flash dance, flash back

i've been at a bit of a loss for good blogging content, sorry to those of you who count on blogs for daily entertainment or a quick work-break. i always wonder if my blog posts are of any interest to others. i know once in a while, i strike a good topic and get positive response from some readers. i'm sure some of my posts drop like lead balloons, plummeting quickly to their demise. hopefully, the rest of the blogs land somewhere closer to "good" than "bad." at any rate, hopefully this post will spark some memories in you.

last night, i hung with two gal-pals. it was a low key evening of sitting around the dinner table and chatting. our conversation ranged from catching up to ranting about politics (a subject that's mostly over my head). my favorite part of the conversation was the way-back flash back to the 1980's. ahhh, the 80's. big hair, electric colors, blue eyeshadow, stevie wonder...the 80's. our conversation was primarily about music. (a subject we all know i'm not real knowledgeable about.) the new kids on the block sparked the entire conversation. remembering the 4th grade, new kids tape in the player, me in my hot pink and neon green jacket, dancing and singing along to catchy tunes. i don't know an 80's pre-teen, tween or teenage girl who didn't love those boys. it's my first memory of a true boy-band. as far as i'm concerned, they paved the way for n'sync, the backstreet boys, and so on. somehow we made the leap from nkotb to we are the world. reminiscing about the giant headphones and overzealous, er...inspired singing from bruce springsteen. we laughed about other artists, stevie wonder and michael jackson playing important roles in that ground-breaking, heart-wrenching musical campaign. i don't think it's an accident that we are the world is in an easy-for-everyone-to-sing key. it's funny how a song like that can bring you back to a different time, a different place. we got through most of the lyrics before changing gears. we jumped right into greatest love, by whitney houston...yeah, i had NO idea she sang that song. i was only a small person when it came out. oddly, this is the song that i chose to sing when i'm neading to screech at the top of my lungs (due to bordom, feeling blue, or just being silly). yes, sometimes during my "performances" there is dramatic movements and/or dancing.

the flash back to the 80's brings me back to a simpler time. days where i'd run around the yard, play with the neighbor boys, race bikes, build things with legos, make soup out of water and the cotton tree pods, paint, play catch in the street, learn to juggle a soccer ball. days of carefree spirits and endless possibilities. days of long sunny afternoons, sprinklers in the yard, touch football and swing sets.

it also reminds me of the first time i was ever on tv. we'd had a professional kite flyer come to school. he showed us all different shapes and sizes of his kites, explaining the physics (i think it's physics, sorry if it isn't Dr. Ben) behind flying and tricking kites. after school, we'd heard he'd be up on the playground, flying his kites, doing tricks. the two neighbor boys and i walked home from school that day, riddled with excitement. we rushed in the door to ask our moms if we could bike back up to school, which was only about 2 blocks. once they agreed, we raced up the hill towards school, worried we'd miss something. when we arrived, the kite flyer had launched a large box-shaped kite. the local news team was on scene. Whoa! we didn't expect a news camera. we watched the kite dip and whirl from the seats of our bikes. the camera man came toward us, he asked if he could interview us for the news. YES! we were so excited, so unprepared, instantly nervous. he asked each one of us what we thought of the trickster kite flyer. first, the youngest: It's Awesome. then, it was my turn, i buckled, unable to think of anything other than what my friend had already said: Yeah, It's Awesome. (gah, i couldn't have come up with anything else?!?! cool, neat, rad...). the oldest of us, managed to find his own words: It's really cool. I never did see that news broadcast, despite rushing home and watching the news. about a week later, my third grade teacher announced that he couldn't sleep the night before, and saw me on the 3 am news. ha, so i did make it on tv. more to come: my other tv appearances...aren't you just dying from anticipation?!?!
Happy Friday, kids.