It’s time for another dose of nostalgia and wonder. It is time for another installment of “Remember This?”

So far we’ve covered Waldo and BOOBLESS, Hanson and gumballs, Animaniacs and those mutant Quiznos lemurs… so what could be next? Today I have another grab bag of forgotten 80s/90s treasures for us all.

Remember This? episode 4

1. Surge. I was deep in my “extreme” phase when this mountain-dew on speed soft drink came out. I wore wraparound sunglasses, basketball jerseys, and slicked my hair back in ponytails like Steven Seagall (hey, it was elementary school, give me some credit). The commercials were always 10 kinds of obnoxious Sean White-esque “extreme” energy and coolness. In reality, this stuff was basically carbonated Nickelodeon slime. RIP, Surge. I still carry your spirit in my diet mountain dew habit…

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2. Passions. Before Jesse Metcalf was on the new version of Dallas or taking his shirt off as the gardener on Desperate Housewives, my best friend and I tuned into this bizarre soap to get our fill of “Miguel.” There were witches, warlocks, and creepy talking dolls. Over the hill characters saying over the top sexual innuendos. I have no idea why this soap got cancelled a few years later…

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3. Clear phones. Long before smart phones and ipads, before that annoying Nokia ring that haunts my high school memories… there were “land lines.” Let me explain. Little girls grew up wanting their VERY OWN PHONE in their room so they could chat with the girls they spent all day at school with, followed by all afternoon outside with. Later on, they wanted a phone to talk to BOYZZ! For awhile, there was a trend of clear phones that you could see through. My older sister had one and I was HELLA jealous. Mine ended up being a pretty dope purple and teal model, but I never got over this phone lust… just kidding, I’m doing okay.

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4. Super balls (aka bouncy balls). These are not exactly a thing of the past. Just a month or so ago one of my kiddos at work brought one of these obnoxious rubber balls (filled with a blinking light) in to our session. I had to put myself in my former teachers’ shoes and accept the karmic hell for the remaining 50 minutes. These are stupid and annoying, the end.

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5. *69 and *67. Yes kids (imagine Ted’s voice from How I Met Your Mother when I say that), there was not only a time before cell phones, but a TIME BEFORE CALLER ID!!! What was a girl to do if she wanted to determine if her crush had been behind the ringing phone as you walked in the door one minute too late? DIAL STAR 69 of course! Oh, the simpler time… of course, for us pranksters, there was always the option for the caller to dial *67 before dialing to ensure that the call would be reported as anonymous or unavailable. Mischief managed!

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Did you terrorize teachers with superballs? Did you guzzle Surge in hopes of becoming the next wakeboarding phenom? Did you dream of breaking up Miguel and his beloved Charity?

Meri