I LOVED the 80’s. I loved the music. Some of the clothes. The carefree days. I found an old picture circa 1982 or 1983. I don’t have the exact date but it was during my freshman year at UCLA and I recognize the people in the photo as my dorm neighbors. What was happening then? I recall MTV had just surfaced–maybe not until 1983 but I do recall the one of the first music videos I ever saw was Squeeze singing “Black Coffee In Bed”. I remember my baseball team won the World Series that year (OH YEAH) and I blew off studying to watch my Cardinals kick the Brewers and win. I remember hearing the band X for the first time and seeing them play on campus and getting my feet trampled by a mosh pit of army boots. I remember taking the long walk from Hedrick Hall all the way down to Bruin Walk to get to my classes–no wonder I looked so thin then. I remember feeling uncomfortable with all the sorority and fraternity folks and all the material people that plagued the surrounding Westwood area and feeling out of place most of the time. Part of the reason I transferred after my freshman year was the huge lost feeling I felt going to classes with 35,000 other students dressed in preppy clothes with topsider shoes and alligator shirts. UGH. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine campus if you enjoy all that. I had enough fun and met some nice people–in fact I still keep in touch with one of my old boyfriends from there but I look at this photo and remember what an awkward, silly time a person of 18/19 goes through. First of all, I do recall the names of the two people sitting on the bench. The girl I think was named Vanessa and that’s about all I can remember except she lived on my floor. The boy in between was named Greg. I even remember his last name. Greg lived down the hall from me about 3 or 4 rooms and had not one but two roommates. Considering our dorm rooms were made for only two occupants, you get the picture. One of the roomies was a funny guy named Kevin that secretly lived in Greg’s room with his roomie. Kevin attended all the dorm functions though. Greg I remember well because we loved the same music. We quoted musicians talking from “The Decline of Western Civilization” and went to my first X concert together. See his preppy checked shirt? I don’t think he was a frat boy, but he played one on television. In the backround I can see the floral shirt of my next door neighbor Ken. He and his roomie Steve ALSO had an additional roomie crashing with them all the time. Then there’s the Princess trying to hide herself from the picture. She was a really pretty girl, obviously had self esteem issues and didn’t like having her photograph taken.
Then there’s the brunette next to Greg. OMG can we pluck our eyebrows any thinner? Unfortunately this poor girl didn’t know about eyebrow waxing or she would have done much better than trying to take it into her own hands. The shoes… not topsiders this time, but from the white barely showing in the picture, she was wearing K-Swiss. K-Swiss was the rage in the early 80’s in Southern California. I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but those shoes were on every foot. K-Swiss, topsiders and Mia flats. Red Mia flats to go with those tapered jeans that girls of the 80’s wore while listening to Adam Ant play on KROQ. Look at this girl’s tan. Wow, she looks like she might have spent some time out in the sun that summer working on it. Probably used baby oil or SP2 if anything cause who knew about skin cancer in those days?
Wait…this girl has a camera. She liked photography even back in her college days…wait…could this photographer be me? Ummmm yeah….I admit it. How brave of me to not only admit what year I started college (do the math) but how brave of me to post such a horrific example of how scary the 80’s must have been and how I can hear my children howling with laughter at that eyebrow thin goofy face with the plaid preppy shorts and K-Swiss shoes. Hmmm. What’s the purpose of this pointless post? I guess I had a camera in my hand a lot in my young life and found a photo I thought would amuse you. At least it’s not my prom picture. That would really make one spit out their Diet Pepsi all over the keyboard.
