see ya, february!!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see a month go away in my life. And thanks to whoever came up with the fantastic idea of adding a day to February. Of all things. Because we certainly wouldn’t want an extra day of, oh, JUNE. And it can also stop snowing any time now. We’ve only got maybe 3 inches, but it’s snowed for days and days and days. And I’ve had way more than enough. Thanks!

I think Friday night has officially become Survey Night. I’m always too tired to think coherently but I still want to write something. This is a survey about the 80s, that I stole from some random diarist. The 80s don’t seem like very long ago to me.

1. How old were you in 1980?
19. The scariest thing is how long I had to think about that.

2. How old were you in 1989?
Hey, do your own math, Survey! Obviously I was 28. Even I can figure that one out.

3. Were you a Toys R’ Us Kid?
No, but my nieces and nephew were.

4. Did you watch Transformers?
No. I did not.

5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen?
I sure did. I went with First Husband.  I think we were still in college.

6. Did you own a Lite Bright?
No! I did NOT have a Lite Bright, and I yearned for a Lite Bright! (Wasn’t it Lite Brite?) Several cousins had one, and I thought they were the coolest things EVER. Baker B had one when he was a kid. And believe me, I bring it up often to illustrate how spoiled he was. "Well, YOU had a Lite Bright!!!! I just had sticks and dirt!!!"

Wait a minute – Lite Brights weren’t eighties  toys – they had those when I was a kid. They were 70s toys. Maybe 60s toys.

7. Who is your favorite Golden Girl?
You know, I never really watched Golden Girls enough to have a favorite. I liked it, I just didn’t watch it. I went through a long mostly TV-less phase that encompassed much of the 80s.

8. When someone says "Who you gonna call?"
Ghostbusters, of course.

9. What was your favorite toy(s) in the eighties?
Since I was between 19 and 28 during the eighties, I didn’t really have a favorite toy of my own. I’m trying to think of some of my nieces and nephew’s toys, because they were eighties kids and certainly had plenty of toys. And I’m coming up with a big blank.

Of course, my favorite toy would have been a Lite Bright, if I’d HAD one.

10. Did you have a Pogo Ball?
A what??

11. Did you listen to New Kids on the Block?
Ummmm… no. I did  not.

12. What New Kid did you have a crush on?
I couldn’t point out any of them in a police line up. With a gun pointed to my head.

13. Did you play M.A.S.H?
What?? I watched MASH, and loved it – in the SEVENTIES. Well, I still liked it in the eighties but didn’t see it much. But play it??

14. Did you watch The Care Bears?
No.

15. Did you have Jelly bracelets?
I’ve never even heard of them. I do remember Jelly shoes but that’s because my nieces had those.

16. Did you have a charm necklace and/or bracelet?
I had a very cool charm bracelet that one of my aunts brought me from out west somewhere – it had a little horse and a cowboy hat and a bunch of western charms on it…. but that was when I was REALLY little. Like the sixties.

17. Did you have a Glo Worm?
Sadly, no. What’s a Glo Worm?

18. Did you ever own a slap bracelet?
A what?? I’m starting to wonder if I was actually present in the 80s.

19. The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles?
Oh, the Breakfast Club. I’m not even sure I ever saw all of Sixteen Candles, but I loved the Breakfast Club.

20. Did you have a crazy hair style?
Crazy??? Why, long long hair in a very poofy curly perm wasn’t crazy at all, thanks very much!

21. What was your first bike?
My first bike was a little red bike with training wheels. In the sixties. Why is this survey assuming everyone was a child in the eighties?

22. Name one thing you still own from your childhood:
I still have lots of things from my childhood. Which was IN THE SIXTIES. And seventies. For one thing I have my bedroom furniture. Which is white with a little flower pattern, and was quite nice for a six year old. Not so much for a grown up. I should probably paint it, but I kind of hate to. Stupid nostalgia.

23. Did you have a Cabbage Patch Kid?
No. My nieces did, though. Being children in the eighties.

24. Did you dress like Madonna?
I can safely say I’ve never dressed like Madonna. During any decade.

25. Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
I have no feelings whatsoever for either of them.

26. Did you watch Miami Vice?
No. I remember it but don’t think I ever saw an episode.

27. Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes?
Oh, there are the Jelly Shoes! No.

28. Did you own a Trapper Keeper?
I DID- I’d forgotten all about Trapper Keepers! But that was in the seventies – I had those in high school.

29. Atari or Nintendo?
Neither.

30. Did you play Pac-Man?
I did! I worked at a Pizza Hut when I got out of college and there were no jobs for eedjits who majored in useless things like English. We had a Pac-Man, and one of the cooks knew how to get free games out of it. We played a LOT of Pac-Man.

31. Which was better: He-Man or She-Ra?
What?? Who????

32. What movie scared you the most?
Well, thanks to the wonders of Google I just searched for Eighties Horror Movies because I was drawing a big blank. Other than the first Halloween which I’m pretty sure was the 70s. And the only one on the list I’d even seen was The Shining. It DID scare me at the time. Reanimator was on the list, and I started to go see it because it was from a Lovecraft story, but chickened out when the review said it was the goriest movie ever made.

33. Did you try to dance like Michael Jackson?
Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! Ummm… no.

34. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "Flux Capacitor"?
That I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.

35. What other colors did Pepsi come in?
Didn’t they make a clear one for awhile? Which technically is NOT a color.

36. Roger Rabbit or Howard the Duck?
Who is Howard the Duck?

37. Did you ever beg your parents to have your school picture taken with the ‘LASER’ background?
What was a Laser background??

38. Do you know what the Ninja Rap is?
The what??

39. Do you know why people cringe when they hear the word BUCKNER?
Uh…no. I was there, I really was!!

40. Can you name the family members from National Lampoons Vacation movies?
Sadly, no. I did see the first one, but remember pretty much nothing at all about it.

41. Wally-World or Europe?
Okay, I have no idea what this even means. I’d sure rather go to Europe than WalMart, but I don’t usually find myself making an either/or choice between the two. And what’s that got to do with the eighties?

42. What was your favorite movie from the 80’s?
Probably The Big Chill. I saw it so many times I STILL know the lines.

OH – it’s over, and I didn’t even have to cut out any questions!