This Saturday my wife has her 20 year High School reunion... it was supposed to be last december but one of her classmates died just days before, so they postponed until now. My own 20 year reunion is this later this year. Can you believe it? 20 years down the drain...
Dateyear 1984:
No big brother anywhere... what a disappointment...
The first megabit chip is produced at Bell Labs. We watch Whitney Houston sing the American Anthem at the opening of the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games... Mary Lou Retton wins two gold, two silver and two bronze medals. Vanessa Williams becomes first black Miss America. A title that is taken away after nude photos of her surface in Penthouse.
The first Apple Macintosh is introduced on Feb. 8th a couple of weeks after the groundbreaking "big brother" commercial airs during the Super Bowl. Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the shooting of a Pepsi commercial. Bob Geldof, founder of "Band Aid", releases "Do They Know It's Christmas" with all proceeds going to relief effort in Ethiopia.
Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards. Ronald Reagan is reelected and Konstantin U. Chernenko, 72, becomes leader of the Soviet Union.
Words like "stonewashed". "acid-wash", "break dancing", "where's the beef?" are part now of our everyday lingo...
My favorite films that year were Purple Rain, Footloose, Amadeus and This is Spinal Tap. My favorite bands were Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Rush, Dio, Motley Crue and Twisted Sister. My favorite songs that year: Owner of a Lonely Heart, Let's Go Crazy, Footloose, Twist of Fate, New Moon on Monday, On the Loose, Kids in America, Cum On Feel the Noize, We're Not Gonna Take It...
Meanwhile, in my own corner of the world:
One of my best friends becomes High School president, I become Prime Minister... I get completely drunk the day we won the election... My friend Jorge takes care of me, gets me to his house, holds me up so I can pee, and I repay him by vomitting all over his room... Later that day, I fail to pick-up my girlfriend for the victory gym dance because I'm too drunk to care... amazingly, we don't break-up... I end up making out with Andrea, my best friend's baby sister... this was not supposed to happen.
Me and 2 others represent our school in the math olympics and we win! Also, I win second prize in an English poetry reading... I read "It's my Turn!" by John Entwistle. I win an acting trophy for my portrayal of an old man in Carlos Solorzano's Fantoches. I win first prize in an free writing competition with my tragic and depressing essay "Misere". I get kicked out of the Basketball team for excessive violence. I win a medal for bicycling I didn't deserve.
After a couple of disastrous dates with Jenny, I date a couple of Jewish girls from Weizman's, who turn out to be cousins, and that goes nowhere fast. Later, a girl I met in a dance I was not invited to becomes my steady girlfriend for most of year... she likes the way I kiss and I like her ass... but she's a little dark for my circle... even later, in december, I meet the one who would eventually become my wife...
I frequent school dances here and there... Calazans, St. Claire, Humboldt... I crash parties, get totally drunk and fall asleep on the sidewalk or in the park... I still mementos from houses... I paint my face for a punk fest... I am a headbanger... Rock'n'Roll Crazy Nights... We wear denim and leather and chains and bones... My nicknames are "Rob" (after Rob Hartford from Judas Priest), Borracho, Olivio (don't ask) and ET... I often visit nightclubs such as Hollywood and Le Femme Internationale... I can sometimes be seen having a beer at midnight near calle 12... a girl accuses me and Alvaro, a friend of Andrea's brother, of almost "raping" her... I do weed a couple of times, but "feel nothing"... I walk to Cartago for the only time in my life but instead of a canteen full of water, I bring along some Vodka... I am a card-carrying member of the Opus Dei... I am called a "bad influence" by a friend's mum... I graduate third in my generation... the future is wide open...
