I'm not a haunted mind, I'm not a thoughtless kind...

I promised myself I would keep up and update this blog this time around! So here I am.

Unfortunately for you, the most exciting thing that's happened since my last post is that Hulu.com began offering all 19 episodes of My So-Called Life to stream for free. Anytime I want. Yes, these episodes also reside permanently on my external hard drive (of course they do)!

But now, I can relive my 8th grade 14/15-year-old angst over and over again any time I want to. Ha!

This show is/was one of the greats. At least to me. Admittedly, though, there are plenty of elements that don't stand the test of time. Or rather just date the series altogether!

There's an awful lot of flannel. But me, ever the 90's girl, takes that as one of the bonuses. I used to dress like Angela Chase, I often wish I still could! I would absolutely embrace the return of Doc Martens with Babydoll dresses. These kids also say 'like' a lot.

Did we really talk that way?

Where, like, the word like, was, like, before and after, like, every phrase?

Sadly, I think we did.

But I digress, the real thing I love about this show, the real reason I watch it in it's entirety at least every other month (no, it's not ENTIRELY because of Jared Leto) is because it really is a very well-written show.

I never noticed it when I was younger, but as I watch it more and more, I realize that this was probably one of the first shows ever to really successfully capture not just what it was like to be 15 years old in 1994, but what it's like to be a teenager any time. It also managed to present a whole other layer by offering up storylines revolving around parents and/or teachers (the sub-plots aimed at the adult audience members) in a way that didn't lose the core audience of young girls (I know, I was one of those girls).

It also managed to tackle some pretty heady topics without falling into the "very special episode" trap. It was frank, it was at times in your face, but most of all it gave us something to really relate to. I can't think of many, if any, other series that managed to give the same importance to stories that focused on the relationships and interactions between boys and girls in high school as well as the friendships between girls and the interactions of cliques in high school. And that may be the real reason this series still stands up today.

Other series have tried to do this, Freaks and Geeks was a great series, but ultimately ended up being more about nostalgia than about giving teenagers something to relate to. Today, we have the CW, which is, essentially a network devoted to capturing the hearts of 15 year old girls. But I don't think Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, or the new incarnation of 90210 can ever hope to match the reality of what it means to be a teenager today. Of course, I really don't think that's the purpose of any of those shows.

At any rate, I love this show. I love getting back in touch with my former self. I'm glad I'm not 15 anymore, even if sometimes I feel like I'm operating at that level. But I think a little part of me will always be Angela Chase.