I am getting old.
Or maybe things are just advancing.
What is age anyway?
How do you define progress?
I've been wondering about those and other questions.
Times change ... or is it me who is changing?
Where do we draw the line?
While seeking possible answers, here are some things I remember, with a hat tip to Serephin of 43rdStateBlues, who got my mind jogging (even though my body doesn't run as fast):
I remember soda when it was made with real sugar. Yes, soda, not 'pop'. 'Pop' is what my joints now do when I get up in the morning.
I remember when canned beverages were steel, not aluminum, and had to be opened with a church-key. I also remember what a church-key is.
I remember candy bars that had real chocolate. Whatever's in most of them now is OK, but it sure as hell ain't the same.
I remember penny candy. It only cost a single Lincoln penny, and you got a decent amount.
Comic books were 20-cents, and you bought them at the drug store. Have you seen how much those friggin' things cost now?
I remember going around town collecting soda bottles and returning them to the store for the nickel deposit each. Then buying more soda and penny candy and comic books -- a vicious, wonderful cycle.
So far, I'm with Serephin.
The blogger also remembers Space Food Sticks, and Black Cherry and Root Beer Fizzies drink tablets, and candy cigarettes.
Tablets? No recollection. But I do recall those wonderful candy cigarettes.
I remember when people smoked everywhere.
I had forgotten about that, but I remember it now that it has been brought up.
Life is better? I'm getting old? Take your pick.
I remember Bell Telephone. I remember chunky wall phones with rotary dials and loud, jangly rings. Hell, I remember party lines, where you might lift the receiver to make a call and someone on the other side of town was on the line with their sister Gladys gossiping about what the other ladies were wearing at church last Sunday. The line "can you hear me now" really did mean "this crappy-sounding, horrendously expensive long-distance call is costing me a fortune, so you damn well better be hearing me!"
Yeah, I remember that.
Serephin remembers black & white TV, which you couldn't really watch until the tubes inside the set had warmed up:
"Remote control" meant you talked somebody else into getting up off their ass, walking to the TV, putting out their hand and turning the dial. Unless, of course, the cheap plastic thing had finally stripped, and you had to use a pair of pliers instead to change channels. If you wanted it louder you turned the volume knob -- and, no, it didn't go to 11.
Question: How many of you out there in KosLand remember:
fewer channel choices than there were fingers on one hand. ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. That was it. With signals pulled in from a crappy little antenna on the roof. And you only got cartoons on Saturdays from 6 AM until about noon, and 'Bullwinkle' on Sundays, which I would watch while hoping Mom would forget it was almost time for church so I wouldn't have to sit on those hard wooden pews for an hour, doing Catholic calisthenics and being bored out of my mind.
Serephin also remembers when MTV used to play music videos.
Do you remember:
tuning in AM radio to listen to music. I also remember FM radio when it was AOR and the late-night DJs were audibly stoned.
... 45s and albums and record needles and scratches and double albums that seemed to hold monstrous power and opened up like the doors of a 747 hanger.
... reel-to-reel and 8-Track tapes and cassettes. I still have a cassette player, but use it even less than my old LaserDisc player, which I also still have.
... when headphones were the size of the cinnamon rolls Princess Leah wore in the original Star Wars movie.
How times have changed (or have they?) Serephin writes:
I remember when VHS players first came out -- they were powered by coal and only slightly smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle. I exaggerate. A little.
I remember BetaMax -- the beginning of Sony's legendary greed and stupidity.
I remember when there wasn't an Internet.
I remember glow-in-the-dark and black light posters and bongs that were sold in public. Far out.
This one below I truly remember, and it makes me sad to think about why it is no longer the case:
I remember going out alone on Halloween, on foot, in the snow, to houses of people I didn't know, and receiving big candy bars and homemade treats and apples and popcorn balls made with Caro syrup and red dye #2 and never ever contemplating having it X-rayed for needles or razor blades or whatever. All we worried about was scary old houses and bigger kids stealing our candy. I doubt the words 'Trunk or Treat' had even been invented yet.
While we discuss the dangers of texting while driving, are things better (or just different) than the days when:
... gasoline was less than a buck a gallon, and contained enough lead to block Gamma radiation.
... cars were rolling mountains of metal, rubber and vinyl surrounded by bumpers of chromed steel that easily sat six adults, and miles-per-gallon might more likely refer to oil than gas.
... seat belts were nuisance items you shoved in the crack between the seats to get them out of the way. I remember the plastic seat covers my uncle had in his Plymouth that could reach somewhere around 200-degrees Fahrenheit on a hot summer day. I remember when air bags were mainly found in politics.
I remember White Castle. Do you?
and Serephin remembers:
building model cars and planes, and the smell of paint and modeling glue. I especially remember the lemon-scented kind -- apparently, they wanted kids to sniff the stuff back then.
What do you remember about watching re-runs of Star Trek, the Brady Bunch, and the Partridge Family? Cherry bombs and M-80s? Electric race track cars? Disco? When Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet was a hit?"
Did you watch Lassie and Ivanhoe on Saturday mornings?
Do you remember being actively encouraged to go swim in the canal?
***
Finally, a friend of mine has me beat on all of the above:
He remembers bringing a gun to school for Show and Tell
(in Rigby, Idaho in case anyone is wondering)
-- and that was totally acceptable!
What do you remember?