Something I really enjoy about Odyssey is the fact that writers can offer a piece of his or her own mind every week, be it a sliver or in bulk. The past couple of weeks have incurred a sort of light nostalgia for me, and I mentioned what triggered the nostalgia in my last listicle.
This week, I’d like to introduce you part two of that “5 of My '90s Childhood Goals And Aspirations” list I did. Between running away to Canada or being a designer by day and a spy like my girl Harriet by night, things can get hectic. Right?
I’m not sure if the same is true for you or not that examining your past self can get interesting. It wouldn’t have to be some serious, in-depth examination, as you see these nostalgic lists weren’t. These lists that I’ve come up with are very simple because they come from a time in which I can clearly see that life was a bit more simple.
At the time, dealing with bullies was something huge that affected me throughout elementary school and it was certainly not a small feat or something I’d forget, but I feel as though my solutions to those troubles were light-hearted enough to lift ‘90s Allyssa’s spirits. Past-Me took out the time from the rigors of school to dream of the following things -- I wouldn’t even mind achieving some of these things now:
1. Make every day “One Saturday Morning”
I miss that feeling of being able to sit in front of a television on a Saturday morning, laughing at the great lineup of cartoons, eating a bowl of whatever sugary cereal there was. That felt great. ABC’s "One Saturday Morning" segment was definitely one of the reasons Saturdays were a favorite out of the week and I miss them all a lot. As a matter of fact, I've just found my next downtime activity. "The Bugs Bunny Show", "Recess", "Pepper Ann", and more -- they'll never be short of being the best.
2. Keep a Giga Pet alive overnight
My little whipper-snapper was either a Giga Pet or a Tamagotchi pet and I remember taking care of my virtual kitten just like it was yesterday. This little game was quite the lesson in being responsible for someone, or rather something else. It was the refreshing, techy alternative to the home-economics "take care of this egg as if it was your baby"-type of responsibility test.
It was fun making sure your little virtual "fur-baby" got its rest and nourishment, stayed regular and enjoyed life, but then we'd hit an awkward area. It got pretty sad waking up in the morning to see your little one with angel wings because you were selfish enough to sleep for the night.
How dare you? I guess I would have been able to go drink some coffee or seek out an energy drink to stay up taking care of the dear Giga-kitty all night if I was one of the big kids.
3. Own P.E.
I was that little one out on the playground that was sort of fast and could hold my own during impromptu races to the schoolyard fence and back but could never do a single pull-up to save my entire life for the physical test. I'm thinking, "How is everyone doing like 80 pull-ups on these monkey bars? Am I missing something?"
Unfortunately, I never passed that part of our physical test days and was always made fun of for it. If I could go back and avoid those days I would just like to say I tried my best to avoid softball and the ever-popular dodgeball. In my mind, back then, it all spelled out T-O-R-T-U-R-E.
4. Become the 6th Spice Girl
What better job could I have found to have in my adult years? Becoming a Spice Girl came dangerously close to my childhood aspirations of fashion designing and espionage. I've known basically every word of every song on each album verbatim and have been able to act out each scene from the hit movie "Spice World (1997)".
Does that make me obsessed or a true Spice Girl? I don't know. If I put in an application to be one of them right now, they'd let me make it in time work the stage with them for the reunion, right? There's Baby, Scary, Sporty, Posh, Ginger Spice ... I'll get my honorary Spice name one day.
5. Have a teacher like Miss Honey
If you’re familiar with the lady in the gif, Miss Honey was what some of us would call the “angel” of teachers from the movie "Matilda (1996)". That fantasy/comedy classic was definitely a favorite. My friends and I wanted to be able to take down mean, brutish teachers like Ms. Trunchbull, but have sweet, encouraging teachers with integrity like Miss Honey. To get a better idea of what was so good about her, I’d like to direct you to a cool Odyssey article named “What Would Miss Honey Do?”. Just know, she was the best, y’all.
