As I sat in bed trying to convince myself that work and not calling out sick was the best way to proceed with my Monday morning, I noticed that today is the first day of school for certain kids in the DC area. I'm sure there are some kids who have had this day circled on their calendar for weeks now. They've picked out their outfit, their shoes, their accessories, their ringtone, the members of the opposite sex they plan on redeeming themselves with this year, and all that. Then you have those other kids who think its bullshit that it is still 80-90 degrees outside, and now school is back. These kids don't move a muscle until their parents poke and prod for 20 minutes, and then they purposely drag until they set foot in school. Then once they see friends and catch up with everyone, they slowly come around. So of course this caused me to think about my favorite first day of school, which was in 1989.

In 1989, I was 14 years old and I was entering 10th grade, which meant this would be my first day of high school. There was also an inaugural 9th grade class coming in below me too, so I knew I wouldn't be picked on too much. Plus, I knew most of the 11th graders from junior high a couple of years earlier, so I felt comfortable for the most part. But the thing that stands out to me the most, was my first day of school outfit.

Spike Lee's, "Do The Right Thing" had come out earlier that summer, and I made it a point to get a T-shirt, because I knew I wanted to wear it on the first day. I also had recently bought the soundtrack on cassette, which meant I could listen to Public Enemy's, "Fight The Power" on the way to to school. My jeans were black and non-fancy, my haircut was fresh and symmetrical (my father didn't allow anything too crazy), and my belt was plain and black. But my shoes, at least in my biased opinion, were the best part of the entire outfit.

Although the Washington Bullets were my favorite team back then (and now), Big Game, James Worthy of the Los Angeles Lakers, was my favorite player, and I just had to have the shoes he wore. They were New Balance, they were purple, gold and white, and I was positive that no one else in school would have them, since Jordans were all the rave (and I was right). The only bad thing was I was about 5'4", I weighed around 115-120lbs and I wore a size 10 shoe..this meant you see these Worthys coming, way before you saw the rest of me. Still, you couldn't tell me I wasn't fresh--although I remember some kids trying to tell me just that. Great times.

And oh yeah, I had a crush on Rosie Perez.