Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Child of the 80s


It's scary how many of these things applied to me! Sorry it's so long, but take a little trip down memory lane! (P.S. - It's not original with me :)
Being a Child of the 1980’s
Your first date took you to the roller rink and you held hands for “Couples Only” skate. You wore a banana clip at some point in your youth. You know what “Push Up” ice cream is. You know the profound meaning of “Wax on. Wax off”. You wore fluorescent or neon clothing. You could breakdance or wish you could. You wanted to dress like the Hulk, She-Ra, He-Man, or Rainbow Brite at Halloween. You believed the “By the power of Greyskull,” that you “had the power.” Partying “like it was 1999″ seemed soooo far away. You wanted to be on Star Search. You remember Michael Jackson when he was still black. Your first Walkman weighed about as much as a brick. You owned a doll with “Xavier Roberts” signed on its butt, or knew someone who did. You knew what Willis was “talkin’ ’bout”. You hold a special place in your heart for “Back to the Future.” You know where to go if you “wanna go where everybody knows your name.” You actually thought “Dirty Dancing” was a REALLY good movie. You have heard of the “Garbage Pail Kids” and possibly owned and traded them with friends. You got a Little Professor calculator for Christmas. You knew “The Artist”, when he was humbly called “Prince”. You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game. You own any cassettes or records. You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we’d all be living on the moon. You remember and/or owned any of the CareBear glass collections from Pizza Hut. Poltergeist freaked you out. You carried your lunch to school in an ET lunchbox. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female Smurf. You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish, or know someone who did. You ever had a Swatch Watch, and a Swatch Guard for it. You had a crush on one of the Corey’s (Haim or Feldman). You had to stay after class to scrub your desk because your silver Outliner pen leaked through. You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny. You were in Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts but now you have no idea what all the badges you got were for. You know what a “Whammee” is. You thought eating Reeses Pieces would attract your own alien. Your name is Jennifer or Jason. You had a poster of Rob Lowe, Kirk Cameron, Michael J. Fox or Don Johnson on your wall. You held the top score on PacMan. If you ever said “I pity the fool”. Your dream car was either: the A-team van, KITT or The General Lee. You were sad when the “Where’s the Beef” lady died. You remember when Ricky Martin was a member of Menudo. You wore a feather roach clip in your hair from the local carnival because you didn’t know what it really was. You remember when cellular phones weighed 15 lbs. and had to be carried over your shoulder. You had to come in the house when the street lights came on. You still know the Big Mac song. “Two all beef patties, special sauce…” You own a real Rubik’s Cube. You think there should be a Kids Incorporated original cast reunion. You used to own a Snoopy Sno Cone Machine. You have a tendency to turn the collar up on your Polo shirts. You know what the “P” in Alex P. Keaton stands for. You remember exactly where you were when you heard the space shuttle had exploded. You could go through a case of Aqua Net hairspray in a week. Your first computer was a Commodore 64 or an Atari 800. You thought being a latch key kid was completely normal. You were disappointed when an episode of 3-2-1 Contact didn’t include a Bloodhound Gang segment. There were days that the homework just had to wait until the ABC Afterschool Special was over. You know what movie the phrase, “Number 5 is alive!” is from. You remember when Molly Ringwald was on Facts of Life. You tried a can of clear Pepsi but hated it like everyone else did. You wore the little bootie socks with the colored balls on the back. You wrote your boyfriends name on the side of your canvas Keds. You just had to have a Trapper Keeper to stay organized at school. You remember when McDonald’s served their burgers in styrofoam boxes. You remember when you could buy half cans of soda (great for field trip days!). You like the guy who played Freddy Kruger better as Willie on “V”. Four-square was THE playground game. You were afraid of the Sleestacks on Land of The Lost. You chewed Dr. Pepper bubble gum. You know who played Uncle Ned, Elyse’s brother, on Family Ties. You never thought they’d be able to top the special effects in TRON. You played with Lego’s when they were just blocks of various sizes, not any of the special little parts. You made Star Wars shrinky dinks in your oven. You owned at least one Choose Your Own Adventure book. You watched Mary Lou Retton win the gold. The Dark Crystal and The Never Ending Story are still two of your favorite movies. In many of your childhood photos you are wearing something plaid. You still love to play Pong. You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a basket. Your roller skates had metal wheels. You begged Santa for the electronic game Simon. You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every imaginable color. You wore the Little House on the Prairie inspired high neck, ruffled, plaid shirt in at least one school picture. You can sing at least one song from “Annie” by heart. You would tape songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker. You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes. You had the shoelaces with the rainbow or heart designs. You had slouch socks, and puff painted your own shirt at least once. You can remember watching Full House and Saved by the Bell for endless hours. You have seen at least 10 episodes of Fraggle Rock. You thought that Transformers were “more than meets the eye.” Schoolhouse Rock played a HUGE part in how you actually learned the English language. “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang was one of the hot new songs when you first heard it at a school dance. You owned one of those embarrassing crimping irons. You used to hold in your head the thought that all those gold chains on Mr. T actually looked kinda cool and the thought that Mr. T made millions seemed rational to you at the time. You remember with pain the sad day when the Green Machine hit the streets and made your old big wheel quite obsolete. You’re starting to get that “why aren’t you married yet” spiel, not just from parents, but now from friends that are married. You ever wanted to be gagged with a spoon. When someone mentions two consecutive days of the week, the Happy Days theme is stuck in your head for hours on end.
I love my childhood.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Ahhhhhh! I won't tell you how many of those references strike a chord with me; I wouldn't have enough room in this post. Words and songs stick in my memory so now I've got the Happy Days song stuck in my brain. :) Back to the Future is still the best movie ever. I totally forgot about garbage pail kids until this post - I used to have their stickers. The were the grossest; like totally gag me with a wooden spoon!

Katie said...

This is pretty funny! I especially liked the references to Cabbage Patch kids, push-ups, banana clips, Aqua Net hairspray and neon colors.

Jenny said...

Hello! It was CRYSTAL Pepsi, and I totally had the Crystal Pepsi T-shirt that I tied up at the waist to go with my 2-colored scrunch socks!

(and now dad wears that shirt to paint in...) Good Times.

Jeff said...

Hi Pamela,

I found your blog over at Biblical Womenhood. Nice to see another fellow Pennsylvanian. This post gave me a good laugh and brought back many good memories. Thanks!

Shyla said...

"two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions ona sesame seed bun!!"
My mom even had sicks with this sing on it!!
I LOVE THE 80's! LOL

Karen said...

Hysterical! I'm embarrassed to have nodded my head and said, "O yeah!" to MOST of those horrific things! :) But it was cool! In 20 years we'll look back at the '06 list and laugh again!