“It was 1980 something and it was awesome.” That is how many episodes of the series “The Goldbergs” ends. I am not here to promote this show (although I do love it and I think this show is great, you should watch it😉), but this show reminded me about the past I wanted to take a small trip back to this period.

Everybody has different memories from the eighties. I have so many that I cannot pick up the favorite one but one of the best were movies, music and games.  Some of memories are from eighties/nineties as in eighties I was still only 6-7 and could not watch or do many things.

Number of times I watched “Back to the future” ever since I watched it, or “E.T.”, “Never Ending Story” … These movies did not have special effects like movies nowadays. But they had a soul and a brilliant idea that many movies do not have nowadays. Who did not dream of driving a DeLorean, befriend an extra-terrestrial and help him to go back home or travel on a giant dog. 😊 These movies are like a masterpiece and we still watch them to remember old times but also as they had an amazing plot.

I remember also the series “Dynasty”. This series represented what we did not have in Poland – big cars, expensive whisky, caviar swimming pool in the house… It was broadcasted on Sundays at 5pm. I remember watching it with big eyes. Of course, some scenes I could only watched in nineties when I was already older, but I still remember sitting on the carpet in the living room (or hiding just near the arm chair if my mom said I could not watch some scenes 😊) and just gasping at colorful life of USA. I was lucky enough to be in a family where our life was colorful with many things from America that my friends could only dream of. Anyway, it was not only about this series but also the whole ritual of sitting together and watching it. And of course, the battle scenes between Kristal and Alexis (especially the one in the swimming pool) were also epic. 😊

Other memories include great musicians that I listened to (or first copied my dear sister who was this popular girl in high school and I wanted to be just like her) – Queen, A-ha (“Take on me” is the song that always reminds me of my sis and mom dancing), Prince, Depeche Mode – virtuosos of the eighties/nineties music that I still listen to today. Or even some more “embarrassing” bands like New Kids on the Block or Kris Kross. They were not that embarrassing as I think they still had their style 😉

Most people know I really like video games. Sure, I really enjoy nowadays graphics in Assassin’s Creed or GTA. But games on old Nintendo or Atari were the best… I remember hours spent on Nadral, Baloons or River Raid…. I absolutely loved it. I had an old Atari on cassettes so you had to pray your father does not step into the room when it was loading, if he did you had to install it once again but it was so worth it.

The first portable game was the old and most popular Russian game – “Nu,pogodi” in which you as a wolf had to catch all eggs and get points of it. I also remember when my brother in law went to Italy to visit his sister and I asked him if he could buy me a new Nintendo Game Boy. When he came back I was the happiest. Even if the first game they included was Othello – a board game! And I wanted Mario Bros! Eventually I got Mario and played it all the time.

Another memory from my childhood involves going with my father to Arcade Rooms where you had all machines (Polish we named them flipery) and I spent hundreds of coins on them. I remember one time I run to my Dad in a baseball cap and asked for more coins when he was talking to a guy he just met. The guy said, “Your son looks super nice, but why is he wearing long hair?” 😉 That was one of moments I started realizing I should also hang out more with girls and start wearing more feminine clothes as well talk about lips sticks etc. It was already 1993 and I was 10.

In the eighties, we did not have mobile phones or fancy computers. But we were connected to our friends and neighbors much more than we are now as we had to make an extra effort to contact them. We did not expose ourselves on Facebook and still were able to organize the best events and discos and even if the clothes we wore were sometimes embarrassing, it was the best time ever…

Do not get me wrong, I am still not so old to be grinchy about the new times. Everybody knows I love new gadgets and I do appreciate today and tomorrow with amazing discoveries and progress we are making. Just sometimes I would like to come back to easier times when I was just 8 and my only problem was that I missed an episode of “Alf” or lost a level in Nadral.

I hope when time comes and my kids are 8, I will also show them some great stuff from the eighties. And I know they will love it. And Adam F. Goldberg – thank you for sharing your memories and for reminding me about Eighties Awesomeness 😊

Photos from eighties with my awesome sister and awesome clothes. 😉 Some hawk eyed players will spot a great game on the right side. 😉

P.S. I just received on fb a post from my nice friend Ewa, who was born only in the last year of eighties but also remembers its awesomeness. She mentioned this video, which I did not know beforehand but I am sure you will also enjoy, especially my compatriots. The video is by a Polish band Rebeka and the clip’s title is “Today”.