25 things I miss about being a teenager in Adelaide

Today, I opened my memory box. Man, as a teenager, I was saaaaad. I kept everything. From lunch order receipts to my STA Multi-Pass cover, covered in texta saying, “HP 4 JTT” (Jonathan Taylor Thomas from Home Improvement was my one true love). Opening the box brought back so many memories and I realised being a teenager was bloody grouse! I’ve never used the word ‘grouse’ before, but it feels right when I’m talking about my awkward teenage years.

So here’s my list…

 25 things I miss about being a teenager in Adelaide.

1. Hound Dog, Rundle Mall. They had the hottest boob-tubes in the city!

2.The best place to find a boyfriend? Myer Centre food court. Friday afternoon, around 4:30, was the optimum time to find ‘love’.

3. Magazines were currency. Who needs money when you have Teen Beat, 17 and Smash Hits? I gave my friend, Marissa, two Teen Beats and a pack of Lion King collector cards in exchange for her doing my Year-7 chemistry assignment. Bargain.

4. All birthday pressies were from Granny Mays. Gag presents were extremely popular during our teenage years — as were Lava Lamps. 

5. Thinking you were “blind” after ½ a Stolly (Lemon Ruski).

6. Valentine’s Day pressies for the boyfriend – always Bart Simpson silk boxer shorts. Maybe Ren and Stimpy… but only if they’d run out of Bart ones. Also from Granny Mays. 

7. Group dates at the Ice Arena. Boys and girls would skate separately. There was always one friend who would hold her boyfriend’s hand while skating. Such a SL*T!

8. The go-to party game: Spin the Bottle. If you didn’t want to play, you were frigid. But you could always opt for the hug instead of the kiss option. Nothing weird about hugging someone… in silence… in the middle of a circle of friends.

9. You actually believed that you’d marry Scott Wolf and you would live happily in your Springfield mansion together. 

10. Recording fake radio shows, pretending you were on SAFM on your tape recorder (AKA ghetto blaster). Then, accidentally recording over the top of it with your fave song (mine was Boys II Men, “I’ll Make Love to You”.)

11. Rearranging your bedroom. As if you wanted to hang out with your parents while they watched M.A.S.H, when you could be rearranging your bedwah! I did this at least twice a week. And all your Knick Knacks were from Design Domain.

12. The school lamington drive. I was always jealous of those kids whose mums would order six or more dozen. I have a one-dozen kind of mum.

13. Going to the Academy cinema with mum and your best friend. Then sitting on the opposite side of the cinema to your mum. She was soooo embarrassing… wait, WHY was mum embarrassing??

14. School Camps at Victor.

15. You never worried about your parents getting sick or dying – you were too selfish to think of anyone else but yourself.

16. Street Parties! How good were they? Why don’t we do them anymore? 

17. There was no Facebook to stalk anyone. You had to stalk by actually making your mum drive past the “hot” guy’s house.

18. Parties were from 6-9:30pm (in bed by 10). A M A Z I N G

19. When your parents would have friends over, there was always leftover Viennetta in the freezer! Oh, that delicious ice-cream log!

20. Sharing boyfriends with your best friend. Completely normal. You’d both write about the same guy in your diary and say, “I think he likes me better”.

21. You were such a rebel for wearing your school jumper on the bus, without a blazer. #thuglife

22. You actually thought you and your bestie were Romy and Michelle!

23. Your whole life was on a floppy disk.

24. Wearing your school bag on one shoulder, instead of two, meant you were one of the ‘cool ones’.

25. Best friend charms from Kleins. How were we supposed to know WHO your best friend was, without a charm from Kleins, Rundle Mall!!!

 Those were the days! Did I miss anything?

Hayley xx