We started watching a brilliant new show on Hulu called Pen15. It’s pronounced “pen fifteen” but I’m sure it’s supposed to look like ‘PENIS’ – like when you type 58008 on a calculator then turn it upside-down and it says ‘BOOBS’.

Brilliant not just because I saw the name Jorma Taccone ❤️ flash by on screen during the credits, but because the 2 hilarious main characters, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, are adult women playing themselves as middle-schoolers in the ‘90s among a cast of real preteens. (If I didn’t see that written in the description, I don’t think I would’ve figured out that they weren’t the same age as the rest of the cast. It’s really weird.)

Some may have revisionist history when it comes to their middle school years, but I know this show is SPOT ON.

I saw a quote once that I’ll never, ever forget, (pun intended): My memory is my worst enemy, and unfortunately I remember every cringeworthy moment of middle school.

Without giving away too much of the show, let me say this; some of their experiences as brace-faced, bad-haired, tween girls, mirror many times in my own life.

For instance, one time I found out a guy didn’t want to go out with me anymore by my “friend” yelling it to me across a crowd of people as she walked past in the hallway. The irony is that now as an adult, this same “friend” goes on Facebook and whines about the world being so cruel to her when she’s “such a nice person who does so much for everyone but no one ever does anything for her in return” 😂😂😂

That, my dear, is called karma 😈

I’m pretty sure it was that same girl who informed me that the guy I’d been pining for all summer said he didn’t like me anymore because I looked like “a biker chick”.

This was especially disappointing because I think I know what gave him that impression.

Teara had the coolest belt that she got from The Busy Bee Mall. Thinking back, it kind of looked like a black, corseted, leather version of the Wrestlemania belt 😂 I begged her incessantly to let me wear it on the first day of school because I wanted to look good for this one particular guy.

The plan was that he was supposed to spot me in the hallway, make his way over, and tell me he was in love with me and that he’d waited all summer to tell me.

Instead he thought my cool leather belt, paired with a black denim skirt, black nylons, black leather shoes, and a black & white striped top like the one Debbie Gibson wore on the cover of Out of the Blue, made me look like a biker chick.

Or like the time a slam book was circulating and most of the comments on my page were “sweet” and “nice”, but one bitch wrote that my hair looked greasy. In retrospect, I think she was jealous of my luxurious biff because it was stiff competition (pun intended) with her luxurious biff. I also think she was mad because she wasn’t invited to the “surprise” party that “Teara” threw for me and I had “no idea” about the guest list. At least that’s what I told her when she confronted me about it. What can I say? Bitches don’t get invited to my parties 🤷🏻‍♀️

I know I sound like an extremely bitter and immature adult but I can’t help it – those middle school years were ROUGH.

Anyway, I love this show even more than I’m mad that I didn’t think of it myself. I give it 👍👍