Behind the times, as usual

I was the girl who wore acid-washed jeans well into high school, when I wasn't borrowing clothes from my mother's closet, that is. I just got my first shrug sweater this year, and I still feel a little bit too trendy when I wear it. I still listen to REM and U2 like I did in high school, but really prefer the old stuff (Automatic for the People and Joshua Tree) to any of their newer stuff. Everyone else in my class wore straight, black strapless dresses to the prom and I stood out like a sore thumb in my Laura Ashley floral print. If I hadn't been so behind the times as a teenager that I was still wearing my hair straight or french-braided, I would probably still sport some poufy 80s bangs.

So it shouldn't surprise anyone that I just discovered Lost. For some reason, Eddie (who is way better at all things pop culture than I am) and I missed the series premiere. Over the course of the first season, we heard the great buzz about the show and we tried to pick it up a few times, but every time we turned it on, we were hopelessly lost. Last summer, right as they started the rebroadcast, we moved across the country, and missed our window of opportunity once again. We didn't even try to pick it up this past season-- in fact, Wednesday was the one night of each week when we didn't have a must-see-tv show on our agenda.

So this weekend, we decided we were going to get with the program and rent the first season of Lost. We watched the first seven episodes and now we're hopelessly hooked. I rented the third and fourth dvds to watch tonight and tomorrow night. I can't believe that we didn't persevere in the first season and get into the show. I'll admit it, I was skeptical-- I had heard some sketchy stuff about "the others," and polar bears on a tropical island, but that supernatural stuff isn't what we like about the show. There's such great character development. I'm excited to find out the backstories of each person. I can hardly wait to put the kids in bed and for four hours tonight, get lost in Lost.

--originally published 6/26/06