This week I learned that seeing my old co-workers feels like we all fought a war together. I am pretty sure most co-workers that get together don’t feel that way. But in a lot of ways, working for the company I used to work for felt like fighting battles. It was one thing after another, which I guess is always how it is in business. But somehow our company was always the underdog. One year at Christmas time, we even had a general leaving company-wide voicemails telling us that if we didn’t make the plan numbers for the year, our company would be history. Little did he know, we limped along for another year (without him).
Seeing each other again, we all seemed happy (although some sad circumstances surrounded our reunion). I don’t remember anyone looking happy the last year my former employer was in business. So, I guess the more correct statement would be “we all fought a losing war together.” Instead of comparing battle scars, we compared what companies we have sent our resumes to, interviewed at, and what we have done to keep or lose our house. It was kind of like a giant unemployment support group.
I also learned this week that I need to start a driving school. Drivers are horrible! I do not seem to be the only one who is noticing this. The laws of the road are one thing that I already know. And I feel like they are going to waste, as no one else is following them. The only thing I would need to start this business is buy a car and fit it with one of those Driver’s Ed extra brake devices. Which, I don’t have the money to do. But it I did, the car would be mostly tax deductible, as it would be for my business.
Normally I am scared of teenagers. But there is one area where they are vulnerable—their quest for a driver’s license. After all, a license if a privilege, not a right. If I owned a driving school, I would have ultimate power over them! (Insert Evil Laugh here.)
I’m not stalking you. is NOW ON FACEBOOK! “Like” that I’m not stalking you and get an update when there is a new post to read. (It is sort of like YOU are stalking ME.)
Jem is awesome. It is a cartoon rock’n’roll soap opera from the late 80’s. It has everything a pre-teen girl in the 80’s could have wanted: glamor, glitter, fashion, fame, exciting adventure, a boyfriend with purple hair and eyes to match. *sigh*
I remember I used to come home from school and watch Jem. A lot of days I would go over to my asbestos friend’s house to watch it with her. Although she was always grounded and not allowed to watch TV afterschool or have me over. (Her mother thought I was a bad influence. Maybe she is right. I did get my asbestos friend into blogging-hehehe.) I remember one time when her family’s floor model TV was dying. The whole picture showed up in one tiny strip across the center of the TV, maybe only two or three inches vertically. But we watched Jem on the distorted TV anyway.
Jem and Hannah Montana have a little in common. Both are series about pop stars with secret identities. Miley Stewart is to Hannah Montana as Jerrica Benton is to Jem. Jerrica turns into her rock star alter-ego Jem with the help of a hologram from super-computer Synergy. Jerrica had special earrings that allowed her to speak to Synergy whenever she needed. (By a total coincidence, I happen to own earrings that are very similar to Jem’s.) Jerrica as Jem gets her sister and foster sisters together and they start a band called Jem and The Holograms (get it?), in an effort to make money for Starlight Music which will in turn support the Starlight House, filled with foster girls. The Holograms are Aja, Shana, and Jerrica’s sister Kimber.
My “Jem-like” earrings
Every episode featured three mini music videos. Some of the songs are actually quite good. I used to tape them using my cassette recorder. Some were sung by Jem and The Holograms, some by their rival band, The Misfits. The Misfits are very bad. In many episodes, they literally are trying to kill Jem. My husband has seen bits of a few episodes and he is like “they would be so arrested for that.” But, somehow, they never are. The Misfits are made up of Pizzazz, Roxie, and Stormer. Stormer isn’t actually bad. She just has no backbone to think for herself, therefore she follows. Later, both bands would get an additional member.
All the Holograms know about Synergy and that Jerrica and Jem are one in the same. Too bad Jerrica’s boyfriend Rio doesn’t know. He is the long suffering Starlight House maintenance man, Hologram’s roadie, engineer, bodyguard, and Jem’s personal guardian angel. He doesn’t get paid enough. He deserves better. Rio is supposed to be Jerrica’s boyfriend, but then Jerrica as Jem is always hanging all over Rio, confusing him. Rio looks pretty much exactly like a Ken doll, but with purple hair. But it suits him. I am rewatching episodes on streaming Netflix now, and I do not think Jerrica ever tells him the truth about Jem. What a bitch.
Rio with Jerrica
I really liked in the third season when the writers added a third band. They were called “The Stingers” (bad name). They feature a male lead singer named Riot, along with rocker chicks named Minx and Rapture. It was nice to have more testosterone on the show, along with Rio and evil Misfit manager Eric Raymond, to balance out all the girl power. And it was nice to have some songs sung by a guy. Of course, Riot created love triangle with Rio and Jem. If you count Jerrica, that makes it a love square. The Stingers definitely were not good, but they weren’t always evil either like the Misfits. They sort of just played every situation to their advantage. Jerrica was such a goody-goody. Boring. Always keeping everything organized. Jem enjoyed the spotlight and let herself get swept away sometimes.
This was one of the cartoons of the 80s that Hasbro used to sell toys (Transformer, anyone?). I never bought any Jem dolls. Now I sort of wish I had. Although I remember them as not really looking like the cartoon characters that much. But that was the amazing thing. Although the writer, Christy Marx, was told to make a cartoon to sell a toy, she went way beyond that. She created Starlight Music, Starlight House, and all the various relationships between the interweaving characters. Even the Starlight Girls had a bit of screen-time and well-developed personalities and some back story. I am saying don’t dispell this as just a dumb fluffy cartoon. It has real heart and stories. (Just don’t keep count of how many times Rio has to rescue Jem from an avalanche;)
The fashions on the cartoon are so…80’s. I think the only way to really know what that means is to have lived through it. Stripes, polka-dots, ruffles, bows. Big, colorful hair. You name it. All on the same outfit. On the same person. The makeup is also crazy. Just random streaks of makeup across their cheeks, like little kids would do to dress up like an Indian for Halloween.
I liked how everyone’s nickname told their profession. Video made the videos. Danse danced in them. Techrat knew technology and had the personality of a rat.
How Synergy could create holograms around the world, I will never understand. Or how no one realized Jerrica & Jem were the same person. Apparently changing your hair from blond to pink is the equivalent of Superman removing his eye glasses. I mean, both women hung out with all the same friends. You would think that would be easy to figure out. Maybe Jerrica wasn’t a bitch, maybe Rio was just really dense. He also should have dumped Jerrica for never putting out.
I’m not stalking you. is NOW ON FACEBOOK! “Like” that I’m not stalking you and get an update when there is a new post to read. (It is sort of like YOU are stalking ME.)
You always hear news stories about how texting is dumbing down our teenagers and will someday replace the English language as we know it. I don’t see it that way. I think of them as two languages you can learn side by side, like English and French. Although, like anyone who knows two languages, the one you actually use the most will be the one you are more fluent in. That is part of why I write this blog.
Being out of work, I spend more time texting than writing emails of a professional nature. I try to write this blog in my own voice, while still trying to follow the basic rules of grammar. Does a smiley face sneak in sometimes (Why sure:) Do some posts have too many statements in parenthesis? (Definitely.) But I do generally consider myself a stickler for good spelling and grammar.
But, having texted, I totally understand the need for as much abbreviation as possible. It is necessary for speed, space-saving, and it saves your thumbs. Also, you have to realize I am not a part of the core texting generation. While kids today can type something like “OMGMMISL*” and totally understand each other, texting in my generation is a little different. My asbestos friend and I use texting as a substitute for phone calls and a more immediate version of email. I would love to call her and have long meaningful chats. But as we both have children between the ages of 11 months and 18 months, that seems a little improbable. And the signal at her house sucks.
We also have silly thoughts throughout the day that are better conveyed by text. But we are limited to how much we can abbreviate and still understand each other. Hence, our message often takes two or three texts to fully convey. I am thinking teenagers don’t do that. My friend and I only have abbreviations for things like Meijer (mjr), Wal-Mart (wmrt), and flaming butt of fire (fbof). My friend’s daughter coined the term “the flaming butt of fire.” (What is “the flaming butt of fire”? If you have to ask, honey, you have never had it!)
So, I believe, if actual writing is balanced with the actual English language, civilization will b ok a lil longer;)
* “Oh my God my Mom is so lame.”
I’m not stalking you. is NOW ON FACEBOOK! “Like” that I’m not stalking you and get an update when there is a new post to read. (It is sort of like YOU are stalking ME.)
I learned that “Being Human” (the U.S. version) is a really good show. It probably helped that my husband and I roared through the first season in like 48hrs due to my son having a cold and not wanting to sleep much. Unfortunately, we watched “Being Human” on streaming Netflix, and they do not yet have the second season available for viewing:( If you don’t know, it is the show about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who live together in a Boston house. It sounds like the beginning of a very lame joke, but the show was well-written, had action, humor, sex, and left me caring for the not-quite-human cast.
Suction-cup soap dish
I also learned this week that they sell suction-cup soap dishes. How long have these been around! Why didn’t anyone tell me! We moved into our house in 2004, which has a tub surround with no soap dishes built-in. For years we have been balancing the soap dish on the edge of the tub. I couldn’t buy a new soap dish, because new ones would not balance in the corner as well. And the new suction cup one we can put up high, so we don’t have to always bend over. And it has holes for self-draining! Which I love, because I use Dove bath soap, and it melts like nobody’s business when left sitting in water. Which happened frequently before.
I’m not stalking you. is NOW ON FACEBOOK! “Like” that I’m not stalking you and get an update when there is a new post to read. (It is sort of like YOU are stalking ME.)
The other night I dreamed I was riding a skateboard. Not doing any tricks, but just riding it down the sidewalk, feeling the wind rush past my face. I was going faster than I ever would dare in real life and very sure of myself that I would not fall off.
After I woke up, I kept thinking about the nice rush I got in the dream. Sort of like riding a bike, but in the dream it seemed like less work. I let my mind wander to what I would put on my skateboard if I could have a custom picture on it. This is what came into my head. Then I had to draw it to try to get it out of my head. It is sort of like Harajuku girl meets Punky Brewster, with a little bit of Cartman when the aliens make him sing because of the probe in his ass.
The skateboard design in my head
The only skateboard I have ever actually owned as a kid was a skinny red plastic one from Meijer. I liked it, but fell off it a lot. I never had one of these fancy wide wooden boards that the teenage boys have today. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I just might buy one to horse around on, just because of this dream. But I forget that I am old and the ground is harder than it used to be. And less forgiving. And that I would never have a picture this cool on my board.
I’m not stalking you. is NOW ON FACEBOOK! “Like” that I’m not stalking you and get an update when there is a new post to read. (It is sort of like YOU are stalking ME.)
I learned that “Being Human” (the U.S. version) is a really good show. It probably helped that my husband and I roared through the first season in like 48hrs due to my son having a cold and not wanting to sleep much. Unfortunately, we watched “Being Human” on streaming Netflix, and they do not yet have the second season available for viewing:( If you don’t know, it is the show about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who live together in a Boston house. It sounds like the beginning of a very lame joke, but the show was well-written, had action, humor, sex, and left me caring for the not-quite-human cast.
I'm not stalking you. 