1980s – Revenant Publications

Who remembers this car/toy? This was Jem’s Rockin’ Roadster, released only in 1986. The next year it was replaced by the Glitter N’ Gold Roadster, which was probably more appealing to little girls. I disagree.

I was 4 years old when the Rockin’ Roadster came out, and I believe Santa brought it to me. I was Jem obsessed – and still somewhat am – and had most of the dolls, accessories, books, tapes, and whatever else we could afford.

This car symbolizes my childhood. Crazy colors, fun, and energetic. Nearly 30 years later, when I hear “Jem” I think of this car.

And I found one. Oh yeah, I bought this fabulously 80s treat. Scheduled to arrive early this week, I had trouble containing my excitement. Not only was this more than affordable for what it was, but it was in great condition. Even the radio works.

The Post Office Fiasco

This week rolled around, and on Wednesday I received a slip saying the post carrier left the package with my apartment manager. I visited the office, and they didn’t have it. I remained calm and called the post office.

A wonderful lady took all my information, and said to check back later. On Thursday, I called the post office, and no one had seen it. This time I spoke to an idiot, who answered the phone laughing and put me on hold, so she could contain herself. Then she was useless and advised me to call Friday morning to speak to the carrier personally – “only they know what they did with the package.”

Friday morning came, and I called again. Thankfully, the nice lady answered and spoke to the carrier for me, and they had no idea where it was. The carrier’s daughter ran the route and said she left it in the package box. Well, guess what? She didn’t because it was way too big. And again, no one knew where it was.

By Saturday, I was about to have a nervous breakdown. When I placed the order last week, I had this terrible feeling something would happen to it because it was so special to me. That’s just my luck. I called the post office again and spoke to another useless person who was less than helpful. I had lots of errands to run but ended up back at the apartment office. I decided to check the packages for the third time, and my manager found it! Apparently, it had been dropped of late Friday afternoon.

After 10 minutes of getting through the packaging, the Jem Rockin’ Roaster has a new home! Here’s a full tour of its awesomeness!

Jem Rolls Royce — For scale: It’s 24 inches long.

Fall is my favorite time of year. The crisp air, just cool enough to be comfortable and maybe require a light jacket, but not the bitter frozen temperatures of winter. The sound of dried, fallen leaves blown by the wind. The strange orangey glow of an autumn sunset. The smell of fall is indescribable, but one that is always one that is the most indelibly tied to memories of haunted houses, costume shopping, and playing with my Freddy glove replica.

I’ve love Halloween and since I was a kid. I always dressed up as something (minus about two years in high school and the four years of college). I can’t remember them all, and there were a couple years where we had to skip trick-or-treating. One notable incident occurred when I was 5 or 6. Living in Las Vegas, it rained horribly and drowned out the annual Halloween excursion. Instead, we rented Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 3. As a 5-6 year old, I was terrified and it had a lasting impact. I mean I couldn’t even be safe ASLEEP according to that film! I always credit that experience to my current stoicism. I was scared of essentially everything for the next 2-3 years. And have never really been scared since…

The times missing trick-or-treating were rare, however, and most of the time my sister and I went through the neighborhood, dressed as SOMETHING, collecting our bounty, and being scared by houses with good displays (one kid dressed as Jason, stood perfectly still, then ran after kids when they got close!).

Unusually, I never dressed up as monsters or anything scary. I was always something fun or goofy. In the 80s, it was all about fun. Here are some classic 80s costumes from my Halloween past! Some of them may be out of order, the dates weren’t always clear, but it’s mostly right!