Memoir Part II- The Eighties

My first attempt to grow up

I remember sitting on the floor, drinking beer under a dying Christmas tree when the seventies ended — marked by an oversized Waterford crystal apple gently falling from the sky. When it landed, it was the eighties. With a kiss, we had no idea what would unfold over the next ten years.

Nineteen eighty was here, the seventies were gone, and the summer of love was a distant memory. It was the dawn of a new age.

The eighties saw the rise of yuppie culture and the emergence of new wave, arena rock, and post-punk music. It also ended the seventies’ social upheaval and economic struggles. We measured ourselves and each other by how much money we made. In the words of Gorden Gekko, greed is good.

It was the Me generation, and TV depicted people living lavishly and exuding success. We had MTV, cable TV, HBO, VCRs, video stores, and video games played in video arcades. The times had changed forever.

I was living in San Francisco. I dropped out of college for the second time and got a full-time job buying art supplies for a small wholesaler. After work, I ran, played softball, and crawled the bars and neighborhoods with friends, coworkers, and vendors.

Living on beer and Kraft macaroni and cheese, I thought these were the best days of my life. I was…