Jake Ryan, Eat Your Heart Out...and Have a Cupcake While You're at It.




We lit exactly Sixteen Candles at my house on Friday, count 'em.  SIXTEEN!  So that got me thinking about the year I turned sixteen (cue the wavy lines) ~ ~ 1983 ~ ~  turns out we had some pretty good ideas that year, ideas with staying power:

Motorola introduced the first commercially available cell phone
(for the low, low price of $3,995)

and Microsoft had a pivotal year, including the introduction of Microsoft Word and the mouse.



Sixteen Candles wasn't released until 1984, but we had plenty of other
future classics in theaters to keep us busy while we waited for it:

1983 Releases
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi 
War Games
The Outsiders
Vacation
Trading Places
Risky Business
Terms of Endearment
The Big Chill
Cujo
Mr. Mom
Valley Girl
Scarface
A Christmas Story
The Right Stuff

My baby girl turning 16 has me thinking about driving too *gulp* so I leave you with this quote from one of my all time favorite deep thinkers:

As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red
again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a
bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.
-Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

So what happened the year you turned 16?



 

Comments

DL Hammons said…
Love that quote!! :)

Sixteen is such a special age, but I don't envy you the driving lessons!
6/27/2012 9:18 AM
Annalisa Crawford said…
Almost $4000!! Wow - glad prices have come down a bit :-)

And now you've got me thinking about my 16th - must go a research if anything good came out of that year!
6/27/2012 9:21 AM
Johanna Garth said…
Happy Birthday to your "baby girl" and best of luck with those driving lessons!
6/27/2012 10:52 AM
Lynn Proctor said…
i would have to look up what was going on way back then--nice post :)
6/27/2012 11:32 AM
~Sia McKye~ said…
16! Both wonderful and scary. My son is 17 going on 18. I can sympathize.

What did I do at 16? But Hey Jude by the Beatles and Hello I love your,The Doors had radio time that year and we had a couple of assassinations. That was a long time ago. Gas was well under a dollar a gallon.

Sia McKye OVER COFFEE
6/27/2012 12:08 PM
Theresa Milstein said…
No wonder I didn't have a cell phone back then! In 1983, I was 13. Let me look up 1986...


Technology

The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after launch, killing all on board
The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station
IBM unveils the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer.
British Surgeons perform the worlds first triple transplant ( Heart, Lung and Liver )
Internet Mail Access Protocol defined for e-mail transfer
The 386 series of microprocessor introduced by Intel.
Human Genome Project launched with the object to understand the human genome and therefore provide the continuing progress of medicine, It was announced in 2000 to be completed by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )
High Temperature Superconductor Switzerland
Nicotene patch Frank Etscorn

Popular Culture 1986

first ten musicians are inducted into Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame
Popular Films

Top Gun
Crocodile Dundee
Platoon
The Karate Kid, Part II
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Aliens
Ruthless People
The Color of Money
The Money Pit

Happy birthday to your daughter!
6/27/2012 12:45 PM
Alex J. Cavanaugh said…
Crap, can I go that far back? I think Raiders of the Lost Ark came out that year. Or was that the next year???
6/27/2012 1:07 PM
Tara Tyler said…
perfect quote!
i have 3 years.
a short time indeed!
6/27/2012 1:35 PM
Kittie Howard said…
Happy Birthday to your 'baby' - I couldn't understand why my mom was a bit sad when I turned 16. Took me awhile to understand.
6/27/2012 2:39 PM
Ella said…
Yes, Happy Birthday to your baby girl!
My daughter turned 16 in March!
She is driving and the gray hairs are coming in!

I think Alien came out the year I turned 16! My nickname is Aliellen, lol

enJOY Mom,...time does fly!
Fun post~
6/27/2012 6:40 PM
Heather Murphy said…
That quote is hilarious! What ever happened to Jack Handy?
Great classics from that year too. I loved War Games and The Outsiders.
I was 16 in 1988 so...I had to look it up.
Rain Man
Big
Beetlejuice
6/27/2012 7:36 PM
Janie Junebug said…
Nothing happened when I was 16. Oh, yeah, wait a minute: the printing press was invented. Jeeze Louise, we had no cell phones, no VCRs, no nothin'. I think I was 14 or 15 when we finally got a color TV, but it didn't have a remote control. It didn't matter cuz we only got three channels and my mom wouldn't allow us to change from her favorite channel.

Love,
Janie
6/27/2012 7:44 PM
Suze said…
Nick, this was such a cool, enjoyable post! I with I had like a cool '80s button I could slap on it or something.

And the happiest and sweetest of sixteens to your baby!
6/27/2012 11:20 PM
Michael Di Gesu said…
Wow,

Your daughter turned sixteen. Congrats to her! It amazes me when I hear friends talk about their kids as they turn from children into young adults.

I never had that experience, but I think about if I did have children when I wanted them, they would be in college now... EKKKK! I could never afford the insane college tuitions today. How do parents manage?

Sixteen was a monumental year for me, that was the year I was discovered and began modeling. My first job was a catalogue shoot for Lord and Taylor dept. Store.

Wow... talk about a blast from the past....
6/27/2012 11:33 PM
Neurotic Workaholic said…
I didn't even start using a cell phone until I was in my twenties, but I remember how they showed high school kids carrying them in Clueless.
I can't remember a lot of what happened when I was 16. I think I blocked out most of high school. :)
6/27/2012 11:54 PM
dolorah said…
I gave 4 kids driving lessons. The last one at home is 14 now, and I've told him he'll have to learn from his older siblings, or anybody but me. My head is too gray already :)

....dhole
6/28/2012 3:10 AM
Jennifer Lane said…
Fun post! Return of the Jedi, War Games, and The Outsiders were all fantastic movies. I turned 16 in 1987...here are some notable events that year:
*Prozac introduced (thank GOD!)
*Popular films: Moonstruck, Lethal Weapon, Dirty Dancing, Fatal Attraction (hence the need for Prozac)
*U2--The Joshua Tree and my FAVORITE song "With or Without You"

Happy birthday to your daughter?
6/28/2012 10:49 AM
Debra Anastasia said…
Great post Nicki! I was driving on my birthday and the happiest girl on the planet. Loved the freedom.
6/28/2012 3:06 PM
F. Stone said…
That was almost a hundred years ago. Well, not quite, but I don't remember it at all. Was probably collecting eggs from the chickens, herding our milk cow into the barn, and working in the vegetable garden. Oh, I did get my driver's licence a few weeks later in July. Had to take the driver's test in a wee town called Thorsby. There were no traffic lights. Had to park my dad's Caddy which did NOT have power steering. Ugh!
6/28/2012 3:53 PM
Anonymous said…
Hmmm at 16 I was in year 10 and I remember deciding I better start studying at school since the tests that year determined my classes for the last two years of high school....
6/28/2012 11:31 PM
L. Diane Wolfe said…
I remember the song "Jack and Diane" came out that year. "Holding on to 16 for as long as you can." No surprise everyone told me I needed to date a Jack.
6/29/2012 8:31 AM
StratPlayerCJF said…
Great post! 16, huh? Let's see... 1976: Bicentennial, Jimmy Carter was elected, Apple was formed by Woz and Jobs, Olympics with Nadia Comaneci, "Taxi Driver" and "Rocky" were in theaters, Abba's "Dancing Queen" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" were on the radio, and personally, I went to my first concert -- Kiss with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band as the opening act. ;^)
6/29/2012 11:09 AM
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