1988

One of my YL friends asked me for ideas about how to celebrate her birthday. Apparently, she thinks I'm a creative thinker. Wonder where she got that idea? She also used an idea I gave her to take a boy friend of hers on a tour of Cowboys' stadium as a birthday gift.  She wants to erase the space between the word boy and the word friend, so she wanted to do something special.

One of my ideas to celebrate her birthday is to have people over and spend the evening back in time to the year she was born. A nostalgic night.

Here's the deal: She's turning 22.

Yeah...twenty-two. 2-2.
Which means she was born in 1988.

OH.
MAI.
GAH.

While doing research to figure out all of the fun songs and movies that came out when she was born, I about lost my mind. It turns out I was a month shy of being eleven when she was born, and I'm remembering all the movies and songs on the list because I was alive and enjoying them at that time. 

As I was looking down the list, I realized that I knew the words to most of these songs. Because, apparently, I'm Sheldon.

And now, because I'm just that kind of friend, I'm going to share it with you. Here's what was going on in entertainment back when my friend was born. In 1988. When I was turning 11.

I really tried to pare down the list, and I did a little, but you look at this list of songs and tell me which ones don't pop into your head as you simply see the title.

"Need You Tonight," INXS,  "Look Away," Chicago, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," Poison, "Got My Mind Set On You," George Harrison, "So Emotional," Whitney Houston, "Seasons Change," Expose, "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley," Will to Power, "Could've Been," Tiffany, "Never Gonna Give You Up," Rick Astley, "Sweet Child Of Mine," Guns 'n' Roses, "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," Billy Ocean, "Giving You The Best That I Got," Anita Baker, "Waiting For A Star To Fall," Boy Meets Girl, "Hands To Heaven," Breathe, "How Can I Fall?" Breathe, "Wishing Well," Terence Trent D'Arby,  "Hungry Eyes," Eric Carmen, "Wild, Wild West," Escape Club, "Hold On To The Nights," Richard Marx,  "Man In The Mirror," Michael Jackson, "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," Whitney Houston, "Groovy Kind Of Love," Phil Collins, "Father Figure," George Michael, "Don't Worry Be Happy," Bobby McFerrin, "Pour Some Sugar On Me," Def Leppard, "Simply Irresistible," Robert Palmer, "Hazy Shade Of Winter," Bangles,  "I'll Always Love You," Taylor Dayne, "Endless Summer Nights," Richard Marx, "The Way You Make Me Feel," Michael Jackson, "Foolish Beat," Debbie Gibson,  "Tell It To My Heart," Taylor Dayne, "Red Red Wine," UB40, "Together Forever," Rick Astley, "Kokomo," Beach Boys, "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That," Elton John, "Make Me Lose Control," Eric Carmen, "She's Like The Wind," Patrick Swayze & Wendy Fraser, "The Loco-Motion," Kylie Minogue, "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)," Information Society, "Candle In The Wind," Elton John, "Desire," U2, "I Get Weak," Belinda Carlisle, "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," Chicago, "Mercedes Boy," Pebbles, "1-2-3," Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, "New Sensation," INXS, "Welcome To The Jungle," Guns 'n' Roses, "Pink Cadillac," Natalie Cole, "Fast Car," Tracy Chapman, "I Want Her," Keith Sweat, "When It's Love," Van Halen, "The Promise," When In Rome, "The Valley Road," Bruce Hornsby and the Range, "Cherry Bomb," John Cougar Mellencamp, "Nothin' But A Good Time," Poison

By the way, one of these songs is the only song ever to have my full name in the title. Oh yeah. I thought I was pretty special that year.