Thursday, February 15, 2007

F.L.A.M.E.S.

Little girls are such funny creatures.

When I was a little girl, we used to play this game called F.L.A.M.E.S. It was strictly a girly-girly thing. However, from what I remember, it was more of an individual thing initially. Almost every little girl played it, but we didn't let on to anybody else that we were doing it--not even to our friends. Initially.

So, what was F.L.A.M.E.S.? The letters stood for Friendship, Lovers, Anger, Marriage, Engagement, and Sweethearts. Little girls are cute, but kinda pathetic at times. Especially when they play F.L.A.M.E.S. I used to play the game during those times when I didn't deem anything else was worth concentrating on--like math, for example. You can probably imagine how my math notebook was filled to overflowing with F.L.A.M.E.S. stuff, and other doodles that I thought (at the time) were vastly more important than isosceles triangles, the multiplication table, and at what point A would meet B if the train they were riding on were going at X miles an hour. When you're 10-12 years old (and you're a giddy girl like I was), many things take priority over silly logical stuff.

What one did to play the secret, giggly game called F.L.A.M.E.S. was this: you wrote your full name on a sheet of paper (or whatever writing material is at hand--I do not recommend you do this on your test paper, though). Then you wrote the full name of your secret love (at age 12 or below, it was always a secret love) below yours. Then you crossed out the letters your names had in common. You then counted the crossed-out letters and deciphered the meaning of the total according to the corresponding acronyms in F.L.A.M.E.S.

Let's take the famous star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet as an example. Crossing out the letters that their names have in common, we see that Romeo believed him and Juliet to be engaged, while Juliet thought that they were "friends." But if you take the total of all their shared letters, it comes to 12--resulting in Sweethearts (if the total amounts to more than six, just go back to F and count the remainder from there). And we all know that Romeo and Juliet were sweethearts; though they came to a tragic end. Stupid gits.

If your total came to an entirely satisfying result (that is, anything except Friendship and Anger) you'd encircle the outcome in lots of little fat hearts--lots of them, really--in pink or red ink. And trying your best not to boast to your friends that you and Mr. Perfect would end up getting engaged, married, or becoming lovers or sweethearts one day. But you'd always fail in your efforts to conceal the results (if they ended up the way you wanted them). By golly, if F.L.A.M.E.S. said that Reuben (name slightly changed to protect the somewhat-innocent) and I would become sweethearts, we sure as hell would! Ahhh, the simple beliefs of childhood!

[My friends tell me there's a similar game called C.A.N.D.L.E.S. Hmmm, never played that one. Probably came before my time.]

Okay, I can just see you now taking a piece of paper and doing F.L.A.M.E.S. Haha!

24 comments:

Steven said...

"Okay, I can just see you now taking a piece of paper and doing F.L.A.M.E.S. Haha!"

You see correctly. ;)

Steve~

echo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mist1 said...

I'm not supposed to play with fire.

Anonymous said...

Steve: I've always admired the child in you. No matter if he seemed like he was on crack all the time. ;-)

mist1: Yeah, right. You do it all the time!

NanNan said...

This was after "my time"--- although I do remember taking papers from my nine year old students which now make sense to me!!!!!
Last night on the news there was a story about the most couples kissing - a new world record-- in Manila???

little things said...

I remember something like this as a child, but even worse, I remember believing it!

Odat said...

Oh we used to do the same type of things...lol....ah the memories.
Peace
(I haven't forgotten the questions lizza, I'm getting to them).

Scott from Oregon said...

Now I see why so many women grow up to be disappointed in romance...

Up in Flames, so to speak...

H said...

FLAMES! good lord i nearly forgot about that one. shows how many years have passed since I last played it! Ha. truth be told I was one of those who scoffed at it... so i've treind it maybe... what? 2 or 3 or 4 times in my life?

[don't believe her, she's lying - sincerely, R-Brain-of-H].

Lizza said...

Nannan: Yep, that was Lovapalooza. :-)

Marlayna: I think most of us did. Haha!

Odat: No worries. ;-) Ohh, the giggle moments that game brought!

Scott: Haha! Good one. :-D

H>: But you did try it!

(RBoH, thanks for the heads-up! We won't let LBoH that we're on to its tricks).

Vivek Muniappan said...

they actually did this in an Indian Movie..although it seemed real, but i prefer not to do it..lets have the suspense!:)

Dean aka Sgt Dub said...

Lizza, I really figured someone would give you the answers they came up with, as you saw right. here are mine. I did my wife's maiden name and my name.
We each had 11 with a total of 22
Engaged, Engaged + Marriage
Looks like this one worked. Thanks

Schmoop said...

I play a game with candles but it also involves ice cubes. Cheers Lizza!!

Lizza said...

vivek: Haha, really? That sounds cool. Me, I can't stand suspense. :-)

Sgt: Aww, that's so sweet. Glad it turned out right for you!

Lizza said...

Matt-man: Haha, you would! Cheers. ;-)

Sebastiane said...

I used to play that too. What a "game" ... Heehee!

Foofa said...

That game sounds fantastic. I never played it though. I was all about MASH which stood for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House and would tell you where you would live. I don't remember how to play though. Man thats sad.

Lizza said...

Kyels: Brings back memories, doesn't it? :-D

Natalie: I've never played MASH, but it sure sounds fun. ;-)

Unknown said...

Oh... a great trip down memory lane - we´ve done this at school for hours. I guess that´s why any kind of physics ask riddles to me *LOL*

And I remember the game Matt-Man has mentioned, too. I guess so =)

houseband00 said...

Ayokong humirit! Ayokong humirit! =)

Liz Hill said...

LOL--I had completely forgotten this until I read your post!! We had a different word but same results--so so funny

Matty's game sounds intriguing as well--maybe he'll share with us ;-}

Anonymous said...

Sanni: Yes, why do stuff like physics and algebra if you can do FLAMES? Haha!

You know Matty's game, huh? Naughty woman! ;-)

HB: Hirit naaaa! Sige ka, baka sa ibang paraan lumabas yang pinipigil mo. :-D

Turnbaby: Same same, but different. ;-)

Matt is just priceless! I hope he does share the details of his game.

Photo Cache said...

i think playing FLAMES was sort of a rite of passage to the girls of our generation. it means we have accepted the fact that we have made our transition from just being a daddy's little girl to being a "woman" hahahaha. i must admit that this was one game my girl friends and i played together....sort of a team game.

Lizza said...

Really? Haha! Good for you. I don't remember me and the girlfriends comparing FLAMES results.