36 Bucks and My Affinity for Legwarmers

Last night I decided to be a good girl and actually cross something off my list. I wanted to do laundry, but my neighbors apparently had the same idea. So instead I rallied my spirits tolerably and did my taxes! I am getting a whole $36 back from the feds. WOOT! That is so much better than owing. It’s only enough to eat out at a moderately priced restaurant, and that’s only if I don’t spring for drinks or dessert, but still! And since I’m incapable of truly focusing, I simultaneously wrote a list of reasons I love the 80s, listened to Regina Spektor, and tried to decipher what she was saying in Russian. Well, I don’t technically speak Russian, but I did watch La Femme Nikita this weekend so I thought maybe I learned some through osmosis. Heh.

The 80s are awesome for a lot of reasons. Based on the Pink Fairy’s recent viewing of Pretty in Pink, I think at least she agrees too! Here are a few of my reasons for every year:

• 1980: Fame, the movie musical, was released. I grew up dancing so how could I have accessorized properly without legwarmers?
• 1981: The year of my birth and the same year all my totally rad friends were born.
• 1982: Cheers popularized the neighborhood bar as a suitable place for a cast of characters to hangout.
• 1983: Flashdance hit the screen and made all welding ballerinas feel like they had a place in the world. It was Hollywood’s answer to women doing a traditionally male job–Adrian Lyne had to make her a girlie dancer. Also, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was released. When I was a kid my parents had to buy two copies because I wore out their first tape.
• 1984: Torvill and Dean won the gold medal at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games. My brother was also born this year, thus marking the beginning of our lifelong rivalry.
• 1985: The Sure Thing and Desperately Seeking Susan came out. These are two of my all time favorite movies. The Sure Thing was filmed at my mom’s university and it was cool to take a little walking tour of it after seeing it. Desperately Seeking Susan, by Susan Seidelman, is notably one of the first female directed independent films. It’s a female buddy movie, and that’s still a seriously lacking genre.
• 1986: New Kids on the Block hit the street…It was an embarrassing time for us all. Enough said.
• 1987: My Two Dadswas on TV and influenced me to beg my mom for a transparent Guess phone with a hot pink neon triangle.
• 1988: Roxette’s Look Sharp! came out. I remember seeing them on MTV and I got my little second-grade allowance and bought my very first tape.
• 1989: Madonna’s Like a Prayer album hit the charts. The song and video, rife with religiosity, was probably the first time I could put the First Amendment in any sort of context.