Amy’s Adventures

25 years later and stirrup pants make a come back!

Today as I came out of the GW/Foggy Bottom Metro Station and up the escalator, I thought for a moment I had been transported back to 1985. In front of me, one of the worst trends from the 80’s: stirrup pants. In that moment, I realized I had reached that  point in one’s life that you hope will never happen to you, but inevitably does– the circling back of trends you from those haunting teenage years. 

Yes, I adorned the stirrup pants as a proud JMS 8th grader in the mid-80’s. Even better, I topped it with a big button-down, paisely Forenza shirt with the collar up. Like the other 9 Amy’s at JMS, I was hip! A year later, the stirrup pants sank to the bottom of the drawer in favor of more tailored skirts and Outback Red shirts. (Still from The Limited)

And so today, as I was reminded of the dear old stirrup pant, I wondered about other fashion fads that 21st Century Tweens will find hip and starte wearing again only to remind me that I wore that too, once upon a time.

This week many kids went back to school. For those of us without kids, it only takes a trip through Target or CVS to see that it’s “Back to School” season. You’d think that pencils, paper and crayons would be standard from year to year, but it appears that “Back to School” is another holiday where if you don’t start with the ‘it’ product of the year, you’re banned from having lunch at the cool kids table and doomed to a year of scholarly disarray.

So as I pass through the aisles of High School Musical folders, notebooks and Jonas Brothers book bags, I go back in time to think about the school supplies of Gen X.

The Trapper Keeper
Actually, I never owned one of these, I just found it too big and clunky. I did however admire the kids that were this organized.

Check out the commercial video



A Metal Lunchbox
I really miss the metal lunchbox. These were just so just so freaking cool. I’m gonna sound like my parents on this one, “they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” In addition to Holly Hobbie, I had a Raggedy Ann lunchbox. You can find these at flea markets selling for upwards of $50.




Troll Pencil Toppers
This was perfect for curing boredom in Math class. I’m sure this now explains why I still don’t get fractions.

Yippee--I'm finally a senior and we get to lean on tables and have the glamour shots we waited 12 years for.

My SWGHS class reunion was last October, but at the time I was so deep in the Big Red Engine craziness I really didn’t have time to think about what life was like back in 1990. Tonight, as I was working out I noticed an old Purple Rain video was on and it got me thinking about what movies, tv shows, songs, etc. were all the rage in 1990, the year the Class of 1990 said good-bye to lockers, pep rallies and Friday night football.

So for the Class of 1990, these are for you.

Movie of the Year: Driving Miss Daisy (Never did see that one. Somehow watching an old woman get driven around didn’t appeal to me then or now.)

Best Comedy: Murphy Brown (This show inspired me that if I never married, I could still have a kid on my own. I guess this could still happen. I think I’d rather have a kid than a husband anyway! )

Best Drama: LA Law (Yep, didn’t watch this. I knew then and I know now that lawyers just aren’t for me.)

Song of the Year: Wind Beneath My Wings (Must be the worst song ever. Every time I hear this song, I cringe and turn the station. I’m convinced all copies should be destroyed along with every Shaina Twain song.)

NCAA Champion: UNLV over Duke (Probably, the best thing that happened that year)

Trivia: Milli Vannili admits to lip-synching. (I don’t care who sang it, I still love “Blame it on the Rain”)

Cost of a stamp: .25

So as I look back, I would say it was a lack-luster year and one I’d just soon forget. The only thing that really mattered back then was getting the heck out of the house and finding someone to buy the beer.

My Saturday morning started with an early morning showing of the 1994 Gen X classic, Reality Bites. Fifteen years later, the movie still strikes a chord and makes me wonder if we ever got over our quest for nirvana in a world ruled by Baby Boomers?



Looking around at my friends, it seems we’ve grown up. After all, we’ve moved out of sharing an apartment and rent with friends, to sharing a mortgage with a spouse. We’ve traded the Big Gulp for Chardonnay and microbrews. And we’ve moved from The Gap to jobs with companies that provide benefits to our families and pay us enough well enough to send our kids to private school. On the surface, reality doesn’t look so bad anymore. Or does it?



Today’s reality equals mortgages, child care, car payments, alimony, child support and sucky jobs. We may have grown up, but the realities fifteen years later just have a higher price tag than that of Lelaina’s $400 phone bill to the Psychic Friends’ Network.



We’re conflicted. Lelaina’s father tells her, “The problem with your generation is there’s no work ethic,” while in the same breath he tells her to “use her ingenuity.” Okay, so we find jobs that pay us well for our knowledge and skills and it pays for the stuff that our parents and society tell us we’re suppose to have, all the while the ‘establishment’ is killing our sense of creativity, and the ingenious spirit that propels us to move forward.



Troy’s fired from 11 jobs, but all he wants to do anyway is play music. He refuses to sell out, even when everyone’s telling him to get up before noon and get a job. In hindsight, he’s a trailblazer and we all really want to be like Troy, refusing to sell our soul to the establishment. His courage to pursue his passion, something that his rival, Michael, the up-tight, Saab driving, movie producer does not have is still inspiring today. After all, an entire industry devoted to finding your passion has proliferated since Troy and Lelaina fought to buck the established rules of 9 to 5 created by our parents.



Vickie’s proud of being a Manager at The Gap. She lives for the moment and for that moment she’s content with the intricacies of folding t-shirts and jeans all day, even when she’s tortured with the thoughts of dying with AIDS. Maybe the fear of dying of AIDS diminished as we married, but the thoughts of lay-offs, failure, and missed opportunities continue to haunt us. No matter what the world sees on the outside, we’re always tortured with something.



So maybe we have larger paychecks and larger responsibilities, and maybe we’re no longer in “the winter of discontent.” But in the end, we still know that reality still bites.

Sometimes when my evil twin and angelic twin  collide they do not always play fairly. Today, my angelic twin was cleaning out old photos and having difficulty throwing away such precious faces from the past. And then my evil twin appeared and said, why not scan and make a post of it.  Now I did spare some of them for future posts when the two forces will inevitably collide again, but today, I was taken in by the huge Mr. T influence of gold necklaces, which all those dear friends who were kind enough to give me their school photo are proudly displaying.