The decade began with a monumental presidential race. I remember voting for Bush in my elementary school’s mock election, because the idea of electing the former president’s son seemed neat for a seven-year-old. Though I couldn’t quite grasp the severity of the election, Florida’s time in the spotlight rocked.

More importantly, the Backstreet Boys’ album “Millennium” came out that same year. Like Bush, my opinion of the boy band would soon change.

2001

The next year brought with it an even larger event I could not understand. Then again, I don’t think anyone will ever understand the September 11th attacks. On a lighter note, the first Harry Potter movie premiered in the same year; Harry soon became America’s favorite wizard (sorry, Merlin). Remember the “Accelerated Reading” program? I aced the “Sorcerer’s Stone” reading quiz, and only saw the movie… and they never caught me, either!

2002

American Idol took the world by storm in 2002. William Hung hit it big with his riveting rendition of “She Bangs,” teaching me a valuable lesson in the process: sometimes it pays to not take oneself so seriously. We’re entering the show’s tenth season, and I still don’t care much for any of the winners’ music, but I have seen about fifty different “Pants on the Ground” remixes on YouTube.

2003

After the most intense game of “Where’s Waldo” known to man, American troops finally captured Saddam Hussein. The fifth-grader I was, I expected Hussein to count to 30 and then come find us…

2004

Another presidential election I didn’t understand. LOST premiered on ABC, and television was never the same again. Well, at least for me.

2005

Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans in 2005, leaving thousands of people stranded without food or water. During live coverage of the disaster on MTV, Kanye West blurted out that “George Bush hates black people.” Obviously possessing the impulse control of a small child, I immediately made bets with my friends that he would someday ruin a VMAs show…

2006

YouTube blew up. There now existed a medium through which people from all over the world could send each other links to videos of Rick Astley piping out “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Seriously though, the world had a new outlet to share creativity, ideas, and opinions. The site’s become so commonplace that Microsoft Word corrected my capitalization of “YouTube”— which apparently made its way into the dictionary— while I typed this story.

After a long run with our solar system, Pluto was sadly demoted from its status as a planet. I remember sitting in my eighth-grade science class, asking myself “My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine what?!”

2007

Ah, the year I entered Miami Palmetto Senior High. Need I say more? Apple released the iPhone, which was revolutionary, but as the owner of both a cell phone and an MP3 player… meh.

2008

Wow, what a year. Obama and McCain battled it out in the first election I really could comprehend. I immersed myself in all the political issues, but I still don’t understand why I should care about Joe the Plumber.

Michael Phelps took home eight gold medals after dominating the Beijing Olympics; I fit eight marshmallows in my mouth during a game of “chubby bunny.” Both of us became American heroes.

2009

Swine flu invaded our home soil. I drowned in a sea of hand sanitizer, and the country looked like something out of Fallout 3, as many people donned surgical masks.

2010

Marine animals in the Gulf of Mexico drowned in a sea of oil after BP’s careless and fatal disaster. It was a pretty somber finish for the decade.

Looking back, we have ten new years to get our game together and do things right this time around. Too bad the Heat only have six…