]

Country, like music or usa? Usa. Was it country? Did you spell it C U, N,

[Kate]

T E, R, Y. Oh, actually, let me just tell you, this is a great segue to that, because so. So I was wildcat country 19, but country was spelled wrong. I spelled it C O U, N, R, T Y. Cause I didn't know how to spell country. And I had that name from, like, sixth grade, like, all the way through high school.

[Aaron]

Wait, how did you spell it?

[Kate]

C C O U N, R, T Y instead of T Y. Cord.

[Nicole]

Corn. Corn.

[Aaron]

T. Yeah. Quarantine.

[Nicole]

And you had already. You had already committed. Gotten the buddy list. Like you. There was no.

[Kate]

Oh, yeah. There was no.

[Aaron]

In the beginning was Wildcat. Did you say Wildcat?

[Kate]

Yeah. So. Because growing up, the mascot, it was our. That was our high school mascot. And I remember the cheerleaders would always cup our fence. So, like, when I was, like, in elementary school, middle school, I drive past our high school, and it say wildcat country cupped on the fence. So I was like, oh, that would be such that cool screen name inspiration. I love that. And I had that throughout high school. Like, that turned into, like, my AOL name for a long time. But I was definitely school pride from a young age.

[Aaron]

Okay, I love that. Okay, Nicole, let me see here. Let me see. Do you have. Do you have XX in it at all? Underscore xx. Damn it.

[Kate]

Are you. Are you hottie? No.

[Narrator]

No.

[Aaron]

Or hot Tay. No.

[Narrator]

No.

[Aaron]

Something to do with music. Something to do with music.

[Nicole]

Nope.

[Aaron]

No.

[Kate]

Sports.

[Nicole]

Location.

[Aaron]

Texas. Ho.

[Nicole]

No.

[Aaron]

Texas.

[Nicole]

Texas girl. No. Texas Chick. Texas.

[Aaron]

Texas.

[Nicole]

There were some. A bunch of underscores and some random numbers at the end.

[Aaron]

You were Texas chick. Love that.

[Nicole]

Did you guys ever make fake usernames and pretend to be somebody?

[Aaron]

Of course.

[Nicole]

Like, you weren't. I actually, to the people you knew. I feel like I might have like, created a separate username on AIM and like, pretended to be some, like, foreign exchange student or something. I don't know.

[Kate]

Really?

[Aaron]

I. I never pretended.

[Kate]

I'm shocked.

[Aaron]

I never pretended to be anything else. I didn't.

[Kate]

I. That's.

[Aaron]

I don't think I thought of it.

[Kate]

That's the biggest core memory for me, just being somebody else. Yes.

[Aaron]

What was I doing?

[Kate]

Okay. Yes. That was the best part of, like, it almost. I was thinking about this today. Like, I remember we were talking to a guy and I remember it feeling like, oh, this is bad. Like, like we should be. Yes. We were pretending to be. Like. I think we were like a 28 year old blonde woman from California. Of course, she was like a writer and.

[Nicole]

Is this your alter ego we're talking about? My.

[Kate]

I had two friends. We would go over to my friend's house because she had a computer. Like, her older brother was already in college. So we would just like go into the family computer room. We would log on. I think we were like surfer girl, to be honest. I think we were like, talking about, like, oh, like, are you single? Like, do you like to go on dates? Like, we told. I remember us like describing what we look like. Like, blonde hair, big boobs. Like, it's insane. But I remember thinking like, oh, is this illegal? Like, that did cross my mind of like, oh, if we ever got caught. Like, this is bad. Like, we're just. But it was so easy to just jump into chat rooms and talk to anybody. It was so weird. But it was harmless. We never met up with. Obviously we never met up with somebody. But I. But it was.

[Aaron]

A lot of people did, though. A lot of people did. Okay, I guess I pretended to be other people in chat rooms, I guess.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

But I think. But because I was talking about. I would pretend to be people on aim, not pretend to be people. I would pretend to be like some random name of somebody that never went to the school just to like, try to get insider information.

[Aaron]

So wait, so you would have a different username? How'd that work? I'm trying to remember. Like, so would you have to like, log off and log back in? I'm trying.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

Like, you know what I mean? Okay.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

Okay. So, Kate, you would pretend to be someone else on AIM as well?

[Kate]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron]

Well, okay.

[Kate]

Just with my friends, I. When I was by myself on my family computer, I was Wildcat country and.

[Nicole]

Right, of course, of course.

[Kate]

But we were only that one girl that one time. And yeah, it was really weird, but it was. I don't know, you could get away with it, I think, back then, like, in the early 2004, like, it was more harmless.

[Nicole]

I don't know. Like, Nicole got myself. You.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

You met up with somebody, didn't you?

[Nicole]

I did, yeah. And Kate, that's not surprising. I feel like, Kate, you were spared from the wrong side of chat rooms. It sounds like things got scared.

[Aaron]

You were scared in those chat rooms

[Nicole]

if you just did that one time.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

You were only in a chat room the one time, like, pretending to be

[Nicole]

somebody that was older than you who looked nothing like you to an older male on the Internet after school.

[Kate]

We did this a couple times. But, like, it was so harmless. But Nicole, hold on. What?

[Nicole]

No, this was daily.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I was in there. Okay. Yeah. Okay, wait, but what do you mean

[Kate]

you met up with someone?

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Why would you, like.

[Kate]

Okay.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I.

[Nicole]

Okay, let me think about how old

[Aaron]

I start from this.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Like, here's the dangerous part. Well, and God, you know, bless our parents, they. They didn't. I think the kind of, like, the reason we all were just thrown in. They had no idea what we were doing because they didn't experience that. Obviously, it was new. They just. Like, my parents had no clue what I was doing. And I had a computer in my room.

[Kate]

Whoa.

[Narrator]

Damn.

[Nicole]

Yeah, we had a computer room, but

[Aaron]

I didn't have it in my room. We had a computer.

[Nicole]

We had a family computer room. But I remember doing things like. I feel like that was the earlier days. Like, I remember doing, like. Like video games and, like, encyclopedias, like, CD ROM stuff on the family computer. And then at some point, my brother and I bitched enough to get computers in our own rooms. And I remember how big it was. Remember how big computers used to be?

[Aaron]

Huh?

[Nicole]

Like, it was. I just put it in a corner of my. My room because it. It took up, like, it came, like, four feet out from my wall.

[Aaron]

Yeah, you need a whole wall.

[Kate]

Wasn't it so big Mac, or was it Microsoft?

[Nicole]

No, I didn't have a Mac until I got my first job when I was, like, 23. My parents were. My dad was a Microsoft guy. We were. We could not afford Apple. God, I would still give. I would still give a limb to have one of those computers. Apple is missing out on not bringing those back.

[Kate]

Nicole.

[Aaron]

100%.

[Kate]

You would give your left tit.

[Nicole]

I would give my right. I would give both tits.

[Aaron]

I give both tits.

[Nicole]

Both tits. Clear technology for that.

[Aaron]

I want an orange clamshell. Okay. And I look on ebay often. Okay. I do.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

I'm keeping an eye out. Okay. So back to you meeting up.

[Nicole]

Okay.

[Kate]

Yeah, well.

[Aaron]

Okay. Yeah. So I would.

[Nicole]

This was middle school. Cause I still. I remember it by. I told you guys, my best friend Katie, she and I, we were. We were best friends from elementary school probably until about that point where like I started playing volleyball. She went into like horse riding and stuff. Like we kind of split up like like early middle school. So I was probably like 13, I think. But it was Yahoo. I believe it was a Yahoo chat room.

[Aaron]

Oh, Yahoo.

[Nicole]

Okay. It worked out. This was actually another like kid. Luckily this was not. It ended up not being an adult situation. Like we kind of. And it was over. Like I probably called him my boyfri. Honestly, like this was over the course of like years. I feel like that we chatted really gave each other eventually like because he was like he went to the high school, at least he claimed to. And I'm believing everything he says to high school like an hour away. And then my friend starts chatting with his friends. Like it was this whole like group of friends nobody had ever met. But it was like a couple guys from even girls, we'd randomly chat to some of their girlfriends. We'd just get in these like group chats. And I remember there was one year where his school played my school. But I was too nervous to try to make like a meet happen with that because we couldn't drive yet. The night we decided to find oh, we would call each other. We gave each other our phone numbers because I did have a cell phone at that point and but called long distance wasn't free. So I remember my mom walking into the room with this, the bill because it used to get. Your cell phone bill used to be come in the mail. And it was a very thick stack of. Because texts weren't free. Like we would talk like my parents would go to bed and then we would talk till like three in the morning. So he sounded like he was my age. You know, I had. I. I feel like I was precautious in as much as a 13 year old girl could be precautious. But one night. So Katie's mom was on. She had just had back surgery. So she was on all kinds of narcotics for her back surgery. And I was staying the night at Katie's house as I did every other night. And we took Katie's mom's car. I don't know if my mom knows this story.

[Aaron]

We took.

[Nicole]

We were 14. We drove her mom's car from like probably an hour away. And he lived in an apartment. His parents were divorced. He was at his dad's apartment. And the other boy, Jeremy, I think was his name. So Katie liked Jeremy and I liked this guy. And we met up at his dad's apartment and snuck through his window and hung out. I think we kissed and then we went home. Like, so he was. She drove. He was real. She drove like, 30 miles an hour on the highway with her brights on.

[Aaron]

An hour away is crazy.

[Nicole]

An hour. I know. An hour. I mean, I guess we did have cell phones. You know, heaven forbid an emergency happen, but.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Also, I'm sorry, I'm 14. Driving.

[Nicole]

Who?

[Kate]

You guys knew how to drive?

[Aaron]

I did. I drive school for a minute in eighth grade.

[Nicole]

Oh, yeah.

[Aaron]

Anyway.

[Nicole]

Well, and two. Yeah, she lived on the country. Like, she was driving cars at like, 8. Because she lived out in the country. And that was just, like, what they did.

[Kate]

Was he out there?

[Nicole]

Yeah, he was everybody. Because I had seen his picture.

[Aaron]

No, it was.

[Nicole]

It was. I.

[Kate]

You saw his head.

[Aaron]

How'd you see his pictures?

[Nicole]

It worked out. We would send them to each other. We'd email him, I'm sure.

[Aaron]

Email them.

[Kate]

Okay.

[Nicole]

Or, like, just like. Because it's what you could, like, send. You didn't, like.

[Aaron]

Did you ever, like, webcam? Did you ever webcam?

[Kate]

Probably.

[Aaron]

Probably.

[Kate]

It's giving Gypsy Rose.

[Narrator]

Well, and then.

[Nicole]

Then I think we became boyfriend and girlfriend.

[Aaron]

Kate's got her floral pillow in front of her face.

[Kate]

I'm crying.

[Narrator]

Wait.

[Aaron]

Okay. Did you ever see him again? What's going. Yes.

[Nicole]

So then I lied to my mom. I really hope my mom doesn't listen. So I lied to my mom.

[Aaron]

It's tuned in right now.

[Nicole]

I told my mom that. And I'm sure I had already lied. I think I told her whenever I got caught with, like, the phone bill that I had met him at, like a. Like a volleyball game. Like, that I'd met him through a school thing. Like, oh, his schoolmate. I think I. I totally lied and did not. And maybe she knows this. Honestly, she could know this and just not have one of brought it up because it. I didn't get murdered. But I. Then at some point, I remember my mom taking me over to his house once. And, like, my mom, like, we went on a date. And like, my mom. I remember my mom dropping us off and me walking him, like, back into his house once. So we became, like, a thing.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

But my mom didn't know where I had met him. But that was the only time.

[Kate]

Okay, how. What grades was this? Like, how long did this middle school?

[Nicole]

I would say, like, late. Late middle school, possibly early high school. Like, 13, 14.

[Aaron]

Gotcha. And. And what. What happened to the relationship?

[Nicole]

I don't know. You know, we became. We were actually Facebook friends. He's not very active on Facebook, but we did become Facebook friends. I remember my freshman year of. Of college or whenever Facebook went public, we did become Facebook friends, but I don't know. I hope he'. He's doing great, though.

[Aaron]

You're currently Facebook friends with him?

[Nicole]

Yeah, but I don't get on Facebook.

[Aaron]

What's his first name?

[Nicole]

And I don't think he posts. I'm not saying,

[Kate]

but do you guys remember? Like, I remember when my crush would pop on. I would immediately.

[Nicole]

That noise.

[Kate]

The noise. And I would create a status right away. Like, an AO away message.

[Aaron]

Being like, she had a strategy.

[Kate]

Because I was so scared. He wasn't even gonna talk to me. But, like, I was just freaked out. So I'd be like, brb, soccer practice period. Run away.

[Nicole]

Kate.

[Aaron]

You were like, what's up, Al?

[Kate]

No. Were you? I. No. I didn't talk to boys, to be honest. Like, I was like, I remember seeing them. I remember his name was Brett. Like, I'd see him pop on.

[Aaron]

So would be. That's where that name comes from in all your videos.

[Kate]

Oh, that's cool person. Brett is a full person. And I. I saw. Oh, my God. I was like, come on. He watches your videos. I'm sure he knows my brother's best friends with his brother. It's very apparent who he is. Like, that's great.

[Nicole]

Never been like, hey, Kate, can you use somebody?

[Kate]

I told the brother drunk a couple years ago. I was like, did you know, like, your brother is like, Brett in all my videos? And, like, I don't think anything came out of it, but, like, it's so appealing.

[Aaron]

Okay,

[Nicole]

you mentioned. Hold on. You mentioned the. The sound of somebody logging in. Are you gonna play some sounds?

[Aaron]

Please, Please.

[Nicole]

Okay, you ready?

[Kate]

Yes.

[Nicole]

So that. Hold on. Let me start this over.

[Aaron]

Yes.

[Nicole]

So the door opens.

[Aaron]

Nothing brings me back like that.

[Nicole]

But then. So you'd see your crush log in, and then you'd go to open up a message with them, and you'd hear this. That means they signed off.

[Aaron]

Is he mad?

[Nicole]

Did you guys get that one?

[Kate]

I know I have curse.

[Aaron]

Like, he didn't say bye. Like, what?

[Nicole]

Right?

[Kate]

That actually just brought back a flashback of, like, that also happening when you would pop on. Then your crush would disappear.

[Aaron]

Yeah, you're like, right.

[Nicole]

Oh, did you leave the Room because

[Aaron]

I walked in also your buddy. You guys, your buddy list. Like, would you organize it like my crush and it just be like one of one. You know, you'd have a family.

[Nicole]

You'd have a family section that was

[Aaron]

like your brother friends.

[Kate]

Huh?

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Or your cousin, you know, that lives across the country.

[Kate]

Wait, do you guys also remember the fonts? Like you can change like the font.

[Aaron]

The colors?

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Kate]

You could be like purple and yellow and comic San.

[Nicole]

We were coding. We were coding.

[Kate]

Yeah, we were.

[Aaron]

And it all started on like, the language, like brb, ttyl. That started on aim, right? I'm assuming.

[Kate]

Yes. Yeah.

[Nicole]

Because I feel like texting wasn't a thing yet. Like, AIM came before text messaging, really. Right.

[Aaron]

I mean, it's before I was texting.

[Nicole]

Or did those acronyms come from. Because typing out a message on texting took so long. Maybe, maybe texting. Actually, I don't know.

[Aaron]

Maybe it started with text.

[Nicole]

That's interesting question.

[Aaron]

But we were all doing the same language on aim. You know, it's just kind of fun.

[Kate]

Yes. Do you guys still use like BRB GT?

[Nicole]

Oh yeah.

[Kate]

G2.

[Nicole]

Oh yeah.

[Aaron]

G2.

[Kate]

G. G2G. I even instead of laughing now, I'll be like, LOL. That's how I laugh now. Oh, I'll speak it out.

[Aaron]

Did you lol or like, oh, but

[Kate]

I'll say it though now instead of laughing in real life.

[Aaron]

Lol.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

I say BRB out loud.

[Kate]

Yes, of course. Also, I don't really have a laugh. Like, I don't know how to describe this. Ever since I was young, Like, I don't like Nicole distinct laugh. Aaron, you have a laugh. Like if you hear me laughing, that's an audible sound I'm producing. So people know. I'm like, pete, are you manufactured? Manufactured? Like I've had to produce a laugh over the years because geez. Because like when I laugh, this is me laughing. I probably smile a lot on this podcast because that's me laughing like you.

[Narrator]

Hehe.

[Aaron]

I feel like you hee hee a lot.

[Kate]

This is my laugh here. Ready? It's just like a bunch of breaths. So I'm like, look, that's me like making sure you know it's funny. But. But now I started going like lol. Or like lmao.

[Aaron]

So if you're ever laughing at something I say, I'm never going to think.

[Nicole]

I know, right?

[Kate]

It's just because I don't have a vocal. It doesn't happen. Like, I like, yes, I. I do think it's funny. But you don't naturally laugh.

[Nicole]

Internal.

[Kate]

Like, like, it's more of me joining in on the party.

[Aaron]

Like, like you're never laughing so much you're peeing your pants.

[Kate]

Or like, usually, like, it'll turn into like, it's more of a breathy laugh.

[Aaron]

Okay, well, okay.

[Kate]

Like, yeah, we could anyways. But that's why. Back to the acronyms. That's why I brought it up is because I say a lot of them out loud. Like lol. I think it's.

[Nicole]

Well, I saw. I saw that there was. There's some videos about Gen Z saying, like, millennials, you've got to stop putting LOL at the end of everything. Did you guys see that one?

[Aaron]

I did, and I will never stop, so suck it, Jazzy.

[Nicole]

Somebody said my favorite one was, like, guys, just write it in cursive. They won't be able to read it. Exactly.

[Kate]

Did we have a. No, we didn't have emojis on chat. It would be like the colon.

[Aaron]

Okay. Do you guys remember the buddy icons? Do you guys remember those?

[Kate]

Vaguely. Remind me.

[Aaron]

Q photo buddy icons. No, I don't.

[Kate]

Wait, can you remind me?

[Nicole]

Maybe?

[Narrator]

I don't.

[Nicole]

Yeah, pull it up on your phone.

[Aaron]

Okay.

[Nicole]

Fun fact. My husband thought lol stood for lots of love until like 8 years ago. So he was using lol and completely wrong.

[Kate]

That's really. Oh, I'm sorry your dog died. Lol.

[Aaron]

Do you remember these at all?

[Nicole]

Is that. I don't.

[Aaron]

So wait a minute.

[Kate]

Vaguely.

[Nicole]

Wait a minute.

[Kate]

It almost feels like a fever dream to me.

[Nicole]

Wait, so where would they show up on the screen? Where would they show up on the screen?

[Aaron]

I think. I don't even honestly really remember. I've recently come across these and I'm like, oh, my God, I forgot about these. I don't know if you could put them in your buddy list next to. I don't really remember. Someone let us know in the comments.

[Nicole]

I feel like they were in the chat for some reason. I feel like they were in like the. The singular.

[Aaron]

Maybe people.

[Nicole]

I don't know.

[Aaron]

Maybe.

[Nicole]

Yeah, my brother was like an alt kid and he used icq. Did you guys ever. Have you heard of icq? I've heard of it. Different. Yeah, it was kind of like. I feel like the. We're like the nerds did chat stuff.

[Aaron]

Oh, my husband used MSN Messenger.

[Nicole]

Oh, yeah, there was msn.

[Aaron]

Can't relate. Also, you guys, we haven't talked about just like logging on to aol. The dial up sound like hello. It would take like an hour and a Half to log into aol. And that dial up sound could raise us all from the dead.

[Kate]

Do you guys remember the first time, like, you heard the dial up sound like. I remember. Really the moment. Remember in the.

[Aaron]

Describe it to us.

[Kate]

Okay, so in the mail, you would get an AOL, like CD ROM for 50 free minutes or 100 free minutes. That wasn't free. But I'll never forget that we got it in the mail and I saw the AOL thing. I put it in and it just, it. The sound, it started to like, dial up. And of course it costs money. Like, that really. That CD ROM really wasn't free. But like, I just remember hearing the sound in my basement. One computer that we were all. I was sharing with two other brothers also. I just remember, like, having to beg my mom to get off the phone with my aunt so I could get on aol. Let's start there. Just battling with your mom who would be on the phone all the time.

[Aaron]

Yeah, you had to schedule computer time. It was like, if your sister wanted the computer, this time is make sure no one's on the phone. Make sure no one's gonna pick up the phone. It was a whole thing.

[Kate]

I forgot.

[Nicole]

We got. We actually got a second phone line at a certain point.

[Aaron]

Okay, millionaire.

[Nicole]

I know, I know.

[Aaron]

Computer in your room, second phone line. Anything else? You guys are billionaires.

[Nicole]

Luckily my. No, My dad was a big tech guy. My dad's always like, he. To this day, he's like the first one to like, get rid of his phone to get a new phone. We had a. We had a bag phone in our car. Like, he was. He was always big on, like, getting the latest technology.

[Aaron]

You had a phone in your room, didn't you?

[Nicole]

I did, I did. My brother and I. When my brother and I were supposed to share the second phone line, whether that was for talking to friends on the computer. So then it became that of battling with my bro. Brother for like, well, I want to talk to my friend. Well, I want to be on the Internet and play Halo. Like, so then he and I would fight and my parents were like, you guys figure it out. Oh, I had a clear phone, baby.

[Aaron]

Are you kidding me?

[Nicole]

I had a clear phone.

[Aaron]

I didn't actually know anyone in real life with a clear phone. Really?

[Nicole]

Oh, I bought one.

[Aaron]

YouTube.

[Nicole]

I'm sorry. On. I bought one on ebay and I use it in my photo shoot. I brought it to our photo shoot. It's in our. It's actually, I think it's in our cover photo. That's the one I bought off of ebay and I. They have these converter kits where you can convert, like, you can hook it up to your iPhone. Have you seen that? Where people are, like, trying to get away from their phones, so they, like, are making it look like a wall phone and you can hook, like, what Kate just held up, like, an old school, like, receiver to it. I thought about trying to do that, getting a little kit and using it. But also I'm like. But I don't answer the phone. I don't answer the phone though.

[Kate]

Right. You know what else I saw, like, in line with that? It was on Tick tock. It's like a. It's. You could put. It's like a. It's basically an iPhone holder, and you put it on the wall. So you're supposed to, like, leave your iPhone on there. It's supposed to, like, mimic, like, having

[Nicole]

the phone as if it were attached.

[Kate]

I would hang it up for two minutes and then walk back to it.

[Nicole]

I know.

[Kate]

Unfortunately, there's no way. Even. Even if, like, I hook my phone up to, like, a landline phone, like, it's just not gonna work. Like, I.

[Aaron]

It's a nice thought.

[Kate]

Carry my phone, like, in my underwear. Like, it's just with me everywhere I go.

[Aaron]

It never leaves my stupid.

[Nicole]

It's terrible. Well, and I think maybe that's what made also, like, chat so special, was because it was a physical place.

[Aaron]

Do you know what I mean? Like, so much more magical.

[Nicole]

I would be so excited to get home from school and get on the computer or when my parents would fall asleep. I used to, after my parents would fall asleep or in summer, because they would just leave us home at way too young of an age. All summer long, like, our parents would just go to work and leave me and my brother home, and I would wake up before my dad and I would hide, and the second I would see my dad's car leave the driveway for work, I would be on that computer chatting. But it was a physical place that, like, you could leave and you could come back and you would be like, oh, what did I miss? Like, okay, let's get back into it. Like, so it's interesting anymore.

[Aaron]

It was an event.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Or you would coordinate, like, hey, like, you'd have to coordinate being online at the same time, because that was the only way that, like, you'd literally have to sync up.

[Aaron]

Yeah. Like, hey, I'm gonna be on Amadinus 7, so don't miss. Huh?

[Nicole]

Exactly.

[Kate]

That's so cute. I forgot about that. The only, the only thing is like, I feel like that's how I. The only rush of I get of that is like after the movies, like when I turn back on my phone, like, what did I miss? Like, it turns out, but I'm like addicted. That's the only difference. It's not like it's more of like an addiction. But that's so cute. I remember like telling my friends, like, oh, after dinner, like 6pm we'd all like hop on for a couple hours and I'd be on my family chair just like spinning and just like, oh, did you guys have a computer room? Well, Nicole, you had a computer in your room. But like earring. Did you have like the computer room?

[Aaron]

The computer room. And it's. It's still in the same spot. It's in a. It's in a guest bedroom. So it wasn't. It's all own room right next to me and my sister's room. So that was nice because there are people out here and I know their computer room was like in the middle of the family room or in the middle of like, you know what I mean? With people just walking behind them. I couldn't imagine that. So I had the privacy at least being in a room. No one was like walking behind me. Where was your computer room?

[Kate]

Mine was in the basement.

[Aaron]

So it's nice, like, right.

[Kate]

Like my brothers would be like playing video games and it was fine. It was at least it was at the basement, like away from my family. But it definitely was just like every time I wanted to log on, I swear to God, my mom was always on the phone, like, get off. We were screaming at each other or my. I had an older brother, so he was like in high school, when I was in middle school. So it would be like, of course he was at the age where he wanted to talk to everybody. But I also had my business to talk about. Like, right. I was also thinking about like what we talked about. Like, I would. I remember like matching outfits. Like what we're gonna wear to school

[Nicole]

was coordinating for the next day.

[Kate]

Yeah. Yeah, that was a big one.

[Aaron]

I remember arguing one of my best friends. We would always. We both had big crushes on Paul Walker and we'd always like. And I don't know why I remember this, but we'd always like joke that like, Paul Walker's at my house. Like right now. She's like, no, Paul Walker's at my house right now. He's sitting on my lap. I'm like, no, he's not that's weird

[Kate]

because he's sleeping on my lap.

[Aaron]

We would always do that.

[Kate]

Anyway, also going back to our sleepover

[Aaron]

episode, talking about three way calling and asking, like you being on mute and having your friend ask, you know, do you have a crush on Da da. We would do that on aim, you know, at a sleepover, whatever. Your friend would be talking to your question like, do you like Aaron? You know, we. That was a big thing we did

[Nicole]

on aim, not knowing you're in the same room watching the conversation.

[Kate]

Right?

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

Or I would just straight up ask guys. Like, I remember just being like, hey, do you think going down the line, do you think my friend blah blah is cute? Right around 1 to 10. And I would like ask a bunch of rate her.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Oh, you know what? Now that we're talking about rating, I think that sounds a lot worse than calling the girl that was not invited to take over. Oh, girl. No. I mean, we all did stupid things. We're honestly, we were so young. Like, it just doesn't. I'm just trying to help you out, Aaron. We were so young.

[Nicole]

I remember. So do you remember Smarter Child?

[Aaron]

I was just gonna bring that up.

[Nicole]

No, my brother told me that it was him. And so I for. Until not that long ago, I thought that Smarter Child was just my brother effing with me.

[Aaron]

What do you mean until not that long ago? Like yesterday or what?

[Nicole]

Well, like, I went through my entire AIM experience never knowing Smarter because like, I don't know, I just never talked to anybody about that. Or maybe the other people just didn't interact with it. I don't know. It never came up in conversation about Smarter Child.

[Aaron]

So.

[Nicole]

Well, after I had True, that's true. AIM for the very last time and not known it, somebody mentioned Smarter Child, I was like, wait, you know Smarter Child. And my brother just like told me like my husband's dad once told them he invented Schlosky's bread and they just never brought it up. So they thought their dad invented Schlosky bread for their whole life till they found like into the 30s, he was like, no, I didn't. So it just never came up. And I never questioned it. And then come to find out, everybody, it was just a bot that I thought was my brother screwing with me.

[Aaron]

Are you asking the weather movie times,

[Kate]

I would ask Smarter Child over and over to swear and they're like, oh, yeah, do that.

[Nicole]

Yes. It wouldn't.

[Aaron]

No, no.

[Kate]

It was like, I didn't do that.

[Aaron]

Me too.

[Kate]

That's so fun. I spent so Many Friday nights just talking to Smarter Child. And then I'll never forget, there was a version. It was called Santa Claus. Like, there was also, like, different. Like. Yes. There was, like, one moment where you could talk to, like, there was. It was like the. It was almost like the sister of Smarter Child. Santa Claus. No one.

[Nicole]

Oh, I missed. I missed that one.

[Aaron]

I don't remember. Yeah. What Smarter Child didn't tell me about Santa Claus.

[Kate]

The crazy thing is now I want to, like, look that up to see if maybe it was your brother. Like, maybe I was talking to somebody. But Smarter Child, that was the original,

[Aaron]

like, such a moment. GPT. Yeah, original AI right there.

[Nicole]

I played pool a lot. I remember playing Yahoo.

[Aaron]

Pool.

[Nicole]

Did you guys play pool? You could chat. Play pool at the same time? No.

[Aaron]

Okay. At the same time.

[Nicole]

I know I was just a. Just.

[Aaron]

No, I wasn't playing pool. I wasn't. Yeah, No, I wasn't playing. No, no, that sounds fun. I would have done that. Actually, you guys, when you talk about away messages, that's what we need to talk about.

[Nicole]

Oh, yeah, you guys. The creative.

[Narrator]

The.

[Nicole]

The creativity. I can't think of a greater platform for creativity. Because you could change. Well, you could do. You could do emojis in them, right? You could do, like, sparkles and stars and stuff. It wasn't like, like, like emojis as we know them now. It was more of, like, shapes. Yes, you could do.

[Aaron]

You have to build up, change color, you know? Shocking. You couldn't do music. They really dropped ball on that one. We would do lyrics, of course. Very cryptic. Very cryptic.

[Nicole]

Yes.

[Kate]

The most cryptic. What was. Aaron, I feel like you had some cryptic ones. I just have a few.

[Aaron]

I could.

[Kate]

Let me guess.

[Nicole]

I could not Let me. Because your. Are your eyes hazel? Would you classify your eyes as hazel, Aaron? I feel like if there's a. Behind these hazel eyes, I'm sure I pulled that one.

[Aaron]

But I don't. I don't have a memory of any exact away messages I did. Do you guys remember, like, it. I don't remember any.

[Kate]

Only soccer practice. Like, always being like, brb soccer practice.

[Aaron]

Yes.

[Kate]

I was like, always letting people know I was booked and busy. Like, sorry, like at the mall. Like, going to Claire's.

[Aaron]

Okay.

[Nicole]

Social calendar, school.

[Aaron]

My sister would always do that. Not to call her out, but she would always have a way messages, like, hit me up. Like, currently in the hot tub. Text me something, something. And she'd be like, in her room. Like, I'm like, like, what are you? She'd say at the mall. She wasn't. I'm like, you're lying. I don't. Anyway, you lied.

[Nicole]

I feel like I remember Googling, which may. I don't know if Google even existed, but I feel like I remember searching for ideas for away messages and I really remember there being like zanga blogs that had like, that's like, that's gonna have to be.

[Aaron]

It's all an episode right there.

[Nicole]

But no, I feel like I remember looking him up.

[Aaron]

Okay. I don't remember doing. Damn, I wish I could remember exactly.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

But did you guys ever print out your AIM conversations?

[Kate]

Yes. Like, for some reason it's coming back to me.

[Aaron]

Okay. Like, to show your friends. Like, first off, sorry to, you know, sorry for using all the printer ink on this 30 page conversation, but I like really needed to show my BFF this conversation between me and Ryan so she could like dissect it and let me know. Like, do you think he likes me? Like, what are you thinking about his answers to all these questions, you know?

[Nicole]

Yeah, that's very like Housewives reunion, like receipts.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Timeline proof.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Kate]

I have it all printed out.

[Aaron]

This folder right behind me on the couch. Yeah.

[Kate]

I love that you talk to boys on AM AIM because I just never experienced that. Like, I really never. I was just so scared. No boys wanted to talk to me.

[Aaron]

So.

[Kate]

That's crazy, Eric, that you were like,

[Aaron]

you weren't talking to boys either, Nicole.

[Nicole]

I mean, I feel like I maybe would get the courage every now and then, but my strategy would probably be like. My strategy was always like, I'm going to be friends with them. So I was, I was friend zoned. Nine times out of ten, I was friend zoned.

[Aaron]

But you were talking to guys in chat rooms.

[Nicole]

I was ourselves. Strangers. Yes.

[Aaron]

Correct. To strangers. Who knows? And Kate, you were never, you never talked to somebody by yourself in a chat room?

[Kate]

No, not a guy. Like, besides, like that one person with my. Like besides the one girl we meet up with my two other friends. I was never, ever, ever talking to guys on.

[Nicole]

That's probably so wild to me. You never pretended to, like, you were never like. Well, other than the one time, like

[Aaron]

he didn't have a go to ASL.

[Nicole]

Florida. Right.

[Aaron]

19 female. California was my go to all the time. Of course. I wonder what I said my name was. I don't remember.

[Kate]

I was only. Only when we were faking as that girl. We would do asl. Yeah. Why We've not talked about ASL yet, though.

[Aaron]

Hello.

[Kate]

Like, we need to bring that back.

[Nicole]

That's actually we started.

[Kate]

I wonder how that you should all.

[Nicole]

How did that come from?

[Kate]

We should all change our Instagram bios

[Aaron]

to like, we should or.

[Nicole]

That's a fun one.

[Aaron]

19 female California or to 19 California.

[Nicole]

39 female Texas. Ain't nobody would talk to me now with that asl.

[Aaron]

No, I would. It would get scary in those chat rooms. And then you'd, like, go out of the chat room and be like, hey, I'm gonna, like, you know, you. You'd talk to somebody in there, and then you'd bring the combo out of the chat room. Oh, but I never. I never. Nicole was out here meeting up with people an hour away. I. I never gave out my phone number. Shockingly, like, we got a lot of DMS for our ASL segment coming up later. A lot of people were giving out their addresses, their phone number, their emails, and talking to people on the phone. I never. It never left the chat room for me. Like, I kept it in the chat room.

[Nicole]

Oh, I remember being asked, hey, will you mail me a picture of you?

[Aaron]

Oh, wow. Yeah. And I was probably like, no.

[Nicole]

I do remember I learned Photoshop that I got real good at Photoshop whenever I was Photoshopping myself to look like somebody I wasn't when I was, like, 13.

[Kate]

Really?

[Nicole]

That's probably how I ended up going into graphic design, because I was real good at Photoshopping.

[Aaron]

Oh, I did not know about Photoshop.

[Kate]

Then you had a photo. I wish, like, you had these documents to show, because that's hilarious.

[Narrator]

And.

[Nicole]

Well, and it started with just squeezing the photo, like, making it. And I probably looked like 9ft tall because I would just make. Try to make myself look skinnier by, like, squeezing the whole room smaller. And then I just got more and more sophisticated and I was able to.

[Kate]

The chairs around you, right?

[Nicole]

It's like, why is the strip on the wall?

[Kate]

The blinds are like, yes. Oh, my God.

[Aaron]

Also, before we go into our next segment, though, do you guys remember chain emails? I just wanted to bring that up. When you would get an email and it'd be like, if you don't forward this to seven people, you' to your whole family's going to die. Or like, something like that.

[Kate]

Remember, I send those out so seriously, to those cases just in case. I.

[Aaron]

It's like, I just forwarded one yesterday.

[Kate]

Did you guys get it for the holidays? If you. I search them for the holidays, it's like, well, they're like, really inappropriate. It's like, okay, this is so bad. I'll be, like, happy, like, half happy. Like, giving, like, hold up.

[Aaron]

You know what?

[Kate]

Let's stop, stop.

[Aaron]

Let's move on to the next.

[Nicole]

No, no, no.

[Aaron]

Actually, keep going.

[Kate]

No, you know what? I can't even.

[Aaron]

Wait. You'll find these. And forward. You started them.

[Kate]

Okay, let me just show you. Let me show you. Okay. It's like a tradition my friends and I send to each other. Okay. I literally typed in, okay.

[Aaron]

You're keeping traditions alive.

[Kate]

It's great. And it'll be like, send this to like, 10 people or else you get, like, bad luck. Oh, my God. Hold on.

[Nicole]

Okay, that's cute. So it's. It's like making fun of itself. Chain.

[Aaron]

Yeah, it's not the dark, scary ones. That was like, oh, no. Murdered.

[Kate]

Like, I'm just gonna read a sentence of this. It'd be like, what's good? You. Candy cane. Candy cane Guzzler. December is here. You know what that means? Ho, ho, ho. Season is around. Like, it's crazy. I'll send one to you guys. Share. Sharon. 69 seconds or you don't. We won't be getting. You know what? This is so inappropriate. Let's move on.

[Aaron]

What's next?

[Nicole]

I'm just upset that we haven't.

[Aaron]

Do not send that to me.

[Nicole]

I don't know. You can send it to me.

[Aaron]

No, Then I'll be convinced I'm gonna have bad luck in the.

[Nicole]

No, I don't.

[Aaron]

No. I'll be like, well, you send this

[Kate]

to 35 people in 69 seconds.

[Aaron]

69 seconds. I don't.

[Kate]

I don't know.

[Aaron]

35 people.

[Nicole]

Oh, my God. Is she wearing the new Juicy Couture?

[Aaron]

Okay, speaking of chatting with strangers on the Internet, but let's hear your stories. Let's jump into the ASL Anonymous story lounge segment. We asked you to send in your crazy AOL chat. Chat room in general stories. Any embarrassing screen, any of the online lore. Mostly chat room, though, is what we got. Because that's.

[Kate]

I cannot wait.

[Nicole]

I just hope I feel way less bad about some of the decisions that I made by hearing these stories.

[Kate]

I think you're about to. I really do. Like, I think they're all gonna be

[Nicole]

like, I'm not the only idiot.

[Kate]

Okay.

[Aaron]

Yeah, this will. They'll make you feel better, I think.

[Nicole]

Thank you.

[Narrator]

Okay.

[Aaron]

Okay. Some stranger I talked to hacked my computer. They must have been a pretty advanced hacker, too. He was able to change the wording on every drop down menu to say, I'm gonna kill you. Looking back, my dad kept it pretty cool. Must have just not wanted to scare me. I have no idea how he went about getting that fixed, but I wasn't allowed on after that. I feel so bad. Even him as an adult didn't know anything about what I was doing or how this stuff works.

[Nicole]

What?

[Aaron]

Change the drop? What?

[Nicole]

I would not recover from that. That's terrifying.

[Aaron]

That's terror. I wouldn't have been able to sleep ever again. No.

[Nicole]

And, I mean, I like the. The rational part of me now probably knows it was just some teenager being silly, but that's intense.

[Aaron]

But the. That's an. That's an advanced hacker.

[Nicole]

That's true. To be. Like, I wouldn't even know how to change the drop.

[Aaron]

That's scary. Thank God she didn't give out her.

[Kate]

Wow.

[Aaron]

Like, anything else to that person.

[Nicole]

Watch. It was just her dad teaching her a lesson the whole time.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

That's crazy.

[Kate]

I feel like if that were to happen today in 2026, like, FBI would be involved at this point. Like, it's just one of those things. Like, unless there were no rules back then. Yeah. It was just hard. Like, it almost was like a harmless prank someone did. It's like, oh, okay, move on. I don't know. Now today, like, you just can't. That stuff just. I don't know. That was bad then, but I think it'd be extra worse now.

[Aaron]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Kate]

Wow. Okay.

[Aaron]

Here's another one. My friend and I were about 12. Weren't we all? Okay. We were on what I think is called Talk City. Our username was hotmodel roxyol.com the trip. Because we would tell people we were a PacSun model and could find. They could find us on the web page. On page three, the blonde in the Roxy bathing suit. We would talk to all kinds of guys. This is how we saw our first penis.

[Narrator]

Okay.

[Aaron]

A guy sent us a picture of him holding it in his hand next to a water bottle. This is also how we found out what role playing was. We would go online every day and use the same intro until her dad came in and had all of our conversations printed out on paper. He had a software set up on her computer that monitored all of our activity. He went through all of them, asking what we were thinking. And there it was, the dick pic printed out very largely on a piece of paper.

[Nicole]

Tea wasn't coming to play.

[Aaron]

I told and showed my parents. So we were both grounded from the computer for months. We were the first catfish. Sorry. To everyone who thought Hot Model Roxy was their online girlfriend.

[Nicole]

I would. I would leave my own body if I had to be in that conversation.

[Aaron]

So I'm running away.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Yeah. Thanks, dad. This has been great. Never will see you ever again.

[Kate]

Oh, that would be.

[Aaron]

He was monitoring all of her activity. Whoa.

[Nicole]

My life would flash before my eyes. Right?

[Kate]

I mean, at least she was in it with her friend. That's the only silver lighting grounded together. Like, we did this. But that's horrific.

[Aaron]

Well.

[Nicole]

And honestly, it's probably for the best that he, you know, found that and taught them that lesson before something horrible happened.

[Aaron]

But like.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Oh my. And I. What's funny is that is bringing up a memory of me. I do feel like I would lie to people about who I was. Right. Because you could steal. Anybody could steal. You could say you're anybody. So that does like, I. I do feel like there was a thrill. I probably stole a picture off the Internet of some other girl that was not me. And that feels safer anyway. Right?

[Aaron]

Like true. You don't want me sending your own picture.

[Kate]

I know. It was like.

[Nicole]

Oh my gosh.

[Kate]

I feel like it was giggles like though, like you would fake. I don't know. There was like a funny thrill to just pretending to be somebody else.

[Aaron]

Of course. And it was all new. Like this whole. This whole chat rooms were so new and everything. So we were just. Yeah, okay, here we go. Okay. Not AOL chat room, but Yahoo Chat. My parents had just gotten divorced and I lived with my mom. We moved houses several times in a six month span. I'd log on Yahoo as a way to escape reality, I suppose. I suppose. I was in a room one day for teens from Kentucky. I saw someone ask if there was anyone from my area. I lit up and responded. Then radio silence. I went on about chatting and a few minutes later he reappeared. He had been disconnected and had been trying to find the room that I was in. We chatted for a few days and during that time learned we went to the same high school and had mutual friends. He had graduated the year before but knew of me when I played basketball. Long story short, I ended up meeting him in person in a group of my friends. We've been together for almost 23 years and have a beautiful daughter. Okay, there's a. There was a lot of stories of people who are married to someone they met in a chat room or on aim.

[Nicole]

It's like the original online dating, I guess. I'm so glad that this original love

[Aaron]

is kind like people talking.

[Nicole]

Not go to that.

[Aaron]

Yeah, I know there was a lot of like stories like that. They're like, we've been married for 20 years.

[Nicole]

I'm like, that's good.

[Aaron]

Whoa. Like

[Nicole]

a chat room that says like teens of Kentucky that like nobody in there is actually a teen. So I'm glad that that worked out.

[Kate]

Right? That's so funny. Kayla just wrote, our producer said AIM walked so Tinder could run. And it's so true. But you're right. I even think though, it is more like love is blind. Like you couldn't see somebody. You'd make this connection and it's either trust or. Yeah.

[Nicole]

Nicole, you're so much wider in person. I don't understand. You're so much wider than your chat room story.

[Aaron]

I remember I talked to so many members of NSync on AIM. Yahoo cartoon like, like 10 year old me was convinced each time a new person was like, I'm Justin. I'd be like, yeah, of course we talk on aim, remember? And I was so clueless. They were all different people pretending. I told everyone I was 17, female Florida again. I was 10, from Wisconsin. I had never been to Florida or beach before, but I was out trying to convince JC to fall in love with me. Then I remembered some guy started talking to me and he was clearly playing it off like he was Travis from Blink182. I had no idea who that was. And he kept doing his script to show off. And I was polite, but basically was like, oh cool, you're trying to be in a band like NSync. That's so cute. Hope your little band does well. And logged off. Also, Stranger Danger wasn't even a thing then for my parents because it was so new. My dad did a full photo shoot of me posing in the most modest 90s kids outfits so I could print them off and send it to my pen pal who I told my dad was a nine year old from Florida but vacationing with their grandma in Canada. But really, I was convinced it was JC from nsync. And I had no explanation why he was in Canada, but convinced myself he must be on tour in one place in Toronto. Also, I told him I was 17, but my little sister dressed me up so I might look younger and my dad dutifully sent those pictures in a handwritten love letter off to what I now assume was a full grown man, but it didn't even cross his mind that it was unsafe. So, like, the dad did a full photo shoot to send to a stranger on the Internet.

[Kate]

She thought anyway, wow, again, that just goes to show how new it was.

[Aaron]

The poor dad had no clue.

[Nicole]

Yeah, he did not know what he was involved in. Well, it's funny because I feel like our parents. The stranger date, stranger danger was a thing. But we were never warned of online strangers. It was always like, don't talk to strangers in real life. We weren't warned about these types of strangers. Right.

[Aaron]

Exactly.

[Nicole]

When that's really what we should have been.

[Aaron]

I don't know what I was thinking when I was talking to people in chat rooms. I think I was like, this is an old. I think I was this. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know if I was like, this might be some 45 year old creep was.

[Kate]

I think. I don't.

[Nicole]

I don't think the gravity of it could. I don't think there was enough frontal lobe development to understand. Right. The, like that it was wrong.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

It was just exhilarating at the time because it was like we weren't supposed to be doing it. But it didn't feel dangerous to us at the time.

[Kate]

No, I would just like pretend I was like an old woman and then go do my homework. Like it was really fine. Also, do you guys remember Omega or something like. Or Megal? Like Omegle. Wait, no, no. Chat room, sorry. Chat.

[Aaron]

Chat roulette.

[Kate]

Roulette, sorry.

[Aaron]

I remember chat roulette.

[Kate]

I feel like that was the evolution of like chat rooms then. It was like you enter a chat room but you're like video. And it'd be like, yes. You'd like skip to the next person. You maybe see like one penis and then you skip to the next one.

[Aaron]

Like, right.

[Kate]

Was so weird.

[Aaron]

Chat roulette was a drinking game we'd do in college when we were pregaming. We go and chat roulette.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I was in college.

[Aaron]

Time you saw. You saw.

[Kate]

You saw again. But that you may have been.

[Nicole]

You were probably in high school. Kate. I remember it was my senior year of college. Kate. It must. Or Aaron, it must have been early in your college. And then. Kate, you must have still been in high school. We did it a couple times. And of course, like, boys ruin everything that's supposed to be fun on the Internet. So once penises got involved, we were like, okay, ew, we're done. Yeah, I did a couple times.

[Aaron]

Same.

[Kate]

It was like. It just felt like it was like aim, but with like videos. That was it.

[Aaron]

Would you ever talk to anyone about it?

[Kate]

Yeah, sometimes I'd be like, oh, I'd see like a cute boy and I'd be like, we'd talk for like 10 minutes. Then I would like move on. But it was like, nothing more. Wow.

[Aaron]

Okay. Okay.

[Kate]

Well, I wasn't talking to boys for so long that I felt like this was, like, the only way. Oh, it's kind of weird. Let's. Oh. I guess, like, the evolution, though, today of AIM maybe is like, Instagram dms. I don't know. Like, you know, like, you're talking to somebody.

[Nicole]

But maybe. I guess because text can have group chats, you know, Now I almost feel like what was so fun about AIM was phone.

[Aaron]

Like we've said before, you could. It was a thing you would go to and then you would leave or text. Everyone's texting 24 7. Like, you know, you can't leave the Internet now. It's just there all the time.

[Nicole]

Well, no, I have so many group chats that I have to mute the notifications for because they just don't stop.

[Aaron]

I know it's overwhelming, you guys.

[Kate]

I don't even respond. I only respond to you guys in, like, my family group chat. Like, I am just, like, the worst texter. It's not an excuse. It's just. I just don't text.

[Aaron]

Yeah, don't respond.

[Kate]

It's so bad.

[Nicole]

I'm the same, but I also didn't answer the phone, so I'm a terrible, terrible friend. Do you want to know what's funny is I don't remember the last time. I don't remember, like, an abrupt AIM being over. Like, do you guys have, like, I don't remember the last time I got on it and logged. It's just so interesting how, like, something is your entire life and all that matters, and then you just stop using it.

[Aaron]

I do have a memory of talking to one of my best friends on AIM about Facebook. I remember her telling me, I know a guy in college, like, only a few years older than us, who can send us an invite to get into Facebook. She had to have a college email, or you had to get invited. And I remember that was probably one of the last conversations. It was like, oh, sweet. Let's bop on over to Facebook then.

[Kate]

Wow. I feel like in college I was using Skype as almost like aim. Do you get. Did you guys do that at all?

[Aaron]

No, not really. Isn't that so weird?

[Kate]

Wait. No, I made that up. I'm so sorry. It was Facebook. You would see people with the green light. Do you guys remember?

[Aaron]

Yeah, because you could chat. You could chat and Facebook.

[Kate]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was Facebook. I was chatting with people.

[Aaron]

Yeah. More.

[Nicole]

Well, and I think, too, I. I feel like I do remember a Shift of, like, when I went to college, I feel like I suddenly had, like, a social life, and I wasn't on my computer in college nearly as much as I was in high school.

[Aaron]

So true.

[Nicole]

So that could be it, too. That we just were away from our computers more.

[Kate]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

And it did transition to Facebook, I think, and. Yeah, but. But, yeah, we were not.

[Nicole]

It's true.

[Narrator]

My God.

[Nicole]

Is she wearing the new.

[Aaron]

Okay, should we. Should we move on?

[Kate]

Let's do it. Is it. Hear me out now.

[Aaron]

Hear me out. Whose turn is up? Okay, no pressure.

[Kate]

My notes.

[Aaron]

This better be a good one.

[Nicole]

Wow.

[Aaron]

You've been practicing.

[Kate]

I've been thinking about it. I've been thinking about it.

[Aaron]

Oh, I got. I. I've got to think about, or else there's no way I could get my thoughts out.

[Kate]

Okay, hear me out. We need to stop rebooting every 2000s movie and TV show at the risk of not being invited to another red carpet. Over this past year, we have seen Devil wear, Devil Wears Prada to freak your Friday. Mean Girls. Malcolm the Middle. But not everything needs to have an update. What makes an original special is that. Is that the stories belonged in that moment of time. We see the fashion, we see the old technology, how we used to interact in school. Instead of trying to recreate something from 2004, let's create something original for now. And let's be real, reboots never live up to the original. I see. If I see one more Lion King reiteration or something about Liz McGuire, I will lose it.

[Aaron]

No, it's honestly. It's honestly getting out of control. You know, it's. Because it's never going to be as good as the original. I just thought, you know, I just saw something there about the Parent Trap. They're doing something with the Parent Trap. Lindsay.

[Nicole]

No, no.

[Aaron]

I saw something about 13 going on 30. Romy Michelle's high school reunion.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

Cheetah Girls, the Legally Blonde show. That's out now. The. That's a prequel.

[Kate]

I get it down. I get that. Like, I think there's, like, this surge of, like, people want all this, like, nostalgia, and people are loving it. And now parents with kids can watch it. But, like, there's something so magical of, like, turning on Parent Trap and seeing it from 1998. It has to stay like that. Just keep it and think of something new.

[Aaron]

Yeah. Because I just started watching the Legally Blonde prequel, whatever the hell it's called. L. And I don't feel like I'm in 1995. Okay, let me just Tell you, it looks very costumey. It's just not, it's just, they're not, I just feel like they're not taking the time to do their research and do it really well and write, and they're just like. It's just like a, they're just throwing it out there for money and.

[Kate]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Nicole]

Yeah, it's less that, like, it's less that. Don't do it. But if you're gonna do it, you need to do it right, because if you don't do it right, it's gonna be completely wrong. And it almost tarnishes that original thing.

[Aaron]

I know.

[Nicole]

Doesn't feel essential anymore because it's been screwed with Nicole.

[Kate]

Like Spice World. That your poster in the background, I think somewhere I saw that they're gonna put it back in theaters. So instead of, like, rebooting something, I love that idea. Like, yeah, let's just Parent Trap in theaters. And how would that be?

[Aaron]

Like, I love.

[Kate]

Did we just solve it?

[Nicole]

Yeah, because so then my daughter can experience what I experienced as it was. You know what I mean? In a movie theater. Yeah. So the Spice Girls just finally retained the rights to Spy. I guess they've, there's been this legal battle behind the scenes of them not owning. That's why it's not gone on streaming anywhere. And they just got it back. So they've been teasing that something very soon is going to happen with Spice World, but no, I, yeah, I get, I feel ya. Although, didn't I hear I still haven't seen Devil Words Part 2. I feel like people said that that one was actually good.

[Kate]

Bad.

[Nicole]

Maybe not.

[Aaron]

It was bad. I actually haven't watched it either, you guys. Oh, wait. I, I, I heard it wasn't that bad, though.

[Nicole]

No, I heard maybe our expectations so low with, with sequels that if they, or if they're not horrible, they're not too bad, because sometimes I will avoid watching them because I don't want that experience that Kate's talking about. So I'm like, I'm not even gonna, I'm not even gonna watch it because it's gonna be terrible.

[Aaron]

I know. And I, I, I get excited at first, but then it's like, but is this necessary? Like, did this story need to continue or did this need a prequel? Like, the L1 doesn't quite make sense if you really think about it. She's like, in Seattle. I'm like, what's going on here?

[Kate]

Is it based, Is it supposed to be based in the early 2000s? I haven't watched.

[Aaron]

Oh, 1990. It's the year 1995. And no, it's fudgeing not.

[Nicole]

Does it feel like a Gen Z stylist was trying to recreate the 90s?

[Aaron]

Yes.

[Kate]

Yeah. Maybe I will just, like, watch. I'm not. I don't know, I'm just like, not as into it like, all these reboots. I'm just like, not. I'm also such a reality show person at this point that I'm like, let's bring back real world, maybe. No, it wouldn't work. Forget it.

[Aaron]

It wouldn't work. That's a thing.

[Kate]

It wouldn't work.

[Narrator]

Work.

[Aaron]

We're doomed anyway.

[Kate]

We. I think we are doomed. And maybe we just end on that.

[Aaron]

So we're doomed.

[Kate]

Tune in next week. Perfect.

[Aaron]

Yeah. Okay.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Aaron]

Tune in next Thursday for submit your stories, vote in the polls, follow us on socials, leave a review. And this is you had to be there. The exclusive club to lock to. What is it happening to whatever someone else take over.

[Kate]

Unlock your best memory.

[Aaron]

We're doomed.

[Kate]

You had it.

[Aaron]

We're doomed.

[Kate]

We're doomed. Log off, touch grass and we'll see you next week.

[Aaron]

And we're doomed. Ttyl bye bye.

[Narrator]

You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby. You had to be there, baby.

[Nicole]

Thanks for listening to you had to be there with Kate, Nicole and Aaron. You had to be There is produced by Sick bird Productions, Deanna DaCosta, Kayla Foreman and Rachel Derbyshire. If this episode unlocked a core memory, subscribe wherever you get your podcast and leave us a five star rating. See you next week for another trip down memory lane.