What was going on when I was born?

With his team inches from the goal line and the outcome of another football season at stake, the fortunes of the Nebraska Cornhuskers again awaited the decision of Coach Tom Osborne. For the second time in less than 11 months, he made the less secure choice and put his team in a position to preserve a No. 1 ranking. And again, the game and the ranking were lost. With a tie all that was necessary to gain a return to the Orange Bowl, the Cornhuskers chose not to try a short field-goal attempt that might have tied Oklahoma with less than 6 minutes to play. On fourth down from inside the 1, Jeff Smith, the senior I-back, was stopped head-on by Brian Hall, a defensive back, on the climactic play of Oklahoma's 17-7 victory at Memorial Stadium.

The nation's horse population is once again thriving as more people, especially in the heavily populated Northeast and in California, take up riding for recreation. According to the Agriculture Department, there were 8.4 million horses of all breeds galloping about in 1983, up from 6.2 million in 1971 - with much of the growth in recent years.

When they are completed, the brick-and-frame residences under construction on Bedford Road in Pleasantville, N.Y., will look like yet another of the town-house condominium developments that are springing up in just about every corner of Westchester County. But these units will be different.

TOM VOGEL, the manager of Arthur's, a clothing store in Westfarms Mall, was worried. Mr. Vogel said he had anticipated ''droves of applicants'' for jobs this holiday season at the mall in West Hartford. ''But where are they?'' he asked. ''I'm afraid we're going to be strapped. We'll be spreading our people thin and rearranging schedules in order to cover.'' Mr. Vogel is not alone. Managers of retail stores, supermarkets and fast- food restaurants across the statesaid they are having to work harder than ever to fill both permanent and seasonal job openings.

''I ever created by a French or Italian composer,'' said Sherrill Milnes recently. ''Otello also comes to mind, but he was concerned only about his own personal problems. Boccanegra has these, too, but his heart is immense - he goes much farther. I know of no other character who speaks with such love of mankind and who tries harder to do what we are trying to do now - getting people in conflict to live in peace. If he has a fatal weakness, it's his idealism.''

Instead of Park Place, there is Fort Salonga Road, and Boardwalk has been replaced by Woodbine Avenue. Both are major commercial streets in Northport, a village on Long Island's North Shore.

If you're realistic, we have an apartment for you,'' said Dennis A. Ryan, manager of the rental-apartment division at J. I. Sopher and Company, a large Manhattan realty brokerage. Realistic, he explained, means that someone who wants a decent Manhattan apartment must spend a minimum of $650 for a studio, $1,000 for a one-bedroom, $1,400 for a two-bedroom and $2,000 for a three-bedroom. ''And I'm not talking prime areas, either,'' Mr. Ryan said. For those people who are - for whatever reason - unrealistic, there is life after Manhattan. Names like Brooklyn and New Jersey may weigh heavily on some tongues, but these and other nearby areas offer some great housing alternatives. A survey of 25 well-established urban areas - and areas well on their way to being re-established - found good, affordable apartments within 15 to 45 minutes' commuting time from midtown Manhattan.

She was a curiosity and a cause cel ebre, at once the embodiment of bold new medical technology and of many ethical questions it raises. Death came Thursday evening, 20 days after the heart of a baboon replaced the faltering heart of the tiny, helpless infant known around the world as Baby Fae. But the arguments about the experiment may only be beginning.

WHEN Ken Sperling comes home from work and wants to talk to his friends, he turns on his personal computer and connects it to his telephone. ''WELCOME TO RACS I, A REMOTE ACCESS COMPUTER SYSTEM,'' reads the electronic message that appears on his screen. ''RACS I, A NICE PLACE TO VISIT. PLEASE, REFRAIN FROM PROFANITY.'' He hits a few keys and proceeds to read: ''Message No. 5656, re: Music/ Video. From: Christopher Huff. To: All. Subject: Hello again. Does anybody here like the Cars? Also, how many here have seen 'Jazzin' for Blue Jean' on MTV? If so, please leave your name and opinion in a message. Groupies always welcome.''

THE Brookhaven National Laboratory will receive about $2.9 million in funds from the United States Defense Department's Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as ''Star Wars,'' to conduct basic research on the effects of irradiation of semiconductors and electronic circuits, according to laboratory officials. Previously, the laboratory has received about $1 million a year in funds from the Defense Department, although the amount fluctuates considerably from year to year, according to David Schweller, manager of the Brookhaven area office of the Federal Department of Energy. The laboratory's total operating budget for the current fiscal year is $188.8 million; 78 percent of that total represents Department of Energy funds. ''To my knowledge, this will be the largest single amount we ever received from the Defense Department,'' Mr. Schweller said. ''Part of the fund will be used to build a new structure for the research.''

NASA has always had trouble drumming up business for - and inspiring confidence in - its space shuttle flights. Last week, the voyage of the spaceship Discovery offered the most dramatic sales pitch to date for the shuttle's services. In daring walks 224 miles out in space, astronauts salvaged two communications satellites that were fired into useless orbits last February. The mission completed ''the third leg of a triangle'' of jobs in space, said Jesse W. Moore, the shuttle program chief for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In April, astronauts repaired a crippled satellite and last month they practiced satellite refueling.

The informal or familiar essay is a wonderfully tolerant form, able to accommodate rumination, memoir, anecdote, diatribe, scholarship, fantasy and moral philosophy. It might have an elegant form or an amoebic shapelessness, held together by little more than the author's voice. Working in it liberates you from the structure of the ''well-made'' short story and allows you to ramble in a way that reflects the mind at work. You have an added freedom at this historical moment, because no one is looking over your shoulder. Nobody much cares. Commercially, essay volumes rank even lower than poetry. Phillip Lopate, a professor of English at the University of Houston, has written several volumes of poetry and essays and a novel, ''Confessions of Summer.''