80’s Night in the East Bay
I’m sure I’m completely wrong in my analogy, but it feels like the way NYC has the “outer boroughs” meaning the far-reaches of Queens and the Bronx and Staten Island, and the “‘burbs” like NJ, Long Island, and Connecticut, San Francisco has the various parts of the “Bay Area” and additional counties. The South Bay is San Jose, San Matteo and other towns; in the East Bay there is Oakland and Berkeley; and you can always venture far to Marin, Sonoma, or Monterrey Counties if you’re up for an adventure.
This weekend, J. and I took my extrememely dirty Honda (for the life of me I cannot find a car wash!) to the East Bay — Berkeley, to be specific — for a 1980’s theme party. Those who know me well know I absolutely cannot turn down an 80’s party. I even have several pieces of authentic 1980’s clothing which have survived these *ahem* years and are still hanging in my closet today. However, the majority of them were deemed not “80’s” enough, and so before heading out, J. and I hit some of the Mission District thrift stores.
J. found a perfectly cheesy 80’s prom dress, and after some dress-up in my room, we decided that yes, I could wear my original prom dress that I wore with Adam in 19*cough**cough*. I decorated it with some buttons of bands who are my favorite to this day — The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order — and teased up my hair (not nearly as high as I used to get it in 19*grumble**grumble* - how in the world did I acheive such heights??? I vaguely remember something about AquaNet and a hair dryer…), gothed up my makeup and put on very large, very lopsided earrings.
And while I still find it impressive that I can actually fit into my prom dress from, well, a long time ago, I was a little less successful in trying to act like the 80’s were a foreign decade. I look young, but the “Ohhhh, in my day…” stories are NOT going to keep the facade going. Basically, I love the 80’s so much, I think I blew my cover. It’s pretty obvious now that I’m not 26 like everybody else… At least I didn’t sing all the words to “West End Girls”, karaoke style. (Someday, someday!)
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J.’s friend doing a very impressive Michael Jackson (from “Beat It”) impression:
J. and me in our tricked-out prom dresses. Notice the hand-knit legwarmers! (I knew those would come in handy someday!!!)
