Remember the good old days, when kids were just kids, with mouths full of hot, rank metal and neon rubber bands?

Oh, wait, those days were The Worst. The Worst Days, when young mouths were full of hot, rank metal and neon rubber bands. Sorry, yeah, that makes more sense now.

Whether or not orthodontists everywhere secretly converge in an underground lair, deciding just which nerds in particular should be put through the social ringer with dental apparel ("dental apparel," yikes), the phenomenon remains, and the new single-topic blog When I Had Braces lives to tell the story.

Because braces will forever mark of that sad flash of time when there was literally NO WAY you could feel good about yourself, so why not celebrate? (Answer: because YOUR TEETH HAD A FENCE ON THEM.)

• link:// When I Had Braces