I was employed by a pop up shop in oct and I did not work a single day

I won't say the name but I'm sure you can put the peanut butter and jelly together. When october started I had high hopes of getting this temp job because I liked the store and it was close to my house. In case your wondering how this happened well like any job, you would have to be scheduled and those are the days you work. The difference was I wasn't scheduled no matter how many times I called or went in person. I really think I got hired just fate and life can taunt me and because I am a joke that can be employeed at a company and not work a single day

It says a lot about that store but it's not like I sat there like a girl that got stood up for prom(I don't know what it's like as I never got asked to a school dance nor did I ask anyone) and twiddled my thumbs. I applied at places and quickly got rejected at some but I didn't give up and I'm still job hunting so hopefully something good happens soon and not fate taunting me. For example last week I ate and slept job applications(not really but you get the idea) and I expect to be bombarded with calls this week but I won't let up on the applying at places

In case your wondering, yes I really did get hired, I filled out all the forms and paperwork and w4(oe 2, the tax form in a job) and I got the employee handbook and asked what size shirt I wear and all that good stuff. I talked to the store manager and they said they would call me soon to let me know what days I would be working only that call never came. I called and would get no answer regardless of the day or times I would call, when I would go in person, the manager was never there again despite me going at random times and on random days. In fact one time I door warmed(waited for the store to open) and got dirty looks from the employees and a hmmpph face. That doesn't sound like a fun work environment if the employees are being rude to customers(I also got a oh great, not you) but I was still willing to work there. Now I have to hope and pray I get a job soon and this makes it hard to enjoy hallowen but happy halloween

Retro saturdays and twisted metal 2

Twisted metal 2 is of course the sequel to twisted metal 1, if you have never played a tm game it's car combat free for all similar to a fps but in a car. At the time it was pretty innovative and fresh and helped the ps1 gain some steam. The 2nd game takes what makes everything great about tm1 and improves upon it in every which way

There are more (bigger) levels and more characters and even the final boss from tm1 is a selectable character. The plot is pretty thin but that's ok because it's all about the gameplay and that is tight. You can hit an opponent with a bomb then hide behind a building and pop out and fire a missle and it will all seem natural. I 1st played tm2 at a friend's house who was older then me and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I could not get enough of this game and I wanted a ps1 and tm2(which I would get about a decade later. When it was released, tm2 was one of the biggest killer apps for the playstation and helped turn the tides towards sony

You should play it at least once even if the graphics are dated and minion and sweet tooth are overpowered

Retro saturdays and goosebumps tv show: piano lessons can be murder

It's been years since I seen these goosebumps episodes so a lot of these posts are based off my memory and not me watching the episode while taking notes. Piano lessons can be murder is one such episode but it does have a stand out scene that has stayed stuck with me ever since I saw it. I'm not sure if the family gets haunted by a piano that most likely the dad bought or the house they moved in was already haunted by a ghost that likes to play the piano. The important thing is that there is a ghost that plays a piano. Jerry the main character goes to piano lessons that seems to take place at a sketchy former warehouse. I'm not sure why his mom drops him off everyday in the ford taurus but I assume it's because she has a drinking problem and this is a way to hide her shame from her son

Picture a warehouse that manufacturers car engines, now picture that building abandoned for years. That is similar to where jerry is going for his piano lessons, I understand pianos are big but you don't need a shopping mall building to tutor kids in piano. That should have set off a lot of red flags but it's the 90's and jerry's mom doesn't care. Of course something is up with the building and jerry's teacher and he runs into a robot that isn't explained but in goosebumps world it makes sense. There is a sequence where jerry runs away from practice then comes back the next day and so on. I don't remember much of this episode because the plot is as thin as low calorie oreo crackers

Also because one scene in particular, Jerry is exploring or running away from his teacher when he runs into a big room with floating hands playing pianos. It's not just 2 hands but many, around 20 all playing pianos like some sort of slave hands. The song they are all playing is beethoven's moonlight sonata which makes it really kreepy as it has stayed in my mind all these years. Just listen to the song, something about it makes it seem like a horror song even if it's not intended

Here's the link to the episode if you want to watch it and now I remember that the kreepy possibly pedo teacher wanted jerry's hands. Yeah that makes him seem normal right, that also explains why he has so much floating hands as he takes them from students and forces them to play

Retro saturdays and goosebumps the tv show: the headless ghost

The title is pretty self explanatory, the episode is about a headless ghost. If you have seen the cover of the book then you know it's kreepy, well this episode is pretty scary for a kid even one that thinks he was pretty tough. It starts off in 1700's time with a boy that is dressed like george washington, he lives in a lighthouse according to the shots establishing the scene.  Anyways he is looking for a ghost that is missing his head because tv wasn't invented and he is bored so the scene flashes forward to the present where a boy and a girl are in a house that is supposedly haunted, they are on a tour of the house by a chubby older guy with wicked mutton chop sideburns. Because they are tweens in the 90's of course they sneak off to find the head of the missing ghost which doesn't make sense. If it was a ghost head then wouldn't it just vanish or be at the lighthouse? yes they got caught then kicked out and I believe banned from the house

I should mention that this house is a mansion well a square 2 story mansion that is the size of a small super market to make you mentally picture it. A strange guy chats up duane and stephanie and again because it's the 90's, he's not a pedo or a kidnapper, instead he asks them if they want to see a real ghost instead of something else. So the trio sneaks back into the mansion into off limits rooms that duane and stephanie haven't been to which she explains "I never been here before" rather then touch them inappropriately or murder them, the strange guy(seth I believe) tells them a story of a boy who used to live in the mansion, the story also takes place in the 1700's or the 1800's, the boy only wanted to eat strawberry ice cream. It was his favorite food and he couldn't get enough of it, his family was rich as he has a maid/slave who caters to his every whim and he has a dumbwaiter system between the 1st and 2nd floor. One day the dumbwaiter gets stuck going up to the boy so he leans in and falls in and somehow gets torn to shreds beyond recognition as it's explained by seth that it was hard to tell what was strawberry ice cream

Stephanie has to play the jerk teenager and says that's not scary so seth says that boy in the story was him and he needs duane's head and now he becomes kreepy.  The house tour guide bursts in and tells duane it'll be alright and he sends them off on their way except he traps stephanie in a room(now he's a pedo too) as duane didn't realize he was alone until he was already outside. He rushes back in to see the tour guide painting stephanie while she slowly vanishes and seth is just watching everything. The headless ghost appears out of nowhere. This is how I picture an actual ghost looking like, it was semi solid and it's legs were almost vanishing

Then he finds his head close by and it was the boy from the 1st story and through all this, the tour guide is still painting away so duane throws paint/some type of acid onto the painting and it starts melting. The tour guide does a weird shout/scream while the friends run and he turns into a ghost and they escape. The next day it is revealed that the tour guide is still giving tours meaning the house is still haunted by a ghost and 2/3 of the characters were ghosts(yes my math is off)

Look at this picture of bradlees

Besides the fact that bradlees doesn't exist anymore and had it's hey day in the 90's, what you should look at is a little to the left. See that? all the payphones, that used to be incredibly common in the 90's but now it's rare to even find 1 payphone. I know where a few are around my house so I'll take pictures of them before they are gone but for now, enjoy this picture of payphones

Retro fridays and goosebumps tv episode: go eat worms!

Yes the thought of eating worms is pretty gross so this book and episode appeals to elementary school boys. Main character todd is an elementary school boy who likes worms, perhaps a little too much as his room is plastered with pictures and jars and models and posters of worms, as if that isn't enough, he uses the basement as a worm farm.  Said worm farm is just a big long fish tank with dirt and possibly hundreds of worms. It is gross when you think about it but anyways onto the episode. Todd uses the worms to play pranks on his sister such as stuffing a whole bunch in the mouth of a pinata like bird so when the sister picks it up a whole bunch fall out. She swears revenge on todd but the worms help her cause

One example is them sneaking into todd's sandwhich that he avoids eating by trading it with his best friend. The best friend thinks todd put the worms their on purpose and hence why he wanted to trade lunches. One night todd goes to bed and finds his bed filled with worms and his sister can't be blamed as she's sleeping over at a friend's house. Despite this, todd blames his sister using little kid logic that makes no sense because that's how kids are. I'm not sure where or how it happens but todd is out in the forest doing weirdo kid stuff when he falls into a huge hole. He gets scared and possibly strangled by a giant worm that's the mother worm of all the worms todd has been a jerk to. Nothing happens to him because this is a kid's show but todd does learn his lesson and gets rid of his worms but develops a new hobby of fishing

Yes real worms are used and this episode grossed me out when I was little and it's still gross so don't watch it on an empty stomach

Retro fridays and goosebumps the tv show: night of the living dummy 2

I'm not sure why the 1st book wasn't made into an episode, but it probably has to do with the fact that the 2nd book and tv episode is more iconic even if they have the same dummy(slappy) in the 1st and 2nd books. The episode starts off with the kramer family doing a weird talent show as a form of family bonding, it's weird because it's done at home for the family to enjoy. The main character(amy)'s talent is ventriloquism with a dummy named dennis who is literally falling apart, by which his head falls off and amy begs her dad for a new one. Because this is the 90's and for plot device, the next day he finds one in great shape for a low low price. Hm.... maybe their is a reason why it's so cheap that the dad is overlooking and he just wants to seem like a good father

Anyways amy finds a mysterious yellow card in a pocket on the dummy's jacket, written on the cards are words in a different language that amy eventually reads aloud. It turns out these words bring the dummy to life and he's evil soooooo the rest of the episode is amy being blamed for things the dummy did. I believe that amy's sister catches slappy in the act and believes amy(I may be wrong) and the sisters somehow smash his head in on a banister or it might have been the floor as it's been awhile since I seen the episode. The important thing is that the family believes amy and they see it was slappy doing everything and with his head being broken, a cloud of green gas aka his evil spirit floats out. One last twist, who was the person that saved the kramer family? it was dennis the old dummy as he wanted amy all to himself again

This episode would scare me as a child to the point I didn't like dummies at all and I assumed they came to life when you weren't looking. Another thing that bothered is me is why didn't the family turn on the lights instead of having everyone wander in the dark and get sneak attacked by slappy

Retro fridays and goosebumps the tv show: the cuckoo clock of doom

I'm not sure why this episode has stayed stuck in my head as my favorite episodes are ones such as the barking ghost and say cheese and die again and the haunted house game and piano lessons can be murder and the headless ghost and the haunted mask 2. I think it's because I like the idea of this episode and it's one of the few books/episodes where the main character has something good happen to them in the end instead of a "here we go again" plot twist

Michael's dad buys a cuckoo clock because plot convenience but a few days before that, it is michael's 12th bday and his party consists of the girl he has the hots for and 2 obnoxious guys and his sister and parents. Yeah way to throw a cool party but he's 12 so it's ok. Anyways at the party, tara ruins everything by telling the girl michael has a crush on her and tripping him while he carries his cake so he falls and lands on it. Of course she doesn't get in trouble because this is goosebumps world. Ok back to the clock, I believe that the dad mentions something about a sorcerer putting a curse on it and time travel maybe possible if someone can figure out how it works and he also warns him not to touch it as it's not a toy(the 1st part is probably just from the book) and he gets mad at tara for once for messing with the clock. This gives michael an idea. He sneaks down late at night and turns the head around on the bird when it pops out so tara will somehow be blamed for it

This is the secret of the clock and when he michael wakes up it's a few days earlier and his birthday so he has to relive it again. Sadly he still trips and falls into his cake. The next time he wakes up he's 6 years old and it's also his bday and he figures out he's in a time warp only no one believes him oh and the cuckoo clock is missing as it's obvious his dad bought it when he was 12. Because this is a 22 minute tv show, the next day michael is a baby and he has to stop the reverse aging process before he vanishes, his plan is to turn the head of the cuckoo clock bird back to normal and because plot convenience,  the clock is in the same store where the dad will buy it 12 years later. Imagine if it wasn't there how screwed michael will be. Anyways he convinces his dad somehow despite mostly talking in coos and they end up at the antique store. Michael has to crawl out of his stroller and to the clock(great parenting there) and he just turns around the head of the bird and instantly is 12 again but with a twist. See when michael was going to turn it's head around the 1st time, he knocked off the year 1988 on the clock(it also has dates) so somehow his sister wasn't born(she was born on that year) and every time he goes back in time she's not there

Now that he's 12 again, well she doesn't exist so he doesn't have a bratty sister. He considers bringing her back to existence some day eventually

Yes i do get tired of applying for jobs

In case your wondering, today is also open interviews day at dollar tree or it should be if the company had any semblance of structure. No manager on duty to handle the interviews or to even say "hi thank you for turning in an application". Nope just a normal day at the store and an employee that will show it to the manager when they get their that week. I was prepared to wow someone and instead I was filled with disappointment, you cna make a dating joke there. Most of my life revolves around job hunting and it is tiresome

I just want it to end(the job hunting not my life) as the job hunt consumes all of my brain power and computer time. Yeah one of the reasons why my blog posts are quick and short and simple are because I spend most of my online time searching and searching. Anyways panda exress on telegraph in whittier is having an open interview on 11/1 starting at 10am and other panda's are doing it around the same time. I'm not sure if I will go as I still have hope form the poke shop I went to last week and I been applying at places like crazy the past week so I may or may not have an interview that day  

Retro saturdays and goosebumps: the haunted mask 1 book

I figure since it's almost halloween I'd post about a goosebumps halloween book, one such "classic"(at least by 90's kids) is the haunted mask. Just look at the cover, it's pretty scary and ugly. Anywho the book is about a girl who is scared of everything aka a wuss but since this is the 90's she is bullied and made fun of. It culminates in her "friends" (probably guys that like her) giving her a sandwhich with a worm in the middle of it, yes it was still alive and yes she takes a bite out of it. This causes her to run away also ditching school in the process(this was during lunch) she runs and runs until she comes across a mask/halloween/kreepy store that is probably used to kidnap kids

Because it's the 90's and apparently pedos don't exist, carly beth cautiously(at least she does that) walks into the kreepy store, I should point out she is about 10-12 years old and short and thin and blonde to give you an idea of her. This "store" is more of a house with no signs or cars parked close by, it's rundown and looks abandoned so carly beth is not smart for trying to sneak into this sketchy house. She finds out it's a halloween store of some sort with various masks, trying to find something to scare steve and chuck with, she tosses aside the generic obviously fake gorilla maskes and stumbles upon a wall of realistic extremely ugly looking masks. She gets confronted by the shop keep who is an old man and bells should be ringing but instead she steals a goblin type mask and runs away(the only smart thing she's done so far) to her house. Once home she trys on the mask and notices the tight fit. I don't remember much of the little details as it's been years (this decade) that I read the book so I'll go from what I remember. She puts it on twice, once to scare her little brother who seems to pee his pants at the sight of carly and the other time to scare steve(which also succeeds and he almost cries) although she never did try it on as her mom called her to try on the duck costume she got her

Somewhere between all this, carly's mom made her a bust of her head from plastir of paris for plot reasons oh and she got carly a duck costume that carly is now forced to wear. Obviously this won't help her shed her scared girl image or scare kids so she sneaks the haunted mask in her jacket/sweater/shirt and puts it on. Things go well at first and kids cry and get scared and drop their candy but this is a horror book so there is a twist. The shop keep didn't want carly to buy the mask and so she ended up stealing it, well there is a reason for that. See the wall of kreepy masks is actually a wall of the unloved, they are some sort of weird experiment done by the shop keep(he's now a scientist too) done on people that apparently made them lose their face and become rubber like masks. They are looking for a host and will become permanently attached to a person on the 3rd time putting on the "mask" as carly beth has done. It can not be undone hence why he warned her and prevented her however this is a goosebumps book so there is more twists. It could be undone with a symbol of love. To make a long story short, carly uses the bust her mom made for her as the symbol of love not before we have some creepy effects for a book. The gang(I should mention carly has a best friend named sabrina and she's with chuck and steve at this point) find themselves in a cemetery where the other unloved masks fly out towards slowly also her bust talks to her and blinks and moves it's mouth and says help me. Things go back to normal and at the end we see carly's brother wearing the mask and complain that it's hard to take off

This book was read everywhere by kids in the 90's and every library had multiple copies of it, I might say it's THE goosebumps book. Just looking at the cover takes me back to going to the school library and seeing all the goosebumps books and having a hard time picking one. This book is also the 1st episode of the tv show and that included the kreepy effects of the flying masks and talking bust which scared kids across the nation. Even though it's aimed at kids/young adults, you should read it to get in the halloween mood and for a piece of 90's nostalgia

Retro saturdays and chuck rock the game

This game may not be as nostalgic as it was/is for me and that's ok. I got this game at some indoor swap meet that I don't remember where it was at. I been trying to search my memory banks for it and the only thing I remember is that it was in a hotel like building that now I'm sure was probably a convention because it was on the 2 or 3 or 4th floors. Now onto the game, I bought this game brand new and because it was a cheap brand new super nintendo game. Back then there was no way to know if a game was good or not, you only had the front cover and the back descriptions and screenshots and it was up to you. Sometimes I picked good games like super mario kart and other times I struck out like the rocketeer and this time I struck out horrendously

If you never played it then don't, chuck rock is a simple by the numbers platformer made by sony(that blows my mind now) for the snes,genesis and gameboy and I think it was on a 4th system too.  What still brings me back memories is the money I spent ($8) for this game and finding out it was ridiculously hard even more so for a kids game. Chuck is a guy with a beer belly and that describes the physics of this game well, he barely had any hops therefore making the game already hard. Then there's enemies that respawn extremely fast and flying ones that come out of nowhere and blind leaps of faith and random bits of deadly thorn bushes. It is extremely hard to get to the 2nd level but I have done it and there is no shame in not getting past the 1st level as many have tried

I quickly realized that life isn't fair and things won't always go my way, So if you want to teach some kids a lesson then give them this game

Retro saturdays and funcoland

Sure gamestop is still around but it pales in comparison to funcoland simply because of it's used games selection and this is where my funcoland nostalgia kicks in. It opened up near me(whittier quad) some time in the late 90's and one day i convinced my dad to let me go in to check things out. I was amazed at all the video games and the display cases of the systems. Something about seeing a playstation and n64 and gameboy pocket under a glass makes it more enticing. I don't remember much about this visit only that I took an interest in the final fantasy legend games for gameboy. I picked the 1st one because it had the coolest box art. Yes this is how people bought games back then

It was hard especially for someone that isn't experienced with rpgs but it still has a soft sport in my heart today. Ok now onto the store. My memories of it are from a time period of 1999 to 2002 as that was when I would go there the most then I stopped going and it turned into a gamestop(where ironically I hope to get employment so it would be a nice circle of life thing) I got my used playstation there in late 1999 and it's pretty much where I got most of my ps1 games. I found some nes games someone threw out in the trash(they weren't that good or valuable now) and I traded them in for store credit then got hydro thunder and king of fighters 99 and a controller and memory card

The used games is what I miss, sure gamestop does have used games but they are from this generation and the previous one. Funcoland had nes,snes,gameboy and color,ps1, genesis and whatever random niche system someone would trade in like a 3DO or a an atari jaguar. When I got my snes, it's where I got super mario rpg for $19.99(back then snes games were cheaper and more common as resellers didn't exist as much) I also got a gameboy camera and bugs bunny in carrot crazy and wario land 3 and wwf attitude and super mario land 2(again) and wwf no mercy and banjo kazooie($10) and banjo tooie(also $10) and mario party 3($20)  and wcw/nwo revenge(brand new $2) and super mario 64($7) and mario kart 64($6). There are a lot more games I bought that I am forgetting but I think you get the gist of it. I spent a lot of time inside too, playing the n64 and playstation games. Oh I got my used ps2 there in march 2002 and I got dynasty warriors 2 as my 1st ps2 game. More memories, I also got tmnt turtles in time($5) for the snes and mortal kombat 3($4). It was a unique time period in video games as now it would be hard to find those games for those prices

I stopped going well I'm not sure why I stopped going to funco land. I think it was because I played my ps2 a lot and I found games for it at swap meets for cheap. I would give anything to walk into the gamestop it is today and find out I'm in funcoland 2001. One last thing, it was and still is employee procedure to offer you a subscription to game informer magazine for a low price. Yes I took them up on the offer and for most of 2001 to 2003 I had a subscription to game informer and I still have the discount card

Retro saturdays and teenage mutant ninja turtles 2 the secret of the ooze

Go ninja go ninja go go

If you have seen this movie at some point in your life then you know those words and I'll assume pretty well. I saw this movie well after it came out on vhs but I have vague memories of it for some reason except for 1 scene which I'll explain later. Tmnt 2 secret of the ooze came out some time in the early 90's when tmnt was still extremely popular. Yes I know the shirts and toys are still good sellers but back in the late 80's and early 90's it was even more popular then people walking around being on they're phones. Tmnt was a huge cultural phenomenon for kids of all ages and races and I'll assume different genders too(that sounds weird when you read it but you get what I mean) think beatlesmania and that's how it was back then

The movie is a sequel to the 1st one(duhh) and the plot is scientists discover an ooze that shredder somehow gets into then he uses it to grow taller aka becoming super shredder. Along the way the turtles decide to help out a random guy who becomes an ally and they look for a place to live while they live with april o neil. There's some slapstick comedy moments and the story is pretty thin as it's a kids movie but I'm not complaining. What most people remember from this movie is the iceman vanilla ice himself. See the turtles are fighting with 2 sub bosses type goon(alligator and snapping turtle) in an abandoned building where they knock through a wall. It turns out there is a nighclub there(complete with bar) and the turtles interrupted a concert by vanilla ice. Since bad guys don't follow logic or rules, they rumble with the turtles while the crowd watches and vanilla ice busts out his ninja rap song

He has some moves and eventually because this was the 90's, the turtles dance both on the dancefloor and onstage with ice. It is amazing seeing them bust a move and I didn't think turtles could be that nimble. The movie does have a happy ending and I don't want to spoil it so it is a must watch. This movie also makes you want pizza from pizza hut or at least it did to me as the turtles seem to be always eating pizza. The music is cheesetastic 90'sness that went out of style but puts a smile on your face. Here's the link to the ninja rap scene

One last thing, the twin towers are in the background of a lot of scenes as the turtles live in new york and it was the early 90's. I wish they were still around as they look good 

Retro fridays and colored ketchup

If you were a kid or teen in the early 00's or just existed back then, you remember colored ketchup. It didn't taste any different, it was simply ketchup in different colors with edgy fonts to try to appear "extreme" although this would have been more successful in the 90's. Anyways I would get the green or purple and then at times it would gross me out as it did adults which is pretty much the main reason why kids ate this ketchup

I used to put the green one on fries until it stopped being made probably because a parent complained it's too gross and that was that. Sometimes I miss putting purple ketchup on things and wish this crazy concoction would come back but some things aren't meant to be

Retro fridays and the little rascals movie

The little rascals movie is a reboot of the 50's and 60's tv show but for modern kids(for the time) as a way to bridge the generation gap with their parents. I don't remember the very 1st time I saw this movie, I think it may have been when my cousins showed it to me at their house then I borrowed it and copied it to a blank cassette tape. Sadly I taped over that movie with the simpsons halloween episodes then later got a new cassette and taped the little rascals from a saturday abc showing(with commercials too) and that's how I got that movie

Ok onto the movie, it stars a group of kids that seem plucked out of the 50's and into modern day(for it's time) california. They hang out at their club house and have a club called he man woman haters. Oh the main kids from the group are afalfa and spanky. Afalfa starts to spend time with a girl named darla and spanky gets jealous he'll lose his best friend so he and the gang sabotage the date and make it look it like was afalfa's fault. This leads to darla spending time with the rich kid named waldo whose dad is played by donald trump. Yes he's a jerk in this movie as he steals popcorn from a lady and his son is a d-bag who thinks he's better then everyone

During all this, our favorite kids derby car gets stolen by the buillies who then repaint it. With spanky and afalfa not talking to each other, the gang can't build a new car without their help somehow so for plot convenience the 2 guys decide to make up(actually buckwheat plays a part in this) and using various things from around town(such as a trash can and wagon wheels and folding tables) the blur is reborn as the blur 2. Without giving away much of the ending, the movie does have a happy ending and waldo gets his come uppance. What makes this movie timeless and adorable are the hijinks of the kids that are lifted straight from the show such as trying to put out the fire at the clubhouse and spanky flying around on the water house, trying to buy a lot of lumber with only a few cents, trying to get money from a checking account at a bank by dressing up as tall bearded men, the way they run and shout. Everything about them is funny

If you never seen it, you should just for the timelessness(if not for the cars you would never know when this took place) of the kids. I still watch it from time to time.  Oh I should mention that it's funny to see all the cameos from celebrities in this movie. My sister will grow up knowing who raven symone and donald trump are but she won't get the mary kate and ashley oslen and reba cameos. It's weird how that works as I didn't figure that buckwheat's girlfriend and waldo's dad would become more famous then the olsen twins

Retro fridays and these refillable pencils

I'm not sure what the right word for this kind of pencil is but just seeing a picture will let you know what I am talking about. These pencils had a little cap with a pointed lead that didn't need sharpening. It's all the advantages of a lead pencil without having to touch the lead itself. When the point starts to dull you'll simply pull it out and tada there's a sharp point

These seem to go out of style in the 00's but in the 90's they were everywhere. No I never poked myself or anyone with the sharp tip. They also weren't used to shoot spitwads at others. I owned a few of these and well there isn't much else to say about a pencil

It seems like I only used 1 or 2 of the leads then I would lose the pencil but it seems like my friends all had some of these types of pencils

Retro fridays and the world of nintendo previews tv

I vividly remember this being at toys r us and it's something I half payed attention similar to elevator music. The world of nintendo is simply a tv with a tablemat menu of games. Each box art of a game is pressable and when you uhhh..pressed a game then the tv would display a clip of that game. I don't remember a lot of the previews except for one, Donkey kong country 3

That one involved a gorilla riding a motorcycle inter spliced with footage of dkc3. I think I saw it at kmart but it may have been target or best buy. I just have vague fading memories of the tv screen and the movie aisle that I been trying to probe my mind and get a clearer memory of. However your brain doesn't work that way

Anyways these usually had clips of old games too and were popular well into the late 90's. Even if you didn't press anything it would play random footage of different games. I know because I spent a lot of time at toys r us looking at the video games while this was on in the background, I would lift up the flap to see the back cover and hmm... this looks good

Some life progess on me

It's been awhile since I posted one of these and well lately there hasn't been much to write about. I don't work at the tobacco place anymore which is sad because I really liked that place. I could take a break whenever I wanted and I knew what to expect. I had a comfort zone there which is helpful for someone like me

Anyways my last days of employment was back in late may. Since then I haven't worked although there's something else that is legal and I will go into more detail in early november so stayed tuned to my blog for that. I recently applied at a chik fil a I frequent and another one that is under construction at the puente hill mall aka twin pine mall(you can apply at CFAindustry.com) and I also applied at payless and ross inside the same mall. Furthermore I applied at 2 uno tea houses in my town and 2 gamestops in my town

So that is my life now, applying at places and hoping to get a call back, the more things change the more they stay the same. The main difference is I have experience now

retro saturdays and pokemon pikachu the handheld toy

No this blog post isn't about pikachu the famous pokemon from the games. This is about the small yellow egg shaped game released in the late 90's called pokemon pikachu. It's not a traditional game though, it's a virtual pet of pikachu

Which to kids back then was a huge deal. This was released at the height of the pokemon craze. I had one and it was......well a virtual pet. There's not much to say

The commercial song is still stuck in my head "pika pika pika pikachu, the best pokemon"

Here's the link to the commercial

Retro saturdays and 101 Dalmatians: The Series

There is a spin off cartoon series of 101 dalmatians that aired in the 90's because it seems like networks were much more willing to take risks back then. The series is a semi sequel to the cartoon movie. Pongo and perdita live in a farm in the country with their puppies. The main character is lucky and he has 2 puppy friends(his brothers) and the other barn animals like a chicken and a hen are supporting characters

I don't remember much because it aired closed to when karate at the ymca would start. I would be trying to mentally work up the courage to be confident at karate. Also the show itself is pretty forgettable. I mean I only watched it because the only thing on at the time (weekday evenings) was news. The episodes seem to be about lucky and his crew trying to be cool by exploring beyond the farm and getting themselves in trouble then learning a lesson

Retro saturdays and bill nye the science guy

This one will be pretty short as I didn't watch much of bill nye the science guy compared to other kids and now adults that seem to nostalgia over it. The main theme I remember is the catchy theme song of bill bill bill bill bill bill bill nye the science guy. Oh it used to be on saturdays and sunday mornings before the cartoons started so it was a warm up for the day to come

The show probably had ADD and it seems to be aimed at inattentive kids. Each episode is about a different subject(usually science) but since it was the 90's, it has to be edgy and IN YOUR FACE!. There was frequent camera cuts and scene transitions although it did do it's job of being informative

Bill nye is still a scientist and I still miss the show

Retro fridays and beast wars

I have to admit, when beast wars was on tv I had no idea it was based on transformers even though it clearly had transformers as it's subtitle. I only watched it because my best friend at the time(who moved away a year later and I never saw him again) was into it and suggested I watch it. So I watched a few episodes because best friends right? The tv show is about CGI animals that could transform into....well I don't remember what they transformed into

If you don't remember beast wars well it's ok, it was and still is pretty forgettable. I remember it having meh reviews on the playground and only my best friend at the time seemed to like it. I gave it a chance and it was bland. So if you want to waste some time then look it up on youtube. I liked the graphics of the animals though

That's all there is to this show, it was and still is forgettable with little redeeming qualities

Retro fridays and in too deep by sum 41

This came out around the same time as fatlip(as a single) and is the other well known song from sum 41. So I am going to nostalgia over both of them around the same time. In too deep is the other hit single from the album all killer no filler. It came out in the early 2000's and was a product of it's time and could only have come out in the early 00's. Just watch the music video for example

I'm not sure if it was an early 00's thing or a pop punk thing but it was cool for bands to have music videos of them playing somewhere that isn't a stage and be surrounded by jumping fans. The video is mostly the band going to a big pool and having a diving contest with a swim team(it was filmed close to the twin pines mall) and other shots are of them playing in an empty pool while fans jump and go crazy

The song is featured on commercials and tv shows, most notably on malcom in the middle when reese steals the driver's ed car and drives through the driver's ed course or I think it was the dmv driver's license test course. It will probably be considered a classic in a few years or so

I didn't like it when it came out and thought it was adults trying to be edgy to impress teens and it still feels the same. However it was everywhere and it makes me nostalgia for the early 00's

Here's the link to the music video

Retro fridays and fatlip the sum 41 song

I remember when this song came out, pop punk was a huge exploding genre especially among the 8 to 40 crowd. Even more so among middle schoolers that thought they were edgy and cool for listening to blink 182 and green day. I know because I would get made fun of for thinking pop punk was soft and meh and for liking judas priest and iron maiden

I would make fun of people HARD that liked sum 41 and I even called it suck 41(creative right?)no I didn't bully them, they made fun of me for liking metal so I turned it around on them. Anyways onto the song, fatlip was and still is the biggest single sum 41 has had. It came out in the early 00's and blew up, almost every girl from 8 to 20 at the time liked this song. It was the most 00's song at the right time. By right time I mean when pop punk was THE genre

The song itself is about not wanting to waste my time and become a conformist in the world. The video is what took it over the top. It was extremely popular on TRL(remember that?) and it revolved around the band playing in a backyard and crowds of people jumping around, you know your typical early 00's music video

I could not get away from this song and I'm glad everyone has forgotten about it. Anyways here's the link to the music video

I tried uber monster

No it's not some sort of uber and monster mash up where you get free monster energy drinks inside an uber car. When something has uber in it's name, it's already hyping itself up as a more powerful version. The whole presentation of uber monster sure delivers on that promise. Just look at the size of the bottle, pictures don't do it justice, this bottle dwarfs other bottles and small dogs. Even the bottle cap is monstrous in both height and diameter. The label lays a challenge of being worthy to drink it if you can open it, well all 3 of my bottle cap openers couldn't. They were too short but luckily I don't give up easily. The secret is that bottle is a twist off

That doesn't make it easier to open however. I used a shirt and muscle and determination to finally open it. I felt like I beat dino city on the super nintendo, accomplished but overwhelmed. The label suggests it was brewed similar to a beer and it most likely was. Having strong illusions to a beer bottle will do you no favors. You can hide this in a brown bag and passerbys will presume it's malt liquor. The non alcoholic part is the only giveaway monster didn't jump into the beer business

The smell is monster with very very faint hints of beer thanks to the fermented barley. The taste is very smooth with little to no carbonation and the drink has a juicer taste with less of the energy drink after taste. You'll want to drink one as fast as you can't seem to get enough. There is less sugar and caffeine compared to it's can sibling and less of a rush and crash. Buy one to try it even if you don't drink energry drinks

It is that yummy

 

I have a beef with the term Millenial

For the longest time as I was growing up the term millenial did exist(yes it's not a 2010's thing) and it was used to describe kids born around the new millenium hence the term millenial. I believe the years were 1998 to 2002 that were millenials and I still stand firm with this reasoning. This decade all of a sudden the term millenial changed to include people born between 1980 to 200 whatever random year. This does not make sense

I can not relate to things with someone born in the year 2000 as I grew up in a time where computers were expensive and incredibly uncommon among with cellphones. My dad didn't get a cellphone until 2001 and even then, it's not like he spent his time glued to it going on the internet and playing games. It was a cheap sprint monochrome(think gameboy) screen phone. If I wanted to look something up then I would have to go to the library compared to someone born in say 1999 who buy the time they were say 6 years old they could google something

People born in the 80's and early 90's should not be lumped in with someone born in the late 90's to early 00's, they have completely different life experiences growing up and are from completely different generations. Furthermore, someone born in the 80's to late 90's has a lot more patience as they did not grow up attached to the internet compared to a true millenial

Millenials are kids that need everything on demand and are attached to their phones 24/7 and stream things on netflix all day. This does not describe my generation at all so don't judge me with a 15 year old

Retro saturdays and tales of a fourth grade nothing

I read this book when I was in 4th grade because I liked reading and I was bored waiting for the library to get new goosebumps books. Despite me renting it frequently, I don't remember much about it. I draw a blank about what happens or things that happen in the story. The only thing I remember is the main character is a boy named peter and he has a little brother nick named fudge

I know this is the 1st book and it would lead to sequels such as fudge a mania and double fudge. Lately I been wanting to rent all the books from my local library to get deja vu and be all "oh yeah I remember" I think I'll do that next week

Retro saturdays and coupon machines

Once a staple of grocery stores, coupon machines seem to have gone the way of paper bags(paper or plastic) they were usually red and attached to a shelf. You would pull a coupon out and then a red light would blink and another would be ready to be snatched up. I liked collecting coupons thanks to these machines even if I never purchased the products. Kids that were jerks would throw the coupons onto the floor, some machines would spit out the coupon if you waved your hand and it would drop to the floor

Bored teens would just run through the aisle and seeing how big of a mess they can make. Maybe that's why these stopped being a thing

Retro saturdays and 7up gummies

The early 90's was a crazy time in when 7up had a circle mascot and anything can be made into a gummy. Perhaps 7up came out because of the cola gummies but I'm not complaining. Released in normal 7up and cherry 7up flavors, these gummies a product of the 90's and delicious. The normal one was alright thanks to the green gummy part that was sour and tasted like a neon green sour straw. The white part is like eating a clear gummy sour bear. Who even likes that color gummy bear right?

The cherry ones were soooooo gooood, think of the sweetest juiciest cherry icee and it's very similar. I could not get enough and I wish 7up gummies were still made and they still used cool spot.The little bottle shapes are cute too. Maybe if enough people make a big deal about it on the internet then it can come back like how surge and crystal pepsi and ecto cooler did

Retro fridays and cremesavers

Cremesavers are a milk and strawberry hard candy that was targeted at adults and the elderly. As a kid I loved these especially going to stater bros and buying a big bag for $3.59 which has about 50 of them. Think of starbursts hard candy and that is similar to cremesavers

They taste milky in a goodway well strawberry milky but not as sweet as strawberry nesquik. It warms my heart that these are still made as I can indulge in creamy goodness on a slow sunday or saturday. I think I'll get a small bag though. These were extremely popular in the late 90's to early 00's then fell out of style and are largely forgotten about. Yes you should get some as they have low sugar and are eaten by the elderly. Just put it in your mouth and enjoy the creamy taste, yes that sounded dirty and I apologize

Retro fridays and street fighter 2

This is about the original sf2 and not it's half assed semi sequels championship edition and turbo. I 1st played this game in an arcade and instantly loved it. I choose ken and although I didn't know how to do any moves such as the dragon punch or a hurricane kick, I knew this was a good game well worth my quarters even at a young age. Since I couldn't look up moves on the internet as I didn't have a pc, I asked some kids on the playground and looked up moves list on egm2. Although they were for super street fighter 2, the moves input were unchanged

I went back a week later and once I did that 1st dragon punch I was unstoppable and did a evil person mwahaha laugh. Ok I wasn't that good as most of my offense consisted of low kicks and dragon punches and hadokens. It's ok, I had fun getting to vega as he is still extremely cheap and loved to throw you out of a dragon punch while you contemplate spending the $1 you have for ice cream. I prefered my delicious creamy treats then more punishment from vega

When I got a snes, sf2 was my most rented game and I finally beat it at 5 stars. The ending was a gyp but it felt like an accomplishment. I still remember how to hadoken and dragon punch and sonic boom and be extremely cheap

Retro fridays and the milkshake song

Despite coming out in 2003, this song is still popular and heard everywhere and still used in movies and tv commercials and possibly tv shows. I was there when it was a hot new single and I knew right away this song wasn't going anywhere so I would have to get used to it

It's simple chrous of la la la is forgotten thanks to the "my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard" and that it did. Kelis had legal troubles a few years after this song and she became a one hit wonder. Funny that it did bring all the boys to the yard. The 1st movie I saw it in was date movie(which I saw in theaters)and then it was in every comedy

Here's the link so you can somewhat nostalgia

I tried mountain dew dewshine

Yes this is a review/long post so fair warning

A clever anagram of mountain dew and moonshine, dewshine is a soda for the recovering alcholic or the edgy teen or ironically, the sophisticated classy soda drinker. Dewshine comes in a clear glass bottle just like the soda itself. Think sprite or crystal pepsi and your on the right track especially with crystal pepsi as it makes your mind play tricks on you. Ok now onto the taste of dewshine, it is very similar to a less carbonated,less flavorful, less caffeinated version of mtn dew. This is a good thing as anyone who has recently drank a mtn dew came away feeling the strong citrus taste and wish it was toned down. This is dewshine, it's almost like a juice with very little carbination, making it very hard to drink just one

It's less bold and more sedated not unlike a diet version. Dewshine is non alcholoic but that won't stop teens from pretending beer. I'm not sure why it's called dewshine as the only thing related to moonshine is the bottle and clear color. Something about the taste makes me want to pour it into a wine or champenge glass then sip away. D.s. is usuaully sold in cases of 4 however I seen it at big lots and another store that's name escapes me right now, as singles for $1.29. Not all big lots sell dewshine though so it may take some looking around

Should you get one? yes dewshine is worth a taste even if your not a big soda drinker like I am, in this case toning something down has great results. I was going to post my picture I took then uploaded to fb but it just vanished from fb

Just a reminder that slowdown saturday will become a thing

I already started flashback friday years ago(2012 to be exact) and eventually, slowdown saturday will become a thing on facebook and twitter and tumblr and I started it also. I started it as a way to remember saturday morning cartoons but it evolved into anything retro. Anywho sunday is still open for nostalgia and they always feel slow and boring and disney always showed a movie on sunday evenings and there was nothing good on tv so I would play with my micro machines outside most of the day

Retro saturdays and selena the movie

Released roughly 2 years after her death, selena the movie is a biopic about the late singer's life and sudden death. It stars Jennifer Lopez as selena which is the film that shot her career upward. Before this movie she was a fly girl on in living color. The movie itself is pretty good even if J.Lo looks like her self at times and not like selena

I remember there was huge lines to watch it in theaters and there was not a dry eye at the end. Even the biggest toughest bikers were all crying. There was also a lot of girls that dressed up and looked like selena herself. It was an incredibly touching movie and still is. If you don't know who selena is, this movie is a great introduction to her and if you do it's still worth a watch

The ending gets everyone and you will have something in your eye if not crying. This young lady touched a lot of lives when she was alive. It's usually on vh1(it will be on tomorrow) a lot if you want to watch it for free. I own the dvd though and it is well worth your money

Retro saturdays and scream

Released in 1996, scream was the right horror movie for the times(the 90's), rather then simply being another slasher flick(think 80's horror movies) it was a smart self aware horror movie for gen X. The characters do and don't fit into the horror film tropes. Even the characters themselves are huge movie fans(shaggy and skeet ulrich) who un ironically break the 4th wall "what if we were actually in a horror movie right now"

Well they are and scream doesn't let you down. The opening scene sets the tone with the death of a cute drew barrymore and her boyfriend by the ghostface killer. There is a killer going around in a small town and unlike most of these types of movies, the main characters are fans of horror movies and frequently mention what they would do to avoid the fate of a movie character's death they were watching. Gale weathers(courtney cox) and officer dewey(david arquette) round out the cast but it's neve campbell that holds it all together

The killer murdered neve campbell's mom and I'm pretty sure it is close to halloween in the movie so extra spookyness. The writing is great as just when you think you know who the real killer is(yes high school kids die in this movie from ghostface) out pops out a new twist to keep you guessing. Of course the killer is revealed at the end and I won't say who it is but it will blow your mind. Once you know who the killer is then you should watch it again and wonder how they do it

One thing that still stays with me to this day from the movie is this bathroom scene. Everytime I go to a bathroom and I'm the only on there I half expect a ghostface killer to pop out. This movie is what made the costume extremely famous even to this day. In 1996 everyone wanted to be ghostface and even though it's peter'd out, you can see a gf costume at a halloween party or trick or treating

I think I'll watch this movie now, it holds up well and if you never seen it then your in for a treat