10 Emotions My Future Nerd Children Will Never Experience

Because I'm still on a blogging break sort of but I feel guilty if I don't at least post something once a week...here's what's been on my mind today.

1. The determination of listening to the radio for hours after school with your finger poised over the "RECORD" button on your stereo so you can catch a particular song to complete one of the many mix tapes you were constantly working on for your friends, crush, pen pal and self.

(You needed a study mix, crush mix, best friends aka LYLAS! mix, sad mix, cleaning-your-room mix, girl power mix, country only mix, and songs-your-parents-don't-allow-you-to-listen-to mix, at the very least.)

2. The devastation of either A) the tape running out in the middle of the last song you need or B) upon completion of tape, pulling it out of the stereo only to find the stereo ate the tape. Not only did you lose all that time, but you recorded yourself saying some really profound and poetic things in between songs. Oh well. Time to dig up your mom's Rod Stewart Greatest Hits tape, put Scotch tape over the little holes on the bottom and start over.

3. The exhilaration of passing notes in class and learning all the amazing ways that one can fold said notes. I had gallon Ziploc bags of these under my bed, one dedicated to each friend. I assume my mother read them years ago and threw them out in case I ever decided to try to find a boyfriend become a politician.

4. The utter shame of having a note to your best friend about your crush being confiscated in math class and then posted on the classroom bulletin board for all to see as punishment. And gaining the silent and fleeting respect of the cool kids in the process. And perhaps -- perhaps -- recognition from your crush.

Probably not this much recognition. Think signing your yearbook.

5. The astonishment of realizing you just convinced your parents to buy you tickets to a concert that's on a school night because the band is recording the music video for their new single that night and it's going to be historical. (Scroll to 2:39 -- that's where I allegedly appear, I think. It's one of those lies you believe after telling it for so many years.)

6. The arrogance of typing a grammatical or punctuation error on your book report just so you could use the white out ribbon on the electric typewriter. AMAZEMENT EVERY TIME.

7. The overwhelming feeling of love and security when your parents accepted a collect call from you while you were on an Anchor Club sponsored "Future Women Leaders of America" trip to Williamsburg. 

8. The excitement of sitting in your mom's friend's convertible, not because it was a convertible, but because she had a bag phone in her car and got 30 minutes a month to use however she chose.

9. The urgent desire to get up at 6 a.m. on Saturdays in order to watch as many cartoons as you could before your parents woke up and told you your TV allowance for the day was over.

10. The reckless abandon of preserving what little cool points you had by secretly being friends with the weird girl down the street because her parents got her a Nintendo with Mario Kart and she let you be Yoshi. Rainbow Road was the best, obviously. Totally worth it.