Odd Things You Remember From Being A Kid

[highland145]

http://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/cb.html

Cereal Box Records



===================================


I still have all my cereal box records and they still work.

lol Don't even remember what the music was.

Raise your hand if you remember 45 records. The museum doesn't count.

 

[exdeath]

My favorite toy along with Legos until NES.

I used to make hard copies of some projects. Hmm the smell of ferric chloride, solder, and burnt flesh from a 3rd grader's bedroom must have been wierd for my parents :awe:

I'd get someone to take me to Radio Shack to get parts and they would look at my parent and they would be like shrug no idea wtf he's making.

Favorite project was called "the big ear", basically a wired bug (listening device) that I would use extended leads with an external speaker as a "mic" that I would attempt to hide around the house and pretend I was spying.

 

[ScoobMaster]

Worm Wrestle Game from 1976.

Basically a motor in the center of a "wrestling ring" that rotated a magnetic shaft and pulled around zig-zag shaped steel 'worms" until all but one flew out of the ring. My brother and I played with this for hours. It started with the worms, but always ended up a battle-royal of whatever metal toys/objects we could find to toss in and see what happened.

See it in action in the original commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdReLkC6Qok

 

[highland145]

@exdeath,
Man, I wanted one of those soooo badly when I was 10 or so. Too expensive, iirc.

 

[SamQuint]

How about arcades that had stand up video games, pinball machines, and every game only costed a quarter or one token. (no chuck e cheese crap, or Dave and Busters where half the machines are the stupid ticket dispensing ones. In fact the only ticket dispensing machines back in the day were skee ball machines)

TV seasons that ran the full 26 episodes straight through without reruns until the run was over.

Battle of the Network Stars. Really stupid but you got too see a bunch of celebs make asses of themselves.

Cars with no seat belts

Movie theater popcorn made with coconut oil and real butter topping.

Drive-in Movies

McDonalds french fries made with good grease, or how about when McD's only had about 5-10 menu items and the drive through moved along real quick. Now everyone has to special order their burgers and order fancy drinks and argue about getting extra sauce for their nuggets.

Double features at the movies

Black and white TV's, the TV station going off the air, getting a test pattern all night, waking up early and seeing them play the national anthem before going back on air.

being able to say Merry Christmas without offending anyone.

Encyclopedias

I could go on and on. Damn I feel old

 

[lxskllr]

Raise your hand if you remember 45 records. The museum doesn't count.

I have a bunch of them in the garage, and they're getting abused. They fall over occasionally, and get motor oil on them... I'm a little ashamed, but I don't have much of a use for vinyl anymore. I have tons of records in the closet too, and they just sit there. They're too inconvenient, and don't sound that great aside from the retro appeal of scratches, and reduced fidelity due to being played out.

I always laugh when people go on about how great vinyl is. Assuming they actually are superior when new(I doubt it), they wear out. They have the durability of an ice cube. Fuckin' hipsters :^D

 

[waggy]

My favorite toy along with Legos until NES.

I used to make hard copies of some projects. Hmm the smell of ferric chloride, solder, and burnt flesh from a 3rd grader's bedroom must have been wierd for my parents :awe:

I'd get someone to take me to Radio Shack to get parts and they would look at my parent and they would be like shrug no idea wtf he's making.

Favorite project was called "the big ear", basically a wired bug (listening device) that I would use extended leads with an external speaker as a "mic" that I would attempt to hide around the house and pretend I was spying.

I had a 200-1 set it was great.

wish i still had it. my daughter would love it. You can still buy them though. i remember looking them up. they aren't cheap though

 

[rpanic]

Shopping at Fedco & Gemco.
Playing outside unsupervised from dawn to dusk.
Dads porn magazines hidden under bathroom sink.
Every day being an adventure.

 

[stag3]

Being a kid was pretty odd all around.

l-o-a-d-space-shift-2-star-shift-2-comma-eight-comma-1

I remember being very, very familiar with what, at the time, felt like arcane rituals for getting certain things to work (cassette tapes, record players, 5.25" floppy disks, etc.) that I feel like I would be completely stumped by if I saw one today. But I could also be remembering it as being harder than it actually was.

lol commodore 64! i had the disk as well as tape drives also
still have a working c64 now, i play archon, spy vs spy, bruce lee, and california games every once in awhile

 

[Pheran]

I loved Marathon bars.

And the awesome Dark Tower electronic board game.

 

[stag3]

 

[waggy]

that was a great toy! you could flip it over and it had other games.

 

[SamQuint]

that was a great toy! you could flip it over and it had other games.

Ours had a golf course with little blocks of wood you had to go around and water hazards. You hit your "ball" and shot your way around the course. Water hazards were basically a lose your turn penalty. Then we would fight over how precise the ball had to be in or out of the hole.

Loved that game

 

[KidNiki1]

lol Don't even remember what the music was.

Raise your hand if you remember 45 records. The museum doesn't count.

not only do i remember them, i still have some tucked away in a closet.


i remember playing outside pretty much all the time without supervision and walking to/from school (about a mile) by ourselves and going all over the neighborhood on halloween without adults, but i don't think that was odd for the time.

however, during the summers there was this truck from... i dont even know, the Y maybe? .. that would set up down at this park at the end of our neighborhood and they had all kinds of board games and books. once a week they would set up tables and all the kids from the 4-5 blocks around would go to the park and play board games and read and stuff. we moved a few times while i was growing up, but this one neighborhood was the only place i remember seeing something like that truck.

I loved Marathon bars.

also, holy shit!! how could i forget marathon bars!

 

[chitwood]

i remember no one being obsessed with, or even talking about being "green"

Yep. Big Macs were given to you in these fucking things:

also, my favorite from my childhood:

 

[Schmide]

In the 70s, regular scooters are never enough!

The Kick and Go (exact model I had)

 

[jupiter57]

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A2KJkCJPgSxRVl0AcneJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Daluminum%2Bmilk%2Bbox%26_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3Daluminum%2Bmilk%2Bbox%26fr%3Dyfp-t-200-s%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D232&w=150&h=150&imgurl=worthopedia.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fimages%2Fthumbnails2%2F1%2F0608%2F15%2F1_399a9ca26a3a4b66aebd0a8ae84c3882.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worthpoint.com%2Fworthopedia%2Fantique-metal-milk-box-3-milk-bottles-augusta&size=5.6+KB&name=eBay+Image+1+Antique+Metal+%3Cb%3EMilk+Box+%3C%2Fb%3E3+%3Cb%3EMilk+%3C%2Fb%3EBottles+Augusta+Dairies&p=aluminum+milk+box&oid=6f363297f82b27752baf08b4ec0a9d39&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-200-s&tt=eBay%2BImage%2B1%2BAntique%2BMetal%2B%253Cb%253EMilk%2BBox%2B%253C%252Fb%253E3%2B%253Cb%253EMilk%2B%253C%252Fb%253EBottles%2BAugusta%2BDairies&b=211&ni=180&no=232&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=12jtk3rc8&sigb=14792p0o1&sigi=130v98aor&.crumb=uROcNKKt.W6


Antique Metal Milk Box 3 Milk Bottles Augusta Dairies


Remember having a Milk box by the front door and can hear when the Milkman came because could hear the clinking glass Milk Jugs.



Wood Metal Milk Dairy Advertising Crate Box for Babylon Milk

Yeah, we had one!
When I wasn't old enough to reach the Door Knob, I had to stand on the Milk Box to open the door.
I remember once, my older brother had me climb on the Milk Box so that he could knock me off.
He pushed me & I fell, but in doing so, knocked over the Milk Box, breaking the glass bottles inside!
My brother apparently danced around on the broken glass, as I remember being in the Doctor's office seeing him get lots of stitches in his feet!

 

[HydroSqueegee]

also, my favorite from my childhood:

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I loved my Construx. i had army camo ones too. id use the little green connectors as army men in giant battles against the blue connectors. good times.

 

[foghorn67]

Metal Tonka trucks. I had a couple.

Big Wheels.

Running around a lot. I rarely see the same in today's kids these days.

Walmart not being anywhere in the region.

Key kiosks, photo kiosks in parking lots.

No diet sodas.

Smokers everywhere. Not alienated.

Even in the early 80's, folks dressed up more. Casual days weren't invented yet.

Gas station convenience stores were the size of tool sheds.

Gas stations having garages and mechanics.

All the pretty hills around here are stacked with houses. Used to be farms.

Libraries, microfiche, Dewey decimal system.

Magazines and books in black and white. Some being color. These days, the only things in b&w are b&w photography books.

 

[keird]

Evel Knievel

Playing with my friend's Space 1999 Eagle lander

Battlestar Galactica toys with tensioned spring loaded missles just before they were nerfed by Micronauts, et al.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I have a bunch of them in the garage, and they're getting abused. They fall over occasionally, and get motor oil on them... I'm a little ashamed, but I don't have much of a use for vinyl anymore. I have tons of records in the closet too, and they just sit there. They're too inconvenient, and don't sound that great aside from the retro appeal of scratches, and reduced fidelity due to being played out.

I always laugh when people go on about how great vinyl is. Assuming they actually are superior when new(I doubt it), they wear out. They have the durability of an ice cube. Fuckin' hipsters :^D

I actually have a 45 jukebox that is still used on a regular basis As a novelty it's great, but I prefer digital.

 

[Rudee]

 

[lxskllr]

I actually have a 45 jukebox that is still used on a regular basis As a novelty it's great, but I prefer digital.

That's legit. Old jukeboxes are magic. I'd love to have one. I'd also like to have a Victrola to play old jazz albums on. The low-fi tinniness adds to the character :^)

 

[Rudee]

I remember having a 12" Johnny West action figure. They were made from solid plastics that were so heavy, that when my sister clobbered me over the back of the head with one, I got a concussion and was off school for a week.

 

[CA19100]

... I grew up with dial phones.

I had no idea the kind of machinery that was at the other end of those dial phones! I bow to the genius of the Strowger switch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNNKLuM8yY8