I feel really old right now.

I spent the evening making cassette tapes from U2 CDs. Oddly enough, the loft doesn’t have any way to just play CDs. You can do just about anything else with them except play them. So, each day I listen to music through my little tiny cassette player, blasting its little heart out.

I went downstairs earlier to collect all of Tiffany’s U2 CDs, and scrounge through the rest of her collection for additional items for my listening pleasure. In her excitement to share, she grabbed for one of the CDs - “Oh my gosh, you have to hear this one!”

In her hand was Depeche Mode. *banging head on desk* I was first listening to Depeche Mode in eighth grade - lessee… 1984. When Tiff was 8 years old. To make matters worse, I told her that I had the “vinyl” upstairs in a box. “What?” was her skeptical reply. Yep.

St. Louis now has the dubious distinction of having a radio station dedicated to “The Eighties and Beyond…” Yeah, okay. It’s all the music I listened to in middle school and high school. Duran Duran was my favorite band of all time ever! *high-pitched squeal* I wanted to sleep with Nick Rhodes and marry Simon le Bon.

My vinyl collection is pretty predictable for that era, including every Duran Duran album through “Arena,” Nik Kershaw, Depeche Mode, Power Station, Arcadia, U2, Madonna, Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, Trevor Rabin and all the old 70’s Yes stuff. I know I have more, somewhere.

To top off the “feeling old” phenomenon, I was digging through a box of books I’d stored at my sister’s house (trying to sell them off on half.com) and I found a small box containing movie and concert stubs.

Don’t ask.

They date from 1986 to 1991. They are by no means inclusive of every movie I saw during that time period. I mean, please. During October 1988 - May 1989 (my senior year) Dan and I saw at least one movie per weekend. What the hell else were we going to do? I hung out with National Merit Finalists and people headed to MIT and University of Chicago on full scholarships. We didn’t drink (terribly much) or do drugs (at all). So we saw a shitload of movies.

There are lots of unmemorable movies on the list. “From the Hip,” “Spaceballs,” “Robocop.” But some have really strong memories attached. Aug. 1, 1987 I went to see the new James Bond, “The Living Daylights,” with the then-love-of-my-life, Matt. We weren’t “seeing each other,” ya know, but we hung out together every single day, and made out regularly. Whatever. But we’d made a deal that we’d see all the new Bond releases together, so… A week later I saw “Lost Boys” and hated it. My best friend Erin (who dated the above-mentioned Matt after this particular summer ended) loved the movie. I still don’t understand why.

There are some funny memories. “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was truly unbearable. I was dragged there unwittingly by my friend Dave. A whole group of my friends went to see “Beaches” because we thought it was a comedy. Okay, NOT. My friend Carol stooped to the level of “chick flick” and took me to see Tom Cruise’s “Cocktail” for my 17th birthday. (For the next eight years I would hear her crow, “And she even cried at Cocktail!”) U2’s “Rattle and Hum” thing was a Thanksgiving weekend extravaganza - I think every single person I knew went to that. In 1988, it didn’t get any cooler than U2. (Plus within that group were a small segment of U2 snobs - myself included - who looked down on everyone who suddenly became U2 “fans” that year, as we were 7-year veterans. “Do you have ‘War’? ‘October’? ‘Boy’? I thought not!”)

I love it when I saw movies multiple times, yet look back and wonder why. Like, “For Keeps.” Who was even in that movie? I saw it two weeks in a row! I saw “Dirty Dancing” three times in a week. “Regarding Henry” is still one of my all-time favorites - saw it twice in a month.

Okay, but here’s the really, really sad indicator of my squishy, romantic heart. I saw “Pretty Woman” nine times in a month. Yes, a month. Two of the ticket stubs I have retained are for April 13, 1990 and April 14, 1990. And of course I own it on VHS.

This is cool - I saw “Say Anything” on April 21, 1989. What a great movie. (Of course, I followed that up with “Roadhouse” the next week - definitely lost coolness-points there.) Ah yes, opening night of “Dead Poets Society.” Opening night for “When Harry Met Sally.” Not bad.

Okay, whatever.

While I was in heavy record-mode, I listened to a song I hadn’t heard in a long time, and it really resonated with my soul. Right now. I won’t say any more than that.

“You say you want a diamond on a ring of gold

You say you want your story to remain untold

All the promises we made from the cradle to the grave

When all I want is you

You say you’ll give me a highway with no one on it

Treasure just to look upon it

All the riches in the night

You say you’ll give me riches on a moon of blindness

A river in a time of dryness

A harbour in the tempest

All the promises we made from the cradle to the grave

When all I want is you

You say you want your love to work out right

To stay with me through the night

You say you want a diamond on a ring of gold

Your love to not grow cold

All the promises we break from the cradle to the grave

When all I want is you

All I want is you”

Mellow,

michelle