Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I drove a Razz moped in high school


I'm sure all of you are well aware of the fact that I am cool. I am. Very cool. And I was in junior high and high school, too. As evidenced by the fact that I drove a Razz until I got my license and my first car.

All of my guy friends had mopeds at that age (13-15), too. We all needed them (and could afford them) because we worked at one of the local farms. We had only a few options for getting to and from our jobs:
1) Mom or dad bringing us and picking us up
2) riding our bikes
3) driving a moped

Since most of us didn't really have option #1 (our parents worked), and option 2 got old really fast, we all opted for #3. And we were cool. We could go anywhere we wanted to a lot faster on our 30mph mopeds than on our 10 speed bikes. My girlfriends were stuck on their bikes riding only as far as their bodies allowed them... I, on the other hand, could traverse quite a distance in a short amount of time. I was cool - remember?

(note... my girlfriends were also into all of that girly crap that I just couldn't understand - acrylic nails, manicures, makeup, Paul Mitchell hair products, Verve perfume, designer clothing, purses, the list goes on. That is why they weren't working in the muck - they didn't want to get dirty. I don't think I had much of a choice at first, but I ended up loving it and the people I worked with. And I would not trade the experience or the character that I gained for any amount of acryllic nails and Verve perfume.)

My Razz meant freedom for me. Before the moped I was confined to the familiar area that I had already ridden my bike to and I didn't want to ride my bike to places by myself. Part of the fun of riding our bikes was doing it together and talking the whole time. Who wants to ride a bike 2 miles to the gas station by themselves just to get some candy? But on a moped 2 miles to the gas station was a quick trip and well worth the time for buying a single candy bar or pack of Skittles - and I could do it on a whim, whenever I got a craving or an urge to just go out. And I wasn't limited to my parents wanting to drive me or pick me up or to their work schedules - I could go to a friends house pretty much whenever I wanted to (as long as it was okay with my parents) and not depend on anyone else to drive me or pick me up. It was free-ing.

You know how you felt when you got your license and your first car? That was kind of how I felt with my moped. Not to the same extent because I was still young and not quite adventurous or needing that ultimate freedom, yet, but a little bit like that nonetheless.

My moped defines my early teenage years for me - It is what I remember about junior high. Okay, that and Verve perfume.

QOTD:
What made you cool in junior high?


getting to know me in 100 days - day 15


And just so you know, I was politely corrected by Television Slave's husband that I did not drive a moped - I drove a scooter. To which I say, as Toby from RockStar: Supernova says, "EVS!"

8 comments:

Anonymous 1:32 PM  

Absolutely nothing made me cool. I was a geek. JCPenney clothes, braces, no car, no moped, badly permed hair....I am determined to help my daughter through those awkward years and hopefully she'll have more self-esteem than I did!

Anonymous 4:21 PM  

Ditto...NOTHING made me cool. I was the victim of the 'mean girls'...imagine opening your locker to find a note with two pennies taped to it, reading: "Dear Amy (my nickname until I convinced my Dad it was NOT a shortened version of Amanda), Please use this money to buy yourself some new clothes, and with the change, buy yourself some new friends ". 'Nuff said.

Jen 9:11 PM  

I had THE asymetrical haircut. And I was a cheerleader. But I really wasn't cool. I was the cool girl's BFF. The one the guys would call for info on her.

Carol 10:36 PM  

yea, I can read your blog and comment without getting any weird errors!
I was cool because I hung with the cool people. I was not a cheerleader, but hung with them. I was not a jock, but hung with them. I wrote notes to everybody and "went out" with someone in 7th grade for one day, then we broke up. I never kissed anybody though, and many of my girlfriends did. (on the school bus to all those away basketball games!) My first kiss wasn't until I was going into my freshman year of high school.

Amy 10:58 PM  

i am cousin's jen sister and i thought she was cool! i wanted to be just like her. my hair was worse than hers and some people thought i was a tomboy...which is not cool in seventh grade. i don't ever remember buying clothes from jc penneys? did mom take us shopping there when we were little?

anyway the only time i was cool was when i went out with a popular guy for one month. we broke up at eighth grade graduation. he was the first guy i held hands with. we never kissed. he ended up getting into bad things in high school and got expelled. i felt really bad for him, but we weren't really friends anymore when that happened.

kkoois 8:41 AM  

i was cool just because i was me...

i'm not even sure how to comment on your Razz moped...i guess i'll just leave it alone :)

Anonymous 8:16 PM  

Amanda, OMG! OMG! OMG! That is just downright CRUEL! I am sooooooooo sorry. That is so, so sad. And for a young girl, I can't even imagine. I am honored to be your "friend", even though I don't know you & I'm too stupid to know how to comment on your blog. LOL!!!

I was "cool", I guess. I was on the drillteam, but dropped out due to my horrible homelife. I was homecoming rep & homecoming queen; that said, I would have ditched ALL of that to be a Christian. I wasn't & I wish I was!!!! I was picked on though & I will never forget it. Typically it was over boys.

Never had a moped. I had a Kermit.

Anonymous 9:06 AM  

Um, I really should slow down when I read. I just noticed your question referred to "junior high". Oh. ;)

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