I Loved 1986

In honour of tonight’s 1980’s themed dinner/auction, I offer you a glimpse into the brain of a 10-year old Jason Borkowski…

I woke up this morning to my alarm playing the Talking Heads “Burning Down the House”.  What day is it? Are my blue corduroy pants and white turtle neck clean for school? Wait , no, it’s Saturday!  I jump out of bed and run down the hall to turn on the tv. Ahhhh the comforting thunk of the TV turning on. I twist the knob to KVOS TV12 for my daily ritual of reruns of the Monkees, I Dream of Jeanie, then Bonanza.  Never watch Bonanza though. Of course I’ve seen this Monkees episode a million times. I grab a box of Count Chocula cereal and rifle through the contents with my bare hands to find the toy inside. 3d glasses to look at the back of the box.  Nice. I pour my bagged milk over the cereal and allow the sugar to wake me up.

I’m starting to remember last night.  I had stayed up late with Jeff playing Tecmo Bowl and Blades of Steel.  Everytime I scored he beat me mercilessly but it was worth it. We had watched Sports Page with Don Taylor on Channel 13 before I staggered to bed.  As tired as I was I couldn’t fall asleep until there was a break between airplanes flying overhead. Never sure which one was a Russian ICBM headed to Vancouver to destroy us all.  I was still feeling the fear from not watching, but listening to through my bedroom door, “The Day After”. I wasn’t allowed to watch it, but I could hear the screams and explosions from my bedroom 4 ft away.  (Once the Americans finish their Star Wars Missile Defense System I might me able to sleep better at night.) I also remember last night, barely being asleep, when I heard a tick, tick, tick against my windows.  I pulled back my Bugs Bunny curtains and looked out the window to see my older brother Jamie (with hair like a member of the Stray Cats) throwing rocks at my window to wake me up and get me to let him in so he didn’t get in trouble for staying out too late.  I did it, but totally intended to tell on him in the morning. Can’t forget to do that.

OH YEAH!  I’ll have tonnes of time to rat out Jamie, I’m going to EXPO 86 with Dad today!  It will be like the 20th time we’ve used our seasons pass. I’ve still never gotten through the line of the GM Pavilion, but the hologram movie they have is supposed to blow your mind.  I don’t need to see it though, I’d love to go through the BC Pavilion again and watch that video with the flying red ball. This will be fun. I hope I’ll be home in time for 8pm though.  There’s a WWF Saturday Day Night Main Event on and I can’t miss it. Macho Man Randy Savage ooooooh yeah. I’ll wear my Swatch Watch so I don’t lose track of time.

Life is awesome in 1986.