Friday, January 12, 2007

Friday Five: Kickin' it Old School

OK, so... given the comments on that last post (and on the follow-up -R- posted on her own blog), I am guessing I am not the only one for whom kickball brings up childhood scars and social traumas. Again, this is what I love about the Internet: kindred spirits all around.

Know what I have virtually no bad memories of, however? Roller-skating. OK, well, there was that time when I decided to organize a skating party at an age when it was entirely not-too-acceptable to do so, but even that turned out surprisingly well, considering the circumstances, I think. And sure, my first memory of a guy I didn't know showing some smidge of interest in me in some way was a greasy, slightly scary, much-older (he was probably 15; I was maybe 12) guy in a Def Leppard t-shirt asking me to couple-skate with him at the Big Wheel in Sheboygan. Other than that, though, pretty much good memories all around.

It is with this fond view of the past that some friends and I have decided to go roller-skating tonight. I had no idea there was an area rink that had skate times specifically slotted for nostalgic full-fledged grown-ups like ourselves, but what do you know--there is. From 8:30-11:00 on Friday nights, the rink is reserved for those 25 and up, and the music piped in is of the "Old school and funk" variety. I am totally holding out for Beat it, and I truly hope the rink-side DJ doesn't disappoint. -R- and her man -H- are actually meeting me and a few others from my crew there, and I am very much hoping a good time will be had by all.

I am a little nervous that roller-skating will not be quite as fun as I remember. Lots of things aren't, after all. Memory clouds reality, and things that seemed ever-so-cool in childhood somehow just don't hold up years later.

Here are just a few examples... Five things that aren't nearly as great as I remember:

  1. Punky Brewster. I actually added the full first season to my Netflix queue after some Punky Brewster-related talk filled the blog neighborhood a while back. A few days later, I saw a Soleil Moon Frye feature on E! that featured clips from the show and quickly realized, "Um, there's really no sense wasting my four rentals a month on that." Punky and Cherie and Margeaux were all fine when I was ten, but nowadays? Not so much.

  2. Snowdays. Not that we've had much snow yet this year, but memories of last year haunt me nonetheless.

  3. Staying up until dawn. This was fun at slumber parties back in junior high, and maybe even on select intense-conversation-filled nights back in college. Now, though? It messes up my sleep schedule for the next two days, and it really isn't worth it, in most cases.

  4. The game Payday. My sisters and I used to play this all the time, but the last time we pulled it out (last Christmas, at my parents' house), it just didn't have the same draw. Were there always so many rules?? Was it always quite so tedious? It is amusing, I'll admit, to draw the dreaded card reading "Daughter's wedding: Pay $800" and laugh at what a bargain that would be. Beyond that, though? I have no use for the game anymore.

  5. Pixie Stix. I'll take my flavor-laced sugar around the rims of martini glasses these days, thank you. In pure form, I will pass, I think.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVED Payday! I wish I still had mine. I think the old version would be more fun than the new version they sell now.

Anonymous said...

I still love snowdays because although I have to work, it is an excuse for me to work from home. Yes! As for the rest of it, I am with you.

Jasclo said...

Wow. Roller skating. Those were the days.

Have a good time! Report back! Take a camera. First one to fall should get a prize.

lizgwiz said...

Well, I never cared for Punky Brewster (precocious kids annoy me) and I've never played Payday, but the others are dead-on, I think.

You know what candy from my childhood IS as fun as I remember, though? Zotz. Fizzzz....

Have fun roller-skating. I hope a cute boy asks you to couple-skate!

Anonymous said...

I love roller skating, but I haven't been in ages. I still laugh when I think about the 8th grade skating party when I almost lost my balance, threw my arm out to the side, felt a THAWK! and then turned to see my classmate Reggie go ass over teakettle because I'd accidentally slapped him in the chest. It wasn't the falling that was funny; it was the, "AUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!" noise he made when he did it.

Anonymous said...

I love roller skating, but I haven't been in ages. I still laugh when I think about the 8th grade skating party when I almost lost my balance, threw my arm out to the side, felt a THAWK! and then turned to see my classmate Reggie go ass over teakettle because I'd accidentally slapped him in the chest. It wasn't the falling that was funny; it was the, "AUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!" noise he made when he did it.

Anonymous said...

I hate when that happens.

Stefanie said...

3Cs--There's a new version? Is the daughter's wedding more than $800 now?

R--Yeah, I "worked from home" during the last really bad snow day, too (as I honestly couldn't even get more than two blocks from my house before getting stuck on the unplowed streets). I ended up taking half a personal day anyway, though, as not much work was truly accomplished. (How I think that is different from most other days, I'm not sure, but whatever.)

Jasclo--I definitely need to remember to bring my camera!

Liz--I was just telling a friend over lunch that maybe there'll be some creepy guy who goes roller skating every single Friday by himself and he will ask me to couple skate. I like your idea of a cute and relatively normal guy asking instead, though. :-)

By the way, I had lunch at Chipotle, and I solved the mystery of the no-extra-charge guacamole. Apparently it is included and not extra on the veggie burrito. You probably figured this out already and I was the only one who didn't catch on and just thought it was your lucky day. Or maybe you didn't figure it out and I shouldn't have told you that, as it's better to believe it WAS your lucky day! I will stop rambling in my own comments now, OK?

Other Girl--Nice. It's always fun to take someone else down with you, is it not?

Other Girl--What I just said.

Other Girl--Word.

(I could have just deleted your extraneous comments, but in my lame, sleep-deprived brain, I thought it would be funnier this way. Forgive me.)

Anonymous said...

I haven't played it. The box has changed, I can only assume they changed things from the early 80's.

We got the new version of Monopoly for Christmas. You get $2,000,000 when you pass go. I think $200 was closer to being realistic than $2,000,000. What's that supposed to represent? A week? A month? A year? Even for a year, $200,000 would probably be fairly reasonable to most people...

Anonymous said...

I was telling my workfriend that I think the other people skating tonight will be drunk college kids and super-serious 50-year-olds who bring their own skates and have special skating outfits. In other words, it is going to be awesome!

In reference to Liz's comment: don't worry; I'm sure H will ask you to couple skate.

Stefanie said...

Ha! Special skating outfits! I wonder where I could find a terry-cloth headband and some legwarmers before tonight...

I had the same thought about college kids, but will they let those kids in if the schedule says 25+? We shall see. Can you imagine getting a fake ID to go skating on "old people" night? The 21-year-olds who would do that are actually the 21-year-olds it would be fun to meet, I think.


And to you, 3Cs--$2,000,000?? That's just absurd. Even $200,000 is out of the realm of what's relateable to me, but I suppose that's sort of the point.

Anonymous said...

Mmm - how about a martini glass with PIXIE STIX sugar around the rim? That sounds phenomenal to me.

Poppy said...

Have you ever had the 3-ft-long pixie sticks? LOVE those.

Twanna A. Hines | FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com said...

Punky Brewster ROCKED!!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

You know, for some reason, I still secretly love Pixie Stix. (Perhaps I just remember fondly the episode of The Simpsons where Bart told the Flanders kids, who'd never had candy before, that there was no sugar in Pixie Stix.)

Can't wait to hear about your skating adventure!

Stefanie said...

GG--Ooh, that IS a good idea! :-)

Poppy--I think when I was eight, yes, but today? Today I think that's about two feet and 11 inches too much for me.

FunkyB--Indeed she did. When I was ten. I think it is better to think of her with fond yet hazy memories, though, than to Netflix old episodes and find myself wholly disappointed.

Metalia--I commend your effortless recollection of the appropriate Simpsons reference for the situation. It's a skill I definitely appreciate. And skating was fun! I'll have to post pictures... probably tomorrow. Too lazy at the moment to formulate even a photo-heavy post.