Trip down memory lane...

So I just posted about Backstreet Boys, right? Well the same night that those handsome men came to my mind I went through a series of thoughts about my younger years. I seriously could not stop them, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, it was 3 am. I must admit though that I had a lot of fun thinking about old stories! Here are some tidbits from the good old days that may or may not interest you:

1. In 2001 (crazy that that was 10 years ago), my family took the most awkward family photo in all history. My mom's hair was so blonde it was almost white. My hair was slicked back in a pony tail, probably wet b/c the thought of blow drying it hadn't even crossed my mind, with awesome braces on my face. We took it against a white background. I was wearing a white skirt so it basically looked like I had no lower body. And our dog Bounder, the dog from Hades, was in the picture and he most likely had a really awkward haircut. Wish I had a copy of this gem. But to get a sense of how the awkwardness continues with our family photos, feast your eyes on this sucker:

We were supposed to color coordinate, but everyone besides myself was too lazy. Dan is in his pajama bottoms. Enough said.

2. Speaking of laziness, at one point in time my sister and I shared a room, probably when I was about 5. You're wondering how that relates to laziness... well she definitely took advantage of me and made me take off her jeans for her everyday. Back when the baggy jeans that were tight at the ankles were in style, if you remember. What a bum.

3. I remember how technology used to be. Back when we could only listen to music if we had an actual CD and used a discman (you probably forget what this is, check it here ) or a stereo. And my brother used talkboys. When we didn't have cellphones and if friends wanted to call me, they had to call the house phone. I miss those days - technology has gotten way too advanced in my opinion!

4. My family lived in Japan when I was in elementary school. We shopped at this market and they sold octupus in a container there just like you would find hamburger meat in a container. My siblings found sincere enjoyment out of coming up behind me and scaring me with this octupus. Rude. I have still not fully recovered. Along the same lines, there was the time that my dad wanted to order a full on lobster (still looked like it would from the sea) and I started crying so he couldn't. Sorry dad.

5. When I was in Kindergarten one time I was playing on the playground and I thought I saw my friend so I tapped him on the shoulder and it turned out he wasn't my friend. I remember running away scared half to death. Heaven forbid I touch a stranger!

6. My Kindergarten teacher was obsessed with Winnie the Pooh. This is pretty much all I remember about Kindergarten. Because of this, that year I became obsessed with the song "Return to Pooh Corner" and listened to it alllll the time. Fast forward to Senior year of high school when I remembered this song and I started listening to it a lot and couldn't believe my K-12 experience was over. It was a bittersweet time.

7. My family also lived in Hong Kong when I was in elementary school. I remember one day waking up in our house and saw that it was raining down the hallway. In my house. I rubbed my eyes and opened them again because I sort of thought I was dreaming. Truth be told, I wasn't. It did in fact rain through the roof into our house. That house also flooded a lot with all the typhoons. Which reminds me of the crazy weather guy that would walk out and represent the weather. When a bad typhoon was in the forecast, he would walk across the screen and blow away into the air. Literally. HA so I always thought if I went outside during a bad typhoon that I would really blow away and never come back. To this day, I still don't know that that really would have happened....

8. In fourth grade, I was walking around downtown Hong Kong one day and I saw my teacher across the street at a bar. I was so scarred to find out that my teacher actually had a life, and a bad one at that.

9. My best friends in Hong Kong happened to be my next door neighbors, Leah and Ali. I would go over to their house all the time and we would hang out up in the loft they had created in one of the bedrooms and we would make awesome dances up to Christina Aguilera and Backstreet Boys songs. They also had a maid and their maid would make us ice cream shakes all the time. Talk about awesome.

10. I used to write notes back and forth with my best friends in middle school during school. They were really ridiculous notes full of "hehehe" and "bff 4 lyfe" - good thing I grew out of talking like that.

11. In Kindergarten, I lived right across the street from the school. For some crazy reason, I took the bus almost everyday instead of just walking across the street. Probably because my mom was lazy, haha JK. But I remember there was a boy that often sat across from me on the bus and he would cough so much I seriously was afraid he was going to die. I hated that dang bus ride.

12. When I was in 3rd grade, I used to watch Saved By The Bell - the college years episodes. I remember watching one particular one that was full of romance. I went to bed one night like a giddy little school girl so excited to see my crush the next day at school. His name was Yuh Yuh and he was Asian. I love me my Asians.

13. My Grandma Bobbye was sick in the hospital a couple years ago. We visited her in the hospital a number of times and on one occasion she called me a little s***. Oh grandma!

14. Aol Instant Messenger used to be ALL the rage. When I opened an account, I wanted my screen name to be something like "cutechick" just like every other girl. My bro Josh insisted I have a cooler screen name than that. As a result of his suggestion, it ended up being "fluteplaya329". Real cool Josh. Pathetically enough, I remember days when I would sit at our desktop computer in middle school and high school for hours on AIM. I even had a secret boyfriend that I would talk to strictly on AIM. I never met him in real life, but boy did we have intense conversations on there. I was so cool.

15. We used to have a dog named Emi. My mom went out of town one time and I got home from school one day to find out that my dad let her outside and LOST HER. It was the worst thing ever. Calling my mom and telling her was horrible. Bad memory.

16. My first real boyfriend was PJ in 9th grade. I hate to admit that we would go to the mall together and mack in department stores right in front of the workers. Those poor workers. Since then I have learned to be a bit more private with my macking. ;)

17. I used to be obsessed with this song "Everyday is a Winding Road" - I can't remember who it's by. Some song from the 90s. I made a recording of me singing it once and listened to it later. Lets just say I've gotten a bit better at singing...

18. Not only was my sister Rach lazy back in the day, but she was also sorta wimpy. When we stopped sharing a room, we continued to go get in each other's beds in the middle of the night when we got scared. She may deny it, but she came and got me far more than I got her - and she was in high school. ;) But I still love her.

19. My grandparents on my mom's side live in Tennessee. We used to go visit them every few years during the summer and I used to always go outside at night and catch fireflies in a jar. Good times.

20. When I lived in Hong Kong, our house was right on the ocean. Titanic had come out right before we moved there so I was obsessed with huge boats. I would always take my telescope and use it to look out our huge windows and see if I could find ships as big as the Titanic. Sometimes they seemed almost as big! Super fun.

21. I used to email some of my cousins regularly. We would write back and forth - I did it with Thane, Jess, and Amy. All at different times. I wish I still had the emails saved, it would be a lot of fun to go back and read them. Love my cousins!

22. When I was in elementary school, I decided to join Girl Scouts just to wear the uniform because I thought it was incredibly fashionable. If you know me well, I am sure that does not surprise you at all. Some things never change. I ended up hating it and it wasn't worth the uniform. I stopped after 2 weeks I think.

23. I used to take school SOOO seriously. In third grade, I would get weekly assignments and finish them right at the beginning of the week. In fourth grade, I had to do this complicated penny project and I cried to my teacher that it was too hard and I couldn't do it well enough. Fast forward to high school when I would skip school so I didn't have to turn in homework assignments... ha.

24. When I was in 7th grade, I went to lots of school dances. I wanted to wear hoops SOO bad because I had other friends that wore big hoops. My mom thought they were too sophisticated for me at that age but I snuck out with them and wore them anyway one time. Sooo rebellious.

25. In elementary school, I accidentally spilled a whole bottle of nail polish remover all over our kitchen table. I didn't even know what to do and I remember being SCARED to death to tell my mom because I knew I ruined the table. I thought she was going to kill me. Luckily she was feeling Christian that day and spared my life. ;)

This post is already plenty long so I'll have to post again in another while to tell you about all my other crazy shenanigans. I know my three readers are probably sick of reading by now!

Stay tuned.