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Bahala na, Kumakain ako ng Mga Tater Tots – Makapitong bahagi (Screw It, I’m Eating Tater Tots- Part Seven)

Writer McWriterson

Before I begin, I want to wish my Dad a Happy Birthday!

This month’s post is in Tagalog, the Filipino language, to commemorate my friendship with Rebecca! This month marks 25 years since she and I started working in the same department at Kohl’s.

Her friendship has been a constant in my life, and her love, loyalty, and kindness have shaped who I am today.

Courtesy of Wikimedia

Ang Cure at hindi ako hindi nagsasalita tungkol sa mga meds

(The Cure and no, I am not talking about meds)

I was in my mid-forties when I became a fan of the band The Cure.

It came to a head while I was writing the screenplay because I would channel my adolescent angst through Pandora’s New Wave channel, which features a lot of The Cure. By the way, saying The Cure in the middle of a sentence feels strange. It’s similar to saying The Ohio State University.

I wasn’t cool enough to pull off The Cure in the 80s, but I was much cooler in the 90s when I became a fan.

What band were you not cool enough for in high school?

Ang facebook ay mabuti para sa isang bagay

(Facebook is good for something)

I’ve mentioned many times before how I don’t really like Facebook, but I love Facebook Marketplace.

Because of Marketplace, I got a coffee table I love, a lamp that illuminates our entire basement, and just recently, a new chandelier for our dining room.

That chandelier cost us $15! It was originally from Birch Lane for $234. Long story short, we got it from a store that has been going out of business for three years.

But we wouldn’t have found this thing of beauty if it weren’t for Facebook and their marketplace.

So, I haven’t been on Facebook much over the past month. It wasn’t like I was taking a stand against anything other than for my inner peace. I have long had a love-hate-detest relationship with Facebook and, in fact, in 2011 left Facebook completely, deleting my account for a solid three months.

I went back eventually, but it never felt amazing to me.

I have searing anxiety and low self-esteem. Facebook is a terrible thing for that combination, so I took the app off of my phone six weeks ago.

I originally wanted to delete my account, but I do like Facebook for homeschool support groups, plus Anna said if I deleted the account, all of those great memories in Time Hop would go away not only for me but also for her and for Ella when she someday inevitably joins Facebook.

Oh, and don’t forget Marketplace.

But since taking the app off of my phone, I have seen some improvements in my self-esteem. I am less anxious. I have more time and because of that; I am more present. I am not worried about every little thing. I am not as stressed. I don’t do things or take pictures with Facebook in mind.

Before this, I was on Facebook hourly (sometimes every half hour) as a mindless impulse while waiting for an appointment, or when I wasn’t able to sleep in the middle of the night, or even when I was on a car ride with a car full of people.

Now I am only on it once a day, only on my laptop, and I feel better.

Nobyembre 1994

(November 1994)

The month that Rebecca and I began our friendship.

It doesn’t seem like it’s possible that it has been 25 years.

In honor of our friendship-a-versary, here are some things we were doing, eating, wearing, and listening to during that month.

Our President was Bill Clinton.

Boyz II Men had two number one songs this exact month: I’ll Make Love to You and On Bended Knee.

Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, Seinfeld and Mad About You were the shows we were watching.

We didn’t have cell phones, but some people had pagers, but if we wanted to get together, we had to call each other on a landline phone.

We didn’t have DVR and actually had to watch shows as they aired or videotape them right before they aired.

We wore CK One perfume. I had a friend who got the Rachel cut this year, but I didn’t because I was growing out my hair for wedding #1, and Forrest Gump and The Lion King were two movies in the theaters.

As far as the style in 1994, I wore a lot of men’s shoes I got on clearance at Old Navy (which was a BRAND NEW store that opened near where we lived), lots of floral dresses, and floppy hats were the rage as well.

As I was writing this, I had a memory pop into my head of this gold/ rust chenille sweater that Rebecca and I bought at Kohl’s, and we paired them with black palazzo pants because Rebecca had recently watched the Meg Ryan/Andy Garcia movie When a Man Loves a Woman, and Meg wore that exact outfit and she looked stunning.

Also, I want it to be stated that I wanted to be Janeane Garofalo for all of 1994 and part of 1995.

I mean, COME ON.

Image result for janeane garofalo 1994
Courtesy of IMDB

Swooooooon.

Oh, and shoe boots were SO popular this year that I had two pairs; one for work and one for bar hopping.

image
Courtesy of Cosmopolitan

Oh hey, guess whose parents were having lots of sex this year? Justin Bieber, Halsey, Harry Styles, and Dakota Fanning.

I remember going to Ruby Tuesday restaurant a lot with Rebecca this year for some reason, and I always got this amazing grilled chicken salad.

Man, I miss Ruby Tuesday’s.

I was really into chicken in 1994.

Also, Rebecca’s egg rolls.

So many fun memories.

Happy Nobyembre, everyone!

19 thoughts on “Bahala na, Kumakain ako ng Mga Tater Tots – Makapitong bahagi (Screw It, I’m Eating Tater Tots- Part Seven)”

  1. Ok, I just said what the H E double L when I saw the title of this post come up in my email!! Oh gosh, my OCD wants to straighten that crooked frame so bad!! Looks like you got some good buys at FB Marketplace! Sounds like you and Rebecca have a wonderful friendship.

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  2. “I met my friend 25 years ago … Clinton was president.” I was like “noooo that couldn’t have been 25 years ago…oh damn.”

    I, too, wanted to be just like Meg Ryan. You’ve Got Mail was my fav, but let me tell you, her haircut did not work on me. I was 15 and tried for years, but nooope. I need to resurrect a blog post I did for that.

    Happy friendship-a-versary!

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      1. I’ll have to see if I can find my yearbook and give you something to laugh about for the rest of the day. It was so hideous. I couldn’t style my hair for shit (still can’t, but I wear it longer and let gravity do its thing).

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  4. I read this yesterday while feeding a baby a bottle but I needed to hands to comment, and sometimes it takes me a whole day to have two hands available to me. Sigh.

    I guess I definitely lived up to the nickname my fellow Burger King employees pinned on me: ‘Nerd.’ because I was SO not trendy. I wore Liz Claiborne perfume. I did not own shoe boots and don’t even remember them. I hear music now and I am like, ‘Oh, I like that song.’ But I never know the artist or the name of the song. I am the worst at music trivia/knowledge, but I admit to also liking the Cure kind of after the fact. I also like Elvis Costello, kind of after the fact. I really liked Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston and U2. Interesting mix. My folks would not allow me to go to a Whitney concert with one of my BFFs because ‘Drugs’ whispered in hushed tones (isn’t there a scene in St. Elmo’s fire where they whisper ‘drugs’ making fun of an adult who talks like that?). Shortly after my sister wanted to go to U2 concert and my folks bent over backwards to get her to the line in the middle of the night to be sure to get tickets. Um, more drugs would be at a U2 concert than at Whitney. But U2 was Irish after all and that spoke my folks’ language. Irritating!!!

    You are so lucky to have such a great friend for so long. My bestie from high school has decided not to talk to me anymore. I believe she got tired of hearing about the inequalities in my family. She wanted me to disown my family. Sigh. Sometimes when I stop to think about it, I just cannot believe that she is not a part of my life anymore.

    Cartoon I remember that no one else does: Godzilla and Godzuki. Remember the little baby dinosaur? Those were the days. Things were simpler. When my kids were that age they were racing off to sports and dancing Saturday mornings. They missed out!

    Oh, and don’t get me started on my boy haircut that my mom insisted on. It was awful.

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    1. I love your comments so much. I wish we had really known each other WINK WINK back in the 90s.

      I do remember Godzilla and Godzuki!!

      I also love The Smiths now too. I feel like I am going backward in life, kind of like a female Benjamin Button.

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  5. Isn’t it cool to have friendships that have lasted 25+ years? I loved reading your music, TV, and fashion memories. I missed a lot of that because I’m older than you and I was raising two little kids in the early 90’s! I’ve always liked The Cure though…love the song you posted.

    xoxo

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  6. I love these tater tot posts so much! You are so lucky to be friends with each other. You found your friendship lobster! I hope you get that reference lol.

    I love The Cure too. My favorite song is Pictures of You and I too didn’t appreciate them until way beyond the 80s. And 90s for that matter.

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  7. OK, I don’t want to be that guy, but it was Reality Bites where Garafalo had the amazing style. And I totally wanted to be her too. AND Winona. AND Kyra from Singles #hairgoals. I’m obsessed with both of those movies by the way. Like they were life for me for a good stretch of time.

    And you know this whole VSCO girl thing? That was the style that was too cool for me back in the 90’s. Cause as much as we want to pretend, that is 90’s style. So I just went goth, cause it was easy and cheap, lol.

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