When I Was Your Age....

[Food Lady]

Something I may have forgotten in previous posts....I remember when Pac Man came out when I was a kid (early Eighties), and what a hit it was, and how I mentioned to a friend that "this game could be really big." While it seems almost quaint in its simplicity now, especially compared to modern video games and the technological advances they are making in that industry on a ridiculous pace, when Pac Man came out, it was considered to be almost revolutionary, and literally changed the way video game makers thought about and designed their games. It inspired "Pac Man Fever," which some of you my age or older may well remember. And at various bars and arcades, this game is still being played, sometimes with great popularity. Kind of hard to believe that the graphically-simplistic Asteroids was Pac Man's predecessor on top of the video game food chain, huh? And when I was your age, I remember when it all started.

I still play Ms. Pac Man when I go to the laundromat.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I remember when they actually made things that worked and didn't need to be replaced so often.

I've got a box fan I purchased a few years ago that doesn't like to work. It'll hum but the blades won't move.

I had another one where one the blades just snapped off while I was using it. I had a little fun amusing my college friends by turning it on and letting it spazz about the room, but then I had to throw it away.

So now I'm using this old, big, bulky K-Mart box fan purchased sometime in the mid 80s. It just keeps right on humming.

We also used to have this harvest gold fan from the 60s or 70s that had metal blades and metal grating. If you turned it on low it would make this eerie moaning noise every so often. If you turned it on medium, it would function on low for a while and then gradually spool up to a higher speed, moaning and groaning as it made the transition. And it was loud when on high.

My parents threw it out a few years ago when it was still working fine. I miss it like crazy. That thing put me to sleep on many on humid summer's night.

[edible_hat]

And we used to fight over the brown cup...I have no idea why.

Probably because there was only one of it.

[Mike Taylor]

When I was your age...

... the was only ONE Star Wars movie.
... there were only three broadcast networks.
... TBS was a single station in Atlanta Georgia.
... the only anime shows available were Speed Racer reruns.
... the only video game was Pong.
... 2K (not Gigs or even Megs... just Kilobytes) was a LOT of memory.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I still play Ms. Pac Man when I go to the laundromat.

My pediatrician's office had Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong in the waiting room

Probably because there was only one of it.

Well, there was only one orange, one green, and one yellow, too. But nobody wanted those.

[Jester]

When I was your age...

... the was only ONE Star Wars movie.

Well, let's be honest here. There was only one Star Wars movie for only four years. (Empire came out in 1981.)

[sms001]

oranges and browns of the 70's is probably why you prefer them to the pastels of the 80's.
I lived through both. The pastels were somewhat obnoxious, sure. But the puke colors of the seventies were barf-inducing. .

What always cracks me up whenever this subject comes up is that in our defense, many of the clothing trends of this time period were unique. New. Untried. Some worked, most didn't.

But when hiphuggers, flare legs, cling polys, etc. started to 'come back' a few years ago I thought to myself - "Hey, we didn't know any better. You people HAVE PICTURES OF YOUR PARENTS looking like total dorks!!!"

[bookworm]

My first stereo was an all-in-one model with a turntable, radio, and 8-track recorder/player.

I have a giant 1972 JC Penney console all-in-one like that. It has a couple of microphones so that you can sing along/record yourself on the 8-track. It still works, though the speakers are starting to go. I lost all my records, but I still have a couple of 8-tracks that work.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Tupperware was the rage, and it was green and orange and yellow colored.
Cutenoob

Don't forget brown and that godawful turqouise color . . .

We had Tupperware coming out of our asses back in the 70's and 80's. My mom would hold Tupperware parties at our house (she also did Home Interior parties too) and she had several Hostess gifts as a result of those.

I recall one party in particular that was supposed to the the "last" one she was having. We had almost 2 dozen ladies crammed into our living room (and it was a small room) and a huge spread of food in the kitchen and an open bar. The salesperson's hubby also came - he played bartender for the occasion and we all had a great time.

When the salesperson and her hubby were getting ready to leave, they had a surprise: somebody had went out to their station wagon and TP'd it. Even funnier, it had started sprinkling rain right before the party ended, so you can imagine what a mess that toilet paper was making.

One of the gifts my mom got was one of those Kodak instant cameras . . . the one that got pulled from the market due to a copyright issue . I can't for the life of me remember what happened to it, though.

And speaking of the vintage Tupperware . . . you can find plenty of it available for sale on eBay. We've bought several pieces already to replace ones that had worn out due to age/use and can be had for reasonable prices. :wave

[Lachrymose]

Don't forget brown [...]

We had Tupperware coming out of our asses [...]

Well, that would explain THAT color, at least.

[Boggles]

I swear I remember Austria-Hungary being one country and a Prussia existing when there was still an East Germany and West Germany. Anyone else go to school in the mid 80's and remember this?

I remember being taught about them at school in geography but it was as regions in the same way we learnt about the Baltic region, the Soviet Bloc and so on.

Your school must have had some really OLD maps. Did it list "Persia" where Iran is now? How many stars were on the American Flag? Was Arizona still listed as a Territory?

We had the official schoool map on the wall of the main hall which was a huge 6' long. It still had the Empire coloured in pink covering vast swathes of it and was labelled as the Chart of the territories and lands of our most Gracious Sovereign.

[SG15Z]

Anyone else remember VHS rewinders? You know after the movie was done you took it out and popped it in the rewinder, so you don't have to wait for it to rewind to watch something else? I remember thinking that was the best invention ever!

By the way, anyone else remember the ill-fated attempt by the soda companies to sell THREE liter bottles of soda? I seem to recall that that was early to mid-Eighties....

Um, they still sell those. We have them at my store.

I'm younger than everyone ( born 1987) but I still remember a lot of things that aren't around anymore.

Um, not me. I was born in 1988, so you're older than me. And McGoddess just graduated this year, so we're not the youngest, but we are some of the youngest.

Does anyone remember WebTV? We had it for about a year. (1997-98)
After my dad got rid of WebTV, if we needed on the internet, he took us to the public library, where there were 4 computers hooked up to the internet.

I remember the commercials for it. Though I don't remember knowing anyone with one.

I remember the Power Rangers. I watched the first episode.

Me too. I remember when it first premeired and watched it for years. I wish I could say I'm embarressed, but I can't. I liked it, so sue me.

Hanson... I was convinced that I was gonna marry Zach Hanson (the drummer, who was like 12.) Still have mmmbop on my ipod.

Yeah I remember when they were big. I love mmmbop, it's really catchy.

I also LOVED the Spice Girls.

I thought they were ok.

The cartoon "Doug". Its sad they don't even show it in reruns anymore.

I loved Doug! And Rugrats, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toon Adventures, etc. The 90's had awesome cartoons. Now they all suck.

I saw "Toy Story" in theaters. Three times.

I saw Lion King in theaters, and Aladdin, but only once. My parents didn't go to the movies often.

[daleduke17]

• calling 911 when we first got it in our area and nearly crapping my pants when they called back after I hung up on them

Enhanced 911, one of the coolest concepts, ever, in public safety.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I saw Lion King in theaters, and Aladdin, but only once. My parents didn't go to the movies often.

I saw Lion King and Aladdin in the theater. Lion King soundtrack was my first CD. I was a sophomore in college. ...

[dmcglu82]

When I was your age...

Nintendo NES was the best video game system
TGIF was the best things on ABC
Kids actually played outside
Ghostbusters was the movie of the year to me
Mom let me watch R-Rated movies and would not have been considered a terrible parent.
Finally we still had video arcades