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12/26/2002 Entry: "Woking late"

I'm working late. The regular late night guy is on vacation. The good news is I didn't have to come to work until noon. The bad news is I didn't get to sleep late, as I had to shovel the snow. Sue's car was burried. Literally. She took a picture of it--I'll post it when it's developed. Only the side view mirror could be seen. The drift at the front door was as tall as Julia. Lotsa snow...

Christmas was very good to me. Ma gave me some books, and a fleece jacket I'm wearing now. Susan got Julia and I each a lightsaber. I loved it! I played with it entirely too much. (Insert your "played too much with your sword joke" here.) Hers is the Obi-Wan model, and mine is the Qui Gon. Susan also got me the DVD of all the Schoolhouse Rock episodes. My parents got me a pocketwatch, a book on Gretsch drums, a book on Jazz singers, and a leatherman style tool built by the Swiss Army Knife people.

Don't forget to see the more section for a little something I found on a drum message board, of all places. It was a post about how things have changed over the years.

"If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

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.

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 hitchhiking to town with strangers, as a young kid!)

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

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 streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits 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 ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. Remember sharing a Popsicle with your best friend?

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Young boys and girls with .22 rifles wasn't a frightening sight that deserved calling the police. Long before SWAT Teams, we knew we would get a good swat if we even pointed that rifle in the wrong direction.

Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do 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.

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. No one to hide behind. 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 has 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."

Replies: 2 people have rocked the mic!

Posted by Maria @ 12/27/2002 02:43 PM EST

It's on!!!!! Bloggers Snowball fight!!

Posted by Maria @ 12/27/2002 02:44 PM EST