Friday, December 4, 2009

Friday Flashback: Age 13 (i.e. My Hell on Earth)

In case you can't see it, my shirt says,
"He's attacked trained, he's one tough trout. He's RAINBO
- I'm coming for you!'

I'd like to say that in 1994, when this picture was taken, dorky glasses and even dorkier t-shirts were totally in... but that would be a big fat lie. Let me tell you a little something about me: I was not little miss popular... Nope, I was gawky, awkward, and socially stunted.

Age thirteen was the worst year of my life. Oh wow, the dorkiness that radiated off me on a daily basis is still humiliating, 15 years later.

I was the girl who hid in the bathroom during lunch hour in 7th grade (ew, that's sick), hoping no one would notice I was eating lunch alone. Never in a million years would I wish my 7th grader life on anyone. I had no confidence, terrible grades, close to no friends, and absolutely zero sense of style - when all the girls were shopping at Clothestime and Wet Seal, I was buying boy's shirts from K-mart.

The summer before 8th grade, my mom pushed me into joining the colorguard team (the only dance-type team my school had back then) and I made some friends, which was pretty much a life-saver for me. Thank goodness. No more sitting in a dank and dirty bathroom to eat my sandwich. My friend Molly finally said to me one day, during colorguard camp, "Marisa, listen. Your shirts are really lame. Please don't wear them anymore."

Yes, I was stunned... I had three fish shirts that I interchanged daily: RAINBO, the SALMONATOR, and ROBO-CARP - you mean my shirts aren't cool? What??

She was right, of course. When you are only minutes away from your first day of 8th grade, and you are secretly hoping that maybe, just maybe, this will be the year you are popular and that maybe boys will think you're cute... wearing a t-shirt claiming that a colorful, machine-gun toting fish is 'attack trained, and one tough trout' probably isn't the best way of going about it. So I started shopping at Clothestime and Wet Seal, and my dorkiness... was mostly gone. I was still too quirky to be truly cool, by middle school standards.

Did I get a boyfriend that year? No. I still had stupid hair and even stupider glasses... but at least I didn't eat lunch in the bathroom anymore.

Never again will I have hair that lame, or Harry Potter-esque glasses (Will likes to call me Cousin Ian, after his BOY cousin, when he sees my old photos)... but as for my shirts - I'm not gonna lie... I STILL think they're awesome and I'd wear them today if I had them. Seriously, super tough fish holding machine guns? Rainbo, The Salmonator, and Robo-Carp? That's funny!

Do you have a flashback of your own to share this week? Come on by Tia's blog at www.ChristopherandTia.blogspot.com for the most awesome meme in town.

xoxo,

16 comments:

jean said...

Just put braces on that girl and that could've been me. Oh yeah, and I TOWERED over everyone else. Ah, the good ol' days...

Alyssa S. said...

OK...so I had glasses like that in high school and college. Are you saying...GASP...that I was a dork? Maybe I didn't have the keen fish shirts...but in the 7th grade me and the only 3 friends I had used to think we were cool because we hung out...in the library. Boys used to steal my books and run off with them and hide them because they thought it was funny. My friends used to humiliate me in front of the one guy I had a crush on...by yelling out his name every time he walked by. The moral of this story...who the heck wasn't a dork in the 7th grade????

Unknown said...

Aw, Alyssa... I would have sat with you in the library. And okay, the shirts... those were way worse (back then - I still think they're awesome) than hair and glasses. Especially when I tucked them into my shorts.

Devon said...

Holy cow... that's so me... I didn't eat in the bathroom... but I didn't have many friends... and I wore some odd clothes! Actually.. that was how it was for me all the way thru school until 11th grade when I decided to home school and then I didn't have to worry about friends! I still have a lot of my clothes from high school all packed up in those vacuum sealed bags. LOL... Hey, maybe someday I'll have kids who will think they are cool! LOL!

Morrgan said...

Yeah, sounds a lot like me too back then. Few friends, dorky clothes, even dorkier glasses, braces, awkward around people... Fun times. ;)

But man, I totally want one of those tough fish t-shirts now. :D

Oh Mandie said...

So Marisa, I'm curious ... do you still have that fish shirt?? Because I'm pretty sure I had an identical one when I was younger!

Just goes to show, girls who were 7th grade dorks and hot mommas now!

MoonDoggie said...

Haven't really got a flashback to share but I just wanted to let you know I got a kick out of this post. Your shirts sound brilliant to me ;)

M.M.E. said...

Great picture. I recently unearthed a 5th grade picture of me that featured bushy blonde bangs, big glasses, red corduroy pants, a pink,green, and blue polka dot turtle neck, and a psychadelically colored cat vest. Yes, I was the epitome of cool. (to myself)

April said...

I'm pretty sure I had glasses that were WORSE than that!! I was known to were a crazy t-shirt now and again myself!!!

Karen Faulkner said...

I loved this post. 7th grade was my low point too.

Amy Herbst said...

That's awesome. I remember wearing my older bro's camo-print chuck taylor's and long trench coat to school in 7th grade... that would've gone PERFECTLY with a "RAINBO" Tee!

I am dreading the time when my kids hit those aweful jr. high years.

Tia Colleen said...

Dude, Marisa, I just lol'd so hard.

I totally bought kmart tshirts too. Only mine didn't have fish on them, they had tye dyed tweetie birds and tazmanian devils. I didn't have glasses, but I had braces. And I was fat.

This post was kind of amazing.

Unknown said...

Ahahaha, you guys are the best. Glad I wasn't the only 7th grade dork on the planet!

SillyLittleLady said...

I think the fish shirts are totally cool, but then again, I was the biggest dork around too, didn't even make real friends until I got to college! Glad I wasn't the only one who was a dork growing up ;)

Melanie @ Whimsical Creations said...

I think we were all dorks in 7th grade. I had sally jessie glasses and braces. That and I chop my hair to bits all over...thought that "feathered look" was soooo cool. YIKES. =D

Penefulence said...

That is funny, because I always thought you were popular. You always seemed to have a gang of friends with you, while I was hanging out with the "Star Trek club" because no one else would hang out with me. Ahh middle school, what wonderful social memories =)

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