I remember when ...
 

The "movies you enjoyed as a child" thread really brought me back in time. This thread is for general reminiscing. Anything goes -- movies, historical events, economics, flashbacks :p

Maybe something you remember will remind someone else of something interesting. Since there's a huge age span in TFP demographics, this could be interesting.


My start:

I remember when my bedtime was after the Patty Duke show.

I remember my mom wearing a paisley sequined dress when she went to an "affair" (that was terminology for a wedding or bar mitzvah).

I remember when Bobby Sherman was big and how much I hated him.

I remember pulling into the local Gulf gas station and my mom saying, "Two dollars, please" to nearly fill the Dodge's gas tank. I remember that the guy that pumped it would check the oil and water AND give her green stamps.

I remember sneaking into my brother's room late at night to watch Creature Features with him.



So what do you remember today?

I am a bit younger, but I remember watching TNT's Monster Vision late at night with my dad, against the protests of my mom, whom said they would give me nightmares. I remember waking up to watch UPN 8's summer Saturday morning Rising Sun with all movies about giant monsters- Godzilla, Gamera, you know, the big G's.

I remember when gas was 98 cents for 9/10ths a gallon, and gas stations sold Orbit soda pop.

I remember hating my friend when he got the Nintendo to play Duck Hunt and Mario Brothers, when I still had my dad's Atari 5500.

I also remember when Home Run Inn cheese pizzas were a delicacy.

I remember when my mom took me shopping she would smoke in the stores while browsing for clothes, as did most everyone else.

I remember when I roller skated I wore the key to my skates around my neck.

I remember my sister's boyfriend had a cool white AMC that they used to make-out in in front of our house late at night. (She used Coke for birth control!)

I remember lazy Midwest summer days in a hammock, walking up to the store for penny candy, and then on to the lake or river for a dip. Sandy feet we would walk home to hang around for a while and have dinner, then we'd be out again running around. Having a blast until bedtime, making promises for the next day. I remember short shorts and long long legs.

I remember catching oodles of lightening bugs.

And I remember mosquitos catching me. (In a pinch, when they itched just too much, she would tell us to apply spit to the bite. And if she'd had just too much of being a mom, she would spit on her own finger and dab it on. We all sort of hated that.)

i remember when the latest computer was a commodore 64 with a kazzillion disks needed to load it

I remember when we'd go to McDonald's on a Friday night and eat in the car because it wasn't a restaurant-it was a hamburger stand.
I remember wearing my pj's and bringing a pillow to the drive-in movies, falling asleep in the back seat while my parents enjoyed the film.
I remember 33c a gallon gas and 50c a pack cigarettes.
I remember and had a bike that had no gears, no handbrakes and tires now normally seen on motorcycles.
Growing up just outside Ft. Dix and McGuire AFB, I remember weekend formations followed by the inevitable sonic boom.
I remember high school being divided by the "juicers", the "heads" and the "jocks". The rest of us were just labelled "odd".

I remember my dad watching the MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour, and afterwards I'd watch Sesame Street.
I remember Thundercats, Rock Lords, Transformers, and Go-Bots.
I remember blowing on video game cartridges to get them to work.

90's kid...
 

I'm younger, but I find my perspective of childhood amusing...

I remember when the Chicago Bulls were the best team ever and everyone had those pull over Starter jackets.

I remember my favorite outfit was a skirt with suspenders and jelly shoes.

I remember watching Nickelodeon at grandmas cause she had cable.

I remember selling Girl Scout cookies when they were only a $1.50.

I remember all the original versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Carebears, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Bright

I remember when D.A.R.E. was cool and I even won a metal for best Essay....and look where I am now...ha.

I remember talking all through Apollo 13 at the drive in and reeeally annoying my parents.

But somethings never change....like my 8th grade "boyfriend" being my boyfriend now :D

hmmm let see...

I remember watching heehaw on saturday nites

I remember going outside to play on saturday mornings in the summer and only coming back inside for lunch and dinner

I remember lightning bugs, jars full of them lol

I too remember selling girl scout cookies for 1.50 a box

I remember when Disney World was a "ticket per ride" park

I remember filling up my car and buying a carton of smokes was 15 bucks

I remember sour cream and onion doritos (and I still morn they dont have them anymore)

I remember watching Laugh In

I remember when cable tv was something that only showed 2 movies a night, the same movies for an entire month and the cable box could be locked with a key

I remember when the tv channel TBS came along and watching Dark Shadows when they replayed it

I remember spending hours at a friends house playing pong and hating my parents because they wouldnt get it

I remember getting our very first Atari and rubbing blisters between my thumb and first finger from the joystick playing pac man and pitfall

I remember the day MTV debuted

I remember watching The Simpson's back when it was only a bunch of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.

I remember my aunt being super proud of herself one x-mas cause she fought tooth and nail to get me a cabbage patch doll.

I remember my favorite show as a kid being Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

I remember my pink jelly shoes rubbing blisters on my feet.

... and I remember waking up Saturday morning and watching He-man, Rainbow Brite, Jem, etc.

i remember watching the korean conflict on television with john cameron swayze...

Movies:
- I remember watching Duck-Tails and the Treasure of the Lost Lamp in the theater.
- I remember the first time I saw "Thunderball" on VHS.
- I remember the amazing fanaticism of the fans going to see Batman in the theater.

Music:
- "Revving up your engine, listen to her howling roar. Metal under tension, begging you to touch and go.... Highway to the danger zone!"
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Free Falling".

Historical events:
- I remember how emotional everyone in my family was after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
-

Personal:
- I remember the day my little brother was brought home from the hospital.
- I remember watching Duck Tails on TV right before the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
- I remember how massive my first real back yard was; a veritable kingdom to a child.
- I remember the look on my french cardiologist's face as he tried to explain to a 5 year old that there was going to be a life-threatening surgery in the near future.
- I remember the first time my grandfather explained what he learned from fighting in WWII.

A computer theme:

I remember paying $1,600 for my first PC: 486, 25Mhz, 8MB of ram (expanded to 16MB), 120MB hard drive, Windows 3.1.

I remember paying $400 to upgrade that computer to CD-ROM capability (4X speed).

I remember replacing my 2,400 bps modem with a 56K to "really open it up" on my BBS connections.

I remember when Doom blew my mind. It was, like, so 3-D!

I remember my mom getting dressed up to go see Nixon give a speech at the local high school. My dad wouldn't go see the "commie bastard."

I remember getting a Jolly Green Giant kite by sending in canned food labels.

I remember seeing the first moon landing.

I remember our first color TV set.

I remember Mickey Dee's hamburgers costing .19. Friday nights my parent would go to the movies and drop my broither and I off at the MD's across from the Boy's Club (no girls back then.) They'd give us each a dollar and we get a burger, fries and coke and still have enough for a candy bar later.

I remember E Tickets at Disneyland. This was before e-tickets....

I remember the price of comics going up from 35 cents to 50 cents.

I remember only 3 TV networks, and no cable. And if you missed your program, it was gone forever.

I remember playing Pong...and being enthralled.

I remember when, if you weren't home, you were unreachable by telephone, and there was no way to know who had called while you were out.

I remember seeing people feeding punch cards into large computers.

I remember seeing my first personal computer-- an Apple II+-- and thinking, "that is the coolest thing ever."

I remember black Michael Jackson being the age that white Michael Jackson finds attractive.

I remember hearing that John Lennon had been shot.

I remember fishing my sandwich out of a Star Wars lunch box.

I remember really, really liking "Wonder Woman," but only beginning to realize that it was for different reasons than the other shows I liked....

I remember when someone who had good skills with a turntable was the guy who never scratched a record.

I remember getting $5 to go to the movies: including candy bar, soda pop, bus fare there and back.

I remember working the mimeograph machine in the school office.

I remember writing things on carbon paper.

I remember when dangerous kids were the ones who might hit you with their fists....

I remember worrying about the Russians and The Bomb.

I remember thinking that Gabe Kaplan was funny.

I remember thinking that bellbottoms were cool.

I remember my dad sending me to the corner store to buy a vacuum tube to repair our black and white tv. The tubes came in little cardboard tubes with numbers on them - I was amazed at how many different tubes the store guy had.

I remember walking around Expo67 all day on my own - the international World Fair held in Montreal in 1967 - I was 9 years old and nobody thought twice about my spending each day alone while my older siblings went their own ways and my parents went around with my 5-year old sister.

I remember how pumped up my siblings were when we went to my grandmothers for Sunday dinner and watched the Ed Sullivan show - the Beatles were playing and they were incredibly excited.

I remember a photo on the cover of the Toronto Telegram newspaper showing American soldiers interrogating a bound 8 year old Vietnamese who was curled up in a ball. They looked very grim and he was scared, and one soldier was holding a large knife held to his stomach. I was thinking how I was that boy's age and we lived in such completely different worlds.

I remember watching the Moon landing in 1969 in a neighbor's cottage - they had an antenna tv brought up just for that occasion and we were so envious of the kids in that house.

I remember pooling my change with the girl down the street. We got together 35 cents and bought a pack of Alpine menthol cigarettes which we smoked with great pleasure. I used to get a nickel every week for each year I was of age - when I turned 10 I started getting 50 cents a week which was so awesome - $2 a month allowance just for me! That was with 10 cent chocolate bars and bottle pop for a dime plus 2 cents deposit on the bottle.

I remember transistor radios and and Teaberry gum and Adam's Sour Fruit gum - sour orange was the rage around my hood.


(I love this thread.)

*

I remember a White House tour being cancelled midway thru it because of the Cuban Missile Crisis happening that weekend.
I remember playing outside.
I remember everyone being sent home from school when JFK was shot.
I remember putting 50 cents into a cigarette machine and getting 3 pennies in change and a pack of matches with each pack.
I remember 32 cents/gallon gasoline to put in a brand-new $2,500 car.
I remember smoking on airplanes.
I remember when people dressed up and stayed sober and polite when flying.
I remember when retail salespeople knew how to give change back without being told how much by a machine.
I remember having to drive 15 miles and sit in a seedy theater with god-knows-what-coated seats in order to watch a porn video.
I remember how cool it was to get an 8MM projector to avoid said drive.
I remember how even cooler it was to buy my first VCR (BetaMax)
I remember paying $3,200 for our first computer - 286 16MHz; 256K RAM; 40MB HD, B/W monitor, dot-matrix printer.
I remember how cool it was to upgrade to a color monitor and get a whole Meg of RAM - for only an extra $500.
I remember when saying 'cool' was cool.
I remember when a music album had more than two good songs on it.
I remember guitar solos.

I remember when The Whopper at Burger King was the size of a small frisbee.

I remember when MTV actually played music.

I remember Oregon Trail being the pinnacle of gameplay.

i remember mama...

(where's b(o)(o)bby?

I had forgotten that....now I remember it (and doing it) too. I also remember having smoking areas in highschool

I remember those too....along with IMB selectric typewriters

I remember my 9600 baud modem and thinking how cool it was that I could dial into my county library to check out the card catalog and trying to figure out if I could do some kind of cool "war games" stuff to the library with the modem

I also remember having smoking areas in highschool


when i was in high school, the only smoking areas were the teachers lounge and the gas station across the street...

Ah, you're my age. Maybe just a hair younger (the Saturday morning cartons mark you as being my little brother's age, actually).

I remember Tracey Ullman and Married with Children and 21 Jump Street on that new Fox channel. I remember holing up in my grandparents' back bedroom and watching hours and hours of music videos on MTV. I remember when the VJ's bumps looked like they were made for $5 on a borrowed video camera.

I remember the Smurfs. Little hard rubber smurf figures that cost $5 at Hallmark. I had dozens of those little blue mothersmurfers.

Go-bots, for sure. Transformers were a bit later.

I remember writing BASIC programs on my Timex Sinclair 1000 (with the membrane keyboard! hooked up to the TV in the front room!). I wrote a program to calculate how old I would be in the year 2000, and then mourning the fact that, at 26, I'd be too old to enjoy the future. I remember struggling to save and restore data from it on cassette tape.

I remember getting an Apple //c. The joy of bootlegged video games passed around on 5" floppy. I remember Lemonade Stand. I played enough that I found the perfect algorithm and became a Lemonade Stand tycoon. But there was no way to save your game--at the beginning it would ask if you were coming back from an earlier session, then ask how much money you had at the end of your last game, and then say "Let's just start you with $100" if you said more than that. PISS me off.

I never played Oregon Trail, but nowadays I project back and revise history to insert it in there.

i remember getting up before dawn to put on my world war 2 vintage headphones, which were black and plastic or ceramic and cold, and listening to my shortwave radio. i remember the way the semi-circular dial lit up yellow-ish. i remember frequency drift and that i never really knew where i was tuning to. i remember the world seeming very big as i tried to hear an indonesian radio station that was supposed to be hiding somewhere in a shower of static.

i remember waiting for a bus to take me to summer camp i think and watching ants move into and out of a pyramid of dust.

i remember riding an enormous murray tricycle.

i remember sitting in the lobby of a hospital reading a rat patrol book while somewhere else my mother visited my grandfather.

i remember sitting on the end of the dock in front of my family's cabin in northern new hampshire fishing. i remember staring at the red and white bobber. i remember that the dock was held in place by a cradle full of stones and that my step father had put them all there.

i remember listening to pink floyd's album meddle over and over.

i remember driving to my first concert in a friend's father's dumptruck. it was enormous.

I remember when Saturday night was Guy LaFleur and Darrell Sittler.
Helmets were worn occasionally.
1985 Edmonton killing Phili 8-3.
Grant Fure - the best goalie ever.
Many many evenings and weekends on the pond with the neighborhood kids pretending to be all of the above.

The entire school gathering to watch the first space shuttle landing.

My first computer was a TRS-80 model 1 (google it)

The first japanese cars being driven around - ours was a wagon datsun.

Setting up bbs software at my house, then pretending to "break into it" from school ie: wargames.

Writing early RPG games on mainframe machines.

The invention of "sprites" !

Tirian we're of a common origin me thinks.

I remember Les Habitantes of that era, and Guy's flowing locks.

I remember my NFL teams lunch box, and thinking how cool it was that the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers team logo was on there.

I remember when my college roommate got a computer. It was the first in our dorm and was the only computer access other than the computer labs across campus.

I remember when floppies were floppy.

Oh ya - and I forgot to add - when Warren Moon played in the Canadian Football League.

I remember the Alamo.

im way young compared to most of you, so lets see...

I remember when the teenage mutant ninja turtles were the best thing on earth.

i remember pool noodles, and how we used to beat the snot out of each other with them.

i Remember the first time i heard Nofx's Punk in Drublic, and music was never the same for me.

i remember kids wearing their pants backwards.

I remember always wearing baggy clothes. (actually i still wear them sometimes, seeing how they still fit!)

I remember LA gear, and kids lighting up whenever they took a step.

I remember walking to school in first grade and it being normal and safe. No way in hell I'd let my son walk to school alone next year.

I remember going to a big field near our house and catching grasshoppers in a jar.

I remember Garbage Pail Kids, slap bracelets, and pegged pants.

I remember my 3rd grade teacher crying when the Challenger blew up.

I remember my dad watching seemingly endless coverage about the Ollie North scandal...I wanted to watch cartoons instead.

I remember wearing those god-awful tights with lace at the bottom under skirts the first time they were cool.

I remember Madonna singing Material Girl and my mother being disgusted and appalled.

I remember neon colored shirts being the height of cool.

I remember New Coke.

I remember Nancy Reagan telling me to "Just say NO" to drugs.

I remember gasoline was well under $0.20/gal.

I used to go down to the corner store to get cigs for my mom and they were $0.24 a pack.

I remember being excited while listening to the Russian Sputnik being blasted into space with the little dog as passenger, but also disappointed it was not the U.S. being first; a couple days later we got a dog very similar to that one and named it Speedy Sputnik though we just called him Speedy.

I remember seeing JFK as he was slowly driven through our Philadelphia neighborhood when he was running for President. A couple years later, I remember sitting in freshman algebra class when they announced he was shot; then a little while later they announced that he has been assassinated.

I remember sneaking out of bed and part way down the stairs, then sitting near the top listening while my parents watched the Jack Paar show.

I remember watching Indy car races at Langhorne Speedway, it was a one mile dirt track and when you got back to your car after the races, it was completely covered with a layer of reddish dust.

I had a pair so I remember those shoes that had sort of a lever across the front where the tongue is and you would push it forward to loosen and snap back to tighten them....what the hell where they called?

I got my first PC in 1984, an NEC Powermate, quite powerful for it's day ...way before Windows was released so it was a DOS machine...damn I miss DOS. It had all of 640K RAM and a 40 Meg hard drive and a fast 2400 baud modem I used to surf the bulletin boards. That machine was completely turned on and ready to rock within seconds of turning it on.

I remember watching the diving horse at Steel Pier in Atlantic City, and the Ed Hurst Show there too, all us kids dancing and listening to top name acts, Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Al Hirt, Tijuana Brass, Beach Boys.

I used to watch MTV videos all day long, and Oregon Trail was the shit.

I remember coming home from school at lunch and my mom would make me something while me and my brothers watched fraggle rock and Inspector Gadget

I remember getting mad at my brother at school and throwing my glass thermos at him (for soup) and smashing it and being afraid to tell my parents

I remember my dad driving us around in a full sized van with vinyl seats, the trim had cracks and it would pinch your legs when you wore shorts

I remember buying my first cassette tape: Bat out of hell 2. I bought it cause it looked cool

I remember my uncle giving me the Metallica ...and Justice for all CD, and thus my love for heavy music started

I remember the first time we got a VHS movie, they looked worse and were twice the size of beta, but they still somehow became more popular. We had no VHS player, and renting beta movies at Rogers became harder and harder every week as VHS took over.

I remember owning an Atari and a NES and being so jealous of my friends that eventually got the SNES when it came out.

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place.
Even your emotions had an echo
In so much space

And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much.

I remember gas lines and only being able to get gas on odd or even days.
I remember my parents fighting over whether or not the US should be in Vietnam.
I remember hating Sunday nights because we always watched "60 Minutes" instead of "The Wonderful World of Disney".
I remember buying cigarettes at the local gas station 3/$1.00.
I remember Creature Double Feature on Saturday afternoons.
I remember Pong.
I remember my first R-Rated movie "Live and Let Die".
I remember just 3 networks on TV.
I remember the big boxy speakers you put in your windows at the drive-in.

From an August 28, 1957 newspaper ad.... I remember getting blisters from my new pair of Snap-Jacks....

<center><img src="http://home.comcast.net/~inbox/snapjack.BMP"></center>

Huge fad at the time....no photos of the mechanical external shoe tongues to be found on the net.

I remember when the B-52 bomber first flew. Wait!!! No I don't, it's ageless.

For those of us that remember watching Laugh In (I know I cant be the only one)....Dick Martin has died http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

Sock it to me!

Bummer news.

I remember Laugh In but I think it was in syndication rather than first run, the same with Get Smart.

I also remember my grandfather watching Hee Haw followed by Monty Python's Flying Circus when I would go over to visit.

I'm loving reading these :D

I remember when paperback books were under a dollar, Archie comics were twelve cents and could not believe the day hardcovers went up to $10.

I remember building snow forts in the winter to have some kickass snowball fights.

I remember walking to the Little League fields on summer nights to watch the boys play so I could buy Violet candy.

I remember the day JFK was shot and seeing the daily paper on our front porch with the first color photo I'd ever seen in a newspaper.

I remember coming home from school to the Watergate hearings on TV every day.

I totally forgot the O.J. trials and nobody better remind me or else.

I remember seeing Star Wars on the big screen when it first came out.

I remember when Van Halen was a "new band".

I remember seeing the space shuttle tragedy. Both of them.

I remember $5 getting you quite a bit of gas.

I remember actually throwing newspapers from my bike at 3am when I was 13.

I remember when "Centerfold" and "I love rock and roll" battled it out on Casey Caison's top 40.

I'm sure there's others, but I can't think of them now....

I remember wondering why Khomeni was holding so many Americans hostage, and wondering why we couldn't do something for them.

I remember living a couple hundred yards from the Berlin Wall, every once in a while hearing machine guns and dogs barking in the middle of the night.

I remember me and my sister clamoring for TV news the next day: if they ran a story, someone had escaped. If there was no story, we knew what had happened.

I remember having to watch stupid cartoons like Clutch Cargo, Gaiking, and Speed Racer because that was all AFN could get for us.

I remember when Reagan visited Tempelhof, and I weaseled my little way to the front of the crowd and shook his hand.

I remember visiting Amsterdam and thinking it was the coolest city ever, because there were public urinal stalls on some street corners and I could pee anytime I wanted. (Hey - I was six years old!)

I remember the night that a building in our housing complex got damaged by a car bomb, leaving dozens of families out in the streets for a day or two.

I remember seeing "videos" of Blondie played by Casey Kasem on TV and thinking it was the coolest shit ever.

I remember an American General getting kidnapped in Italy, and thinking "WTF?" over and over as the news followed the story for weeks.

I remember eating Bratwurst in front of Zoo Station, thinking that it was the best thing I'd ever wrapped my face around.

I remember when I was nine years old, and all those Marines died in Beirut. One of them looking weary, dirty and despondent, who kept digging because "my brother is in there" - for someone he'd never met.

I remember when The Police were played constantly on the radio, and I'd listen, trying to figure out the lyrics.

I remember when the Challenger exploded, and our teacher had to tell us all that we wouldn't be watching experiments with astronauts on TV that week.

I remember the first CD I bought, after I'd amassed a collection of 3 LPs and several 45s.

And I definitely remember when the Wall fell... a teenager, completely glued to CNN for three days straight, just waiting for the moment that the East Germans would start mowing down all the revellers standing on the wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A sense of amazement, then later relief that it never happened.

the highlight of my day was coming home from school to catch the last half hour of star trek TNG

when gas was 99 cents a gallon

when I was sane, before I ever had my 1st girlfriend, now i'm crazy.

i remember when we used to climb trees to see who could get the highest before the tree bent, and scared the shit out of us...

i was working in chicago in 1979 when gas went up to .99/gal...thought i'd never be able to leave...

I remember spending literally hours plugging line after line of BASIC into my TRS-80 in an attempt to make it show some weird seventies pattern only to have ONE typo to screw up the entire thing.

I remember waiting for my dad to ge thome and flip the cable box upside down and stick a piece of metal in it so we could watch bootleg Fraggle Rock on HBO.

I remember getting up early to watch Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, the Snorks, and The Muncheechees.

I remember sneaking out of my bedroom and watching Purple Rain from behind the couch. And Fright Night at a sleep over when I was 10. I've never recovered.

I remember when it was exciting to have a "night out" at Burger King. And fighting over the paper crowns.

I remember the first go round of Fresca.

Shit.

Fright Night... I remember seeing that in the theatre. As for Fraggle Rock, I was a bit old for it when it came out, but it was available on free TV rather than HBO... love the CBC.

I remember the first time I had one....Baytown Tx 1974

Oh, DAMN, Fright Night! I'd almost forgotten that one. Reminds me of a slightly OT story:

When we lived in Germany, my dad would take the whole family out for movie night once a month or so. We'd go eat at KFC (brand new to Berlin) and then off to the base theater for whatever movie they had, usually something released 2-3 weeks before in the US.

Now, I was about 6 years old, my sister a year older. When we got to Germany, my parents explained to us in detail how joking about Nazis, swastikas, or any associated painful memories is very bad, and could land us in trouble. We got the point.

My dad takes us to movie night one weekend, raving about the film we're gonna see, how it cleaned house at the box office, yadda yadda. And it was a pretty damn good movie, right up to the part at the end where there were a bunch of melting Nazis screaming their guts out. Me and sis were hunkered down in the floor covering our eyes! But still, Raiders of the Lost Ark was something I could go back and watch again even a couple of years later.

The kicker was later that year, on what became our LAST movie night. Dad's fired up about this movie, we go in, and me and my sis were kinda scared - it was a horror film, after all. But when the werewolves in Nazi uniforms went rampaging through the house, shooting, burning, mutilating, and eating the whole family, spewing blod everywhere while The Muppet Show blared in the background? Yeah, me and sis JETTED out to the lobby, with mom following shortly afterward.

My dad sat & watched the rest of An American Werewolf In London while the three of us waited, and I'm sure mom cut him off for a long time because of it.

Took me about ten or twelve years before I could bring myself to finish watching that movie, and I still dislike horror flicks a lot. It actually took me three tries to watch all of Fright Night; same thing with A Nightmare on Elm Street.

What a great thread...

I remember watching the Challenger footage on TV and not understanding what happened... I remember asking my mom why they wouldn't "wake up" when they hit the ocean.

I remember seeing E.T and the Care Bears movie in the theatre... I won a door prize at the Care Bears movie -- one of those silver writing-pad type things that erased when you lifted the plastic.

I remember riding my bike (a green and pink Huffy) around the neighborhood for hours.

I remember reading Choose-Your-Own Adventure books, then going back and rereading them as many times as it took to read every "adventure."

I remember picking videos out at the video rental place, then having to put them back because they were Beta, and we could only play vhs.

I remember when Friday & Saturday night meant staying home, making popcorn (or ordering pizza) and watching TGIF and Snick.

I remember playing MASH, and cheating by using one person's name three times in the "husband" category.

I remember reading the Babysitters' Club and Sweet Valley High books, and alternately wishing I had my own babysitting club or lived in California.

I remember playing in the sandbox with my uncle's old Star Wars action figures. (damn, I wish we'd kept those!)

I remember playing with my Smart Start "computer." I can still sing the little "power on" melody.

I remember Dad bringing home a CD player and thinking it was awesome that the disks were so small.

I remember when playgrounds were actually fun, and maybe slightly dangerous.

I remember watching the Berlin Wall come down.

I remember when Fruit Roll-ups and Kool-Aid was the best snack ever.

I remember playing King's Quest games... and I remember my uncle programming a menu screen before Windows was widely used (I don't know if it was out or not...I just don't remember any computers having it.) I also remember wanting to play the Leisure Suit Larry games, and not being allowed.

I remember thinking I was hot stuff on my Smurf Big Wheel.

I remember when you had to specify between "leaded" and "unleaded" at the gas pump.

I remember collecting Flintstones and Alvin and the Chipmunks glasses, but I don't remember from where... McDonald's or Burger King, I think.

TV/Movies
I remember seeing Jedi in theatres. I was too young for Star Wars, or Empire though.
I remember running home from school to catch Transformers.
I remember when having 12 channels (one of which was french) was "lots" (according to my mom)

Smoking
I remember when you could send your kid to the store with money and a note to get cigarettes.
I remember when the Subway had a smoking section (I remembered this today when getting a sub after seeing this thread).

Toys and Entertainment
I remember when I got a Coleecovision and it was the coolest thing ever.
I also remember playing Donkey Kong for hours on said Coleecovision.
I remember that my first computer didn't have enough memory to actually have DOS on it.
I remember my first Transformer was Ratchet.
I remember getting the Megatron that looked just like a real gun.

Misc
I remember when the walk to school seemed like it was really far (it took about a half an hour) and anything beyond that was incomprehensible.

I saw someone mentioned about where they were when John Lennon died...
I remember where I was when I heard Kurt died.
I was in the car with my mom, in fact I can even still point out exactly the stretch of road we were driving along.

I remember my Six Million Dollar Man action figure with the roll up arm skin and removable bionics.

I remember going swimming, listening to KFRC playing "Octopus' Garden" and thinking it was such a funny song.

I remember Alex Bennett on KQAK.

I remember winning a fish at my kindergarten Halloween carnival while dressed as Mr. Spock.

I remember Love Boat followed by Fantasy Island.

I shot J.R.

I remember sleeping in the back of my dad's '65 Buick while "Nights in White Satin" played on the radio on the way home from the races.

I remember playing the Pepsi Spirit bottle cap game.

I remember Incredible edibles and Space Food Sticks

I remember sitting on the floor in the grade-school hallway,
with our hands over our heads, practicing for inevitable nuclear war.

I remember when the screen on screen doors would rust.

I remember being home sick with the measles and watching JFK's funeral.

I remember the look on my Father's face after he came back from
sitting in the alert-shacks during the Cuban missile crisis.

I remember making tents with blankets hung over the clothesline pole,
and mom letting us sleep out there, despite dads disaproval.

I remember the best birthday presents...my microscope and Ruffy, my first cat.

I remember this too. I remember watching a film and then doing the drill. We were told to get under our desks and "duck and cover." I remember being under that desk and thinking about the film I just watched. The thought "Umm, this is going to save us from "THAT!?!" immediately came to mind.

I remember dancing the Hustle with a girl in gaucho pants.
I remember mood rings and pet rocks.
I remember whizzers and SSPs
I remember Quisp and Quake.
I remember my banana bike.
I remember Huntley and Brinkley.
I remember Mr. Doobee and Mr. Dontbee.
I remember Chilly Billy Cardille.
I remember Penelope Pitstop.
I remember Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon.
I remember my Hot Wheels Goose Pump.
I remember Holly from Land Of The Lost.
I remember Lancelot Link Secret Chimp.
I remember Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell...on 8-track.
I remember the debut of Saturday Night Live.
I remember Sonny and Cher and Donnie and Marie.
I remember Jiffy Pop stovetop popcorn.
I remember Pillsbury Space Food Sticks.
I remember Snack Pak pudding... in tin cans.
I remember Battle Of The Network Stars. With real stars.
I remember Merlin.
I remember Green Ghost.
I remember Billy Blastoff.
I remember Cindy from Kindergarden. 40 years later and I still have a bit of a crush on her.

I remember those crappy metal rollerskates that had way-too-narrow wheels, clipped onto the bottom of you shoes, and occasionally threw off sparks.
I remember starting a massive altercation on the playground that the principal had to settle, and sneaking away without getting caught.
I remember when climbing a tree wasn't much more work than walking.

I remember telling all of our cats that I was going to have a little brother (we lived in the country and it was summertime; no friends around)

I remember having a knock-off Cabbage Patch doll.

I remember staying outside playing all day and only coming in for lunch and supper; and going to the lake almost every day in the summer.

I remember Thundercats, Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and women's wrestling (it was really more fun to listen to my grandpa laugh at the women's wrestling than to actually watch it).

I remember gas being under $1 when I was in high school.

I remember New Kids on the Block and how stupid I thought the girls that had such crushes on them were.

I remember how sports ruled my world (damn, I miss those days).

hahahaha Im with you on the Originals. I bought a SNES the other day so I could play "TMNT: Turtles in Time". It was so worth it.

I'm going to put our SNES out in the garage sale this weekend.

i remember when i was cool

to take a quote from venetian snares:

I used to understand happy, i know that i used to be happy, i was really happy
I'm unhappy now and i can't remember what it's like to be happy, i only remember...i don't remember...
I remember being happy only comparaison to not being happy just what i am now.
I remember being happier
I remember being ...

This thread will end up in the Hall of Fame.

I rememeber the first time I heard a Simon and Garfunkel song,
and the lyrics sent the hairs on the back of my arm to attention,
even though I was only 8 years old.

"preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."

I recall the taste of my father's maraschino cherries soaked in a Manhatten.

I recall the bad bad boys who overtook the fort we had built and chased
us away shooting bb- guns at us.

I remember my fourth grade teacher would read us the letters from
her son stationed on an aircraft-carrier during the Vietnam war.

I remember having a substitute teacher for three months,
after he was killed.

I remember my younger sisters playing with their GI-Joes,
they would switch the black and white guys heads and feet.

I remember lighting candles and then blowing them out repeatedly
because I love that scent.

I remember the rancid acrid smell of Ether, as an anesthesia when I had my tonsils removed.

I remember the first time I saw a nun I thought it was a witch.

I remember being able to spend hours watching dust particles in sunbeams.

soundtrack.

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you didn't have one...really?

If it had an STP sticker on it that woulda made it cool.
But the damn things came with those tassley ribbon things
sticking out the end of the handlebars.

was this a thread jill?
sorry.

not really...

i remember the smell of ivory soap: when it catches me by surprise even now, i remember standing in my nana's kitchen, near a set of three rounded shelves painted red with metal trim along the edges. on the middle shelf a radio with a brown cabinet and the dials on either side. it was never turned on.

i remember listening to a radio in my grandpa's office. he owned a liquor store and his office was in the back, behind the cases of carling black label and budweiser endless budweiser, near where the broken-down cardboard boxes would be piled up. i remember listening to static looking for beacons or ships calling to shore hellloo helloo. i remember pointing some strange thing like a viewfinder that was on top of the radio in the direction i thought the signals came from.

i remember believing that the band playing the song i would hear in on the car radio was inside the dashboard somewhere.

i remember lilacs, hundreds of them, along the driveway.

i remember my mother drove a lime green corvair for a time and for some reason that it had 2 carburetors (both for itself and because i remember it).

i remember maynard g krebs.

i remember all the lyrics to the mister ed theme song. green acres too.

i remember the old endicott building...before the wrecking ball knocked it down...

I remember that the worst place to get a mosquito bite,
was on top of my big right toe.

I remember changing my mind whether I preferred the top or bottom bunk.

I remember laying in bed at night, wondering if all the spirits floating
around my bed were in need of love.
I would make hand motions, from my heart to those.
I tried to feed them.

I remember being six and having an STP sticker on my bike.

I remember my dad walked out one day and, in front of my friends, asked what's that stand for "S" the pig?" (yeah, name IRL starts with "S")

I remember being called "S" the pig" until we moved from that nieghborhood.

I remember being crushed.

mine used to pull that kind of shit on me all the time, but that's another story for another thread...

i remember "kentucky kings" with the 'fine' tobacco filter...

Heh heh - I had a bike with a banana seat and monkey handlebars when I was 13. Rode the hell out of it until I reached the awkward age of 15. You know - too cool for a bike; not old enough for a car.

I remember Multi-filter cigarettes

My friends and I would go to the record store at the mall, not to listen or buy music, but look at the posters on sale at the back: Ferraris, Lambourghinis, Babes in Bikinis... Basically what the internet is for now.

The only one I ever bought was of a Ferrari Daytona Spider, like the one in Miami Vice.

I remember when I was eight and my mom started crying when my dad didn't come home.
I remember when my very pregnant mom spent all of her time at the hospital with my very broken dad.
I remember when my mother went into early labor.
I remember when they told me my brother wasn't coming home any time soon because his heart wasn't working right.
I remember when my dad came home from the hospital and was missing the muscle on the back of his thigh. It was gross.
I remember when I caught the chicken pox and my brother couldn't come home from the hospital.
I remember not eating red sauce for about 9 more years because so many "thoughtful" people brought pasta casseroles for months.
I remember when my brother had his third open heart surgery to complete the Fontan procedure.
I remember 8 years ago when they told me that he was the third oldest living person with this procedure.
I remember a few years after that, when he developed a stroke disorder, drinking problem and abdominal migraines that he was the second oldest living person with this procedure.
I remember last year when they told me that he was the oldest living person with this procedure at 23 years old.
I remember the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg as if it was my own home.
And when Legos were the bomb.
And listening to the Beastie Boys in secret so my mother wouldn't yell at me for corrupting my sister.
I remember when my brother's lips weren't blue anymore.
And the docs outlawed grape popsicles on the Cardiology floors at Boston Children's Hospital.
Because they were blue. For a bit.

I remember my fifth grade teacher who had come back from Vietnam in time to teach our class for the year. He told us stories about 'Nam every day.

I remember my first slow dance to "Cherish" in Nancy L's garage with her big brother when I was about seven years old.

I remember Maynard G Krebs and I had a banana bike. :P

I remember PF Flyers and the original Keds and Chuck Taylors a few years later.

Hell, I remember when the first Camaros hit the street.

I remember Shake-a-Pudding. :orly:

I remember when hemi engines and Roadrunners were the shit.

This one reminded me of mum putting socks on my hands so I could go outside in the snow (not a lot of money and I didn't have any gloves).

I remember paper dresses, Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Rice Krinkles. I loved that cereal and would like some right now. I remember biggin my ears up when the Beatles' White album came out.

I also remember eating my first oyster. It was last week.


Oh, and I remember HONEY WEST!

I remember when pop was a dime, candy bars a nickel, cigarettes 20 cents and gas 19 cents.

I remember when all adults were to be treated with respect and not feared.

I remember when almost all mothers were housewives and fathers worked for the same company for life.

I remember being sent home from HS for wearing blue jeans.

I remember being admonished for having hair longer than a crew cut.

I remember when my friend was the only one we knew who had divorced parents.

I remember the beginning of rock and roll and the general contempt felt by many adults.

I remember our first TV set, 12 inch black and white with a large mahogany case. Most popular show was I Love Lucy.

I remember spending an entire evening at the local tavern with only a dollar. Frosty mugs were 15 cents.

All of the fun stuff has been removed from playgrounds because it is "dangerous"...where's the fun if you don't have swings and slides???

I LOVED the King's Quest games...my aunt had them on her computer and I think she used DOS to run them. I remember when the 4th one came out it was too much for her computer to handle; she was buying a new one anyway and we waited impatiently for a week while the computer was assembled and delivered to her house. After we loaded the game, we were blown away by the awesome graphics and sound :lol:

yeah, and monkey bars...

Awesome thread guys. Went through twice just in case I missed something.

I remember walking into the IDA (drug store) with a dime and walking out with a small paper bag brimming with penny candy.

I remember the whole family gathering around the TV on Saturday night for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I loved that show.

I remember my Brother and I playing our first game of Advanced D&D in his friends basement.

I remember my first day of middle school. So many concert t-shirts! The ones with the black body and white sleeves. I had a Def Leppard High and Dry one.

I remember skipping school to shoot pool and the pool hall owner freaking out when the Erie radio station broke off the music to announce that President Reagan had been shot.

I remember bragging about getting my license to my friends and then backing into a cottage 10 minutes later.

I remember when smokes were $1.50 a pack, a 2-4 was 19 bucks and a mickey of lonestar was $9.

I remember being paid in cash and actually having to go into the bank and wait in line to deposit my earnings.

did you ever buy that stuff that was basically icing sugar in a yellow paper bag, with a black licorice stick that you would stick in and then lick? IDA had those.

for me, I remember being on a $5.00 per week allowance while I was in residence in first year. My dad would actually mail me a $5.00 bill so I would have spending money. 50 cents went towards laundry ( a quarter for the washer, and a quarter for the drier - it was cheap because it was in residence at the university) and of the remaining $4.50, $4.40 would go towards a 12pack of Molson Canadian.

12 packs were $4.40 and 2-4's were $8.80.


Imagine that. And that was only in 1979.

... smoking at my desk, in elevators, theaters and doctor's offices :eek:

I remember when life seemed simpler.

I remember never having to lock our doors. Never locking the car. Everyone knew their neighbors. Not just next door but both ends of the street. No misdeed went unreported to your parents.

I remember playing outside all the time. Running, playing games outside, riding bikes, swimming, hiking- we did those things all summer. In the winter, we made snow forts and went sledding until we were frozen. We played board games all the time, too, and made up our own games. People were so much more active in those times. People spent more time outdoors. Not all the Cable TV, Computers and Video Games like now.

Life seemed simpler even though we didn't have many convenience of today. Many homes had no dishwashers, air conditioners, automatic sprinklers or alarm systems. We worked harder, but we seemed to enjoy life more. Things were not as chaotic as now.

Papers written for school were typed, often at the library. Research for them was done in the library with books. No internet then. Made us read much more. Correct usage of english (grammar, spelling) was more evident than today.

I remember when society had more class. You didn't hear filthy language on the street, in the store, at a ball game. There was much more civility. No such thing as drive by shootings, crack, crank. We absolutlely did not talk back to adults. Ever. We may have thought about it, but we never did it. Bad behavior was not tolerated. There was a solid understanding that we would be held accountable for our transgressions. We were taught to respect adults (even the ones we did not like) and keep out mouths shut. We had manners, whether we wanted them or not. When Mom and Dad said NO- that was it. We were taught to say, "Thank you."

I remember when products were made in the USA. TV's, for instance, were made here, as were our stereos. Even our clothes and our shoes were made in the USA. "Made in Japan" was a criticism.

Our fathers had 1 job their entire lives, and our mom's didn't have to work. People still got pensions from their jobs and you could count on having a job for life.

I remember when phones were rotary dial and sometimes you had a party line where you shared the same phone line. You'd pick up the phone and hear your neighbor yakking away, hang up the phone and try later to make your call.

I remember little league baseball.

I remember when everyone had a sense of community.

I remember when AM radio still played Top Forty and wasn't overrun with blathering political crackpots.

I remember when religion was still in the churches, not in the government.

Life was definitely simpler.

I remember...gas at 12 cents/gallon.

Being able to eat raw beef.

Concerts for 5$

Justice and the rule of law.

Sleeping on the front porch.

Falling asleep in my PJ's at the drive in movies.

Not falling asleep at the drive in movies ;)

When this country stood for something besides the nationalism of post 911.

I remember when the local 7-11 store was open from 7am to 11pm.

OH. That makes a lot more sense. :thumbsup:

I remember falling asleep to the sound of Jack Benny and Jack Paar.

I remember our first color television..it even had the weirdest remote
that didn't work very well. It was a Zenith something...

I remember being taught how to delicately handle my father's record
collection...if I was careful...I could play them on my own.

I remember getting Packer glasses at the Shell station in the 60's..

I remember when 'Jesus Christ Superstar'..first became available,
and then it sat next to my parents copy of 'Hair.'

cripes, I remember being on the Air Force base as a two year old...Biggs.
I could still draw a floor plan of that house.

i remember clicking on this thread

biggs in el paso? that must have been a few years ago...

i remember ent afb in downtown colorado springs...

Yes..It was El Paso.
1961 to 62.
My father was a navigator on the KC- 135 jet
tanker/ re-fuelers.

I remember running behind the DDT fogger my uncle had on the back of his tractor. Before a big campout and during..he would run that thing and
all us kids thought it was some fun.

I remember using catalog pages in the out-house for toilet paper.

I fondly remember the smell of cigar smoke.

I likes me a good cigar.

I remember candy cigarettes and thinking "wow, I'm cool just like my dad!"

D.A.R.E. was never cool where I come from.

I remember buying a lid (one ounce) of "commercial" for $10.

damn, those were the days...

A four finger lid of good ditchweed went for 10 bucks in 1974,
in Tucson AZ, anyway.

I remember not owning a pair of legwarmers.

I remember when WoW was just "wow" with creative use of capital letters.

When someone had explain why I had to learn how to drive because I couldn't ride a horse everywhere.
And when my mom made me a "horse driver's" license.
I remember when I got my first used psych textbook at age 12 and read the whole thing in 3 days, then proclaimed to my parents I'd decided what i wanted to be when I grew up.
I remember when I took my mother's car to the gas station for the first time and overshot the pump, then backed up whilst everyone yelled because the hose was caught behind the enormous bumper of my mother's 1978 Caprice Classic as I was slowly moving backwards to realign the car.
I remember when being smart was cool.

Seems to me I am towards the young end of the spectrum here but here goes:

I remember Crystal Pepsi/Pepsi Blue and thinking how cool it was that soda was other colors.

I remember original PowerRangers.

I remember the first Iraq conflict and how quickly it seemed to end.

I remember seeing Jurrasic Park as my first 'grown-up' movie.

Heh-heh - I remember driving down to Douglas then and buying pounds for $60.
Most of the time back then, we just gave it away.
Later, when we were dry; other friends would give us some of theirs.

It's really a shame what a "business" it's become.

I remember my first blowjob, my first finger-fuck, my first fuck-fuck and my first fist-fuck.