Aug 09 2008
Party Like It’s 1983
Feathered hair.
Puffy off-the-shoulder prom dresses.
It was 1983 and my Senior Prom. As usual I wasn’t quite in step with fashion. I didn’t have feathered hair. I didn’t have a Big Dress.
Nope.
My hair was end-of-the-permanent-wave wavy. My dress was a silky dark violet sheath with spaghetti straps, vaguely Grecian in look.
My date was a junior in college. He wore a tuxedo. With tails. He carried a cane. He wore white gloves.
“What one thing is not like the others??”
Twenty-five years later and tonight I’ll be at my high school reunion.
The last one I went to was the fifth. I just flipped through my yearbook hoping to stimulate my memories.
I recognized faces but I didn’t have a lot of friends in high school. I was too shy and awkward and serious. High school was just something to get through.
I decided to go to the 25th partly out of curiosity and mostly because of the fact that it’s been 25 years. It seems the right time to revisit the past.
OK. There’s also the part that is wondering if people will even recall me. What with being shy and awkward and dorky. I wore parkas and Birkenstocks and no…these weren’t in style at the time.
I have changed quite a bit since then. I’m sure everyone else has.
Then…there’s the dancing!
I seldom go to big parties and I rarely dance. I love dancing! And there will be dancing.
And you know the music will be from the Eighties!
So it’s this Lady’s Night.
and..I’m Steppin’ Out
Innerestingly, my hair cut is vaguely reminiscent of my yearbook graduation photo.
Freaky.
Update: Currently playing Eighties music to get me in the mood. It’s funny to think of my high school days as an “era.”
The reason for all the “Kool & the Gang” videos is that a few of my high school dances had their song titles as a theme. One I recall was titled “Too Hot.”
Despite my being dorky I did buy tickets to go to school dances held in the gymnasium. My best friend at the time tried to teach me to dance and it was all I could do to rock from foot to foot, fuhgettabout any kinda turns or twirling.
I didn’t do feathered hair that well but I did use a curling iron. Serious feathering attempts were made.
Ah, misty watered colored memories. Of the way I was.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
If I tried to party, now, like I did in 1983, I’d probably be sick for weeks afterward.
delmer: ah, then you must’ve partied HARD. If I partied like I actually partied in 1983 there would be no alcohol (being under age) and there was the whole shy, awkward and dorky thing going on which doesn’t usually match up with much partying. I wasn’t even a geek which would have made for geeky activities.
80’s
Here is something I heard today at work. “It was one of those really really old movies … from back in the 80’s”
I laughed hard, because as my era (high school) does not seem so far away in the past. Seeing how people have changed over the years does seem to E X P A N D that space / time. Jocks now bald and belly, Cheerleaders with crows feet. Gorsh
Good thing we were not part of the “socialights” in school. We are still looking suple and fresh!! (I saw your smile)
Hope you have a super time MsQ. I think you will come home with a sense of self, and feel proud of all you have accomplished. Ahhh … peering into the past with 20/20 hindsight. Always interesting.
Can’t we see your hairdo for the night Q’d , of course. (wink)
Did you whip it up on the dancefloor??
… ohh, and my mullet was feathered back. Ha haaaa!!!!!!!!
i went to my high shool`s 50th four years ago and it had to be characterised as “revenge of the nerds”.
the majority of the people who came that i knew were outsider types that weren`t jocks, musicians, freaks or hippies so much as a combination of all of the above and more.
many of my friends had established theselves into careers of some note. my nervous retentive soccer team-mate became cfo of a large software company.
i knew he would somehow.
conspicuous in thier absense were the mono-characters. the jocks, cheerleaders, swots, cool-guys.
me? i went without my mane of hair and my shyness. i came with a shaved head and genuine curiosity for the lives of those who i shared those years of indoctrination………and found a smaller building than i remember along a smaller thoroughfare amongst smaller yet real people.
it was me that was just that little bit bigger for all these years.
Speedy!! (part 1): Yeah, I know the feeling..the Eighties as an “era.” hahahaha!
[post reunion] :Some people expanded, one person had significantly reduced (I hadn’t noticed because I didn’t quite recognize her) and overall, people just looked like older versions. Well a few people I’d known from FIRST GRADE and of course they had changed quite a bit.
They had a photographer on site and we were all given a coupon for a free 5 X 7″ photo. What was SO FREAKY was I was given a name card with my graduation photo and when I got my free photo I had the same smile, pose and hair. Of course photographers tend to pose everyone the same but the similarities between the past and current photos…I’ll be scanning in the 2 shots that’s for sure.
Dunno about posting any of the photos - Q’ed or not! But yeah, crooked smile is the same!
Speedy!! (Part 2): Can you feather a mullet???
alistair: 50th? that must be a typo!!
Interesting how the “mono-characters” didn’t show up and I like the way you described them.
I wouldn’t want to have stayed the same as I was in high school. I am glad to have “grown up” a bit! and hope that the growing ain’ t done yet!
My reunion was nice - everyone seemed to be in the same “uh..don’t quite remember you” boat and willing to just share some memories. I ended up speaking with some people I knew relatively well, re-connecting with my best friend from 1st grade (and I sense we both want to restore that friendship) and chatting with people who I didn’t know all that well but who shared some of the personal changes they had gone through.
Self-perception is interesting. I said hi to one man who had a shaved head and with his pale skin and eyebrows, I wasn’t sure if he had shaved his head or had perhaps undergone chemo. When I learned that his lack of hair was self-inflicted I said something like “phew!” and then I said something about recalling him with good memories. He hadn’t recalled me but was curious as to why I had good memories of him. I said I wasn’t sure exactly why but I always had this idea that he was a nice guy. He said he was actually a bit of a sh*t and if he had met his younger self, he probably wouldn’t like him.
After I told him I had no negative thoughts and more fond thoughts about him he said, “It’s good to know that I wasn’t all bad back then.”
I said, “None of us are all one thing or another.”
There were people taking photos of us together which we both found amusing - it’ll look like we’re old buddies!
OMG! You’re going?? I could not bring myself to do it. Will there be pictures of you dancing?
Yes! You can feather a mullet. Think “John Stamos” in the early seasons of Full House. You can Goggle that ….
Sounds like a good time??
Hope your week is a good one MsQ
I love the 80’s. Of course I would considering I group up in the 80’s. If you watched TV you would probably appreciate VH1’s “I LOVE THE 80’s” series.
I’ve always skipped the high school reunion. I hope yours is a great one.
I loved 1983. Thats when I was in my Madonna phase. I dressed just like her. My mother? Not pleased!
Oh high school. I can’t say that I identify with being in high school in the 80’s at all. In fact, I was just growing up in the 80’s! Still, I’ve wondered before about going to a high school reunion. Personally, I don’t think that I have any desire to. Have you been going to all of yours?
no, it wasn`t a typo. it was the 50th year of the school. i left in 1977 and funnily enough the class of `77 was the best represented of the years that came. it felt good to be a comfortably integrated person in and amongst the teachers and students that i was so wary of those many years ago.
i even saw my english teacher who had punished me for my inability to speak in front of her english class. we discussed the process from our individual perspectives and she admitted that she was new to teaching then and was nervous about the “new” approaches to teaching that the schools were trying at the time.
it is “comforting”" to know that our developing minds were left to nervous neophytes delivering experimental protocols into the classroom.
my children are in a similar environment today.
Ricardo: I’m not exactly a “reunion” type of person although I did go to the 5th. I got the notice of the 25th and got struck with a bit of nostalgia and it’s not like I get out much (!!) and I figured..what the hey.
No pictures of me dancing! I would have to have gone with someone to take such photos and I only took a few while I was there. It wasn’t lilke I actually knew any of these people alll that well!!
Speedy!! Feathering a mullet? Egads. I *could* google Stamos but eh, I think I will pass. But thanks for the reference! I may have caught an episode of that show but can’t recall much. All I know is that some model married him and I only recall that because of the hyphen and she was in some X-Men movie.
The reunion was fun. Not rip-roaringly so but fun. I may post about it. Not sure - work is a bit busy!
UT: You GREW UP in the 80s?? Huh. You’re getting older all the time! I keep thinking you’re 26! Or under 30 anyways. Actually, after reading Meleah’s comment…you could still be under 30. I recall some 70s music and I was just a kid but I don’t think of myself as having grown up in the 70s!
Meleah: I’m kinda bad at math (off the top of my head type of math - pencil and paper, decent enough) so you’re 10 years younger than I so in 1983 you’d be around 8 years old..dressing like Madonna. I can see why your mom was not pleased! I did like Madonna’s music at the time though!
alistair: ah…a 50th anniversary for The School. Interesting to be able to go back and get your former teacher’s perspective. I am sure your attitude and vibe (comfortable, accepting, non-judgmental) allowed her to express her thoughts freely.
Teachers are oh-so-human and do impact developing minds. I have always been leery of “standing out” and never thought much about it until I had this memory of having my first grade teacher stand me in the middle of the room (this is how I recall it) and ask me, “So..you think you’re too smart to take regular class??” or something like that. I had been bored in class and told my mom and my mom told my teacher and I got tested for some Gifted Program and I passed and this mean I was no longer in “regular” school but the “gifted” program.
Kids don’t want to be different or removed from “the pack”! Getting into the gifted program was great (I was more challenged) but the manner of it…not the best.
It’s amazing how much impact one person can have on another. I had casually gave some financial advice (nothing about investing, just my thoughts on saving) to a recent college grad at work several months ago. We’re working on something and he tells me he took it to heart and even mentioned me to his mother.
I can see why the advice to “only speak if you have something good to say” is the way to go! Not saying you can’t be critical but you can say it in a helpful. Words can Stick when you least expect - casually having someone say, “You should write.” or even something vague like, “You have an ear for melody..” or worse, “You’d be a great backup drummer..” (damning with faint praise..)
Oh I went to my twenty year a couple years ago and it was PERFECT because it was on the same day as my brother’s wedding. So I didn’t stay a long time…
Those things are SO STRANGE! I can’t help feeling like I’m in some kind of Twilight Zone any time I’ve been to one (which actually I only went to my 5 1/2 year and my 20 year) I hope you have a great time! Maybe I missed this, but do you have to travel far? I had to go the entire length of the country, but I was going anyway both times.
Jill: I had a nice time. Not a great time but a nice time. Best part was meeting my best friend from 1st grade! We weren’t best friends in high school (different interests) but I have always recalled her fondly so it was very nice to see her and see photos of her kids.
I still live in the city I grew up in. The reunion was oh, 20 minutes from me? Funny. Some people had moved far away and used the reunion as part of visit home.