Recycled fun: '80s style

David Williams, Freelance Writer

ARE WE HAVING fun yet? They say if you've got to ask then it probably means you're not, so I guess that pretty much answers things for me. I've hardly been having a wild time this summer, but I think I've found a way to compensate. For fellow fun-starved folks, why not do like I'm doing and have yourself some fun by remembering the days when you used to have fun? Sounds pathetic, doesn't it? Well, in a way it is. But recycled fun beats no fun at all, right?

I've been living it up lately remembering the good old days of having no responsibilities, no deadlines. You know, those first 10 or so years of your life when your highest purpose on earth was to have fun, both for yourself, and on behalf of those poor, miserable folks all over the world who were unfortunate enough to have grown up already.

The children of today have a serious responsibility on their shoulders. They're supposed to be having fun on my behalf, and that's no laughing matter.

THE DECADE OF THE 80S

I worry sometimes children today aren't doing as good a job at it as I did in my time. Everybody knows that fun just isn't what it used to be. After all, this isn't exactly the 'Exceptional 80s', when fun used to be fun.

Aah, yes, the 80s: the Decade of Decades. (And that, my friends is not open for debate.)

Yes, the 80s. The decade of Archie Comics, BMX bikes, Transformers, Pac-Man video games, and break-dancing skills.

Of E.T., Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Back to the Future, Nightmare on Elmstreet (Freddy Kreuger) and Police Academy.

Of 'Thriller', 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go', and the supremely warm-and-fuzzy 'We Are the World' and 'Ebony and Ivory'.

Of The A-Team, Knight Rider, Miami Vice, The Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, and Fraggle Rock.

(Isn't it sad that most of us grew up on American pop culture? Oh well, life isn't perfect.)

Of course, we 80s children ­ the Chosen Ones ­ did things that children before us did and others do today. Like raiding somebody else's guinep tree even though you had one in your own back yard, and frolicking at the beach then dragging ourselves home hours later, three shades darker, to refresh ourselves with ice-cold lemonade. But it goes without saying that when we did it, it was much more fun! Naturally. We were, after all, doing it in the 80s. Everything was extra special in the 80s. You had to be there to understand.

SUMMER 1985

For me, the Summer of all Summers was the Summer of '85. It involved a girl visiting from overseas (with an accent!), hormones (didn't know it by that name back then), some bushes (which became our 'House'), and brand new golf ball. Oh yeah, and a box of wax crayons. No prizes for guessing what that was about.

Fun was really fun back in the day. Now, fun just isn't what it used to be. If that isn't bad enough, my hairline's receding already (help!). And any way you look at it, with every passing summer I'm getting closer to the autumn of my life.

But there's always memories to help you defy time. I'd live happily ever after if only I could find my way back to the 80s ... and take the Internet with me.

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