Saturday, November 22, 2008

Reminiscing

When I was on my way home from the recycling center, listening to De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, I was reminded of a much simpler time in my life. I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a teenager, in what was clearly his mom or dad's Subaru (it was brand new and this kid was no older than 16), smoking a cigarette and doing that thing where they hold the cigarette outside of the car at all times and only take drags half hanging out the window to prevent any of the smell from coming in. Mom or Dad always smelled it and confronted you about it afterward and you always blamed it on that friend of yours who everyone knew smoked, but it didn't stop you from trying to conceal it. Anyway, seeing that really brought me back to when I was that age. There is a line in one of the De La songs ("Eye Know") that says "So wipe your Lottos on the mat," and that reminded me of that time in the early to mid nineties when everyone had those indoor soccer shoes, except, of course, me. Does anyone else remember Lottos, Adidas Sambas, Puma Ligas, and Umbros?


Man, did I want some of those shoes. I was not a regular or indoor soccer player, but I loved the way those shoes looked. I shopped from the bargain bins though, so by the time I could actually afford a pair of Sambas that I had been eying for a couple of years, the trend was gone and everyone had moved on to skateboarding shoes, which I bought into even though I did not skateboard.
Another thing that I was reminded of, in that very short 15 minute trip to the recycling center, was something that happened around that same time in my teen years. Plain blue jeans, all of the sudden, became a style faux pas and all of the kids at school had to have colored jeans. Now, I was on top of this trend because a town about 35 miles away had gotten a TJ Maxx. This was back when TJ Maxx sold nothing but factory rejects of clothing for under 10 bucks. I would get my jeans there and one leg would be slightly longer than the other one, the seam wasn't straight, or the zipper wouldn't work right. There was something little wrong with the jeans, but I didn't care. I was kinda fitting in. The jeans were in all colors and Levi's jeans went crazy with this trend. I managed to get a hold of these rusty orange colored Levi's that I wore constantly. I also had a pair of red Levi's, these sort of turquoise Levi's, and dark green Levi's. I wish I had pictures.
The indoor soccer shoe and colered jeans trends were right around the same time of the day when all of the cars on the road magically turned into either teal Chevy Berettas or GMC Jimmys. There was one day that I recall, walking through town, there were a variety of different cars. All makes, models, colors, and ages were represented. Then, POOF! The next day, all that was on the road were these awful teal colored Chevy Berettas and GMC Jimmys. My parents were still driving around the same cars because we were not trendy, but it seemed as if every other person in town had gone car shopping the night before. Did this happen anywhere else?

4 comments:

frogpad22 said...

lol... this made me laugh because my first car was an early 90s teal Mazda Protege. and this was when they called them "used" cars, rather than "previously owned".

Anonymous said...

You poor, poor, man! What a hard life you had!
Sometimes I wonder where you grew up.
I don't ever remember shopping at TJ Maxx to get your clothes. I do recall I hated that store (and I still do). I didn't buy clothes from there, so I know you didn't, unless you went there yourself. I do remember that you only shopped at the expensive stores because "you buy quality, you get quality" to quote a famous blogger and how I used to argue with you about that. It was Aero Apostle (?), Sears, JC Penny and any other store like that. Nothing like AMES (someone would know you bought their clothes), or any other discount place. Always the best. What about your sneakers? You always got ADIDAS...that is what you asked for. We had to go to Foot Locker or Hackett's for them. Had to have the best there too. Bargin bins? That must have been when you were out on your own. Either that or I was the one doing the drugs. I think it is funny how people remember things differently. It happens with my family all the time. But we do remember some things the same way.

Now...the car...

Yeah...remember the new car I had (Blue..not Teal....eeeeeewww)? Yeah....the one you had not one...but TWO accidents with and totalled? The one you didn't think I knew you smoked in...the one you were lucky you didn't tickets for speeding in? Yeah that one.

Let's see some reminiscing about all the cars you had. Now some of them were fun. How about when I taught you to drive a standard...and how you threw your hat into the field where the texas longhorns were because you were so mad that you couldn't get the hang of driving and Britt and I were laughing so hard it made you all the more angry. That is funny remembering that. But you got it, and you loved that old car.

Hey...keep up the reminiscing...it's fun to read about the hard life you had to endure.

Thanks for the laugh today. I love you.

Sweetypea294 said...

You poor poor thing, however did you survive growing up with such horrible parents that couldn't afford the stupid shoes or jeans that all your other friends wore. I seem to remember a never ending supply of Structure clothing and a brother who would go into the mall with one hundred dollars and come out with one pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I hope you realize that your mother, who did the best she could with what we had, reads this blog. Don't be so ungrateful.

Anonymous said...

What the hell happened to my reply? I went on and on and on about the superficial people I went to school with and how they magically changed when they got on their own and didn't have Mom and Dad's money. I also told a story about your cousin had a teal s-10 pickup. He loved that truck! Whats up with yer Mom? For the record, she remembers shit from her family TOTALLY different than any of us same one's do! HAHAHA!
Happy Thanksgiving! Love Unka Ralph!

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