I am a child of the 80's

Which is why I feel I must share that this was the first cassette I ever bought with my allowance:


I also started this blog because I tell stories over an over again like someone 30 years my senior - if I write them down, maybe I will stop telling them. So here are two you may or may not have heard.

One
After buying said cassette, I had it in my walkman (yes, kids, a walkman) that I would listen to while on the swings - Graceland was my other choice for this activity.

One night my dad stole borrowed my walkman to go for a run. Ten minutes later he came running through the door and said to anyone that would hear him:

What is this shit!?!

Evidently, he was not expecting Vincent Price to narrate his night-time run through the neighborhood.

Granted, this was maybe four or five years after Thriller had been released, but while we owned the record, I don't think my dad ever listened to it and we didn't have MTV (I wouldn't see the full length video until I was in high school). It would also not be the last time he asked that about my musical taste.

I am going to guess that the reason I decided to buy Thriller, years after it was released, is because this next story is indicative of just how ingrained the King of Pop was into many a young psyche.

Two
In kindergarten we were paired with 6th graders who were supposed to act as our "mentors." Mine was a boy - not at all weird and awkward, right?

They were also our "secret" santas during our holiday party. I don't have any memories about my mentor other than a vague uncomfortableness around a boy that seemed infinitely older than me, except for what he gave me. I opened a small white box and inside was a sparkly, gleaming, totally rad and wonderful, tiny, white glove pin.

Mind you, we did not have MTV. I don't remember watching Michael Jackson on TV, ever, but I certainly remember Captain EO. I put the lid back on the box and sat on it for the rest of the party. I knew the minute I set it down it would be gone forever. I also never wore it for fear of losing such an amazing present. Lord knows where it is now.