For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 26, 2016

And, boy, are we are going to miss David.

It’s okay. They were all 8-tracks.

Dump the loser and buy CDs.

That’s some Alanis Morissette irony with David Bowie recently passing away.

Don’t forget…this strip is in re-runs.

This conversation took place in 1987…. and Connie’s stepdaughters were teenagers, not grown women.

There were no CD’s then,

A typical high school girl might listen to David Bowie, have a spiky haircut…maybe even put in some purple dye…

but she’d probably never heard of e-mail.

She wouldn’t own a cell phone…they were still huge car-mounted affairs…with calls costing about $2 a minute, incoming or outgoing.

Different times.

Firebrand…yeah… by 1987, I had a friend on that network…I used to go to her house and watch while she’d go on a CompuServe BBS, and get her messages, which were short, and plain text…and she would chat a bit with other users… so slowly that we had plenty of time for conversation.

But I had just bought a Commodore128, with no modem, and my somewhat geeky teenage nephew shared a Commodore 64 with his parents and sister…. and it had no modem.

All I’m saying is this girl, in 1987, is probably unaware of all that… and using snail mail.

.

@joclear. Good advice!

lordy, she is how old and into David Bowie?????????what the hey

Mai Griffin said, yesterday

@K.C. Fahel

I feel sad for the young you. Looking back, and writing about it, might have made you feel a little better – I hope so. Sharing little glimpses of others’ lives makes the atmosphere feel more friendly, so ignore any thoughtless comments.____________________________________

That was a very dark time in my life. Watching all of my older siblings getting ready for Prom over the years, it was a child-like dream of mine to go. When Jerk dropped his Prom bomb on me, I tried desperately to get a date to my school’s prom (which was after), but no one would take me; and since kids actually had bets going that I would show up stag…I couldn’t give them that satisfaction…so I didn’t go. I’m hoping that, when my daughters get to that age, helping them get ready for theirs will loosen the scar tissue.

@everyone who responded: Thank y’all. I actually missed MCDY01’s comment…I guess it’s a good thing I did.

For today: my 13-year-old daughter would rather DIE than loan anyone her Bowie CDs.

The problems everyone have in this strip are still so relevant that I forget it was written back in the 80s. Then one of the characters comes along and says, ‘David Bowie tapes.’

you mean to say phone calls were cheaper then? try using sprint or verison and pay your bill. some things were cheaper then. lol

The David Bowie part is still relevant, though the “tapes” part not so much.

So it’s just the David Bowie tapes she’s been moping about all along.Now if it were Pink Floyd on vinyl…

This strip is Canadian. E-mail arrived later, especially outside of the big cities, and forget long distance plans. It was all government and all expensive. Snail mail was the way to go!

Re: " This conversation took place in 1987 . . . There were no CD’s then,"

Yes there were. CDs were introduced to the market in 1982.

Tapes? Drop him like a hot potato and get new CD’s or DVD/BluRay’s.

Let him have the cassettes. There are several new David Bowie CD box sets out now that would probably be a lot more entertaining than sustaining a relationship with the guy who has the cassettes.

I had a car mounted affair…….with a mountie!

She may not have the best taste in guys, but I like her taste in music.

Yep, I had my first CD player around 1983 or ’84 but my collection was still mostly tapes and LPs in 1987. In fact, cassette singles were popular around 1985 through 1989. Tapes were still very popular in the late ’80s but losing ground fast.

And they’re worth a lot more now than they were when this strip first ran…