Tweens, Teens, and Fashionable Zeal: 90’s Edition

There I was, it was a typical night, I was lying in bed watching episodes of Full House on Youtube, when the thought struck me — how do I dress with as much style as Stephanie Tanner? Answer: You don’t.  But this got me thinking; if we’re going to bring the 90’s back, which, I think we’ve all accepted in this new decade to do,  where do we draw our nostalgic influence from? Answer: 90’s tween/teen stars.  Follow me!

My So-Called 20’s

 

The 20's is more like an episode of "My So Called Life" than "Friends"

Remember how when you were in high school, and you felt like you were so grown up? You and your friends could finally drive yourselves to the mall, you stole alcohol from your parents, and nothing was more fun than finding places to makeout with your boyfriend/girlfriend?  Of course you weren’t really grown up, you were just faking it; only at the time, you were too immature to realize it. Post-college 20’s feel kind of like adolescence all over again — except this time you’re painfully aware of the fact that you’re not really grown up at all, just faking it.  And oftentimes, badly.

 

Post-college is kind of like a series of bumbling movements — you’re stumbling up, more than you’re growing up; you get a new apartment, maybe a new job — but you’re not really sure what you’re doing with either.  You’ve moved on from the world of cramming for tests, and writing epic papers, but now you’ve got a whole new set of worries to be anxious about.  It’s like all the sudden the world expects you to be some mature, responsible “Adult”, and really, the only thing college has prepared you for is how to bullshit a 20 page paper, and how to shotgun a Natty Light.  There was no class called Budgeting 101.  Or, Intro to: How To Not Fuck Up on the Job.  Certainly there was no seminar called Working 9-5 Will Drain Your Soul or Sometimes Life is Kind of Lonely.

But everyone tells you post-college is the time where you focus on “building your career — time to get serious now!” So you slave away at a job that you maybe kind of hate, definitely don’t love, all with the grand idea that you’re “embarking upon your career”.  That is to say, the stupid job you have now will eventually lead you to the job of your dreams — ten years down the line — and then: cue the never-ending bongo party!  

Except, half-way to the bongo party, the Quarter Life Crisis hits.  The Quarter Life Crisis is about feeling ill-at-ease.  It’s about feeling uncomfortable, and dissatisfied with the path life is leading you down.  And compounding this, is a creeping sense of loneliness.  You feel like a failure because everyone else seems to be leading really sweet, really fulfilling lives, while your life isn’t even a maraca party.  Of course they’re not.  You may even know this on an intellectual level, but it feels like you’re the only one.  And then, you’re 15-years old again, angsty and butt-hurt because you’ve been left out of the cool clique of successful 20-somethings.

I’m calling for an end to the Let’s-All-Focus-On-Our-Careers movement of the post-college world.  Because you know what made college so great? What made us all look back so fondly on our days at university? Was is the shitty “beer”? The seminars on Marxism? I mean, maybe (weirdo…) but I think you’ll agree with me that it was your posse.  That group of friends who you could count on to commiserate with you over pizza, or in the library, or even over a round of shots.  Where’s the post-college posse?  If you’re lucky, you may have moved to a town with three, maybe four close friends.  But really? Four friends? Didn’t you used to have like, two — three times that many in college?  Where did the posse go? If you don’t believe me, count up the number of people you hang out with on a regular basis now — and be honest.  I’m talking about the number of people who you legitimately hang out with on a regular basis; the people you could call up any time of day to do something with and it wouldn’t be weird.  How many of those do you have? Enough to be considered a posse?

This is why I’m calling for a Return to the Posse.  This is a new movement.  Where, instead of just trying to hang out with your small crew of friends, getting drunk and trying to trick someone into hooking up with you at the end of the night, you try to meet a new group of friends.  Have these friends join your friends, and voila! Instant posse! Isn’t that how you met your crew way back when? I don’t advocate having a posse just so that way you can announce “rollin’ mob deep” to your new friends via text message, but because isn’t focusing on your friends way more fulfilling than focusing on your job? Jobs come and go, but friends will always have ridiculous stories to share.  If you think, well I don’t need new friends I like the ones that I have, rubbish! You have two.  You have two friends. You know what’s better than two friends? A posse of friends. Cue: the never-ending bongo party!