rejected by the cool kids

I recently contacted the BH site and requested to be allowed on the forum. I was simply curious, and like to read various postings on tiki-related subjects.
I was rejected with the following reply:

After much deliberation, the moderators of Bali HiJinks feel that the
atmosphere of BH would not appeal to you.
Therefore, we regretfully decline your request at this time.
Thank you for your interest.

I am not upset, nor do I have any axe to grind with anyone of the mysterious moderators, who decided my online participation fate. Frankly, it won't make or enhance my fondness for Tiki culture either way.

What does annoy me is the PC manner of my rejection. How do they know what would appeal to me or not? Absurd reasoning at best, and it again reeks of wannabe elitism. The most ridiculous notion in tiki culture is what I call the coaster nostra. This sense of self-importance in this goofy fetish of ours that celebrates drinking and escapism. I don't care if a person is an author, musician, craftsman, mixologist or master ceramic sculptor. The down their Mai Tais one sip at a time like the rest of us plebes.

You wanna belong..join the Elks, Masonic Lodge, or Boy Scouts. Tiki is for all God's children...Hell, we jacked it from the Island Folk of the South Pacific! The one reason I really like TC is that every point is projected. Closest thing to a Tikiocracy fools like me have to get on my soapbox.

I have no rights to be on BH website...I don't think I am entitled in anyway. I just like when people don't posture with bs and pc diatribes. No sour grapes fox here..not the first time I was rejected by the cool kids. In 7th Grade, my mom could not buy me canvas nikes and Izod shirts. I had toughskins and chuck taylors...the nerds were funner anyway. We had pot and D&D.

When I was in fifth grade I wanted a pair of "OP" corduroy shorts so bad - all the cool kids had them! They were too expensive for my family at the time - so my mom took me to Sears where she bought me a pair of knock offs. The only problem was, no little white "OP" stiched on the bottom of the shorts! I pointed this out - and mom says, "Don't worry - I'll take care of it."

She hand stitched an "OP" where it was supposed to go. "But Mom," I said. "The kids will all know!" "No they won't - don't be silly", was her reply.

The first day I wore them to class, some kid looked at my shorts and said "Hey! FAKE OP SHORTS!!!!"

I was not a "cool kid" for the rest of the year.

Oh yeah - Balihijinks really isn't about Tiki culture persay...

I remember wanting a "Members Only" jacket sooo bad for Christmas, but my parents bought me a knock-off. EVERYONE noticed. I think it was even called "Membership Required" or something really dumb like that.

I also, was not a "cool kid" for the rest of the year.

heh, i had fake op shorts, too. same deal.

OP shorts? Who would want Other People's shorts!?

Once, when I was in highschool, I accidentally wore a tube top with a bra, and a fake pair of Dolphin shorts. Everyone noticed and I was definitely not popular for the rest of the year.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2006-10-05 15:48 ]

On 2006-10-05 15:45, tikigreg wrote:
OP shorts? Who would want Other People's shorts!?

I'm guessing you were born in 1987.

On 2006-10-05 15:48, Tangaroa wrote:

On 2006-10-05 15:45, tikigreg wrote:
OP shorts? Who would want Other People's shorts!?

I'm guessing you were born in 1987.

No, I was born before then. Was that the year OP shorts were banned?

Jeez, rum, that's a kooky story. You don't really want to be a member of a "club" run by a bunchastuck-up silly jerks/dopey nuts, do ya?

I ruined a couple OP shirts because I put zit cream on first then put the shirt on and the benzoyl peroxide bleached the collar area.

So my vain attempt to be one of the cool kids failed.

But then I became one of the coolest kids around and was into U2 and had a rat tail hairstyle. But my area wasn't cool, so I got teased for that. Seriously, I was mocked by the football team for liking U2. I bet that they spent hundreds of dollars to see them on their last tour.

I'm always ahead of my time. So sad.

..sbim

Oh, I get it. "Old People" shirts and shorts. 'Cause it was kewl to look like an old person when you were a kid.

What about the first time you tried turning the collar up on your "Le Tigre". So UN-COOL!!!

Did you all have oxford shirts with "fag tags" on the back?

I wore my 'Garanimals' shirt and pants to school once, I was decidely not cool.

I spent quite a lot of time with my friends memorizing lines from Monty Python movies.

Decidedly not cool.

..sbim

My buddies and I would practice our "shout out" lines from Rocky Horror Picture Show by playing a live taped cassette of the movie - while we were jogging.

What a bunch of nerds.

Tang wins.

My best friend would tape "Mork & Mindy" by putting his portable tape player on top of his TV set. Then we would listen to it the next day after school.

Sabu

Actually - Sabu wins.

we would do that with fat albert.

Drama Club Geek, Young Democrats ( Because the granola type girls were cute).....never could be cool and afford the "LaCoste" Alligator shirt...had to go with the cheapo Mervyns knockoff "Le Tigre"....Hey...and how about those AWESOME Bugle Boy skater pants circa..1985-1986...I just loved rolling the cuff up. Hmmm...High School wasn't so much Tiki per say either......That was more of the "Voodoo" period. :)

I used to go to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm with a cassette recorder, so I could record the rides and listen to them at home. I did this with the film Ghostbusters as well.

Boy - I really really wasn't cool.

I was teased mercilessly about not having a Lacoste shirt like everyone else... so my mom took an old gator off of last year's shirt and sewed it on to a cheap piece of crap. Most likely K-Mart brand.

and yes, Tang still wins

Im sure the forum wil flourish with that attitude! :)

Long live the losers :)

Geez -- I had the fake Op shorts too! And the fake Members Only jacket. And even fake Vans shoes. When I was in High School and Miami Vice was the "in" 80's thing, I had fake Ray Ban sunglasses too. Speaking of Miami Vice, did you know that Crockett drove a fake Ferrari?

**Poly-Pop ***

Bartender, make mine a glass of WATAHHH!!!!!

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop 2006-10-05 20:19 ]

My parents made me wear dickies in elementary school (now their cool, but then? DICKies)
and cordoroy pants that would "foosh" when I walked.

I spent my childhood (all the way through highschool) playing D & D in the basement...and painting miniatures.

I was the epitome of cool. so quit your damn whining.

On 2006-10-05 15:27, MachTiki wrote:
I remember wanting a "Members Only" jacket sooo bad for Christmas, but my parents bought me a knock-off. EVERYONE noticed. I think it was even called "Membership Required" or something really dumb like that.

I also, was not a "cool kid" for the rest of the year.

The knockoffs were called "Club Member" and even worse "Club House". With the same stupid shoulder straps.

Speaking from experience. I wasn't cool then, and I'm not cool now.

I can't remember a single thing that happened in high school. No kidding. The only half-memory I have is of counting 45 joint roaches laying there on the cement walkway beside the main door of our school. Not a single cigarette butt, just 45 fresh roaches.

On 2006-10-05 20:51, Polynesiac wrote:
My parents made me wear cordoroy pants that would "foosh" when I walked.

Are you sure that was your pants?

I was so naive that I didn't even understand the cool factor. Then I started dating a Senior when I was a Sophomore... He was one of the coolest guys in school. Also a drug dealer, which of course I didn't know. Once I was walking to church and a Camaro of other cool guys pulled up beside me and one guy said: "Hey, I heard Steve had some mushrooms!?" I answered, in all seriousness, "What would he be doing with mushrooms, cooking?" They all laughed and drove away. A few months later Steve told me to look under the car seat and there was a huge bag of weed! AKA a lid. And where did I meet this wonderful guy who even had my parents fooled? In the Explorer Scouts.

On 2006-10-05 22:04, DawnTiki wrote:

On 2006-10-05 20:51, Polynesiac wrote:
My parents made me wear cordoroy pants that would "foosh" when I walked.

Are you sure that was your pants?

Huh. that would explain the smell. some things never change!

Shoot! I tried to pass off waffle stompers as creepers back in the 80's. I was so un cool that I was un-cool with the un-cool crowd. Beat that ya jerkz. At least I am still cool enough now to use z's for s's

OI!

Chongolio

On the third or fourth time my best friend and I went to see the movie "Alien", he snuck his camera into the theater. He kept it hidden all the way till the end, when Sigourney Weaver strips down to her underwear:

...but of course he forgot to turn off the flash and there was this blinding flash of light and a loud "Ker-Click" of the camera shutter. Of course, every eye in the theater turned to where we were sitting in the front row, trying to burrow into our seats. Everyone in the theater started laughing. Yeah. It was one of my proudest nerd moments.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2006-10-05 23:33 ]

I took an alligator off my dad's Lacoste socks and sewed it onto a cheap shirt in grade school because my parents wouldn't buy me a Lacoste shirt like all the other kids were wearing. Well, the second I walked in with it, the cool kids spied me in it, knew something was up... they chased me down the hall, then forcibly grabbed the collar and turned it inside out to see the tag... saw it was a K Mart special, and started laughing and yelling it out in the hall. That was a humiliating day at York Mills Public School.

I also used to make my Princess Leia Doll have sex with my Six Million Dollar Man doll. Is that nerdy enough?

On 2006-10-05 20:19, PolynesianPop wrote:
When I was in High School and Miami Vice was the "in" 80's thing, I had fake Ray Ban sunglasses too. Speaking of Miami Vice, did you know that Crockett drove a fake Ferrari?

I too thought I should try and look like Don Johnson.

That's really really uncool.

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-10-06 05:20 ]

When I was in the 7th grade I was the first guy in the entire school, grades 3-12, to own a pair of acid wash jeans. Does that make me cool or un-cool?!?! And was it only my school that for a year all the cool kids wore inside-out sweatshirts?

When I was in high school, I tried to look like John Denver. Not cool now, not cool then.

Try having to buy your clothes at a place called Jo Ann's Chubby Shop. Lots of cool there. And how could I forget about the time I decided that looking like Stevie Nicks would be sheer heaven? Got the requisite clothes and found the perfect boots- felt like I was on stilts. Unfortunately, I only wore the outfit once- I couldn't get the hang of walking practically tiptoed and just wobbled like a newborn colt when I tried to walk. Then I got a heel caught in a crack in the sidewalk and it came off. My car was a good 6 blocks away. That was very cool too.

The cool kids at my high school had all the best parties with top of the line beer like "Mickey's Big Mouth". They understood the power of Malt.

We liked "Lucky Lager" because the puzzles under the caps confused us and reminded us that we were not cool.

Ha! We drank Milwaukee's Best because there was a liquor store we know of that sold it at $3.95 a CASE!

I think Lucky might have been a dollar more.

On 2006-10-05 17:24, Tangaroa wrote:
I used to go to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm with a cassette recorder, so I could record the rides and listen to them at home.

I download MP3s of these recordings from the Interweb. I just downloaded a copy of the original "It's a Small World" record from the '64 NY World's Fair.

The "cool kid" groups I always encountered were mainly "cool" because they proclaimed themselves thus. By limiting access and interaction they kept their little cliques exclusive. For some reason their artificial status was desirable by those on the outside. I never got that, the "cool kids" were in general the least creative, interesting, or intelligent kids around. Usually they just had the "right" clothes and gossiped a lot.

Of course "cool kids' groups are alive and well in the grownup world. From private clubs to gated communities to Costco membership. And for some reason folks still want in. But exclusive groups know they need to remain exclusive because they pretty much can't hack it in the real world. It's kind of similar to being quarantined, but instead of the general population not wanting the disease to spread an exclusive population is terrified they may catch something.

I like the arrangement: Exclusivity is a mindset I'd rather not see spread. I'd rather see it kept in a gilded cage.

Costco membership is cool and exclusive?

On 2006-10-06 09:54, ookoo lady wrote:
Costco membership is cool and exclusive?

In that case I AM cool. At least when I flash my Costco card. But wait, that would be uncool to walk around flashing a Costco card... nevermind?!

On 2006-10-06 09:54, ookoo lady wrote:
Costco membership is cool and exclusive?

Yes it is, but not as cool and exclusive as "Sam's Club"

I had go-go boots. Does that make me semi-cool?

On 2006-10-06 10:39, Kitty wrote:
I had go-go boots. Does that make me semi-cool?

That depends on thier color, height, leather or plastic..... Maybe you should post a pic.... :)