grassyneal ([info]grassyneal) wrote,
2005-07-20 13:56:00
  • Previous
  • Memorize
  • Share
  • Next

1985 - I washed dishes, went to college

I have a 20-year reunion coming up, and I've been thinking about what I've been up to...

In 1985, ...you guys remember 1985? I know, a lot of you weren't even born yet. Well, a few things from that year (from wikipedia)..

Movies
- Witness
- The Breakfast Club
- Back to the Future
- The Color Purple

Other stuff
- We Are The World, by USA for Africa, put a song in all our heads for a long long long time
- Whitney Houston's first album came out
- The collaborative group Power Station put out an album of the same name, including "Some Like It Hot"
- The Cars put out a Greatest Hits album (my birthday is coming up! :) )
- The Dukes of Hazzard went off the air, after 5 1/2 years of flying cars and sputtering lawmen

Anyway, what was I up to?


1. Washing Dishes. I got a job in a pizza restaurant in St. Francis, washing dishes. It was a crummy job, earning close to minimum wage, but I did occasionally get to take some tasty food home.
Later when I was at school I got a job at Big Olaf's, a restaurant and ice cream parlor on East Franklin Avenue (I don't think it's there anymore). I was let go because I couldn't wash dishes fast enough for them.
Not long after, I got a job at Arnold's Hamburger Grill, also close to campus (I don't think the chain exists anymore - what a paleo work history I have!), also washing dishes. I stayed with that job until the end of the school year. It was sweaty, greasy work, but it was all right. The wait staff were cool, the cooks were a crazy bunch, and the food was very good.

2. Went to college. I went to Augsburg College in Minneapolis. My folks lived in Isanti, so I was about 45 minutes from home, which was tolerable for them. I had no desire to study much, thought I'd coast on tests like I did in high school, and got rather poor grades in the end of it all. The 1985-86 year was the only year I attended Augsburg. I did make some good friends, though, who I really ought to look up again, and I sang in choir, which I enjoyed a lot.


If you were active in 1985, what were you up to?

If you don't really care, sorry for all this. You'll probably not much like the next 19 or so years to follow in the days ahead...


  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
     
    Help
  • 8 comments

[info]eatsoylentgreen

July 20 2005, 20:25:46 UTC 6 years ago

I was bummed that my brother moved away from home!

Then I did a lot of cleaning and packed your stuff in the closet, and then downstairs. Some of it is still there I think.

Bible quizzing, you got me started listening to rock music. I think I stopped piano sometime around here too.

[info]grassyneal

July 21 2005, 15:30:34 UTC 6 years ago

Sorry about moving like that, dude.

I think you're right about the stuff. I should have packed up more of it myself.

Rock music? Hmm, guess I was a bit of a bad influence on you in 1985...

[info]nuzzybear

July 20 2005, 20:46:47 UTC 6 years ago

I think I was just a toddler. Yeah, that's it.

I was probably just starting quizzing. Acts. In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day he was taken up...

Seventh grade... Isanti Middle School... Oxlip Ev. Free... hormonal insanity...

[info]grassyneal

July 21 2005, 17:20:09 UTC 6 years ago

For those of you who don't know a lot about bible quizzing, five kids from one church team would go up against five kids from another church team, and would sit on seat buzzers (whoever got up off their buzzer first would have the first chance to answer the question), answer various questions about a specific book of the Bible for points. 20 questions per quiz, lots of excitement in the "playoffs".

Most churches had their kids study the text, then study questions and answers on the text. Oxlip went a step higher and made kids MEMORIZE EVERY SINGLE WORD of the assigned book(s). Which is why I, *years* from my quizzing days, can still say that the book of James (New American Standard version) starts with "James, a bondservant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve disciples who are dispersed abroad, greetings.". With the extra level of familiarity with the text that came from this, our church did pretty well in quizzing.

Isanti Middle School - the first big school without walls that I'd ever gone to. I'd forgotten about that...

[info]magaggies

July 20 2005, 23:36:23 UTC 6 years ago

I loved Arnold's! I definitely remember 1985, and very fondly I might add. I was in high school, and when the year began, I guess I must have been part-way into my sophomore year of high school. It was right around that time that I got to know [info]theevilrobin, although we'd technically known each other for years before then. 1985 was the summer of my first Hope Anew tour, which was a high school touring choir from my church. Those tours remain among the best memories of my life. I later went on 2 tours as an adult chaperone with [info]spider8, who is Robin's little sister. 1985 was also the year of my high school's 2nd consecutive MN boy's basketball tournament win (and 52-game winning streak). It was also a year of sadness, as the boyfriend of one of my best friends (and brother of one of my church friends) committed suicide.

[info]grassyneal

July 21 2005, 17:23:44 UTC 6 years ago

The touring choir thing sounds very cool. Our high school choir went on a tour up north, as did the Augsburg choir. Way up north, like Hermantown, and Eveleth, and those places.

I miss Arnold's too. They may still be out there, I don't know. Nowadays I have to go to Fuddruckers for a big juicy 1/3 lb burger done up my way..

[info]richardf8

July 22 2005, 04:02:01 UTC 6 years ago

Later when I was at school I got a job at Big Olaf's, a restaurant and ice cream parlor on East Franklin Avenue (I don't think it's there anymore). I was let go because I couldn't wash dishes fast enough for them.

When did you last check. It was there 7 years ago.

1985. Completed my Senior year in high school. Then spent the rest of the year working as a messenger for a travel agency in Manhattan, so that I could go to college in 1986.

[info]grassyneal

July 22 2005, 13:42:17 UTC 6 years ago

Hey, there it is. I found it on a Switchboard.com lookup. Of course, it might be an old listing, but from here, it looks like you still might be able to get a nice waffle cone there.
Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Facebook Twitter More login options
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…