What happened in 1989?

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

Wow. You guys mostly seemed to have boring 1989's. Someone please outsuck me for that year, it's depressing!

I didn't realize that was the purpose of the exercise.

Let's see . . . .

One of my uncles was diagnosed with the stomach cancer that killed him the next year. Parkinson's disease tightened its grip on another uncle. I think my dad tossed off a heart attack or two, and my parents' financial problems continued.

Let's see . . . .

One of my cousins started rabbinical school.

Hmmm . . . .

Well, I'm sure there was other weird family stuff going on that I never heard about and never will. As with you all.

I watched a lot of L.A. Law and Thirtysomething.

[scaeagles]

I was in school at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ, working as a singer waiter at a place called Black Barts Steak House.

[wendybeth]

I didn't say my 1989 was boring- far from it. I just don't recall anything too stand-outish. My whack family is always good fodder, any year.

[Gemini Cricket]

Graduated high school, started school at Chapman University (Chapman College back then)... good year.

[Babette]

First year of junior college, working as a cake decorator. Bought my first car after crashing the hand-me-down Turbo Goldfish

[blueerica]

Ahh, the good old days....

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

I didn't realize that was the purpose of the exercise.

Lol, not the purpose. '89 just stands out for me as a particularly bad year, and it has struck me as odd the number of times it has entered my scope the last seven days. Michael pointed out to me tonight that our old Dodge Raider was made in 89. He got it shortly before we got married. We went off roading to the middle of the desert at midnight the night he proposed. We had so many fantastic camping trips in that car. We loved that Raider. It was crashed in 2003.

I'm loving hearing about you guys' '89's. I wish we had all been avid journal keepers that year. Then we could look at a specific date and compare random events.

[blueerica]

It was at least 1990 before I seriously considered keeping a journal of any sort.

[tracilicious]

I've never done the journal thing. I'm even bad at LJ.

[Gn2Dlnd]

Sober 3 years, volunteering at KCRW and on Le Show, and working at a clothing store in West Hollywood called All American Boy.

I had to look up 1989 on wikipedia to find out that was the year of the Tienanmen Square Massacre, the year Zsa Zsa Gabor was arrested for slapping a Beverly Hills cop, the year Erik and Lyle Menendez shot their Beverly Hills parents, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling, Seinfeld AND The Simpsons both debuted, and a train derailed into a neighborhood in San Bernardino, leading, thirteen days later, to a massive gas pipeline explosion in the same neighborhood. I remember all these events, but I have no specific memory of the circumstances in my life. However, two events do stand out, the Loma Prieta earthquake was one, and the release of The Little Mermaid is the other. I was volunteering at KCRW, and when the earthquake hit, we actually felt it in Santa Monica. I remember being in the hallway of the basement radio station and trying to get the hell out, but the floor kept moving. I still remember how horrified I was, seeing the footage on TV, and imagining the people who were in their cars when the Bay Bridge collapsed on itself. In fact, I'm still bothered by the imagery. On the other hand, going to see The Little Mermaid at the beautiful Crest Theater in Westwood was a truly transporting experience. I remember being with my friend, Mike (still friends), commenting on how much that octopus woman character on the poster looked like Divine and wondering if he was the inspiration for the character, marveling at the interior of the theatre that had been resurrected from non-descript cinder block anonymity by the Disney Company, and, finally, being blown away by a good old-fashioned, genuine, honest-to-goodness Disney Animated Feature! Something that I hadn't seen since The Rescuers.

Otherwise, the year doesn't stand out much.