Rachel’s Nostalgia Part 2

Last night we stayed up far later than we should have watching old music videos with Bryan and Colleen (and also making hotel reservations for our trip to Fort Collins). Watching these videos brought back so many memories. Here’s a few (hey, if Steve can get away with it all the time, I can do it once in a while):



When we were living in Oakland, Nebraska, MTV was not an option on cable. Interestingly enough, they did get MTV in Burwell, Nebraska… Maybe the sandhills were more progressive. In any case, every time the cable bill would come, my dad would send it in with the words “I WANT MY MTV!” written in perfect capital letters on the bottom of the statement. To my knowledge, they never responded.




Yesterday Steve described a conversation that he had with a co-worker that went something like this:

Co-worker: Are you mormon? (For the second time, because Steve gives off a vibe, he’s clean-cut, 23 and married).
Steve: No, some of my family is, but I’m not.
Co-worker: Well then are you Christian?
Steve: I don’t know.
Co-worker: [Looking confused]
Steve: Well, I’m not an atheist, I don’t know if I’d call myself an agnostic, it’s complicated.

I had a similar conversation when I went to the ER for my killer ear/sinus infection back in January:
Nurse: What’s your religion?
Me: Uhhh…
Nurse: [Looking at me like this question should not be that hard.] You can just leave it blank if you want.
Me: Ok. [Sorry I can’t answer complicated, existential questions when I’m in blinding pain.]

Now I know what you’re thinking. What does this have to do with a crappy Britney Spears video? Long story short, I was still going to youth group at Trinity after my dad left. I had a lot of friends there that I wasn’t quite ready to part with. But then, the day came when we watched some “Christian” documentary about the evils of popular music or something like that. I distinctly remember them showing this video and blurring out the tiny bit of her cleavage that shows when she does the lean-y chair thing. And all I could think was, “This is so stupid. This is what you care about. Not helping people in need. Not inspiring people to live in peace. Not finding a way to love our enemies. No. We care more about Britney’s ta-tas.” And looking back, that’s when me and church reluctantly parted ways. But what can I say? I grew up watching “The Making of the SI Swimsuit Edition” with my pastor.

And a non-video one:



When we were looking at restaurants in Fort Collins, it was a strange combination of the more familiar west coast chains and some of the stranger mid-western ones. For example, people in Arizona don’t think that Taco John’s sounds like good Mexican food. Then we came across Runza. I never ate ground beef, so I didn’t exactly grow up on Runza, but I definitely knew it existed.

Well, Bryan, Colleen, and Steve reacted with shrieks of horror when they saw this meat-filled concoction. “Like, seriously, it’s just that much ground beef with a little bit of bread." I always thought they were gross, but I figured it was just my aversion to ground beef in general. The mid-west is a strange animal. Luckily there are lots of vegetarian options in the FC (which is what I am calling Fort Collins from now on) as well.