Christopher Setterlund, In My Footsteps

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 227: Dungeons & Dragons, 2000s Product Fails, Most Influential Songs Ever(1-14-2026)

Order a copy of my debut film, Cape Cod Cthulhu!

The history of Dungeons & Dragons, some of the biggest product fails of the 2000s, and some of the most influential songs ever written.

Episode 227 asks you to warm your feet by the fire that is GenX nostalgia as we navigate the dark days of winter.

It kicks off with fails, and lots of them. We go back to the turn of the 21st century to laugh and shake our heads at some of the biggest product fails of the 2000s. Automobiles, sodas, tech bombs, and more will be discussed.

As Stranger Things ends its run, it is a perfect time to deep dive into one of the iconic show's biggest themes, Dungeons & Dragons. We will give an overview of the game's history, how to play it, and how it has influenced GenX and pop culture in general.

In a new Top 5, we will go over some of the most influential songs ever written. These are the ones that impacted the business as a whole, not to mention generations of future musical acts.

There is a new This Week In History and Time Capsule looking back to the creation of the Telegraph.

You can support my work by becoming a member on Patreon.

Or you can Buy Me A Coffee!

Helpful Links from this Episode

Listen to Episode 226 here

Monday, January 12, 2026

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #103: Snow Picnic, Exciting Laundromat, Job Applicant, etc.

1. We’ve had a snowier winter this year than in the last few so far. Granted, we haven’t had any huge storms, just a bunch of smaller ones. Going back to work after the holiday break, I had thought that the parking lot would have been plowed, boy was I wrong. According to the owners of our building, they had plow guys scheduled, but they never showed. Nice. So the employee and customer lots were a mess. It was fine for us in the back, but not for the customer lot. We have lots of people who come in who are in their 70s and 80s. Many of them are also getting their backs and hips adjusted, so the last thing they need is to be walking to or from their cars across a skating rink. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. The irony is that once the plow people finally showed the temperatures had risen and everything was melting, so they weren’t even needed.

2. Even though the warmer temperatures helped with the treacherous conditions in the customer parking lot, it didn’t make the employee one much better. Because it wasn’t plowed, the snow turned to a slushy mess. I was lucky enough to have to take out our trash. Not only was there a few inches of slush around the dumpster, which instantly soaked my shoes, but it was only the beginning. Apparently, the snow had been heavy and wet enough that it knocked a tree down onto the back of the dumpster. This meant that I could actually get the top opened, but only so far, since a damn tree was lying on the back. I had to slosh my way to the dumpster, put the gross trash can on my shoulder, pray nothing spilled out onto me, and then, with my other arm, lift the top about two feet and pour the garbage in. There were a few F bombs on my way back inside for sure.

3. It’s not every day that you get a copy of the film that was your first acting role. I ordered a Blu-Ray DVD copy of Cape Cod Cthulhu, my first acting role, this week. In high school back in the 90s, I spent all of my savings on a camcorder in the hopes of becoming an actor or director. Maybe I’ll never be a breakout Hollywood star, but I got to act in a film that got distributed & will soon be available to stream. Later this year, I will try my hand at producing a feature-length film. It shows you can’t ever stop chasing dreams; they don’t have expiration dates. You can order a copy of the film here: Cape Cod Cthulhu

4. In 2018, I had to take a detour from personal training and head back into cooking. It was necessary due to the financial situation. I worked at a retirement home called Mayflower Place. There, I met many people who made my return to cooking not only bearable but fun. One such person was named Alan. He was around my age, so we chatted about sports, music, and trash-talked about a few people we didn’t enjoy working with. He battled his demons in the form of alcohol. At one point, he was so bad that his skin was yellowing from advanced liver damage. He got clean and made a full recovery. It was an inspiring journey. Alan passed away suddenly and way too young this week. I have no idea what the cause was, and it really doesn’t matter at this point. He left behind a son still in high school. It definitely reminds you that your number can be called at any time. There is a GoFundMe set up to help his family with expenses. I am linking to it here if you wish to donate or share. RIP Alan.

5. The washing machine is out of commission where I live currently, so I had to take a trip out to the laundromat. Major first-world problems that I had to driving to wash my clothes. It gave me the opportunity for one of my favorite spectator sports, people watching. It was a slow time at the laundromat, so there were slim pickings for people. There was nobody weird, which was sad. The highlight for me was a little girl who had to be 4 years old. She was so happy to be there that she was singing and squeaking in these high tones. It wasn’t an isolated incident either. I was in there probably a total of 20 minutes, and she squeaked and squealed and sang the entire time. It was pretty funny and very cute. Considering she was in a laundromat, I wonder how excited she gets going to McDonald’s or a toy store, or something like that?

6. I finished the first season of The Paper, the spin-off of The Office, and I enjoyed it. I say ‘first season’ because the show was renewed before even debuting in September 2025, and there should be new episodes probably by the end of this year. If you watch the show, try not to compare it to The Office. It’s not that, and it’s such tough expectations to live up to. I found it to be a fun watch, with some likable characters. It’s about the documentary crew from The Office working on their next project, which is a struggling Ohio newspaper. There are some connections to The Office, but it mostly stands on its own. I’m trying not to give spoilers if you want to binge all 10 episodes on your own. It’s weird how in this streaming world, a ‘season’ of television is usually 10 episodes or fewer. My hope is that The Paper gets several seasons to really flesh out characters and stories. I mean, The Office had 201 episodes, hopefully The Paper can get close to half of that.

7. At my job, we are passively looking for a new person to come aboard. They would be a part-time trainer and chiropractic assistant. This would allow us to open up some more time in the schedule for patients and clients. I say passively because there’s no push for it currently, but if someone comes along, we definitely give them a look. Several months ago, a stereotypical trainer applied. He was incredibly rude and condescending not only to our office manager but to my boss as well, referring to him by his name and not ‘doctor.’ I mean, if you’re applying for a job and you call the boss Joe and not Dr. Joe when he’s a doctor, it’s a sign that you’re a jackass and we don’t want you working with us. Flash forward to this week, and we get an application. This guy is looking for some part-time PT work and even name-drops me, saying I went to his gym. I had no idea who he was. Our office manager started feeling like it was deja vu, so she searched his email address in our archives. Sure enough, it was the same guy from before. He basically acted as though he had never applied before. Sorry pal, we’re way smarter than you think. I had to laugh at his nerve and also his complete stupidity. Hard pass.

8. Like many people, I have begun the new year with an eye on getting in better physical shape. It is a lot of eating better, tracking calories, and obviously hitting the gym. It is a struggle between a slow and steady pace and trying to reach the goal as fast as possible. I am straddling that line. I figure the more I do at the gym, the more it loosens the reins as far as the amount of calories I can have. I use a Fitbit to track my activity. I’m actually wearing it as I type this, not burning many calories now, though. Anyway, it will adjust my settings according to how hard I am training. I realized this week that I must be working hard. That is because my Fitbit said that I had exercised 6 out of the last 5 days. Yes, that’s not a typo. I guess I have been going so hard since 2026 began that my workload was the equivalent of working out an extra day’s worth. Needless to say, to avoid falling off hard, I’ve had to scale down my training. I’d rather need an extra month to hit my goal weight than fall off totally and have to start over, or worse, start from a worse position somewhere later this year.

9. This year has begun with me working on the first draft of the script I am writing for my hopeful first feature-length film project set to happen later this summer. As of this writing, I am on Page 32 of what I think will be 70. It’s a step out of my comfort zone, but I feel like I am improving with each day I work on it. This script work is having an unintended benefit. If I can get good at drafting scripts, who's to say I can’t start creating them for other projects? One such idea is a potential television show based on my experiences working in the restaurant business. It would be set in the 1990s and would be a wacky comedy with heart. Sort of like The Office, where you’d have crazy things happen, but it’s also character and relationship-driven. In maybe half an hour, I came up with more than 60 potential story beats for the show. Some of them could be expanded upon, some are crazy enough as is. I feel like these stories, the characters and relationships, along with the nostalgic setting of the 90s, would make it a fun show to watch. I am messing around with the idea now, but I am a little more serious about seeing if I could do this. Of course, the first question is: How do you pitch a television show pilot? One step at a time.

The setting of a future TV show?

10. I have worked as a personal trainer in my daily life for 10 years. I have several other certifications to my credit and have trained hundreds of people toward living better lives. Despite thinking I might have some knowledge in the area of fitness, I have to laugh at the fact that those closest to me either never ask me for health and fitness advice, or they do, but don’t actually do anything I recommend. I don’t make these huge sweeping life-changing suggestions. I advise on small, incremental changes that are sustainable. Still, no follow-through from family and friends. I wonder if it is like this for people in other fields. Do doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others have their closest friends and family ask them advice and then just not follow it? I feel that with me, it’s like if I can’t guarantee the maximum impact for the least amount of effort, nobody is interested. Taking creatine is great. Oh wait, what? I have to actually exercise with it to get the most benefits? It’s like taking a diet pill and gorging on fast food. You only get out what you put in.

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 226: 1996 Year In Music Part 1, 1960s Advertising Mascots, 1990s Fitness Fad Fails(1-7-2026)

Order a copy of my debut film, Cape Cod Cthulhu!

Happy New Year!

The first podcast of 2026 is filled with all of the GenX nostalgia and pop culture you could want!

Episode 226 kicks off with a look at 1990s fitness fad fails. Common New Year's Resolutions revolve around health, fitness, and weight loss. We will look at some products, diets, and exercise equipment that were marketed to those looking to achieve a healthier life. Unfortunately, not all of them were successes; some were downright dangerous.

A new year means a new look back 30 years into the world of music. This week, we look at 1996, the year in music, focusing on January through June. News, songs, albums, and general thoughts about the music scene are here in this segment.

The first Top 5 of 2026 goes back to the first golden age of television commercials. We look at the most fondly remembered product advertising mascots of the 1960s. Many of these still exist to this day. How many do you remember?

There is a new This Week In History and Time Capsule looking back to the creation of FM radio.

Happy New Year to all of my listeners!

You can support my work by becoming a member on Patreon.

Or you can Buy Me A Coffee!

Helpful Links from this Episode

Listen to Episode 225 here

Monday, January 5, 2026

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #102: Winter Storm Names, Stranger Things, New Year Intentions, etc.

1. I still don’t understand the point of naming winter storms. As of this writing, there is a Winter Storm Ezra coming toward New England. Like, who cares if it has a name? Did meteorologists feel sad that only hurricanes were getting names? Also, does anyone remember any winter storm in the last few years by its name? I sure don’t. What’s next, naming every day after someone? Oh man, look out, Partly Cloudy Pete is coming today. In 20 years, I’ll tell the younger generation ‘You should have been there for Foggy Drizzle Dan, it was so mildly inconvenient. Then again, every day is International (something pointless) Day, so I guess naming winter storms tracks.

2. Currently, I am on a holiday break from my day job. We do it each year from Christmas to New Year's, basically because the one year we didn’t, our schedule was maybe half-full, and my boss rightfully didn’t want to pay us full-time to be standing around half of the day. I’ve been using the free time to work a lot on content and also hit the gym more in advance of any New Year’s resolutions. That being said, I could tell my body was starting to wear down with how hard I was working out at the gym. It got to a point where my Fitbit had to basically order me to take it easy. Yes, Fitbit, whatever you say. I will gladly take a day to sit and relax. It didn’t hurt that the day it told me to chill, it was 25 degrees and windy out. Much easier to relax when the thought of going outside is too much.

3. This was a sure way to kill the mood of a day. I wanted to do some work on my script for my film that will shoot late this summer. Rather than sit at my desk as I always do, I decided to head to a local library. Typically, I get good creative vibes from writing at a spot different from home. Well, I should have just stayed home. I drove all the way to this library, and it was packed because it’s school vacation week. That was no big surprise. I went in and found a desk in the back corner and unpacked my laptop. I noticed they had new chairs. These were brightly colored and padded but also very low to the ground. As soon as I sat in the chair, I knew I’d never be able to work there. The desk was basically chest height. It was ridiculous. No more than 30 seconds after sitting, a big fat guy with headphones sits at the desk next to me. His being there was no big deal until I heard the music. This jerk had his music so loud in his headphones that I could clearly hear it, and it was distracting and obnoxious. I sat for maybe 2 minutes before being so aggravated that I packed up my stuff and left. It took me longer to drive to the library than the time I actually was inside. What an absolute waste of time. All it did was piss me off to the point that I no longer wanted to write.

4. One thing I have been doing for my Patreon subscribers is remastering and sharing these livestreams I used to do for my podcast. About 4 years ago, I was going live on Instagram weekly and doing something called Without A Map. I’d review the most recent podcast episode and invariably go wildly off-topic into fun and wacky stories. I fix the audio, edit any dragging parts, and enhance the video to make it a better experience for my subscribers. I had been downloading the original videos from YouTube to edit. This week I went to grab the next in line and noticed it went from #10 to #12, no #11. I also noticed my Without A Map playlist only went up to #28 when I knew I did way more. I wasn’t sure what to do since, after the streams would end, I’d have to save them to my phone and then upload them to YouTube. What happened to the other streams? Luckily, a little research showed me that all of those ‘lost’ streams had been bundled in with my reels on IG. I was able to go into my archives and find #11 and download it. Oh, and I ended up doing 49 streams in total, so there’s plenty more content to come for my Patreon subscribers.

5. I headed out after dark one night this week to grab a few quick things at the store. I had barely taken a few steps and was reaching for my keys when I noticed something a few feet beyond my car. Then I noticed another, and another. 3 big shadows sneaking across the neighbor’s yard. It took me a moment to figure out that they were deer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough getting my phone out for a photo. Even if I did, it was dark, and it would have either been blurry or the flash would have lit up my car. It was shocking for sure to suddenly see 3 fully grown deer emerging from the shadows. They went across the street into a small conservation area. That conservation area is a haven for deer, coyotes, foxes, turkeys, and owls. I haven’t gone down in there to find out; it’s just that there are way too many of those animals lurking around the yard, especially in the warmer months. Now I’m going to have to be at the ready with my phone anytime I go out after dark in case the deer are hanging out again.

6. The finale of Stranger Things was an amazing and fitting ending. The show was 5 seasons of a trip back to my childhood. Granted, I would have been younger than the main cast when the events were happening in the 80s. In fact, for those who know the show, I was the same age as Holly and Derek and their crew. I won’t spoil things for those who will be watching, especially since it was literally New Year’s Eve when the finale premiered. It must have been watched by a lot of people since Netflix was glitched out for several minutes when the show went up at 8pm. Stranger Things had so many wonderful characters and actors playing them. We got to watch them literally grow up before our eyes. The thing is, for as beautiful as the ending of the show was, it was ever so slightly traumatic for my GenX mind. It was like reliving my childhood, yes, but then it was also like watching my childhood slip away all over again. I don’t think I was ready for that, and judging by social media, a lot of my GenX brethren weren’t ready for it either. So at least I am not alone. I will miss new episodes with the killer 80s music, product placement, and references that people of my generation understand. Rumor has it that there are at least a pair of spin-offs coming. One is an animated series based in 1985. That one’s confirmed. The other is top secret, but I have heard rumblings that it might be based around Nancy’s character. We’ll see. I posted it all over social media after the show aired, but once again, thank you to Stranger Things and the creators, The Duffer Brothers, for letting me, and so many other GenXers, relive our childhoods even for a little while. I even wrote a blog about how the show affected me. You can read it here: Stranger Things Have Happened: A GenX Fairytale

7. I have always had a wacky sense of humor. It comes out quite a bit in these blogs. When I was in high school, I spent my savings on a camcorder with dreams of being a film director. I loved using my creativity to make up the most random stuff to make skits. These were mainly to make my friends laugh. One thing I want to do more of in 2026 is crafting skits again, but this time for social media. They will probably be tougher to do now with all of my friends having jobs and families, or living far away. Still, I am looking for any and all creative outlets to explore since that’s the stuff that really makes me feel alive. Here is a little something I cooked up for New Year’s Day. I hope you like it.

8. In a strange but necessary twist, I actually turned down a couple of creative projects to kick off 2026. I’m not giving up my dreams of being a totally self-employed content creator. I am just being more selective with what I choose to spend my time on. This goes far beyond just content projects and goes into life in general. I have spent the last 5 years working nonstop on content. That means books, podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, editing, producing, acting, and anything else that floated into my orbit. I don’t regret any of it. That being said, I have a goal in 2026 that involves having more free time for family, friends, and maybe even finding a relationship. In order to achieve that, I had to start finding places that I could cut back. The pair of projects I turned down would have been fun and would have added to my resume, but they also would have required who knows how many hours out of my life. I can’t say ‘I want more time with those I care about’ and then not do my part to make it happen. I think of it as going to a buffet. In the last few years, I would fill my plate with anything and everything, overflow it. In 2026, I am still going to have a full plate, just with fewer options. All steak and mac and cheese, no rolls or cole slaw.

9. It has already been a snowier and colder winter this year than last, and it’s only been 2 weeks. We got the storm this week that left us with 3-4” of heavy snow. That’s not a big deal except for the fact that the temperatures stayed below freezing for the next several days, meaning that the snow and slush stuck around and refroze. I only realized there was an issue when I was leaving the gym one morning this week. I saw the frozen slush/dirt combo stuck in my wheel wells and under my front doors. It was so bad that if I had gotten any more up in there, my tires wouldn’t have had any room to spin. I kicked a little away, but most of it was frozen solid. Not wanting any problems with my car, I looked for something to chisel the sludge away. I found the perfect utensil in the form of a tire iron from my trunk. So there I was, in my gym shorts, on a 30-degree morning in the gym parking lot, chipping frozen slush out of my wheel wells with a tire iron. Two thoughts were going through my mind. 1. How crazy do I look? 2. This is going in the blog (obviously).

10. It was 10 years ago this week that my buddy Steve and I went on one of our best photo adventures. We were up early and drove out to Provincetown. Next up was a 2-mile hike through the darkness and the woods, over the dunes to get to Race Point Lighthouse. It was in the low 20s with the wind chill at, or below, zero. We sat with our backs against a brick building known as the Whistle House. You can rent it in the summer. It was freezing, and we would get up to take photos of the ever-increasing sunrise, and then quickly huddle back down. It was one of my favorite photo adventures ever. How did we celebrate the 10th anniversary of it? By going on another cold photo shoot. Only this one was sunset, and Nauset Lighthouse is only a few hundred feet from the parking lot. I guess we are getting older.

11. Earlier, I mentioned my hope/desire to actually start a relationship. Intentions without actions are useless, so I signed up on a dating app. A problem that I have living on Cape Cod is that the dating pool can be small, especially as you get into your 40s. In previous years, when I was on dating sites, it was nearly impossible to find someone because I kept my search radius low, like 25 miles. That works fine if you live in a city, but not in a relatively rural area like the Cape. An old friend of mine used to have her search radius so wide that she’d end up finding and dating people in Boston. I wasn’t willing to go that far until now. Well, not Boston far, but expanding my radius to 50 miles. That gives me places within an hour of me. It’s like I’m showing the universe I’m serious. How serious will I be when I find someone 50 miles away, and we have to plan a date that might involve an hour of driving? We’ll see. But maybe showing I’m willing to get out of my comfort zone will bring someone amazing into my orbit.

12. While at the gym one day this week, I finished with the actual workout and went to sign up for a session on one of the hydromassage beds. They are definitely worth the little bit extra I pay per month, for now at least. While signing up, there was an employee explaining the gym to two potential new members. Ironically, he began raving about the hydro bed. I mentioned that was why I was standing there. Before going into the room, I looked at the two potential members and told them that it was my favorite part of the workout. I also said I wasn’t a paid spokesman for the gym. I will say that if they did sign up for the more expensive package, I should get at least a little thank you, like a free drink or something.

Saturday, January 3, 2026

Stranger Things Have Happened: A GenX Fairytale

The final episode of Stranger Things only aired a few days ago when I am writing this. I can say I have never had a television show, and more specifically, one episode of a television show, affect me so deeply.

I have realized that, as much as it is my connection to the show, I mean, we watched most of the main cast go from children to adults, it’s also how the show put a mirror up to me and to my generation.

I am a proud GenXer. Born in 1977. Stranger Things was set in the mid-1980s. I lived it, so seeing so many products, hearing so many songs, and feeling the vibe of my childhood was comfort food for the soul I didn’t realize I needed so.

The problem with any television show is that it inevitably comes to an end. With the final episode came emotions that I don’t think I had felt in forever. I am not alone. On social media, I have come across literally hundreds of posts from people my age feeling the same way.

The youngest of GenX will be turning 45 this year. We were the last truly wild and free generation. The way the kids are portrayed on Stranger Things is reality. My friends and I would be all over the place on our bikes. We’d get into adventures and maybe a little trouble, but never anything too overly dangerous. Many younger people wonder how we dealt with the lack of convenience and technology. I feel bad for them as they will never know that type of freedom.

We were the generation that rolled with the punches. We became adults early and have felt like we’ve been so removed from our childhood innocence for so long. I began working at age 12. That means, as of writing this, I have held a job for 36 years. Still, I always had time for my friends and our growing up together.

GenX were the people who said ‘whatever.’ Like it was a badge of honor to never feel or care. Hell, they even created OK Soda in the early 1990s to try to appeal to our sense of nonconformity. There was one problem, though. We only kept our love and emotions below the surface. It feels to me like Stranger Things opened a door we had thought was long-since closed.

I will say now that I am going to share some spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the final episode, just beware.

My high school

2026 marks the 30th anniversary of my high school graduation. I think my emotions were ready to explode; they just needed something to light the fuse.

Stranger Things fittingly ends with the main cast graduating high school in 1989. The way that Mike, Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Max all act and feel as their time draws near, I felt it because I had been there.

It’s a weird mix of peaceful emptiness and quiet desperation. When the final weeks were ticking down to graduation, it didn’t feel like anything was changing. We still had class, we still had homework. The difference was that many of my peers had college acceptance letters rolling in.

The peaceful emptiness comes from the sad reality that you cannot change what was coming. I couldn’t stop us from graduating. I couldn’t stop my friends from slowly being pulled from my orbit and into a new one. It was resignation.

The quiet desperation came after graduation. We didn’t all just vanish the day after we threw our caps into the air. There was a final summer. This is where I scratched and clawed, trying to get those last memories stuck under my fingernails. I still remember the days when my two best friends left. Barry left first, John left second. I can see those final moments of that chapter of our lives. I enjoyed them, yes, but I also desperately tried to memorize the last jokes, the last places we went. I knew it would never be the same again, and it wasn’t.

When the Stranger Things kids skip a party they are invited to so they can play Dungeons & Dragons, I felt that. I didn’t want new adventures with different people. I wanted final adventures with my ride or die brothers. Those tears they shed as they returned their D&D binders to the shelf were real, as that scene was the last ever shot for the show.

It was a symbolic leaving childhood behind and entering the unknown door of adulthood.

A confession. I didn’t apply to colleges in my senior year. I planned on skipping a semester and then going to the local community college. For someone who took his SATs when he was 13, it was a major step back. Why did I do it?

First, I had been going so hard trying to be the best student I could since I could remember. School got harder in my junior and senior years as I wanted less to do with difficult subjects like trigonometry, calculus, and chemistry. I wanted to craft funny (in my opinion) videos with my camcorder and my friends. That was my ultimate dream.

Second, I had a girlfriend who was still going to be in school. In my mind, I needed to stay behind since our relationship was obviously going to last forever. It didn’t. It lasted 2 ½ years. At the time, though, as I was losing my closest friends, I still had her. I hung on in quiet desperation to what was familiar.

Nobody told me that if you’re going hard for years and you take your foot off the gas, it can be tough, damn near impossible to get that momentum back. Once I went to college in the spring of 1997, it was like pulling teeth to get a 2-year degree. I resented my choice, I missed my friends, I felt like a child still, despite being told I was entering the real world.

As the years go by, you get bogged down with daily life. Job, bills, responsibilities, maybe a family, they all become your focus. As I draw closer to 50, there are days when 18 feels like yesterday. There are days when I think I turned 40 a thousand years ago. Time gets warped. I am sure that I am not the only one of my generation who feels like we packed away our childhoods like a bunch of torn garbage bags thrown into a garage. We never really went through everything to celebrate or grieve like we should have. But how could we have known that was necessary?

The finale of Stranger Things flung the garage door open and launched our bags of emotions out onto the lawn for us to go through, whether ready or not. I was definitely not.

That moment when the first chord of Prince’s legendary Purple Rain hit, as Mike and Eleven stood together, I shattered. I knew what was coming. There was no happy ending for them. Yes, I know, it’s a fictional show, but it hit me because I related to Mike the most.

In the final scene, he is regaling his friends with the stories of their futures, but in the guise of their D&D characters. Mike was the storyteller. I was the storyteller of my group of friends. I spent my savings on a camcorder so I could create stories with my friends.

As he shared their stories, I saw bits of my high school friends in them. Then it hit me, hard, I am Mike. The other characters all get happy endings. Maybe Mike does, but it’s not in the obvious way. He loses his love and falls into the hole of grief. Later, he uses that grief and the love he lost to formulate stories of his friends' adventures.

Mike is the character I related to most.

I am writing this blog as we speak because of my own lost love. Back in June 2025, I wrote a very detailed post about this lost love named Wendy. I called it peaceful emptiness, much like I described my feelings after Stranger Things ended, and after graduating high school. I’ll link to that post at the bottom, but of course will give you the Cliffs Notes.

I met a girl at my lowest. I was battling severe depression, and she dragged me out of it by being who she was. She rebuilt me and made me feel like a full human years after my graduation. Then, almost as suddenly as she arrived, she was gone. The time, and our lives, just didn’t match up. She was a supernova of love that made me feel a way nobody else has before or since. I went hard into my writing career as a way to cope with losing her. In a way, I continue on that path because it makes me feel connected to her still.

In Stranger Things, we see that very likely Eleven did survive but had to fake her death and travel far away without anybody knowing. For close to 20 years, I was where Mike ended the show. I had no idea where Wendy was. She was basically off the grid. All I had were memories. Then the timing lined up, and I found her last June.

It was that peaceful emptiness because I found her and got that closure, but in doing so, I saw that she was where she needed to be. She was living an important and fulfilling life. There was no chance of my swooping in as a white knight. There was also no point in reaching out, as there was no good that could come of it. So I got my closure and just had to be happy with that.

Wondering how high school ended 30 years ago.

Stranger Things ending held a mirror up to me, and probably to many other GenXers. It’s forced us to reconcile with the fact that our childhoods were so long ago and that maybe adulthood hasn’t been anything close to what we felt we were going to get. Ironically, the finale threw me harder into a midlife crisis than anything in my own life has.

I look in the mirror at my gray hair winning the war on my head, and I think to myself, Is it too late? I never found a love to replace Wendy. I never found a job that gave me the satisfaction that creating my skits in high school did. I see so many friends who are married, with kids, and houses, and living lives they deserve. What do I deserve?

Do I deserve to be the de facto storyteller of my friends? Do I deserve to be Mike, sitting and writing said stories and dreaming of the love he had but knowing he likely will never see her again?

Even close to 50, I feel like I’m walking the halls at Dennis-Yarmouth High School, looking at the different students and wishing I were them, or wishing I were with them. I am deep in that pit of emotion. It's both a good and a bad thing.

I wanted so badly for all of the characters on Stranger Things to get their happy endings. The fact that it was Mike, the one I connected with most, who didn’t, hit me hard. The show might be officially over, but that doesn’t mean the story is. Remember that years after Rick was presumed dead on The Walking Dead, he was reunited with Michonne, Judith, and RJ. Maybe years down the road, it happens for Mike and Eleven.

It comes back to my life. Certain chapters have ended, but books can be reopened. I firmly believe that I am where I am in my life for a reason. Unmarried, no children, the freedom that if I wanted to, I could go virtually anywhere. There has to be a reason for that, right? I go into each day thinking that it could be the day that the next amazing adventure in my life begins.

Circling back to where we started. Stranger Things made me, and a lot of my generation, feel things we hadn’t in a long time. It perfectly encapsulated our 1980s childhoods so much so that when the show ended, it felt like our childhoods did again. It shows the power of a well-crafted television show. It also shows that the peaceful emptiness and quiet desperation we have felt is the telltale sign that what we had was something unique and beautiful.

To my fellow GenXers, we had a good thing. I’m glad we got to experience it. Maybe we can never go back to our childhoods, but there are always photos, videos, and, of course, a Stranger Things rewatch.

Peaceful Emptiness: Finding Closure After 20 Years

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