Like many teens, it was also a time of extreme shallowness for me. It was both cringe-inducing and hysterical. Forget the Cold War, the Iran-Contra Affair, and that hole they found in the ozone layer, most of my time was spent thinking about my latest crush and which hallway he would take after fifth period, or the Guess jeans I could never afford, but how that skank-ho I was jealous of wore a different pair everyday, or the number of sprays of Love's Baby Soft it took to declare I had arrived, but wouldn't scare people away, or how to keep the $60 kinky perm my mom bought me to last more than three washes in my naturally straight hair. Those were the important things in my life. That's what really mattered.
I was going through some old papers and came across this journal entry I wrote for eleventh-grade English class. I was 16. This is a first-hand account of The Most Important Thing(s) In My Life:
Were you shallow like me or was I the only one? What's your favorite decade?
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Like I just told Kristi, I too picked the 80s and still loved that time in my life so much and so glad to see it wasn't just me!! :)
ReplyDeletei was 8 9 when the 80s ended, so most of my memories are of all the toys (Thundercats! She-Ra! Rubix cube!) I am impressed that you kept your papers from way back when.
ReplyDeleteI think all of us are, to some degree, fairly shallow as kids. Even now there is shallowness in our lives... what comes first? Kids, spouse, family, friends, etc. That is the way it is supposed to be. It isnt that we don't care about world events or the stranger down the street, it is just that there is room for only so much and what is most important is what is closest to us.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I was equally as shallow when I was that age. I especially love your list of things that aren't important to you, because even at 31, those things aren't important to me, either!
ReplyDeleteLove's Baby Soft! I swear I'm having flashbacks.
ReplyDeleteAhhh memories...I love me some Wham in the mid-80's and day glow wigwam socks.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I still love Wham. I had to google day glow wigwam socks. I'm still not sure what they are.
ReplyDeleteLol. Um, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you were sort of a doofus in 11th grade. Hahahahaha! Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'd rather have been a doofus then than one now. Mmhmm.
ReplyDeleteYeah, me neither - I just didn't want to admit it. Ha!
ReplyDeleteHAHA love it! The music totally rocked, and I didn't pay attention to the ozone layer, either. Doing so may have meant giving up my Aqua Net that I needed to make my bangs stick up on one side because even with a perm, they didn't. I still wear boxers as shorts. Usually not in public though.
ReplyDeleteman! (back after a hiatus) forgot how good you were at taking a simple sentence fragment and turning it into a Post that has me thinking, 'damn! why didn't I think of that (approach)!' lol
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you put tennis and books to keep you entertained. Oh how I wish my youngest two felt like that today. Different times.
ReplyDeleteI used to wear Love's Baby Soft, but that was more of a 90's thing in my memory. Somehow I keep thinking the last few years of the 80's is part of the 90's because my brain is mushy slime. Maybe it was a 90's thing because I'm in West Virginia and it takes a little longer for trends to hit us. And just so you all know, Aqua Net saved my butt in the military. Not only did it make a better starch than starch for my uniform, it also kept my hair down the best (they made me wear it in a bun and then have a hat, AKA Cover, that I had to take off and put back on all day which gave me hair that looked like, according to my TI, a chicken danced on my head).
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I would love to find something I wrote when I was 16. I'm sure I would have listed many of the same things.
ReplyDeleteHahaha! That letter is priceless. I fortunately only remember the amazing 80's kid stuff, because I was too young to feather my hair. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about brussel sprouts that everyone hates? I just made it for my family recently. I smothered it in bacon, onions and garlic, because that's healthy - not that I really care, I just wanted them to eat it.
ReplyDeleteThe entire conversation throughout dinner was a created story about Mom's evil brussel sprouts who suck blood and the air your breathe while you sleep. Maybe it's my parenting.
Who cares?!?! You named your cat fart in Spanish (and yes, that's right!) and that wins all day.
OK, first of all, you had the most perfect handwriting. That's exactly how unwanted my handwriting to look, and it was always too scrawly. Now I've just embraced the scrawl.
ReplyDeleteOh, and one year my mother and I found a pair of Guess (that was the cool thing where I was) with zippered ankles (bet I could find some now) on clearance. They were So Cool. Later in high school, I am embarrassed to say I saved up for some Z. Cavaricci's.
I picked the 80's too! Loved my Guess jeans but had to beg for them! I wish the whole big hair thing would come back, though, because that was a whole lot easier for me than straightening every morning!
ReplyDeleteWow HOLY HANDWRITING BATMAN! That's GORGEOUS :)
ReplyDeleteI love how you sucked up to God and your teachers :D And look - you're not stupid or smited. It must've worked :D
Thank goodness! Me too! I suck at handwriting.
ReplyDeleteWhatEVER - Brussels sprouts are GORGEOUS! So there :D
ReplyDeleteWhile you were in H.S. I was getting married and having babies in the 80's. It was my favorite decade too though.
ReplyDeleteThey are! I love them. Boys... Gotta love'em
ReplyDeleteHave you tried finely slicing them and stir-frying them with pancetta, rosemary and pine nuts? I bet they'd go mad for them THEN
ReplyDeleteNo! Thank you! I will have another go!
ReplyDeleteCan we talk for a second about how douche-inducing it is to read things your wrote in high school?! Horrifying! I married my high school sweetheart and reading our notes (which of course I kept) is so embarrassing. Idk what my favorite decade is? Can I say 70's since it had the best rock music even if I wasn't alive?
ReplyDeleteIt totally worked! :-) A lot of people comment on my handwriting. I never really think of it as exceptional, but that picture above is pretty nice for a 16yo.
ReplyDeleteI actually meant Guess! Gah! I went back and changed it. Gucci? WTH? Sweet Z. Cavaricci's. I wasn't cool enough for those.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds good, Lizzi! I've tried roasting them, after I grew them in my garden last year, nobody would eat them. I even mixed them in with other roasted vegetables. I thought they were ok. But I think I'd love them with the recipe you suggested. Yum!
ReplyDeleteI've got all kinds of stuff - journals, etc. Embaaaaaarassin!
ReplyDeleteOh man, we had LBS when I was in jr. high. Maybe it's a junior high thing. Sweet and not yet seductive. I think I used to drive through your town in WV on my way to college, if I remember correctly...or at least nearby.
ReplyDeleteI think my shallowness has turned to narcissism. I just love me some me. I'm kidding...kind of.
ReplyDeleteFar be it from me to criticize after the extensive typos in my comment. It's easy to tell when I'm commenting and watching small children at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSo funny! I love the part about the teachers and how you would be stupid without them. Makes me want to read some embarrassing journal entries of my own.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had some of my writings from high school, but that was a very long time ago. Great find!! It's so fun to look back and see how things have changed.
ReplyDeleteAll love starts with the love of self. I want ____, because he makes me feel good.... I like _____, because it makes me happy. Me, me me!!
ReplyDeleteI have a copy of "my letter to the editor" from 11th grade that was published about the Iran-Contra scandal. To this day I don't understand it or that bit of history. Side note Guess Jeans were $50. I worked at Baskin Robbin in the 11th grade. I made $2 something an hour. I don't know HOW long it took me to save up for them but I bought a pair. Two years later I would bleach them and color them. My boyfriend at the time looked like Kid from Kid N Play so my I had Kid written across the butt. I WISH I had a picture.
ReplyDeleteYou got me giggling, as usual Kate. As I'm a bit older, my teenage decade was the 1970s. During this period I was full of angst, cheap barley wine and bullshit!
ReplyDeleteI love the 80s too. I have an alter-ego email for newsletter sign ups, Amazon reviews, etc. that is Straight-up now tell me an ode to the 80s. As for your letter, I see it as a sign of what's to come when our own kids are teens. It's impossible to have an expanded world view, I feel!
ReplyDeleteWell, of course you weren't shallow! You were 16! You get a pass. Love this Kate!
ReplyDeleteummmm LOVE the handwriting. I thought I knew it all back then and was going to show them all when I got older. I really needed a slap in the face back them. Love your essay, wish I had sved my old stuff to look back on now.
ReplyDeleteMan, I love your journal entry, and you are SO brave! When I re-read my old journal, it makes me want to vomit and cringe. And hide. Yes, I was both shallow and stupid. That was hilarious. I totally forgot about Love's Baby Soft- do they still make it? I need to get me some of that again...
ReplyDelete