Ain’t it the ’80s? (Part I)

I was bored as heck at home, waiting for my computer to finish downloading songs when I had this urge to surf about the Care Bears and to download the animated series’ theme song. After listening to it, I suddenly had goose bumps as flashbacks popped in my head. I was instantly suffering from ’80s nostalgia — I was missing being a kid again.

I’m turning 22 in two months, and like those in the same boat, I know I’m not getting any younger (who does, anyway?). I’ve never thought about my childhood before — and it was actually good. In my case, it wasn’t really that long ago.

I was born in 1980 and can’t remember all the significant things that made the ’80s quite memorable except for the latter five or six years.

The ’80s proved to be really a good decade to be a kid. Life was much simpler then. If you compare the kids then with the youth now, you’d see the big difference. As one friend who teaches pre-school puts it, today’s kids are more of the "smart ass" type. You can’t bluff and scare them — unlike our yayas before who could scare us to do their bidding. Now if you tell a child, "Wag kang pumunta diyan, may mumu diyan," the kid would likely say, "San? Tingnan natin!" Get it? Yes, it was an end of an era.

The ’80s saw the worst hairstyles and worst clothes — but it proved to be the decade with the best TV shows. And I won’t even talk about any ’80s music because we’re still bombarded by them in the airwaves almost every day. At times it becomes sickening, especially if you’re listening to a show band in a bar play the same set of songs.

Were you an ’80s kid? Well, chances are:

1. You’re the outdoorsy type. Almost every afternoon, back when the days subdivisions were full of empty lots, you were out with your friends all day in the neighborhood. You either hung out the streets playing taguan, taya-taya, langit-lupa, agawan base, Chinese garter (for the girls), etc. or you went exploring in the empty lots that were full of tall grass. And if you wanted some adventure you’d climb up trees or roofs of houses, then go biking around the neighborhood with your gang.

The only time you’d come indoors was when there was a good kiddie show on TV.

During those years, too, brownouts were a part of life — adding to the need to go out. Who’d want to stay cooped up inside the house in the sweltering heat? Kids today aren’t too fond of the outdoors since they have become techies. Who needs to go out if you have a PlayStation 2 in your living room?

2. The gumamela is your favorite flower. Remember all the soap-bubble mixture your yaya made for you?

3. You have lots of scratches and bruises. Again, read number 1.

4. You played with the Nintendo Family Computer. Long before the PlayStation and Counter Strike, there was this game console every kid dreamed of having. Mario and Luigi were the most notable characters, and you always wondered if you’d ever get to save the princess. It seemed to have no ending. Those were days you had second thoughts about buying a P200-cartridge that featured 42 (count ’em) games. Then you’re also sure to know the UP-UP-DOWN-DOWN-LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT-B-A-Start cheat code for Contra.

5. You had nap time. Remember when your yaya would force you to sleep in the afternoon? However, you preferred tuning in to an AM station and listening (with your yaya, of course) to some radio soap opera. Better yet, you tried to come up with a plan to sneak out of your bed.

6. You had scented stationery. I remember back in grade school when my girl classmates used to swap these scented stationeries of all types as if they were trading cards. Us boys would just watch and just bug the girls by smelling the paper. The funny thing was, they never used them.

7. You had a mascot present in your parties. Why did it seem like Rainbow Brite was invited to every party? You’d see big guys bringing huge sacks then these dudes would disappear when Rainbow Brite showed up. All that we kids asked them for two hours were: "Where is your mouth?" "Where’s your nose?" and "Where’s your eyes?"

I pity the person who is inside that suit. I guess it could be maddening — hearing those irritating questions every party you go to.

8. You thought action figures reigned supreme. That was the golden decade of the toys — when you collected and played with these small plastic figures. You’d get them from your stash and scatter them all over your room. A child’s imagination was his/her best friend. You used it a lot back then. Every Saturday morning, kids would feast their eyes on the toy commercials and hope parents would buy you the latest Ghostbusters action figures — with matching "ectoplasmic slime" that came in a mug. You also must have wanted a complete Constructicon set. And if you got your way and your parents bought your dream toy from your endless wish list of toys, you’d show them to your playmates. I liked and collected the Playmobil — especially its animal safari toys. I can only name a few toys that were really hot during that time: Ghostbusters, GI Joe (never liked ’em though), Transformers (a classic), Matchbox, Barbie, Dino Riders, Voltron, Teddy Ruxpin, Playmobil, My Little Pony, and the list goes on.

9. You had sticker books. Well, I remember back when there were a lot of sticker books popping up — for dinosaur lovers and safari nuts. Even The Real Ghostbusters cartoon had sticker books of its own. But I soon grew tired of that sticker phase.

10. You went to Big Bang sa Alabang — Long before the western-inspired theme parks like Enchanted Kingdom, we were content with the simple Pinoy version. It all started in 1988. Before that, the very big lot in Alabang was still, well, a very big lot. Today it’s a business park. Back then, Christmas meant carnival season. The whole family, if not the whole clan, would visit a carnival at least once during that season — letting kids run amuck and try all the rides, from the caterpillar to the ferris wheel.

Now that we’re a bit older, we wouldn’t be caught dead hopping on one. What also made Big Bang very different from the other local theme parks was that it had a very, very big slide for its main attraction. People came from all over to try it. Daredevil wannabes climbed into a rice sack and slid down. I was waaaay too young at that time that I did not even dream of trying it.

11. You remember when New Year celebrations were really, really loud. Celebrating New Year’s Day back then was kinda different. It was certainly noisier, with people using a lot of firecrackers. They weren’t afraid of blowing themselves up. Today, the number of households using firecrackers every year seems to be steadily decreasing.

And now, you could count using only your fingers (ha!), the number of households that welcome the New Year with a bang. Before, the entire block would try to "outblast" each other with Super Lolos and Judas Belts.

10. You definitely remember watching these shows. And now comes the best part. The ’80s wouldn’t be the ’80s without its oh-so- memorable TV shows. It was the decade of the best shows. There was life without cable.

(To be continued)