Three of my Twitter pals, Clay Morgan of Educlaytion, Leanne Shirtliffe of Ironic Mom, and KB at Keenie Beanie came up with a brilliant plan in honor of the end of the school year.
School Photo Day.
I have no idea where my yearbooks are hiding.
I put them somewhere, safe, along with writing from my earlier years.
All of it has vanished through the dimensional portal hidden in my house – never in the same place twice, so it’s rather like finding a single Polly Pocket accessory amongst the chaos of clothes, shoes, and toys.
As an added bonus, Monday evening at approximately 5:50 PM, my internet died.
Cable TV too.
Most of my free time is spent harassing Time Warner Cable to get a tech here.
They’ve told me Thursday at the earliest.
I might go mad before they get here.
Just a warning.
Update: Dimensional doorway discovered at the very top of son’s closet. While most of my school photos and class pictures are still missing, I have three middle school yearbooks and one high school yearbook (I refused to buy the other three).
So here are the three photos from the most awkward years of my life: 5th, 6th, and 7th grade.
Sixth grade began The Perm Era.
You’re welcome.
I didn't even know he existed as a young 5th grader. Our paths wouldn't cross for four more years.
An added bonus? My husband, aka Computer God was two years younger than me. He’s in one of the yearbooks.
Here he is in 5th grade:
Not only that, but my tween self was obsessed with Fact Sheets. You know the kind listed in Teen, Teenbeat, Bop, and Big Bopper?
Yeah. Those.
So to complete my total humiliation, here is a Fact Sheet from my 12 to 13 year old time frame. The only bit of information not included on it is an actual “date of filling out”.
Just a warning: I was obsessed with New Kids on the Block during this age.
Hopefully you weren’t drinking when you read that, or it might have shot out your nose.
Cut me some slack. This age still ranks as #1 on my Worst Age Ever list. Hence the New Kids obsession.
So laugh until you cry, share your childhood/tween/teen obsessions, or if you participated in the School Picture Day, also include a link to your blog in the comments.
Then I can laugh at you too.
When I finally get internet again.
My Fact Sheet circa age 12/13
I blurred out non-celebrity names.
So please, share your link or a story in the comments so I can read it on my next Krispy Kreme Wi-fi pilfering excursion.
Yeah, that’s a story for WTF Friday….
Happy School Photo Day!
Dances with Chaos 
Hilarious! I was not into NKOTB, but I did have posters of both Coreys, Kirk Cameron, and Michael J. Fox from Tiger Beat magazine hanging in my room in junior high. In high school, I transitioned to cool posters of cute pro surfers to hang instead.
I’m more embarrassed to show a photo of the walls of my room during this time. COVERED with NKOTB posters, especially Joe.
I had some of the Coreys and Kirk too, but I usually picked the person on the other side. I used to curse at the (brilliant) magazine strategy to put the same person on BOTH sides, so I’d have to buy two copies of the magazine.
you didn’t have to blur out your birth-year, your likes and dislikes gave away your age! LOL!
I know.. You can probably guess my age within about 2-3 years thanks to the detailed little questionnaire. I would’ve said anywhere between 11 and 14 years old, but the last question with Disney World gave it away – I didn’t go until I was 13.
Kellie:
Wow, now I feel old. I did not realize that I was THAT much older than you are. So thanks for that. (I can hear you now: “You’re welcome.”) I was a list maker, too. ALas, they are all socked away in my parents’ attic. One day, I’ll get up there. Here’s my post for the day.
http://rasjacobson.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/school-picture-day/ Enjoy. You know, when you are able to pilfer. 😉
I believe Clay and I are pretty much the same age – we overlap perfectly in our 80’s pop culture but have little memory of the 70’s.
I do have a 4 year old and 20 month old.. I’m wondering now how old you thought I was….
My internet just got fixed, right as Lil Diva woke up from nap. So I plan on reading the blogs later tonight, as my husband makes disproving looks over my internet addiction.
Can I just say I graduated high school in 1985. I’m an English teacher. You do the math.
Not THAT much older, but old enough so that I was in college when BEACHES came to the big screen and I never saw a new episode of “Saved By the Bell.”
How’s dat?
Ahh.. Saved by the Bell.
I’m certain I never would’ve watched a single show if my parents had cable (they wouldn’t until I got married).
LOL. –>
You kill me. Thank you.
That’s funny Angiemonster. 🙂 Step by Step was a real life changer for me too 😉 I do have to say I’m surprised at Beaches though. Beaches? Because some people just need more tears during junior high I guess.
Bizarre fact. Your 7th grade picture looks like a mirror image of a girl I went to school with in 7th grade. I mean almost identical from memory. I might have to find that yearbook and scan to show you the eerie similarity.
Really? I have a doppelganger? Do we still look alike? I can’t wait to see.
Well it was actually “Hangin’ Tough” that changed my life. :p
Why Beaches?
Probably because it was one “adult” movie my parents never edited a scene from? I also loved the music.
Now? It don’t think it’d even make my Top 100 list…
The only things that haven’t changed (other than eye and hair color) are: favorite foods, worst habit, fave clothes, and best quality.
I loved NKOTB – and I’m a few years older than you. Embarrassing. It would be much cooler of me to say I was into U2 or The Cure, but that would be a lie. Joey McIntyre was (cough, cough – IS) my favorite. Now there is the whole NKOTBSB thing.
Your pics are so adorable. It’s a little crazy how much you look like my SIL.
Here’s my post: http://sixringcircus.com/2011/06/01/school-photo-day/
See, I knew there was a reason we bonded so well – we were both Joe McIntyre fans.
I remember being very amused when he and Jordan made solo comebacks ten years later.. And the NKOTBSB thing: just wrong. A shameless ploy to fill concert venues pulling from two different age brackets.
Now if it had been NKOTB’N Sync…
I never liked BSB, but N’Syncs videos made me laugh – because by the time I finally had cable TV access, MTV only aired that stuff and “real” programming. Dammit.
That’s a rant for another day.
I look like your SIL? In which one?
Mostly the 6th grade picture but all of them look somewhat like her. You are both beautiful women. Other funny detail is she used to teach English! Now she’s a SAHM.
Oh, yes. NKOTB. And I loved how you crossed out Joey McIntyre for Peace. So noble of a tween! 😉
I had totally missed that.
I was probably trying to seem noble.
I cannot recall if I lied at all…
I think I had the same exact handwriting as you did in 7th grade. Too funny! 🙂 I also thought that crossing out Joey McIntyre for Peace was a riot.
I never did a fact sheet, but my best friend and I used to write really long letters to each other, usually including the entirety of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 list. She had a crush on Micheal Jackson, I drooled over John Taylor from Duran Duran 🙂
I had the biggest crush on Michael Jackson too, when I was eight.
I wanted to be in the Thriller video. It’s still my favorite dance and the only time I like zombies.
I LOVED Casey Kasem’s Top 40.
I swear, there was a class on “How to Write Like A Tween”… because everyone wrote like that for a while.
My handwriting is barely legible now. Thank god for keyboards.
Thanks for commenting!
Hilarious! And that gorgeous smile was evident way back in 5th grade. Love the lists. One year, this family I babysat for gave me a subscription for Tiger Beat. When I came home from camping with my parents, my much-older brother had removed the centerfold of Scott Baio and stuck it on the ceiling above my bed. Yes, I had a big crush on Scott Baio when I was a tween. Gasp, says my older self.
Here I imagined your brother using it for target practice, not sticking it above your bed.
I’m certain that’s what my brother would’ve done.. if he hadn’t been two years old.
I JUST missed the Baio era, though I loved Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street. There’s an infatuation that hasn’t changed. Ever seen Chocolat?
Yummy…
What a great list, Kelly! I don’t recall ever making such a list. That’s a neat keepsake. Ah, NKOTB – I only heard their music when I was at a friend’s house or out in town. I wanted to like them so I could be cool like everyone else. Your photos are great! Mine weren’t nearly so great at that era. I thought about putting some of mine up, but I think the teasing scars may not be able to withstand some new folks picking on me. 🙂 I decided to post about marching band instead (http://www.newlifecalu.com/?p=734). That’s about how tall I was at that age, which earned me the name Sears Tower, since I stood taller than all my classmates. I can most definitely relate with the perm stage, too. Unfortunately mine resulted in a poof instead of nice ringlets. Thanks for sharing!
I happened to get lucky on the school photos.
I have photos… horrible photos.
During one permed very bad hair cut, I resembled a female Weird Al. When he had that hairstyle.
I wish I was joking.
It almost makes me want to share a photo of it.
Almost.
I also had the hideous glasses, which I took off for the school photos. I didn’t get contacts until my 13th birthday.
Oh Kelly, that fact sheet is priceless! Way to bring it… and even take it to the next level for school picture day. Reminds me of a “time capsule” letter I found in my baby book and blogged here: http://keeniebeanie.blogspot.com/2010/06/time-capsule.html
You get the award for overcoming the most adversity to participate in School Picture Day – thanks for playing, and for your dedication!
Yes, I had to post this while sitting in a strip mall parking lot, pilfering the internet of a closed soccer shop.
I’m stubborn. And dedicated.
But my internet finally got fixed this afternoon, whoohoo!
Your time capsule was awesome! I wish you remembered what that teacher had done…
I totally had the perm, too. Only I started in 5th grade. I cried because my hair went from crazy long to short. And it wasn’t even the kind of curly I wanted.
I also whacked off a good foot of hair. I would perm it for the next 5 years, to varying degrees of success. For a while, I looked just like Weird Al did in the 80’s.
Love the fact sheet. Nice addition. I read Tiger Beat magazine. Leif Garrett and Shawn Cassidy were all the rage back then. I actually met Leif Garrett when I was 13. Graceless as I was, I interrupted his breakfast to ask for an autograph and mispronounced his name.
Thanks for a fun post. Hope your internet heals quickly. Holmes & I are at http://piperbayard.wordpress.com
I love that you mispronounced his name. I would’ve interrupted his breakfast too.
Internet now healed, as my constant badgering and calling got tech out here today. WHOOHOO! Off to check yours out in a bit..
NKOTB?!?! Noooooo! =)
I know. By age 15 it was Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Metallica…
In my opinion, the best part (as yet another English teacher in your comment stream) is this:
Favorite book: None.
(Too busy watching Saved by the Bell and dreaming about NKOTB to read, huh?)
Loved this, hot stuff.
Grrrrr….
OK, I’m laughing.
Here’s why: your assumption on my favorite book is about as wrong as you can get.
I read.
All the time.
Constantly.
I probably read 3-6 books a week, easy. We’re talking Dean Koontz, Christopher Pike, Stephen King, and one of a million of my mother’s romance novels floating around the house. Nothing short.
Unless you counted magazine articles about NKOTB.
I was a complete bookworm, from 4th grade on (we had library day once a week – I got a pass to go every day because my books were finished the night I got them. I’d regressed to reading younger kids books because at time the elementary library was so small I’d read everything in my age group before middle school).
The thing is, no book was my favorite at this point. So I put “none”.
Also? I hid my romance novel reading from my mother (hiding in bedroom or bathroom) until I was 18. I didn’t think she’d want to know a 12 year old read about quivering members…
Does your English teacher self feel a bit better now? 🙂
OMG, Kelly.
You and me: oil and water.
But after reading this: love you even more!
Now if only I could name the famous person you look like…..its killing me!
Did you ever think of my famous doppelganger?
Girl, I already know that if we were in HS, we’d be oil and water. Luckily, we both love to write…
“weight: Too Much”
I’m sure we can thank the teen magazines for that one, too, eh? Thanks for stopping by and for playing along!
Yes, they start on us at early ages. My weight was probably just fine.
But the hair….
It’s so freakin’ awesome seeing someone else’s answers! Our younger selves were so adorable. 😀
Speaking of adorable? THOSE PHOTOS!
I may have to participate in this, after I give my blogging buddies a break from my posting binge. *cough*
Yes, my younger self certainly did not think I was adorable…
Participate, even if it’s late, and comment with the link. It’s been so fun to read/see everyone’s stories and photos.
Thanks for commenting!
I love this! I remember those fact sheets, I am happy to say I never saved any of mine. I am pretty sure it would also have reflected my obsession (no longer) of NKOTB and Jordan Knight. LOL. Love your description of self as ‘madly in love with Joe McIntyre’. And weight: too much. Hee.
Your pictures are adorable!
My friend was a “Jordan” person. I found a letter (never sent) that we both wrote to Jordan.. It was hilarious and talked about her obsession with him.
I think I understand why tweens/teens love celebrities: guys their own age are SO immature.
Nice to know you’d have been shrieking right next to us at a concert. 🙂
You should do this same exact fact sheet now and see how much you have changed or not changed 🙂
I just might….
So…I left a comment but I don’t see it, so I don’t know if it worked or not.
Don’t want to say the same thing again, partially cuz I can’t remember, and also cuz I don’t want you to have ten comments that all same the same thing. Okay, it’ll only be two, but still two too many. Oh well..here I go
I think it’s awesome that you kept the fact sheet! Makes me want to dig out the shoebox full of notes my friends and I passed to each other to pass the time in all our boring junior high classes.
Love that your favorite memory was being born! I try to block that one out. 🙂
If I posted a school picture all you would see is one giant unibrow. I was a very attractive child.
(visiting from the red dress club)
Sorry, I had to fish you out of the spam folder. 🙂
I also have a pile of notes kept. I reread a few and honestly have no recollection about some of the inside jokes referenced…
A small misunderstanding on the favorite memory: it says “D being born” – I blanked out the rest of the name. “DD” is my little brother – I was 11 years old when he was born. And no, I didn’t see it live. They did videotape it and we had the delivery doctor viewpoint. It showed everything.
In true irony, I have seen more of my brother’s birth than that of my own children: because we could only videotape AFTER my children were born. That whole liability thing.
Was it a bit gross? Yeah. Was it also amazing and cool? Yeah.
I’m not squeamish. Except with needles. I hate needles.
And I loved my little baby brother.
I am “blessed” with an almost-unibrow. I embrace it, waiting for the day it becomes “in”.
I hated school picture day ever since a girl asked me if I broke the camera. To this day, I refuse to have my picture taken. This explains my blog “photo”.
Visiting from RDC
That just makes me sad.
Try to allow a few photos of yourself – so your children have them to look back at some day.
I’m certain you have never broken a camera.
I also had lovely things said to me when younger.
Come to think of it, I hate photos of me too….
I wish I had a fact sheet from when I was younger. You think NKOTB is bad? Try Vanilla Ice. I absolutely LOVED him in 7th grade! After all, if I had a problem, yo, he’d solve it.
You said you wanted to be an actress. I don’t know about that, but you were obviously well on your way to becoming Miss USA. World Peace and all of that. 🙂
Stopping by from TRDC.
Of course I know who Vanilla Ice is.
I never lusted or had a crush on him.
But to this day I can recite the entirety of “Ice Ice Baby”. I had his CD too – it was one of the first I owned.
LOL… I’d probably recently watched a pageant or something. I think this was filled out around the time of the Gulf War – hence the peace stuff.
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