Glad-I-Ate-Her

People over 35 should be dead. According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who werekids in the 40's, 50's, 60's or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the
risks we took hitchhiking.)

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside
playing.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After
running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound,
personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

We had friends! We went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was

to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many
eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not
adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them!

Congratulations to those had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own
good...

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors,
doesn't it?


Glad

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I'm "Glad I Ate Her" because the payback was worth it!!

gov135

You forgot my favorite.

No allergy or other designer medications for kids four and up. Runny noses were wiped on sleeves.
"Acting out" was dealt with in the home and schools, kids weren't doled out ridalen.

Fun list. Thanks.

VirFighter

My mom tells me about how her brother and his friends used to run behind the "bug truck" that would come through the neighborhoods and spray. He's survived thus far.

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juanvaldes

an oldie but goodie...

rogue49

and I'm a better for all the shit I got into.

gibber71

One of the best threads I've read yet. I still remember "bunking." It's where you grab onto a cars bumper in the wintertime and squat down and go for a ride in the snow while the car drives away. This feat was most enjoyable when the driver was unaware of the extra passenger.City buses were a favourite.

QuasiMojo

~WHEW~
I thought for a moment we were getting into some weird "Logans Run"fetish bullshit.

daaaamn, Glad.



'member when peeling paint all tasted the same.

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AzAbOv ZoBeLoE

i8one2

Almost 42 years old and should of been dead a few times over.
I cleaned toxic waste at my dads machine shop, no mask or protective gear, hitchhiked on lonely stretches in the sticks, getting picked up by strangers, rode a motorcycle without a helmet, eat a ton of the red dye #5or 6(whatever). Got shot in the arm with a nail gun. Fell off a tank in night fire exercises. I even ran with scissors that were very sharp, played with knives and lighters.

But, I'm still here and ready to continue to go against the grain of life thats being regulated, as often as possible.

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LEATHER, LATEX and LACE "SSC"
"Nothing That Gives Pleasure is Bad"

Quality is for those who know
what they want and are at peace with what they have.

"S/M is about emotion; the erotic tension between my impulse toward something and my resistance against it."-- Virginia Barker

QuasiMojo

When I was a kid (born in 1965) I remember that every day lived was another day survived. Every thing was so....mythic.

I never believed the whole "Pop Rocks" thing.
(but I digress...)

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AzAbOv ZoBeLoE

gibber71

Pop Rocks and 7-Up. What a good way to get a cheap thrill..

KeyserSoze

Great post

Bro you bought back so many memories, I'm sitting here thinking about my first skateboard, before pads, grip tape........shit before urathane wheels. I went down a hill in Torrance..and when I mean down........STRAIGHT DOWN.....no slalom......just straight fuking balls out down. I must have been going a good 20mph and BAM......head first into the asphalt I think my body rolled at least 20 times, my friends thought I was dead....there was nothing left of my LEVIS and it took the doctors 3 hours to scrub the gravel out of my skin over 65% of my body, a crack in my forehead 2 inches in length and I walked like a Zombie for 2 weeks......GOD THAT WAS FUKIN FUN!! i should have been dead, but they grew us tough then, not like these fukin pansies now.

Remember dirt claud fights?? Getting beaned with a nice 3 inch round solid piece of mother earth in the forhead was a blast....shit I remember there would be teams of 8 on 8 fighting in the hills, now those hills are gone and the kids now play with guns when they have a score to settle.

Yea, we really have progressed into a society of hiding behind our phones,cars, and homes. God forbid anyone just show up on your door anymore just to stop and say "hello"

Anyhoo......thanks for the post it really brought back a truly wonderful childhood that I had forgotten

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vermin

"Dumpster Diving" was great! Found a lot of porn during 3rd and 4th grade. And other goodies as well.

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If puns were sausages, this would be the wurst.

KeyserSoze

Another GREAT ONE!!

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THERE IS NO KEYSER SOZE!!

QuasiMojo

my first porn haul was a brown bag of playboys in a field on my way to visit my grandmother. I'm 13 and I stuffed dem sumbitches so far down my pants I couldn't walk. Gramma says "Whyya leaving so soon?" Says I, "I don't feel too good gramma....gotta go" Gramma says 'Yeah...you don't LOOK so good."

heh heh

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AzAbOv ZoBeLoE

Jack Ruby

Heh, reminds me of George Carlin. It's true, you know. Safety is important of course, but most regulations are just another tool used by companies and governments to scare people into buying their products/bullshit.

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You don't know what you don't know.

Mr. Mojo

I thought this was going to be a 'Logans Run' type thread...

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When I jerk off I feel good for about twenty seconds and then WHAM it's right back into suicidal depression

GuttersnipeXL

Hah! They are alive because they are probably pickeled! Nothing quite like frolicking through a sweet mist of pesticides!

Like they say...What doesn't kill ya, will only make ya stronger.

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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. HST

wolfman101

Gotta agree with you on some and disagree on some.

Lead paint and alot of chemicals were bad, and while they usually arent fatal, they can lead to physical and mental retardation and cancers.

Lawsuits over accidents I agree with you about.

I drank from garden hoses all the time when I was a kid and dont hesitate to do so now. I have never heard of anyone complaining about it.

And I too thought this was going to be about Logan's Run.

darksparkles

i often wish i'd been born ten or twenty years earlier :\

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"I could be the walrus ... I'd still have to bum rides off people." -Ferris Bueller.

butthead

I think I've lost my sense of humor.

Macheath

*sigh* Those were the days...

<IMG SRC="http://www.letitpass.com/cameldoctorad.jpg">

BBtB

And of course the cause of 90% of the above being changed is because we are all so damn sue happy. I dunno. Some of it has changed for the better..

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Meridae'n once played "death" at a game of chess that lasted for over two years. He finally beat death in a best 34 out of 67 match. At that time he could ask for any one thing and he could wish for the hope of all mankind... he looked death right in the eye and said ...

"I would like about three fiddy"

sngx1275

I was born in 1980 and almost all of those apply to me, just talking to a kid in an IRC channel and he was repulsed by my still drinking from the hose. Just further justifies how correct this is.

nefarious

born in 83 .. and many of those apply to me.. never had a TV in the house till now..

it makes me sad to think that a lot of kids growing up now dont know what real fun is ^_^

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paddyjoe

Yeah man, I remember riding in my grandfathers car when I was real young, and just as he was going around a bend, I mistook the window lever for the door lever. Damn, I suppose I shoulda been dead right there, but no one was behind us. Who cared about seat belts?

Back then, during summer vacation, my mom would pack me and my best friend peanut butter sandwiches after breakfast and tell us just to go play. She seriously didn't expect to see us back till dinner time. Can you imagine that happening now?

Jesus, crazy to think about it now. How am I still here?

Big Julie

*pssst*
(whispering) Hey man, I got some Lawn Jarts here, I can set you up right....

Do they still have those flags for your bicycle, with the splintery fiberglass pole? They made some kick-ass javelins. A garbage can lid was more than enough protection.

krwlz

Your location also makes a fairly big differance. Where I live frivilous lawsuits do happen, but not as much as in more populated areas. And we do a lot of shit that we prolly shouldn't. I lived in a tree top for half my life as a little kid...the other half was spent climbing up there, and falling down

Empty_One

Don't forget about watermelons growing in your belly if you eat the seeds.

The best times for me were winter. By my house, the plow trucks would plow all the snow into these *huge* piles at the end of dead end streets. A perfect place to play king of the hill. We'd be throwing kids off 10 foot snow hills, watching them roll down to the pavement below. Mmmm, I can still taste the salt they used to de-ice the roads.

Also, is there anything better than soaking a snowball in the slush in the gutter, repacking it, and hitting your best friend in the back of the head?

Good times.

cheezhead

Poor kids today have to dodge bullets at school and be aware of a terrorist attack.

MSD

I was in 4th grade when dodgeball became "evil." I remember having acorn fights in the front yard with my friends from down the street; those pretty much consisted of us running around under the big oak tree in my front yard and trying to hit each other in the face with acorns.

I was in 5th grade when skate parks and bike tracks went the way of "Kill the Carrier." I'm still pissed that I never got a chance to ride on the town track.

Liquor Dealer

I remember bottle rocket and roman candle fights, cherry bombs that could obliterate a toilet and blow up the sewer line too if you timed the flush just right. I remember when '40 Fords were cool (and new!). You guys haven't been around long enough to be wasting time remembering the good old days! When you have been you'll realize that there is no such thing as "good old days"! They were really "good young days"!

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reconmike

Like you LD we had the bottle rocket wars, only each side had a couple of block busters to use as "nukes". Luckily no one lost any appendages, but it was funny as hell watch friends run away when you were running after them with a lit BB.

And rock fights, holy crap, I have seen a few good brainings during those.

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Glad-I-Ate-Her

If we tell our stories to some of the younger crowd, they would find it hard to believe that we actually survived!!

I remember getting scrapes, cuts, bruises and my parents would patch me up and tell to tough it up. No hospital visits or law suits.

Dodge ball? We used to play murder ball. We used to use a pink rubber ball that stung like hell when you got nailed by it. We used to go down to the schoolyard and play there because it was an enclosed area. It was played usually by about 10-15 kids. The object of the game was to hit anybody as hard as you can with the ball. Everyone one would have to freeze and not move when the ball was picked up. So if you were close to the person with the ball, you would get nailed hard. You got hit by the ball as hard as the kid could throw it! Talk about welts!! Lots of fun. You had to be tough and stand there and get hit by the ball. Then usually it was your turn to pick up the ball hit someone else. Not of that wussy stuff, "my kid shouldn't play dodge ball." If you told us that we were going to get hit by a ball that is marshmallow soft, we would die laughing!!

LD, I remember bottle rocket and roman candle wars. We used go down to Chinatown to buy illegal fireworks! We used to blow blockbusters and the sound could be heard for blocks!

I remember most of my mom's meals were fried! Good stuff!!

I remember during summer vacations going out in the morning, returning home for lunch and not come back until dinner. Then I would go out again and hang out with my friends till about 11pm!!

I remember getting in snowball wars! We used to challenge the kids from a couple of blocks over. There would be about 20 kids involved. Sometimes the snow would be a little wet and boy did it sting when you got hit by one. We would at it for over an hour. We would finish exhausted but it was great fun!!

I know we did some things that might be considered crazy or un-safe but I tell you this, it made me a tough person who can adapt to almost any situations and survive. I was ready for most of life's challenges. We didn't live in a cocoon. We saw life as it really is.

The kids of today are growing up in a sterile enviroment that is destined to lower their defenses both mentally and physically.

All of you that commented keep bringing back a lot of memories also. Thanks for the comments.

Sorry if most of you thought of Logan's Run. I'm sure a lot of people read the title and decided not to read my post. I fixed the heading.


Glad

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I'm "Glad I Ate Her" because the payback was worth it!!

THE MAC GOD

yeah...luckily this isn't Logan's Run...

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Why continue fighting? Is it for Love? Illusions. All as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as Love.

gibber71

Yeah,..I'm laughing.Used to play tackle football on the street.The curbs were the out of bound lines.Think about keeping both feet in bounds pending an all out assault by two or more people who couldn't wait to make you pay.

Hot asses were also big providing the person's ass you were setting on fire didn't take and spread.

And of course,getting shitfaced at the drive-in,then going down to the strip to race. I think it's called "2fast 2furious" now.

raeanna74

Ha ha My favorite is no seat belts. Though I wouldn't let my girl go without one I have fond memories of it. I remember my Dad going around the corner in our cream colored Oldsmobile and my brother and I sliding across the vinyl seat and smooshing each other against the door. The game was to see who could smoosh the other the worst. We laughed and had fun. If we didn't listen or acted up Dad would hit the brakes and we'd go flying into the seat in front of us. We know if we didn't sit back and shut up fast Dad was getting out to come smack our behinds.
I loved riding in the back of the pick up. The bumpier the ride the better.
We never got to blame the neighbors for our stupidity.
I survived. Granted I'm not quite 35 yet but there's plenty in that list that I recall.

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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

richeee

Damn, Glad! Thanks for the jaunt down memory lane!
Dirt clod fights! Bottle rocket and Roman candle fights! "Bunking"--we called it ski-jogging! Skateboarding (with metal wheels and no trucks) straight down the street with only a t-shirt and cut offs on!
Cliff and bridge diving! Murder ball! Lawn jarts! Wooden go carts with faulty steering- no brakes- on real streets with traffic!
Ah- the good ol' days!
How did we survive?!

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Atropos4

I grew up living across the street from the local High School.
In the winter it was really cool because they'd plow the parking lots and make HUGE snow piles for us to ramp while sledding or play king of the mountain. Hell we even tunneled through some of them. God forbid it fall heheh...
One time our little neighborhood gang (me, siblings, and neighbor kids) went sledding but got bored of it quickly. We desided that we wanted to go faster. What better way than to haul bucket after bucket of water up to the school to pour on the hill. When that shit froze ...damn it was fun. We did this on the side of the school and at the bottom of the steep hill is a street (goes all around the highschool) and then the building. One of us would stand at the top of the hill and give the signal that no cars were coming and then we all would fly down that hill and smash into the building. There was even a ramp on one side but if you hit it you usually flew off of your sled and hit pavement instead of the building. My older brother even hit one of the streetsigns while sledding and ended up getting stitches and a tetnus shot but that never stopped us.

ahhhh Good Memories.

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susartele

We still talk about the day my little sister who was four at the time, fell down into a storm sewer that we were using as a "cabin". We ran home and told my mom she was dead!
Also, there was no sunscreen and getting blistered and burned all to heck was a sure sign summer was here.

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Neo

My mother used to shoo us out at 8, she was cleaning and cooking, the doors were locked to keep us out, and she brought lunch out to us.

We MADE things to play with, like stick horses, it didn't need a head, it was the fastest horse around, went fishing, I usually took a pile of old lumber and bricks and built something. ( Dad was in construction too, there was always some of that shit around the house )

We didn't even have a TV till I was almost 10. And I didn't see a color one till I was in the service, in 1972!

Remember when Barbara Eden in 'I Dream Of Jeannie' was the sex goddess of the airwaves? LOL

Yeah, it was a good thread to start, see what you started? LOL

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