'80s Flashback: Roller skating

-
Friday is here again, so it's time for another '80s Flashback.

Before a word from our sponsor, here are the recent '80s Flashbacks:

'80s Flashback: Garbage Pail Kids
'80s Flashback: Just Say No
'80s Flashback: Freddy Krueger
'80s Flashback: Atari
'80s Flashback: OP corduroy shorts
'80s Flashback: Parachute pants
'80s Flashback: Rambo cartoon
'80s Flashback: Psyche!
'80s Flashback: Jim and Tammy Faye
'80s Flashback: Avoid the noid
'80s Flashback: Mary Lou Retton
'80s Flashback: One night in Bangkok
'80s Flashback: Adams Atoms
'80s Flashback: Don't you forget about me

OK. This week's flashback is brought to you by the '80s new wave pop star hairdo, as shown here. Even if you weren't a member of A Flock of Seagulls, your hair could look like you had a bird on your head.

Now for the flashback:

Roller skating was a big part of the '80s. It was big for birthday parties, it was a teenage hangout away from the mall, and it was the inspiration for Xanadu, which is more like a bad '70s movie although it came out in 1980.

The roller rink near my house was "Great Skate." I went there many, many times from about age 9 to 12. I wasn't a great skater, but the light shows were interesting and that's where half of my elementary school classmates were on Friday nights -- and any night during the summer. Four vivid memories:

1. Great Skate played "Our Lips are Sealed" by the Go-Go's A LOT. Also, Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue."

2. It was very hard to push down on the Pole Position gas pedal while wearing a skate.

3. The skate "safety patrol" that would blow whistles as a huge pack of skaters fell down like dominoes.

4. And, oh yes, the reserved time for "Couples Skate." That's when I would head for the arcade. I was realistic, after all.

The whole skating thing was pretty cheesy, but it was a lot of fun. Maybe if I had dedicated myself to learning to skate better, I could've been a legend. Maybe I could've been like these guys:

Popular posts from this blog

Drink G2 and you can say you're an athlete

-
One of my new favorite products on the market is G2, from the makers of Gatorade. It's a "low-calorie electrolyte beverage designed for athletes off the field." It's one of the dumbest things out there, and yet bound to make tons of money. According to the Web site , "results indicate that athletes often do a poor job at hydrating off the field." It goes on to say: "One of the challenges with off the field hydration is calories. Many athletes prefer fewer calories in an everyday beverage." Well, maybe their everyday beverage should be water. You'll save 25 calories against every eight ounces of G2, which despite all its hype about electrolytes, is actually this: Kool-Aid for adults. (Adults who are embarrassed that their favorite Kool-Aid flavor is "Purplesaurus Rex.") I think one of the flavors for G2 should be GiveItUp-Berry, perfect for the 40-year-old who can jump three inches off the ground but spends $60 bucks for an UnderArmour...
Read more

Throwing away the kids' crafts can feel like trashing memories

-
Image
A version of this column first appeared in The Dallas Morning News and on DallasNews.com . ------------------ (Note: Some kids returned to school earlier this month, but in Texas, most of them return next week. That includes my youngest son, Nathan, who will be making his kindergarten debut.) The kindergartners starting school next week, with their anxious smiles and double-knotted shoelaces, will make any size backpack seem big. They’ll spill into classrooms looking like snails hunched under colorful shells. Cooper, then in first grade, educated us about penguins But the backpacks are a must, of course. They’ll be needed to carry home the precious mementos of a kindergartner’s life that parents will want to hold on to forever. Or, uh, throw away after a few days. I feel bad saying that as my 5-year-old starts kindergarten. But Nathan has already produced a plethora of preschool keepsakes. He also has two older brothers, so our family needs occasional memorabilia ...
Read more

Southwest Airlines kicks two girls off flight

-
A pair of 18-year-old girls were kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for disruptive behavior. That's the accusation, anyway. The girls say otherwise. But this might give you an idea of what the flight attendants were dealing with. Below is one of the girl's comments about the incident ( from this story ). “I think they were just discriminating against because we were young decent-looking girls. I mean, nobody else on the plane looked like us except us,” she said. “[The flight attendants] were like older ladies. We were younger. Who knows, they could have been just jealous of us because we were younger.” She really comes off well with that statement.
Read more