The Age thread

[mercurytheatre]

I am " Bob Barker on Truth or Consequences" years old.

[SoCal]

February used to be my favorite month: we got school holidays on February 12, Lincoln's birthday and February 22, Washington's birthday. And in between, we had the fun of St. Valentine's day!

I remember we used to give nice pen and pencil sets to graduates.

I remember when you had to wait for the film to be developed to see if your pictures came out right.

We kids used to put playing cards in the spokes of our bicycles to sound like a motor bike.

[mercurytheatre]

Oct 9, 2014 20:20:36 GMT -5 SoCal said:

We kids used to put playing cards in the spokes of our bicycles to sound like a motor bike.

Yes! ... sometimes baseball cards.

[avp60685]

Some more memories from my childhood :

Not having to use area codes when calling local numbers.

Y2K scares thinking it was end of the world.

Gift certificates that were paper not plastic.

Covering textbooks in newspapers, comics and brown paper bags!

[mazeman]

I remember Polaroid cameras.

I was in seventh grade when Brooke Shields was wearing Calvin Kleins.

[avp60685]

I think I still have my daddy's old Polaroid camera, I just found up some film the other day, not sure if it is still good but it brought back memories!

More memories from childhood:

Barney the friendly purple dinosaur first came on television and in one episode he slipped on a toy truck that a kid forgot to put away!

Teletubbies and the reveal of the first mention of a character on children's television that was gay or a homosexual!

Michael J. Fox revealing his diagnosis with Parkinson's to the world!

Christopher Reeve's tragic horseback accident that left him paralyzed!

Disney creating several sequels that were direct-to-video and most weren't like the original story at all and the only decent parts was the music.

Creating science fair projects for school.

The time when two of my classmates got locked in at the local library during the weekend and how the news spread throughout the school to all grade levels by Monday morning!

Attempting to learn how to play the flute in third grade and was told to quit by the teacher, what a brat!

Rosie O'Donnell having her own talk show.

Buying certain movies at McDonald's for about 5 bucks for a special promo.

Collecting pogs a.k.a milk bottle caps in different designs and using a metal disk known as a slammer to see how many you could knock down of your friends to add to your own collection!

Collecting various decorative drinking glasses from McDonald's and Burger King for various Disney movies, I still have all of mine and have most of the sets and original boxes!

[KyleEl]

Memories from my childhood, without going back to see if I said any of this already:

Having a camera for which we had to buy a film cartridge, for which I had to manually move it forward after each photo, then take them to the drugstore or wherever to have the photos developed. In some cases I needed a flash cube that went on the top. If it was used, there were four sides and each side could not be used again.

Hardee's introduced hot dogs with chili and although I didn't eat them, their burgers were "Charco-broiled". I had never eaten at a McDonald's or a Burger King, but I still remember the song introducing the Big Mac.

Milk came in quarts, not gallons, and skim was one of the rarest types on the shelf.

Everything came in glass bottles, not plastic. I remember breaking a shampoo bottle and I now realize that was never a good idea.

Playing the recorder, a sort of flute, in the fifth grade.

I didn't go out trick or treating but I answered the door in a mask. One year I was so disappointed that so few kids showed up but a group from my church trick or treated for UNICEF. I wondered why I hadn't been a part of that and later on I was.

Phone books occasionally had five-digit numbers left over from the era when the first two digits were letters.

Malls with the stores inside were a new phenomenon. Every year it seemed a new one opened.

[avp60685]

More memories from me:

Watching Mister Rogers Neighborhood and loving the mini trips like seeing crayons made in a factory.

Watching re-runs of Star Trek and other Star Trek related series like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager on a weekly basis by seeing all sorts of characters and settings.

Learning the chords and lines and spaces for musical staffs in music class.

Nap time in Kindergarten where the girl next to me always pinched me until my teachers moved me to another side of the room, I remember she had blonde hair and blue eyes like me but her name was Grace, she moved away the following year I believe.

Having the school nurse check us for head lice, test our hearing and mentioning I needed glasses which changed my life forever at the age of 7, 22 years of glasses has been an adventure, someday i really hope to get laser eye surgery since I don't do well with contacts.

Doing book reports that I loved doing since I love reading!

Having a childhood fear of the dark but I outgrew once I turned like 5-6.

Writing my first stories and developing a love of writing that has stayed with me since I was 7!

Wanting to be a waitress but later changing to teaching and never straying from it at age 8!

being a cheerleader as a child for my church's sport teams and going to Delaware for a tournament and winning a ribbon.

Being in school plays where I played a walking as well as dancing television set with a red Power Ranger drawn on the box and the role I played a regular kid in the chorus! People remember me acting more than the others because I am a live wire when I perform!

Eating my mom's lip gloss because it was berry flavor and very yummy to the taste!

Having shots and asking the nurse if it would hurt and she had admit the truth that it would hurt a teeny bit and I didn't cry that much because of hearing the truth!

[Aeryn]

I remember:

Going to see Elton John at Dodger Stadium in 1976...one of the first concerts with festival seating.

Meeting Ray Bradbury in 1972, at my sister & brother's elementary school.

Watching Hobo Kelly and Sheriff John on tv when I was a kid...also, Lost in Space, Star Trek, the Partridge Family, and the Brady Bunch. (these were new episodes, not re-runs)

Having drop drills at school...for those of you who are too young to remember, this was during the time when we thought Russia might bomb us. The teacher would suddenly say, "Drop!" and we'd get under our desk, covering our head and neck (like that would really protect us from an atomic bomb).

Girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school unless it was raining.

When I was really little, I vaguely remember my grandmother crying because President Kennedy had been shot.

I was one of the first kids to be bussed over to a white school, part of the intergration program.

When I was a teenager, most of us girls never wore a bra...

Puka shells and MIA bracelets were in vogue. As were lowrider jeans and Wallabee shoes.

Almost everybody hitchhiked...sometimes you'd meet a cute guy, and totally have sex the same day.

Condoms were called rubbers...NOBODY used them.

"The Happy Hooker" by Xaviera Hollander was a best seller.

Grace Slick and Timothy Leary were blamed by Art Linkletter for his daughter's death (she had a bad acid trip)

[SoCal]

I am old enough to remember when actors on TV shows could not say "hell."

In my freshman year in high school, ours was the last class to have to attend "Social Graces" class.

I remember when the Mass was in Latin.

I remember when lingerie commercials were on TV, the women modeling bras wore a leotard underneath them so their bare skin didn't show.

I remember when cigarette commercials were on TV.

I remember when TV programming went off the air late at night and all you saw was a circle with an Indian head in the middle and a line that read "Programming has ended for the day."

I remember doing research in the library.

I remember when driving stick-shift was cool.

[KyleEl]

I still do research in the library, but mostly online.

I remember TV stations went off the air at night but the only time I saw that was when I stayed up for New Year's Eve and I didn't do that until I was a teenager.

I remember cigarette commercials on TV.

I remember that in kindergarten, which was not part of public school but continues to operate in this area using some rooms at my church, we sat at tables and each chair had a colored circle since some of us couldn't read our names. If we were bad we sat in the Thinking Chair. Our crayons were Besco, which came in a yellow and blue box unlike Crayola which were yellow and green, though their logos were similar. Besco wouldn't roll.

I remember getting a vaccination as a child and being worried it would hurt. It wasn't with a needle.

I do remember getting shots from Dr. Ballenger and for years when I heard that name that's what it made me think of. then my congressman was named Ballenger and I stopped thinking about the doctor.

All my medicines were liquid.

[SoCal]

When I was very little, I can remember "Friday night at the Fights" sponsered by Gillette. Weekly boxing on TV.

I remember when "The Flintstones" was on TV as regular weekly programming.

I remember when "The Wizard of Oz' was shown on TV once a year.

I can remember when Mary Martin's "Peter Pan" was on TV once a year at Easter.

Ladies wore gloves when they went outside the home. They also wore hats.

Men wore hats.

When you drove into a gas station, the car's tires ran over a long tube that caused a "ding-ding" sound to let the station attendants know a customer has pulled in. They came running out, "Fill 'er up?" And they washed your winshield and checked your tires air pressure and oil levels. All for 28 cents.

Most houses had incinerators in the back yards to help burn trash.

[mazeman]

Oct 17, 2014 21:24:31 GMT -5 Aeryn said:

I remember:

Going to see Elton John at Dodger Stadium in 1976...one of the first concerts with festival seating.

Meeting Ray Bradbury in 1972, at my sister & brother's elementary school.

Watching Hobo Kelly and Sheriff John on tv when I was a kid...also, Lost in Space, Star Trek, the Partridge Family, and the Brady Bunch. (these were new episodes, not re-runs)

Having drop drills at school...for those of you who are too young to remember, this was during the time when we thought Russia might bomb us. The teacher would suddenly say, "Drop!" and we'd get under our desk, covering our head and neck (like that would really protect us from an atomic bomb).

Girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school unless it was raining.

When I was really little, I vaguely remember my grandmother crying because President Kennedy had been shot.

I was one of the first kids to be bussed over to a white school, part of the intergration program.

When I was a teenager, most of us girls never wore a bra...

Puka shells and MIA bracelets were in vogue. As were lowrider jeans and Wallabee shoes.

Almost everybody hitchhiked...sometimes you'd meet a cute guy, and totally have sex the same day.

[/img]

Condoms were called rubbers...NOBODY used them.

"The Happy Hooker" by Xaviera Hollander was a best seller.

Grace Slick and Timothy Leary were blamed by Art Linkletter for his daughter's death (she had a bad acid trip)[/quote]

These are great!!!!

[avp60685]

More memories:

Weekly spelling tests on Fridays and on one week in 5th grade at recess my glasses got broken during my attempt at playing basketball, the glasses broken in the middle of the frame, so I had to get new glasses!

Reading fun books like 'Freaky Friday', 'Charlie and the chocolate factory', 'The Great Gilly Hopkins' and others!

Meeting the author Ann Cameron at my school!

Having field days in elementary school during the last week of school which was a fun way to kick off summer vacation!

Taking bus trips with my mom to Tennessee to visit her family during the summer.

Getting poison oak/ivy as a child and rubbing my eyes and causing my eyes to swell shut at two different instances but I ended up temporarily blind by it until a doctor gave me a cortisone shot which helped me recover my vision!

Dancing in the rain as a child!

Never having my hair cut until I was a teenager, I only had my dead ends cut before my teen years, no real hair cuts!

Having a Looney Toons lunch box and later a Barbie one which had a matching thermos with them and the Barbie one had a mini lunch box for my Barbie doll.

My graduation from kindergarten where I didn't have a cap and a gown but I do remember singing various songs and wearing shorts and a matching shirt.

Getting my ears pierced first time at age 6 by my dad, my ears became infected and I let them close up and I later had them re-pierced at age 13 this time at a Wal-mart in Tennessee.

Going white water rafting and jumping in the deep river later and almost drowning but our guide rescuing me!

[KyleEl]

Oct 21, 2014 11:07:05 GMT -5 SoCal said:

When you drove into a gas station, the car's tires ran over a long tube that caused a "ding-ding" sound to let the station attendants know a customer has pulled in. They came running out, "Fill 'er up?" And they washed your winshield and checked your tires air pressure and oil levels. All for 28 cents.

I remember that except it was 35 cents and, in fact, I still do that from time to time, only the price is over ten times that.

I never graduated until I graduated from high school.

No one wore shorts to school. I don't recall whether girls could wear pants.

I remember "The Wizard of Oz" once a year and "The Flintstones" every afternoon.

We burned our trash in a can in the back yard but there was also a ravine (at least that's what we called it) where we just threw a lot of it. If water flowed from there it was into what we called a fish pond.

[SoCal]

I am "Let's Make a Deal" with Monty Hall years old.

I remember Alan Funt and Derwood Kirby on the original "Candid Camera."

I can remember getting up very early in the morning to watch Apollo launches from Florida.

I remember when Cape Canaveral changed its name to Cape Kennedy after JFK's assassination.

[Aeryn]

I remember:

In 7th grade I went to Emerson Junior High School, which was two blocks away from the Mormon Temple...there was a family that moved into the neighborhood in 1971, which consisted of several boys and one really shy girl. We hardly ever saw them, but the girl would sometimes ride her bike with us...one of her brothers occasionally joined us. Their names were Donny and Marie Osmond. They weren't famous back then. And they were REALLY nice.

Hare Krishnas would bang their tamborines and dance in Westwood Villge. Sometimes hippies would join in...and little kids.

We'd watch Laugh In on tv...you bet your sweet bippie!! Goldie Hawn was the Sock It To Me girl....covered in psychedelic paint, dancing in a bikini.

When I was 13, I hung out in Hollywood at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco...I really admired the groupies, with their platform shoes and sparkly eyeliner. EVERYBODY had sex with EVERYBODY, and no one worried about getting pregnant because NOW WE HAD THE PILL!!!! ;)The uniform for the AWESOME girls varied; silk tops, black corsets, leather hot pants, see-through EVERYTHING, and NEVER a bra. We popped Quaaluudes like candy and melted our brains as the New York Dolls played in the background.

If you're not from Los Angeles, you should probably google Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco to get an idea.

[SoCal]

I can remember coming home from school with one of my friends, Beth, and stopping at her house so we could watch "Dark Shadows."

[mazeman]

I remember The Brady Bunch was on ABC in re-runs when we came home from school.

I remember owning a Stretch Armstrong "action figure" when i was a kid.

My sister received a genuine Pet Rock for her birthday from a friend.

[SoCal]

I remember a "toy" called "Creepy Crawlers," where you poured some colored liquids into molds and heated them up to make bugs. Imagine....kids with hot toys!

I remember "super balls" that would bounce really high.

I used to have a hula hoop and shoe skates (the ones with the key to open the part that held the skate to your shoes.

I remember making kites from the cartoon section of the newspaper.

We used to make our own skate boards.

I remember when little girls dolls were cute and cuddly.......NOT sexy.

[mercurytheatre]

I am "watched first moon landing" years old.

[KyleEl]

I didn't see the first moon landing. I saw lots of coverage of going into space.

In fact, young people today don't remember when liftoff or landing of a manned spacecraft was something to show on live TV.