REMEMBERING THE 80'S

I loved living through the 80's. Life seemed much more simple back then. Remember when we used to actually pick up a phone to talk to one another, or just stop in for a visit...now we text.  Remember when we paid cash for just about everything...now it's debit cards and visa. So many things have changed, but one thing is certain, it was a great decade that left its mark in music, movies, videos, toys, fashion, etc. 

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

80's Fashion: It's said that the clothing in the 80's depicted people who were trying to find themselves. They looked for ways to express their creativity and individuality. Men wore heavy makeup and grew their hair long. Women wore big hair and layers of clothing.

Parachute pants                                              Sunkissed hair                                                                                                    

Skin-tight acid washed jeans                       Blue Eyeshadow

Leg Warmers                                                   Fingerless Gloves

Miniskirts                                                         Teased Hair

Oversized tops                                                 Headbands

Hightop Sneakers                                           Swatch Watches

Jean Jackets                                                    Jellies

Aviator Jackets                                               Slouch Socks

Jumpsuits                                                        Huge Earrings

Spandex                                                             Ray-Ban Aviator Glasses

Neon                                                                 Hair Bows

Big Shoulder Pads                                         Big Belts

80's Music:  I had cassette tapes full of 80's music that I used to listen to all the time on my walkman or my ghetto blaster. "Good Stuff".

Michael Jackson                                               Aerosmith

Madonna                                                           Pat Benatar

Bon Jovi                                                             Paula Abdul

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts                          The Police

Go-Go's                                                              Sheena Easton

Cyndi Lauper                                                    Thompson Twins

Prince                                                                 Loverboy

Men at Work                                                     Journey

Duran Duran                                                     The Cars

Culture Club                                                      Bruce Springsteen

Glass Tiger                                                        Hall & Oats

80's Movies:  A few of my first memories of watching movies in the theater, were in the 80's. Some of the very first movies I went to were E.T., Star Wars, Gremlins and Ghostbusters.

Back to the Future                                           Ferris Buellers Day Off

The Breakfast Club                                          Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Dirty Dancing                                                    Pretty in Pink

Footloose                                                            The Goonies

Flashdance                                                         Top Gun

80's Television:  As far as I can remember, there were more programs geared towards the young adult audience than there is today, such as The Facts of Life, The Cosby Show, Different Strokes,  Full House and Roseanne. It was a wonderful time for being a kid. Other shows included:

Happy Days                                                       Three's Company

Laverne & Shirley                                             Fraggle Rock

Alice                                                                    The Incredible Hulk

Golden Girls                                                       Dallas

One Day at a Time                                            The Love Boat

Fantasy Island                                                   Miami Vice

Dynasty                                                              Littlest Hobo

80's Toys: I didn't have cabbage patch kids, but some of my friends did. In fact, the only toys listed below that I owned were barbies, skip it and hungry hungry hippos.

Cabbage Patch Kids                                         Transformers

Barbies                                                                Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Pound Puppies                                                   Pogo Ball

Care Bears                                                          Slinky

Skip It                                                                 Hungry Hungry Hippos

Strawberry Shortcake Dolls                            Rainbow Brite

80's Past Times:  Not sure about everyone else, but some of the things my friends and I used to do:

Rollerskating                                                      Swimming

Bike Riding                                                         Play 7-Up

Hopscotch                                                           Skipping

Skateboarding                                                    Video Games

Concerts                                                              Shopping

80's Sayings:

"Gag me with a spoon"                                     "Totally Awesome"

"Rad"                                                                   "Gnarly"

"Like, oh my God!"                                            "Gross me out"

80's Technology:

Commodore 64                                                   Fax Machines                                                

Video Game Consoles                                        Synthesizer

Walkman                                                             CD-Rom

Boombox                                                             Cell Phones

VHS                                                                      Cable Television

80's Significant World Events:

*John Lennon assassinated

*Beginning of AIDS pandemic

*Famine in Ethiopia occured

*Challenger Space Shuttle explodes

*DNA first used to Convict Criminals

*New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge drop on "Black Monday"

*Chernobyl Nuclear Accident

*U.S. Bombs Libya

*Assassination attempt on the Pope

Doing this blog brought back so many "totally awesome" memories of the 80's for me. I know for some, the 80's was just a time of bad hair and bad style, but to me "you never lived unless you lived through the 80's." 

xoxo

A touch of humor and a little more serious side as well...enjoy!


Everyone is afraid or fearful of something, right?


Well, for me, some things that I am afraid of are tarantulas, snakes and mice. (I even get freaked out just looking at a mouse trap even if it doesn't have a mouse on it). If you ever have a chance to be in my presence when I run across any one of these little critters, lookout, because I will be running and screaming in all directions, and I wouldn't want to see anyone get hurt! (actually, I'd be more worried about you being embarrassed, than getting hurt). Needless to say, I made a lasting impression at Petland a few years ago. Not only did I have the sales associate freaked out, but the customers, as well. All the girls wanted to do was go to the back of the store to look at the fish in the aquariums. What beautiful fish they were. Until I turned around to check out the aquariums behind me, to find the big fuzzy spider behind the glass, staring right at me. Of course, I let out a screech. Quickly turned away to look directly into another aquarium where now I have a snake looking at me....screech!! (customers now staring at me giving me dirty looks). I can't remember now why I needed to talk to the sales associate behind the glass counter, but as I'm asking him questions, all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see something move down below in the case. I jumped, and screamed, causing the poor guy to jump, and everyone around me to jump. omg, I was a basket case at this point. Needless to say, I needed to be escorted out of that area immediately by the girls, not only because they were embarrassed, but because I felt like at any time I was going to have a nervous breakdown. 


Something else that scares me is airplanes. I don't like the feeling of being enclosed or trapped without being able to get out safely. When I was a little girl, I was playing hide-and-go-seek with my brother. I found the perfect hiding spot...in the clothes hamper. I waited and waited quietly thinking he'd never find me in there. Eventually, after what seemed like a long wait, I figured I'd open the lid, just slightly, to see if I could see him anywhere. Nope, that lid wasn't budging, cause he was sitting on top holding it shut. Panic set in, and I was freaking out in there, and at some point, I felt like I couldn't even breath. I'm pretty sure that's why I am claustrophobic to this day. I will go on a plane, but believe me, I don't like it one bit. As well, I'm afraid of heights and falling, so yeah, planes are just not my friend all around. The last trip I made to Prince George, I sat in the window seat to try and overcome a little bit of my fear, and I was doing pretty good, until upon descending as we were approaching our stop in Vancouver, the clouds were so thick, and I couldn't see through them to the ground below, I started having little panic attacks. Seemed like the clouds were miles thick.  The one thing I have on my bucket list is, on a very clear night, to take a ride up in a hot air balloon. I know it's high up, but as long as I can always see the ground, maybe this would help me to overcome some of my fear. 


Lastly, 3 of my biggest fears are Rejection (just want to fit in and be accepted), Failure (always wanting everything to work out, partly due to being somewhat of a perfectionist), and Death (just wanting to live a fulfilling life before my time is up, and want to go very peacefully without any pain). 


"Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. It's where all the fruit is."  ~Shirley MacLaine~


xoxo

20 Words that Describe "Me":


sincere             empathetic
loving              emotional
insecure            spontaneous
crazy               friendly
honest              stubborn
selfish             motivated
gentle              curious
helpful             thoughtful
considerate         apprehensive
thankful            anxious




Memories of years ago (starting with some of the best memories from approximately 
1975-1979)


* Sadly, I don't have alot of memories of my Dad during those years, but one thing that always comes to mind is when he used to take me to the Shrine Circus. I remember when the elephants used to be outside of the Arena on 19th Street as we were walking by. Sitting very quietly just taking it all in, the show was amazing. We didn't have much money back then, so it was always a treat to get something from the concession or from the guys carrying the souvenirs through the audience. Usually ended up being a snow cone and a coloring book or maybe a very small toy on a stick. Dad would tell me the balloons on a stick cost too much money, but I always hoped one day I'd get one.
* Another one of my favorite memories as a child was the t-pee my brother had set up in our backyard. It wasn't very big, but it had some sort of painted pictures on the outside of it. When he wasn't using the tent, I would go in the backyard with a blanket and my stuffed animals and would arrange the blanket on the grass inside the tent with my stuffed animals all lined up. There I would sit for hours playing with them. 
* I'm sure I'm not the only one who's tried to run away from home. Oh how I laugh about it now. I remember very well, about 5 years old, walking down the street on Avenue E, with a yardstick and a cloth sack filled with some snacks tied to it on the end, thinking how much I was ready to conquer the world on my own. By about halfway down the block, after much contemplating, I was starting to have second thoughts about leaving, I remember looking back to see if my Mom was following behind, but she never was. But, I was determined to make it to the end of that block, even though I knew when I got there I'd just turn around and sulk all the way back home. Every now and again, I'd turn around just to see if she was standing at the end of the driveway. I always thought she never cared...but she just knew I'd always return. 
* I never spent any time in the house during the summer when I was younger. Mom never gave it a second thought to letting me be outside alone, while she was in the house baking, cooking, sewing, cleaning, and whatever else she was busy doing. I used to have one of those old style doll carriages, and I'd wrap up my doll and place her inside the carriage and talk to her as I walked her up and down the street. I remember always wondering if people driving by would think I actually had a real baby. 
* We had some neighbors that lived across the street from us. Their one daughter was a few years older than me, just can't remember by exactly how many years. For some reason, all of the memories I have when her and I were together, resulted in me getting in serious trouble with my Mom. But looking back now, here's another funny story that I remember very well. Her and I rode our bikes one late afternoon to the Woodlawn Cemetery just off 33rd Street. I was a little skeptical about going, but of course, I went along. My Aunt, Uncle & Cousins were coming over and my Mom had specific instructions to be home by a certain time. Once on the cemetery grounds, it started to pour rain. I was already a little freaked out just being there in the first place, and was getting even more upset because the rain mixed with all the dirt that we seemed to come across, completely stuck to my tires making it very hard to get out of there. By the time we managed to get ourselves unstuck and back on the road, and on our way home, my bike, my clothes, all the way up my back, was covered in splatters of mud. Needless to say, I was in supreme crap that night!
*We used to live at the end of Avenue E North. There's still the set of train tracks that run East to West across at the end of that block. If I walked out my house and 2 doors down to the train tracks, go over the tracks, and down into the field, there was a kind of slew. (this area is now occupied by Auto Clearing, next to the Co-op Home Centre). I knew my Mom was dead set against me going down there because she was scared of me getting hurt. We managed to sneak down there every now and again without getting caught. One day, I was with another friend of mine, and we managed to sneak down there.I remember the water being very dirty and it almost looked like there was oil in the water it was so black. There were some boards laying across the slew from one side to the other. I guess I must have lost my footing this one time, and fell right into the dirty, oily water. Great!!! Now I knew I was in for it. So back home, to sneak into the house to quickly undress and put some clean clothes on. I did get in trouble for changing, but she never did ask why. A few days later when she found my dirty checkered white and yellow polyester pants and big white collared polyester shirt hidden away in the corner of my closet....boy oh boy, was I in supreme crap!
* If you've ever heard of brill cream, you'll know that it is a product men use for styling their hair. Don't do like I did, and take a dare from a friend to brush your teeth with it.  Boy, I sure was a naive little girl, now that I think about it!! (just so you know, it's one of those tastes you will never forget). lol
* A few other favorite memories as a young child were, making sailboats out of walnuts, toothpicks and paper sails, and floating them down the road in the rain water by the curb; watching The Wizard of Oz on television for the very first time; singing at my families house parties while they all played guitars and various other instruments; collecting rain water or hail in a bucket on the front lawn for no real reason other than to see how full the bucket would get; going to that field by the slew to catch gophers; and lastly, riding my Inch Worm up and down the driveway. (I was the only one I knew that actually had an Inch Worm and I felt so lucky). 
Well, I never realized until I scrolled up how much talking I can actually do. I can't see that every post will be as long as this one. But, you never know. Sorry, I'm just new at this, and apparently I've got alot to talk about!! So, posts will be random, and about whatever I feel like talking about that day...I guess. Also, I'll try not to use names, to protect peoples privacy. 
 I hope you got a few chuckles out of it, and just to clarify, I'm not really quite the badass now that apparently I was as a very young child. ;)


XOXO