Solo in the HOV Lane

Do you remember when...?

I get these email things all the time, but this one started me reminiscing, so I wrote down my thoughts and posted them. This is probably not of interest to anyone but me, but it was fun walking down memory lane a bit. I welcome comments from all the O.P.s out there who remember these things as well as I do…..

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN…?

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms? (Black shorts with a gold tiger on the leg and a white tee-shirt. And we would have died a thousand deaths rather than actually SHOWER in front of the other girls. We must have been a stinky bunch! The worst thing was the year I had P.E. right after lunch and then went to civics….in a high school without air conditioning. Ack. Makes me feel nauseous just thinking about it.)

It took five minutes for the TV warm up? (I was five when we got our first tv…with that great rotor control that made the antenna turn [I can hear my mom now, yelling, “Nancy, leave that alone!!!”] I remember the “radar” that the local weathermen were so proud of—it looked like a lava lamp gone mad, but they assured us that “that” was Joplin, and there was a bad storm near there.)

Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school? (My mom was at home until I was in the sixth grade...and even after she started working, my great-grandmother was there when I got home.)

Nobody owned a purebred dog? (Our first pet was a stray cat that adopted us.)

When a quarter was a decent allowance? (This was before my time. But I remember the summer that I babysat for my brother full time (plus taking care of all the housecleaning and grocery buying and cooking dinner every night). I got paid $20 a week. It was a fortune.)

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny? (Nope. Never did that. But I would reach into a muddy gutter for a pop bottle that was worth a nickel.)

Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces? (Me too! My first nylons came in a lovely flat box, one pair per box, and they were non-stretchy. They had to be exactly the right size, or they would never fit. And they felt, oh my God, SO good….smooth, silky. Oh, and I wore them with a GIRDLE. I only weighed 120 pounds, but I wore a girdle to school to hold up my nylons. What a hoot.) (And slept on brush rollers every night so my –do would be perfect.)

All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels? (Yep…and there was only one male teacher in my entire elementary school. And the word was that he was MEAN!)

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot? (I remember when gas was 29 cents a gallon. I think that was what it was when I first started buying it, having it pumped into my 67 VW bug, sky blue.)

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box? (I still have a huge set of dishes that my mom and grandmothers collected this way – golden wheat pattern. They came in Duz detergent.)

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents? (Yup. Best thing was broasted potatoes at the Jan-Lin…or anything at the bus station. And we went out to eat, at most, twice a month.)
They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . .and they did? (Yup.)

When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady? (Isn’t the 57 Chevy STILL a dream car? I know PU2 would take one in a heartbeat. And going steady…oh my. All the levels of steady….Wearing his class ring. Getting “dropped” [that was a necklace with the letters of a fraternity on it]. Getting pinned [fraternity pin]. But you know what was BETTER then? Dating around. Unless they were going steady, kids could date several people, and no one thought anything of it. Now, it seems, kids only date one person at a time until they “break up” [even if they weren’t really going “steady” at all.] What is THAT about? You don’t just go out with someone for a lark, because they you are hooked to that person until you have the big drama of ending it. Dumb.)

No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car,
in the ignition, and the doors were never locked? (Not true at my house. My mom was a bit paranoid. But when I was first married and lived in the country, yes, definitely. We didn’t even KNOW how to lock the doors on our first house.)

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a .." (Yup. But teeter-tottering in the back yard was better.)
and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game? (Recess, the bell rings, there is a stampede to claim the baseball diamonds at the back of the playground. There are only three diamonds, and the sixth graders always win [their classrooms are the closest to the door, and they can run the fastest.] Everyone plays, girls AND boys, even if you don’t have a glove. I love the feel of the crack of the bat against the ball…)

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger? (Yup. And talking to strangers was not only not a problem, it was expected. We said “Good morning” to everyone.)

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today? (Oh, my, yes. I wish I could transport PU2 from HER high school [with all the snotty little shits and druggies and such] to MY high school, with my graduating class of 134 people, all of whom I knew, and the field trips, and the fun, and the ball games, and the bowling alley….and the friends….What a Norman Rockwell life I had. I don’t think there are Norman Rockwell lives any more.)

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat. (It’s a wonder we all survived!:-)


How many of these do you remember?

Candy cigarettes (I looked so cool with a stick of white candy between my fingers.)

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside (Yes, and wax lips too.)

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles (and you got money back for the bottles!)

Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes (The best! And you got four plays for a quarter.)

Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum (Don’t remember this.)

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers (I think this was before my time, at least before my time for remembering.)

Newsreels before the movie (I do remember that…and I remember going to the one theater in town EVERY Saturday night, no matter what was playing, because that’s just what one did in smalltown America.)

P.F. Fliers (and Keds. I always longed for Keds, but we couldn’t afford them.)

Telephone numbers with a word prefix....(Raymond 4-601). (Yup. Crestwood. I remember when the phone number was just three numbers, and all calls were placed through the operator (before there was even a dial on the phone)

Party lines (I still had a party line until I was probably 25, since I lived in the country. Interesting what conversations you could overhear as you picked up the phone to make a call.)

Peashooters (Hey. I was a GIRL!)

Howdy Dowdy (Yup.)

45 RPM records (I just finally tossed my collection of 45s about a month ago. I had a beach bag full of them. But there were in terrible shape. I played them until the grooves were an inch deep. But I had some Beatles 45s that would have been worth money if they had been in decent condition.)

Green Stamps (That’s how I furnished my first apartment! People gave green stamps for wedding presents!)

Hi-Fi's (That $20 a week I got for babysitting went to buy my first hi-fi.)(Record albums were $3.00. Oh, but stereo cost a bit more. That was for mono.)

Metal ice cubes trays with levers (I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I got my first refrigerator with an ice maker. I still think it is one of man’s greatest inventions.)

Mimeograph paper (Memories of working in the office of the vice principal in high school. I did all his mimeo work and tried to stay more than an arm’s length away from him. Handsy bastard.)

Beanie and Cecil (No memory of this.)

Roller-skate keys (Yup, though I could never skate)

Cork pop guns (My mom would never let me have one…you know, I would put my eye out, etc.)

Drive-ins (THE date of choice in my teenage years. I saw some truly awful movies, but it didn’t matter if you were with “the” guy.)

Studebakers – (These were always classic cars to me. I don’t remember Studebakers ever being “new.” I thought they only came in “old,” like armadillos only come in “dead by the roadside.”)

Washtub wringers (My grandmother had one. She did laundry on the back porch and ran all the garments through the wringer, then hung them on the line out back to dry.)

The Fuller Brush Man (Not in my town. We weren’t big enough to need brushes.)

Reel-To-Reel tape recorders (Absolutely.)

Tinkertoys (And Lincoln Logs. You bet.)

Erector Sets (My brother had one. I never had one of these. But I did have one of the original Barbies.)

The Fort Apache Play Set (Nope.)

Lincoln Logs (They taste funny. So do Tinker Toys.)

15 cent McDonald hamburgers (We didn’t get a McDonalds in my home town until I was nearly grown, but I remember the McDonalds at a nearby larger town. I also remember buying two packs of hostess cupcakes [that would be four cupcakes] for a quarter.)

5 cent packs of baseball cards with that awful pink slab of bubble gum (I can taste the gum…)

Penny candy (Pixie sticks, a dozen for a dime.)

35 cent a gallon gasoline (I remember it cheaper than that.)

Jiffy Pop popcorn (Yes, and that was a big improvement over doing it in the skillet.)


Do you remember a time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"? (“catch a tiger by the toe.”)

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"? (Isn’t that still the case? When did that change?)

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening? (Mason jars with holes punched in the lid make a lovely lantern – and the best part was freeing them all at bedtime and watching them fly away.)

It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"? (I had three “friendship” rings when I was in junior high from my three “best” friends. One of them is STILL my best friend [love ya, Starpath Beta!])

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"? (The cooties today are killer.)

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?

A foot of snow was a dream come true? (Oh, my, this is SOOOO true. I loved snow and snow days. My junior year in high school, though, we had so many snow days that we ended up going to school on Saturdays.)

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?

Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?

War was a card game?

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle? (I can hear it now, the “thwap thwap thwap” of those cards. How cool was that?)

Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin? (St. Josephs. Yummy.)

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon? (Hell yeah! Starpath Beta and I went out of the roof of the front porch of my house and dropped them on trick-or-treaters one year. Nasty little shits, we were!)

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!!!!

Friday, June 04, 2004

Hollywood

I can't let the week end without a post, and I have, frankly, nuthin to say....so I will leave you with a couple of pictures.

First, downtown LA taken from Mulholland Drive. PU2 and I took this picture when we were there recently.



And second, a lifeguard tower on Balboa Beach not too long before sunset.



What the heck--here is one more. PU2 took this one on the beach at Balboa. I like the "feel" of it, but, boy, is that giant sea gull going to eat the tiny, little man with the metal detector?! Film at eleven....



Everyone have a great weekend! *group hug*

Charming sentiments posted by: Nanntz / 4:27 PM

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Thursday, June 03, 2004

Apology

To the nine people who have come to my site while googling "traveshamockery," I apologize. There is nothing here about Miller beer. I just stole the word from a funny commercial. You must have been so disappointed.....

Charming sentiments posted by: Nanntz / 2:32 PM

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Will the REAL PU2 please stand up

Here is how PU2 sees herself. Apparently she doesn't feel as blonde as she looks to me.

I'm not really sure about the catears....I don't THINK they hire 15 year olds as bunnies, do they? For that matter, ARE there bunnies any more? Hmmmmm.

And here is more of me, 'cause I KNOW you can't get enough of me. Uh-huh.



If you haven't tried this shit yet, don't. I'm tellin' ya, don't go there. It is addictive. Unless you are unemployed. Or want to be.

Charming sentiments posted by: Nanntz / 1:49 PM

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Wednesday, June 02, 2004

This is addictive

Here is my interpretation of PU2. Her own is actually better than this, but I don't have a copy of the electronic file yet.

Charming sentiments posted by: Nanntz / 2:45 PM

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Thanks a lot, Boz!



Thanks to Boz, I have just wasted an hour of my day playing with a portrait icon maker...that is time I will never get back, I want you to know.

Go. Play. It's more fun than puppies on linoleum.

Charming sentiments posted by: Nanntz / 9:18 AM

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Tuesday, June 01, 2004

What's This?

Let's see if you have written anything new, Solo. What, nothing since last Friday? Good grief, woman! What the hell have you been doing? Working? No way. I know you don't work. I know you are having a silent strike and refusing to do the work of the corporation. So it can't be that. And yet nothing. I know you don't post over the weekend....I have come to expect silence over the weekend. But it is almost 2 p.m. Pacific, and nothing? Not a word? Could there have been a terrible accident over the holiday? Oh, my. Maybe Solo WAS driving solo in the HOV lane and was crushed by a wayward Hummer (the car, people, the car). Maybe there was a horrible accident at the nail salon and Solo is doing her Paula Abdul impression, with her arm in a sling, unable to type with her left hand {jkl;yuiopnm}. Or maybe she had such a wonderful three-day weekend that she decided to call in dead and just keep on vegging. I don't know. I am, frankly, concerned. It is not like her to slack at her slacking. Was it the Memorial Day "West Wing" marathon that did it? Was it the backlash from the George Lopez "Why you cryin'?" special? Was it a bad burger from the backyard barbeque? We should call someone. The authorities should be notified.

Charming sentiments posted by: Nanntz / 1:41 PM

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