So, finally, Alexandra and her aunt show up.

Because, in 1983, everybody eventually shows up in the mall.

This is a fairly short, fairly simple entry, but it was deceptively hard to come up with because I needed to change my character designs for both teenage Alex and her aunt Bethy. I had come up with character designs for them before, but I didn't like them.

For some reason, I didn't start believing in teenage Alex until I gave her the side ponytail. This hairstyle came bubbling up from my suppressed memories, like the asymmetrical bob the espresso girl is wearing in previous installments. (The term "barista" didn't come into use until the mid 1990s, but my use of the term "espresso girl" shows why "barista" was needed.)

Actually, I had fuzzy nostalgic feelings for the asymmetrical bob, although I only got my hair cut that way once. (My hair has the wrong texture to show off any cut that's too geometric.) But I sort of cringed with embarrassment when I thought of the side ponytail, and that was when I knew it was the right hair choice.

It's funny about 80s hair, but the only hairstyles from that time that still look normal are the ones that looked the freakiest then -- the spazzed-out multicolored punk/wave styles.

Just a couple of days ago on the bus, I saw a young woman point out to her toddler a guy walking down the sidewalk with three-foot hair spikes.

"Look at that guy's hair!" she said. And we all looked.