My age? Old! At least compared to most of the people here! If you really want to know, you can probably figure it out from the below... (and if you're anywhere near my age, you'll probably remember a lot of this stuff as well!)...!
I was in the process of learning to drive (standard) on my Dad's (no longer new at the time) 1976 Mercury Bobcat (twin of Ford Pinto)... and rolling backwards into cars behind me on hills, backing up over curbs, into parking meters, etc, when there was a HUGE recall on Pintos and Bobcats. Why? Because the gas tank was positioned too far back and it reportedly didn't take much of a bump to cause the gas tank to explode! (eek2) We obviously had a
defective non-exploding gas tank on our car (or the car was made on a Mon or Fri and the gas tank was incorrectly installed too far forwards
hehe... b/c lord knows I put it through hell!!).
I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that John Lennon had been shot -- late on a cold Monday night, driving home from my restaurant job in my mother's 1979 Pontiac Laurentian station wagon, radio blasting and me singing along at the top of my lungs... "You gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, and know when to run..." (not sure if that song came out that year, but that's what was playin on the radio that night), when the DJ cut the end of the song off and said, "I've just been given some very sad news to pass on to all our listeners...")...
(But I'm NOT old enough to remember JFK being assassinated
).
When I hear one of my kids shout with joy to his brother, "YESSSSSssssss, I DID it!!! I beat the boss! I made it to the next LEVEL!!!"... I can almost feel that thrill all over again of slamming the joystick down hard, devouring those last few dots, and watching with relief and anticipation as the screen flashed and changed colour and Ms PacMan graced the scene... while all the other gamers around me on the pinball machines tried to hide their disappointment cuz it meant they'd have to wait that much longer to get to play the ultimate in video game technology... (dark) (outie)
I remember being 17 yrs old and counting the days until I turned 18 so I could go into bars with my older friends (at least legally
) when they raised the drinking age in Ontario from 18 to 19 on Jan 1st (only 6 days before I turned 18 so I had to wait another year). But if a person happened to turn 18 before Jan 1st, the new law didn't apply (pissed) -- i.e., ALL my high school friends! It's funny the things that were soooo important back then! (friday)
(band2) I remember going to my very first "real" rock concert in Toronto when I was 14 yrs old... ELO put on an amazing out-of-this-world ("Out of the Blue") show, complete with giant space-craft/flying saucer stage that moved... omg, I was soooo impressed!!!
I remember Klackers/Klik-Klaks and Smash Up Derby sets and Pet Rocks and Hot Wheels and Silly Putty and the first Rubik's Cube and the Partridge Family and the Sonny & Cher Show and all the words to the Gilligan's Island song... and I remember when the Canadian dollar was worth more than the U.S. dollar!
So yeah... as I read the first two alarming pages of this thread I was increasingly convinced that I was the oldest mazda driver in cyberspace... but I now realize that I'm not alone... hehe... There's lotsa people here who can relate (bump) {waves to Rich... and Jack... and JCrystal... and ccduff... and JHeer... and Rotus... and Rainman... and Loose... and Rookie... and jma... and anyone else who was feelin' somewhat oldish as they read this thread!}
As for my occupation -- master procrastinator and time-waster extraordinaire... sigh... I'm sitting here with a giant stack of exams and the remainder of a mountain of term papers beside me that I somehow doubt are going to mark themselves... okay, time to drag myself outta here...!
(Gee... look what happens when an ~old~ person starts reminiscing about learning to drive while answering the simple question, "How old are you?" (blah) I hope you guys have a sense of humour...! (peep) )
