when i was in first year high school in fiji (equivalent of year nine here - primary school went from class one to eight), i already had a friend who was a house captain. it was a distinct advantage to know someone in a position of power when you were one of the newbies. my oldest brother was engaged at the time, and my sister-in-law-to-be's sister was a couple of years ahead of me in high school. she was a boarder who lived on-campus, so i would go and check out her room and stuff. she would sometimes come and spend the weekend at our house because we lived closer to the school than her family did. appaled by her descriptions of the standard of food they were served at the hostel, my dad would take pumpkins and other veges from our garden and give them to the boarding-school kitchen in the hope that the boarders would get to eat a little better. anyway, after she finished high school, she moved to melbourne to live with her sister and my brother. and here's the point of this story.
there was no tv at that stage in fiji, and i was a bit of a clueless, wide-eyed loser. so she made me a couple of mixed (video) tapes and sent them over. one of them was random songs from 'rage'. the other was several episodes of graham kennedy's funniest home video show. so really, i could say he was kinda like my first adult television-by-proxy experiences. rest in peace, funny man.
now, those rage songs. what were they again? i watched that tape so many times that some of those clips are embedded in my brain. there was 'show no mercy' by that mark whoever guy who ended up being a voice coach on one of those reality tv singing shows. there was crowded house's 'something so strong'. there was 'kiss' by prince. i would like to say there was 'can't touch this' by mc hammer, but i think my imagination is running away with my memory.
ah, memories. ah, fiji. you've changed so much, i'm thankful i knew you when you were a tv-free-zone, as wide eyed, clueless and slightly loser-ish as i was at eighteen.