Tag: Blast from the Past

Q: What television show or movie did you want to be in when you were little?



"Girls Just Want to Have Fun." I watched the CRUD out of that movie at the Diggs' house with Andrea and Sarah. When I got my own sparkling new VHS copy (at age 17, people--no longer little!), it wore out after several years of constant viewing.


Q: Which character or star?


I'd love to pretend I was stylish and fun enough to want to be Helen Hunt's character, but it was Sarah Jessica Parker's. Janie Glenn, all the way. Her hair was GORGEOUS. She wore a leotard with suspenders in one scene. No pants...just suspenders. (This is also the film that sparked my crush on Jonathan Silverman.)

Q. Most embarrassing moment your friends will never let die?

I think my friends/family know I'm too ultra-sensitive to allow them to keep teasing me about things. Even though I should get over them.

But I remember one thing that happened:

I was at Ridgeway, somewhere between 2nd and 4th grade, probably. We'd all line up at the 4-square boxes to play, and there'd always be a huge line. One day, I was next up, and there were big Unit C (5th & 6th grade) kids behind me. I stepped wrong and kind of slowly fell/sank to the ground, but not fast--it didn't hurt. I was totally embarrassed, and decided to play it off like I'd just sat down in front of all those kids. No one else was sitting down; I don't know why I thought this was a good idea. They weren't fooled, though. A big kid reached down behind me, under my arms, and stood me up again. I said nothing; didn't even turn around. I was so, so, so humilated.

Isn't that stupid?

Q: Your proudest moment or accomplishment?

Hm. I know I felt great when I was accepted into various schools (Grinnell, Grinnell-in-London, NYU, law school, library school) and whenever I got a job I wanted. I probably felt the greatest when I got the e-mail from Karen saying she was offering me the Grad Assistant job up in Special Collections. I wanted it so, so bad, and there was a lot of competition to get it.

But funnily enough, I think I was the proudest handing in one little paper. Last spring, I went to a seminar in England, which you could earn graduate credit for if you wrote this 25-page paper afterward, due a year from the seminar's end. I hate papers, unless they can be written casually...like, journal entries or opinion papers. And this one had to be as if it were a professional article. I came home from the seminar, and decided to write it on Special Collections, and how they preserved their collection--a topic I'd always been interested in, but had never really studied. I was soon immersed in all the information I could find, and excited about all the examples within the department where I worked. When Neil and I jetted to North Carolina to spend a week with his family about a month later, I took all my notes, photos, and books, and spent a few hours a day closed up in our room typing away on his laptop. With no internet, no regular access to TV, and no car, the days had no distractions other than the rocking chairs sitting on the porch overlooking the ocean--and I spent many hours out there too.

I couldn't believe when I reached the 25-page mark. I formatted photos in the paper (always a nightmare, in the past) and, as soon as we got home from N.C., sent the polished paper off, with fingers crossed. I'd enjoyed it so much, I was sure it wouldn't be up to snuff. It just flowed too easily.

So when I got a note full of praise back from the instructor, saying I was the first student to hand their paper in, and who told me I should give it to the department I'd critiqued, since it would be a valuable resource to them--I was thrilled. I think that was the last little detail that would allow me to get my MLS degree that August.

Q: What adult did you have a crush on when you were little?

Steve Martin.

(I didn't think I still did, but then I found this, the cover from his 1981 album. Yowza-HOT!!)

Q: What habit or personality trait do you have of your mother?

1. I find myself doing a lot of her mannerisms from time to time, and others (mostly her women friends) notice it too.

2. We like things to be done the right way. (But I think that's just woman in general...)

Q: What did you want to change your name to when you were little?

Freakin' anything but genevieve. Gabriella, Samantha, Veronica, Stacey, Kate...

Q: Who was your first kiss?

James Weinheimer. Ginger's birthday party, at her farm. 5th grade, maybe? That was kind of a wild party for little 11-year-olds.

Q: What are 3 adjectives that someone from high school or middle school would use to describe you?

Maybe they'd say...Funny? Temperamental? Moody? (are those two the same?)

Q: What hairstyle, clothes, or other accessories did you rock back in the day when it was cool?

I'm going to limit myself to Junior High Fads, because they were the stupidest, and I conformed (or tried to) the most at that time.

Okay.


Let's talk about the tight, tight ankle-zip stone-washed jeans.


Let's talk about the tightrolled light blue Gap jeans that came a year later.


The even lighter blue Lawman jeans I can't believe Mom got me.


Slouch socks....seriously thick. I never layered them, because it just would have been too thick. I don't think I got the right kind for layering.


The crunchy, curled, doughnut-shaped bangs. (Always easier to curl the day *after* a shampoo, when little bits of Rave hairspray were still in the bangs from the day before.)


White leather Keds, and trying to convince Mom that it was time to buy new ones when the blue tab on the back came off (because I picked at it all day).


A "BUTTON YOUR FLY" dark turquoise t-shirt, with pink and purple lettering, layered and sleeves rolled with a white t-shirt underneath.


A Swatch watch, with a clear face so you could see the mechanisms inside.


A bright blue leather purse with that tacky Esprit logo across it (a walking ad, basically), followed by a more subtle gray Liz Claiborne. I got glasses, so I was able to guilt Dad into buying me a name-brand purse.


Ooh, remember these?? I think I had a white one. Dang, why did I choose white? That thing must have been filthy.


Let's see...what else?


I never had the fashion sense to put together anything on my own (as Emily did, ingeniously) nor the money to buy a full outfit the Buckle put together for you.


I remember being so show-offy about a green Outback Red (OBR, as it was known) t-shirt that was so plain, with just that notch in the collar.


Mom took me to the Ralph Lauren outlet a couple times to buy polos, and I wore them as much as I could get away with--light yellow, forest green, and a blue one that was a little too small.


I know I had a Hypercolor t-shirt.


I know I had a plain white Russell Athletic sweatshirt (WHY were these so popular? BORING!!!).


Several pairs of Umbros (white, turquoise, navy, and the standard black-with-white trim), with matching bike shorts to go underneath.


Nike Air tennis shoes.


Big chunky Cosby-show (but girly) sweaters with matching turtlenecks underneath.


Deep v-neck cardigans with a white turtleneck under (EWWW!).


Plastic whimsical earrings from Claire's boutique.


Oh, yeah. I had stirrup pants. Good lord. It was like having triangles for legs. And even skinny people looked ridiculous in those. Ginger gave me a pair of stirrup pants with suspenders. Did I ever wear those out? (shudder...!)


I never did the side ponytail, parachute pants, or garish makeup (though Ginger did gift me, Sarah, and Alena one year with blue mascara, which I loved). And I resisted the Grunge movement as long as I could before finally prepping it up with a nice new flannel with a tucked-in t-shirt showing neatly underneath, and matching plaid flannel Converses.





Why was it all about the name brands then?? I could care less nowadays.

Q: What job did those long and annoying surveys in school say you would be good at?


I don't remember specifically doing these, though I'm sure I did. They probably said I'd be a good accountant.



Q: And what did you try and make the test result outcome be?


No memory of this. I would never have tried to skew the answers, though.



Q: What made you laugh harder than you have ever laughed before?



Back then, Lindsay and Emily could make me laugh so hard (Em still does! She makes me laugh just by laughing herself)...Laura Bramon was FREAKING hilarious...as for a specific incident?

Oh...Jamie Hook. Man. That kid.



One day we were in the hall goofing off during Musical Theatre, and I told Jamie I'd seen a comedian the night before on TV, and he was wondering what would happen if a gay guy tried to imitate a straight man, as straight men imitate gay men all the time. I can't recreate it, but the guy started acting effete, then said "Get me a beer" in this over-the-top deep voice, and his gay friends were all "That was almost too real." Jamie laughed so hard, he sat down right on the floor--plop!



I lost it.



Q: Favorite memories of hanging out with your best friends?



Summer nights at the Barn with Ems, Linds, Polly-wolly, Jamie...going to Country Kitchen after...jumping on Polly's trampoline (with Beer & Alex too!)...walking around downtown on summer nights, thinking we were sooooo hip...spending the evening/night at Alecia's, sophomore year, with Em...doing Block projects with Katie and Jamie...walking around the neighborhood with Simone...pool parties with Little Caesar's Crazy Bread...spending the night at Sarah's with Alena, then going to the mall Saturday morning with my $5 allowance after Kaye served us TJ Cinnamon rolls...wintertime at Ridgeway, where SO MANY girls had birthdays, and there'd be, like, 2 slumber parties a month...HHS musical rehearsals, sitting in the audience with homework and kooky friends all around...the summer after senior year, and that mixed bag of feelings--excitement, hanging on to everything while we could, spending all our time with each other, and finally, saying goodbye...NKOTB, Nelson, Dennis Miller, and The Urge concerts...



Q: What is the most trouble you have ever gotten in with your parents?



I was a pretty well-behaved kid. I mean, I was grounded from time to time, but I can't remember ever being in deep sh*t. I never did anything really bad. When I didn't do something by the deadline, they'd punish me, I'd sulk, and that was it. Lily and Steve, though--they were rebels!!




Q: What was your 5-year plan when you had to write it out in high school?



We did a '10-years-in-the-future' survey in Soc class senior year. I think I said I'd be married and working as a lawyer.



Q: What is your 5-year plan now?



Not much different than now! I'll be married, maybe we'll be living in a different place, maybe we'll buy a home...but I'm happy now, too. There's no deadline for anything. If we choose to have kids, that may be something we'd be thinking about in five years. I like my work, and I love my friends, family, and Neil.