I was saving this photo from Universal Studios to do a before & after style post–I’d had my picture taken in much the same position when I was twelve years old, visiting the Florida park with my family, but I looked through my photo album and that picture is missing for whatever reason. I’ve done my best to recapture it here, in the bright purple leggings my mom always bought for me because apparently she didn’t believe in jeans for girls (I’m pretty certain the amount of leggings and stirrup pants I wore throughout elementary school and junior high kept a number of manufacturers in business, not to mention makers of beaded vests and turtlenecks), the electric blue t-shirt, and the super-cool hot pink fannypack. You’ll have to imagine the totally cool matching pink terrycloth visor I was wearing, along with the owl glasses and mouth full of braces plus headgear and a poodle’s worth of hair up top. Man, was I ever awesome.

Some things just don’t change.

Edit: So I posted this, and Jason basically called me a liar, saying there’s no way I was out in public wearing that outfit, that no parent would ever purposefully dress their child so hideously*, especially a pudgy child. So here are two other pictures from the same day as proof. No, I have no idea why that Rescue Ranger appears to be strangling me.

*I can’t wait until I show him my yearbook photos.