1990 to 1994: grunge, ripped Levi 501’s, a trip to Mexico, the bar at 11:30pm, troll dolls and an attitude

Welcome to my life as it was from 1990 to 1994, friends! Next week, we’ll take a look at finally maturing a bit (I didn’t) from 1995 to 1999.

Ahhh, the early 90’s.

1990 to 1994: grunge, ripped Levi 501’s, a trip to Mexico, the bar at 11:30pm, troll dolls and an attitude. Huh. Let’s see. I’m not sure where to start. Perhaps in the middle somewhere. If I had to guess, it was 1991-1992 when my friend Julie and I lived in a cool old apartment in Denver’s Capitol Hill. I worked at a place for a psycho boss who liked my ass (literally, not ghetto-talk -he was a total douche) enough to promote me and then punished me for refusing to worship him by placing his extremely mean mother on my team (and by team, yes, I was supposed to actually supervise his crazy mother, who owned the building – not exaggerating). That particular job* didn’t end up counting toward my career in a single way.

Anyway! My roommate Julie and I had some excellent times. Some were probably illegal and may have looked like this:

Julie’s sister Sara (my other IRL BFF) also lived with us for a bit.  Because the psycho-boss didn’t pay me enough to keep me in my bad habits, I drove limos (which is how the Billy Idol story happened). Look, here I am with my limo-boss (not to be confused with the psycho asshole boss mentioned a minute ago) at a bridal show in a mall:

A typical night for me and my roommates (when I wasn’t driving) was to get home from work at 5:30 (because back then, working late meant working until 5:20), eating dinner (usually out or Kraft Mac n Cheese – special healthy nights included adding broccoli or tuna fish to it), boyfriends, phone calls that consisted of sitting on the floor near the actual phone jack, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge or Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit playing on the radio, and waiting for Star Trek, Next Generation to come on.

We had a million conversations about whether the actors were stoned (they were).  My favorite episode was the one in which Tasha learned that Data was “fully functional.”  Swoon.  (well, I mean not swoon…but sortof…)

 

Somehow, during that time, I ended up with a long-time boyfriend.  Like years-long.  Anyway, on our first trip to Mexico together, we renamed each other Benito and Lupita. Fun times. One of the best memories is that he glued a troll-doll to his truck.

Sadly, she was stolen at some point on the drive back to Colorado.  Weep.

I can’t remember specifically what we were listening to on the long drive back, but it likely included this awesome song, that is STILL on my iPod, by REM:

Cigarettes and ice skating. While there may be other decades when this was cool, I was not there. I was, however, here.  Like my ripped jeans? They were a fashion statement.  I was a little tumbleweed, and I was proud of it. I was also orange because of a tanning bed addiction that I regret to this day.

The 90’s was also a decade of attitude.  Me, thinking I was a badass knowing every.single.word. to Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio. Years later (like 2009), I remember my husband asking me how a middle-class white girl knew every single word, and sung them with such feeling. Turns out, a middle-aged blonde mama -who is way past her prime- still remembers every single word. In fact, while looking for this video to share with you, I just sang it out loud..and didn’t miss a note.  I know.  That makes me either awesomely awesome or awesomely pathetic.  Right now, I’m swaying and doing that ultra-exaggerated head move thang that conveys heavy emotion and song…

Keep spending most our lives living in the gangsta’s paradise…
So I gotta be down with the hood team…
I’m living life do or die, and what can I say…Tell me why are we so blind to see…that the ones we hurt, are you and me?

I’m also totally annoyed right now because I just spent the last 25 minutes trying to record ME singing this song to you with the background of the actual music…and there’s no music! GAH.

Anyway. I mentioned that the 90’s were full of attitude.  They were also full of BACK. I had this trendy friend named Coby, who had a t-shirt that read “Coby’s Got Back.” I was so jealous but realized, even in my younger and dumber days, that the fact she was black, cooler than I was, and actually HAD back meant that she was able to wear a t-shirt that I’d only now be brave enough to wear.

You can do side bends or sit-ups,
But please don’t lose that butt

Man. The 90’s were fun.  Oh. Right. 90’s attitude. Here’s mine:

*-The job I talked about? Here’s a cool thing about the weird and wonderful world of blogging.  My friend Stephanie is friends with a woman named Lori who worked at the same place with the same psycho-boss and we recently reconnected because they were in TTYM Denver together and Lori saw a “congrats” comment or something from me to Stephanie – awesome, right?
If you’re into this whole “looking back at my life thing” with me, here are the past few weeks of Twisted Mix Tape contributions:

The 80’s part 2: It’s Never Enough
The 80’s part 1: To All The Me’s I’ve Loved Before
The 70’s part 2: When a Friend’s Pain Leads to the Best Idea of Your Life
The 70’s Part 1: 1979 and The Angst That Was
The 60’s: Do Fish Feel Sad When They Eat Their Friends?
Relationships: Better Off Without You
Memory: The Memory of Music through the Years

This has been a Twisted Mixed Tape Tuesday production, Einsteined by Jean Kiel. What are your favorite songs from the 90’s? Join us. It’s fun to reminisce.