LOLOL…
Okay, now that I’m done laughing at my own joke, I shall give you a brief report. Basically? The kids are back at school and I am writing myself STUPID. STUPID I tell you– I am sleep deprived, cranky, and irrational, and the dragon is riding my back so hard I’ve got bloody stripes down my flesh. (heh heh heh… see? Purple prose in a blog… TOLDYA I wasn’t sane!)
Anyway, I was a good mommy all winter break– I only wrote when no one was around to SEE me working, and most of my down time was knitting time anyway, so I could sit and watch Christmas specials and go see lights and make Christmas baskets etc. etc. , which meant I didn’t get a lot of work DONE! And as much as I needed it, as much as I loved the time with my family… well, I was blowing off a deadline. I’m proud that I was able to set it aside and be mommy, and love it with 100% of my heart… but now?
Now I’s gotsta write my little heart out. And I have been. But staying up until two in the morning and getting up at 6:30 (because all the soda/water/vitamin water I drank at 1:30 to stay up has hit the fan and I have to pee like no racehorse in history!) And, well, the inevitable has happened. I’m a widdo-bit stoned on sleep deprivation, and am about two hours from sitting in a corner and giggling to myself, and then writing another chapter of absolute driveling nonsense in the same way I talk for HOURS if there was someone here to talk back to me. (Mate has gotten to the point where he recognizes this. If I crawl into bed at two a.m. and am suddenly all hot to talk about laundry, finances, and child-rearing, sometimes he has to say, “Shut up, Amy, and go to sleep,” or we will BOTH be sleep deprived, and that’s no fun at all. He doesn’t get the giggles for one, and if neither of us is rational, we tend to yell at each other about stupid stuff and then get all sad when we’re done.)
But Sidecar is coming along nicely. It’s a period piece (too recent to be an historical) about the 80’s… now, everyone knows about the hair and the music, but some of this has made me research shit. When did we stop air-popping popcorn and start microwaving it? When did Pert get big? (At least ’86, because Mate used it in his hair and it smelled SO good!) How much did gas cost? What did guys do with their hair after the mullet grew out? How did guys look sexy in the early nineties when they were suddenly wearing oversized plaid flannel? How would a guy who likes mostly rock ‘n’ roll seduce a George Michael/Madonna fan into electric guitar?
So I’ve had fun playing with that–but it still feels detail thin.
So, what’s YOUR favorite 80’s/2012 time warp? What details would YOU add, if you were writing Joe and Casey’s story? Because, although the end is in sight, there’s still a bit of a journey, and I want this to be so textured, you can smell the Pert! Let me know– I’ll love to hear ideas!
And in the meantime? I’m gonna go lie down and pet Steve and giggle to myself until I sleep:-)
Tight (really tight) blue jeans, white high-top sneakers, puffy sports jackets, horizontal lines. Lots of black and white, chromium, cassette tapes, bad braces, scarfs wrapped multiple times around necks, one ear stud, low slung cars that were on the boxy side…okay that's all I can think of in the spur of the moment.
80s? Lessee- that thing with the bangs where girls teased them straight up and then flipped the ends over. Disco? Shoulder pads! That ritzy car – Deloreon? Thai food was just starting to get stylish in Portland.
The dragon,denied, will take bloody revenge. If I roll a basketball across the floor, will you burst out laughing? Yup. Time for bed, kiddo!
80-85 – blouses with ruffles, women wearing straight skirt suits, silk ties for women. Curly hair for men. First awareness of AIDS. Computers programmed in COBOL. Mainframes. First Apples, Atari. Sony Walkman was hot. Men with longish (not long) hair. Puffy down jackets in winter. Men's 2 button suits instead of 3 button, last breath of 3 piece suits. Lots of local banks instead of national banks. Mortgages (1985) at 8%! (and that was a good rate!). Car loans at 12% to 15%. Scott Simon hosting Weekend Edition Saturday. Late 80's – knit separates ("Units") for women. change over from Cassette to CDs. early 80s – betamax, vhs, and videodisc all fighting for your tv. Growth of cable. Cell phones the size of bricks (mid 80s) that were really 'car phones' rather than personal phones. ok… that's all for now.
Acid washed jeans, designer lable jeans (remember Calvin Kleins?). Big glasses that covered almost the whole top half of your face (I laugh at my wedding photos)
Dallas on television, vcrs.
And now I'll be hearing Boy George singing Karma Chameleon in my head for hours.
Polo shirts with sweaters tied over them. Pastels were big for both men and women. Torn jeans for both sexes and shirts were off the shoulder for the girls.
Metal rockers wore leather, while punkers had mohawks that were brightly colored. Denim jackets were wore by those who couldn't afford the leather.
Pop tops on soda cans was starting to become big, verses the pull tabs. Soda bottles where glass, not plastic. Budweiser's big selling point was (ready for this?) twist off tops. Gas was less than a 1.25 per gallon.
Teenagers were carrying around those big jam boxes on their shoulders and blasting everyone with their music. Teens and young women were dressing like Madonna hookers. The geek/nerd crowd were having a big ole time with Dungeons & Dragons and Magic The Gathering tournaments. Me being a teenage girl then, I remember squeeing over Teen Beat and other similar magazines. I also remember a magazine that came out that was just song lyrics (can't remember what the name of the mag was now), and me and my girlfriends would study those things so we could get the words right when singing along. Also, MTv was in its heyday. Rap was coming to the notice of the mainstream. The Karate Kid…wax on, wax off. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I remember lots of karate movies and TV shows then. I loved watching the A-Team, and I heard "I pity the fool." at least once a week. Weird Al Yankovic. Women's clothes with those big shoulder pads. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.
cabbage patch kids – that's all I got that I'm secure in knowing is from the 80s… Oh and smoking on airplanes was still okay – I remember my mom going to a different part of the plane to smoke, but still smoking on the plane.
T.v was Dallas, Dynasty, Fame, Hill street blues and I think Beverly hills 90210 not sure if it was 80s or early 90s
Movies for me anyway being a teen in the U.K pretty in pink, karate kid, st elmo's fire, 16 candles, weird science,some kind of wonderful.the brat pack were in force.
music new romantics, punk, big hair bands, indie ,prince, madonna, springstein
Clothes mesh t's shoulder pads, tight jeans(levi 501 were designer in the U.K)leather jackets.neon colours, leg warmers,stone wash denim.
All I can say is "Jon BonJovi" Heart palpitations. Beastie Boys Brass Monkey, Punky Brewster rocks, plastic charm necklaces were hot, I still have my Mork and Mindy Suspenders, and I still adore David Bowie. Can't forget the side pony tail. And of course the Nova SS that dropped me off at school each day.The use of plastic in school cafeterias began instead of metal or china plates. The 80's of course meant MTV, VHS players, and wonder of all wonders, remote controls!