Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday — Costumes

Fandango12 Comments

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie wrote, “With Halloween coming up, I thought we should do something surrounding that. I know everyone does not celebrate Halloween, so I thought we could address costumes in general.

Here are Maggie’s questions.

1. Did you celebrate Halloween? If so, what was your most memorable costume?

I wouldn’t say my family “celebrated” Halloween, but I was allowed to go trick or treating and my parents would hand out candy to trick or treaters who came to our door on Halloween. As to costumes I wore, I know I did wear costumes, but they were always the cheap ones you buy at the pop-up Halloween stores or at other toy stores and apparently none were particularly memorable because I can remember even one costume I wore as a kid.

2. When was the last time you dressed in a costume? What was the reason?

It wasn’t a Halloween party. It was actually a work function in maybe 2005 and I dressed as a carnival barker with a red and white vertically striped sport coat, a straw hat, and a bamboo cane with a hook at the end, similar to the pictured below. And no, that’s not me in the photo.

3. As a child, did you like pretending you were someone else? Did you create costumes with things around the house?

I had convinced my best friend that I had a secret identity, Power Boy (like Super Boy). My only “costume” was wearing a bath towel pinned to my sweatshirt when I pretended to fly.

4. Did you ever attend Mardi Gras, Carnival, or any other festival with masks or costumes? Did you wear a mask or costume?

Nope.

5. Were you ever in a play (school or otherwise) that required a costume? If so, who were you?

Nope.

6. Do you participate in cosplay or go to Comic Conventions?

Nope.

7. What character from movies, comics, or plays has the best costume?

I’m sort of partial to Batman’s costume, the Dark Knight edition.

8. Think of scary or horror movies. Which character’s costume and/or make up was the most frightening? Was it the costume alone, or the movie itself which made it frightening?

Linda Blair’s make-up in the movie “The Exorcist” scared the crap out of me. Actually, the whole movie did, as well. It’s been decades since I last saw the movie, so I can’t really comment on how well it’s stood the test of time.

9. Have you ever visited historic places where the staff wears period costumes? If so, where was it??

I’ve been to a few Renaissance Fairs, to Medieval Times, and to Colonial Williamsburg.

10. Have you ever attended a Broadway or Off Broadway or Community Theatre production with great costumes? Leave a clip or photo here of your favorite.

Don’t most theater productions have great costumes? Well, to respond to this question, I’m just going with my favorite Broadway musical of all-time, Les Misérables.

Throwback Thursday — Family Stories

Fandango9 Comments

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Lauren wants to know about family stories that were shared and passed on.

Here are Lauren’s questions.

1. Did you have multiple family generations nearby when growing up?

When I was young, my grandmother lived with us, but she passed away when I was only 6. About the only thing I remember about her was that she was a diabetic and used to have to give herself shots of insulin. That scared me.

My mother’s brother and his wife — my uncle and aunt — lived one town away from us and they had a son my age and we were very close.

2. What are some of the earliest family stories you remember hearing?

Both of my parents (my mother with her family, my father on his own) immigrated to America during the Russian revolution. They were both from Ukraine, but always identified themselves as Russian. Neither spoke much about their youth or their escape from Ukraine.

3. Did your parents tell you the story about how they met? Did you share with your children your own love story?

My parents met in the U.S. at some sort of Ukrainian/Russian social club in Newark, New Jersey. That’s about all I know. Our kids know that their mother and I were a fix-up and they are aware of some G-rated stories about our courtship.

4. Did aunts, uncles, or grandparents ever share embarrassing stories about your parents when they were children? Were the stories fictionalized or factual?

Not really. I think coming to America from Ukraine was a pretty harrowing experience, especially for my father who escaped from being drafted into the Czar’s army and was a stowaway on a ship across the Atlantic. Or so he claimed. Fact or fiction? Who knows?

5. Did your parents or siblings ever tell your kids embarrassing stories from your youth?

Not my parents or older sisters, but my wife has always been ready to share embarrassing stories about me to our kids.

6. Were there tales you wish you had asked your parents or grandparents, but never did? What would you like to have asked them?

That is actually one of my greatest regrets. I was too self-centered in my younger days to ask my parents for details about their childhoods, their immigration to America, and their early years in this country. If I could, that’s what I’d ask them about now.

7. If you had a magical way to speak to a deceased relative, what would you most like to ask them?

See my answer to #6.

8. Do you share stories about your time growing up with your children or grandchildren? Is there something you don’t want to be lost when you are no longer in this realm?

I have shared shared stories about my youth, but unless I write an autobiography before I die, I doubt they recall much of what I shared with them. It wasn’t that interesting, entertaining, or memorable.

9. Have you ever done research to find out more facts about your lineage? Did you ever find anything surprising?

I submitted a 23andMe saliva DNA sample. The most interesting thing I found out that I hadn’t already known is that I have a small percentage of Italian and a tiny bit of Neanderthal in me.

10. Have you kept journals, records, or important information about your family, that you want to be handed down for future generations?

Nope. Maybe that will motivate me to start writing my autobiography.

Throwback Thursday — Family Meals

Fandango12 Comments

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie wants to know what mealtime was like in your home.

Here are Maggie’s questions.

1. Did your family have a sit down breakfast or were you more grab and go? What beverages were served at breakfast? What was your favorite (and/or least favorite) breakfast meal?

My father left for work before most of us were up. Except for weekends, it was pretty informal. I usually had orange juice and milk at breakfast. My most common meal was cold cereal. My favorite breakfast meal was hole in the wall eggs.

2. Did you snack before the mid-day meal?

Most of my midday meals were at school, so no, no snack before that meal.

3. At school, did you buy your lunch from the cafeteria, or did you pack lunch? In high school, were you allowed to leave school grounds during the lunch period?

Mostly, I bought lunch at the cafeteria, but my mother would occasionally pack a lunch for me. Yes, in high school, seniors were allowed to leave the campus for lunch, but I rarely did.

4. For times when you had lunch at home, was it sandwiches, leftovers, or a newly prepared meal?

It was either sandwiches, or something frozen like a chicken pot pie or TV dinner.

5. Did your family sit down together and enjoy the evening meal or were you more of a TV dinner in front of the TV family?

My father often didn’t get home in time for dinner, but my mother and sisters and I would dine together. My father would have leftovers when he got home, usually after 8:00 pm.

6. How did your weekend meals differ from your weekdays?

Lunches were pretty much the same, but my mother typically made French toast or pancakes on Saturday and my father would pick up cold cuts at the deli on Sundays. We usually ate out for dinner on Saturday nights.

7. Who did most of the cooking in your household? Did that person also do the meal planning and grocery shopping? Were you taught to cook or were you shoo’d out of the kitchen?

My mother did the planning, the shopping, and the cooking. I didn’t come into the kitchen until it was time to eat.

8. Did you have dessert served at your meals? If so, what types?

Not directly after dinner, but we would often have some kind of dessert after dinner while watching TV.

9. Who cleaned up after meals? Was it a shared responsibility between men/women, girls/boys or was it delegated based on gender?

Mainly my mom. My father never cleaned up and my mom didn’t want to burden my sisters and me with cleaning up after meals.

10. How about late night snacks? Okay or discouraged?

Discouraged.

11. Were dining manners stressed in your household? No elbows on the table, no hats at the table, no belching, please, thank you, and may I be excused?

We were expected to behave at dinner, but it wasn’t obsessive.

12. Did you have occasions where you had large family gatherings for meals? What occasions?

Holidays, birthdays, anniversaires, etc.

13. Did you say grace or have a blessing before meals?

Not a prayer, so to speak.

14. What dishes are you glad disappeared over the years? What dishes have you carried forward into your own home?

I suppose by “dishes,” Maggie means meals/recipes, and not physical dishes (i.e., plates, cups, saucers). None of those physical dishes survived. As a matter of fact, neither did any of the meals or recipes, either.

BONUS: Care to share any favorite family recipes?

As I mentioned above, none of the recipes survived, either on paper or in my memory.

Throwback Thursday — Slang

Fandango5 Comments

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Lauren wants to know about the popular slang of our formative years.

Here are Lauren’s questions.

1. What were the words you would have used to describe something cool or popular?

Cool, groovy, far out, bad, outta site, a gas, boss, unreal, cherry

2. How about those things that were uncool?

Uncool, bummer, downer, a drag, heavy

3. What were the hairstyles of the day?

For guys, crewcuts, flattops, Princeton (hair on the top front of the head is long enough to style with a side part, while the crown of the head is cut short), and the DA (for “duck’s ass” as shown below).

For girls, all I can think of was the beehive and the pixie.

4. Did they have a name everyone used to reference them?

Names above.

5. What were the styles of the time?

I was never one who kept up with the styles of the day, but when I was going through my hippie days, I wore bellbottom jeans, flowered shirts, tie dyed tees, big belts, Chuck Taylor All-Stars (sneakers), wide ties, sandals, polyester leisure suits.

6. What word would you have used to describe something distasteful?

See response to #2.

7. What about peers you were not fond of or were not part of your tribe?

Geek, nerd, fink, panty waste, skuzzball, square, pig

8. Any phrases you remember that were used (or overused)?

Up your nose with a rubber hose, lay it on me, sock it to me, right on, keep on truckin’, gimme some, don’t Bogart that joint, peace out

Throwback Thursday — Loved And Lost

Fandango11 Comments

Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie wants to know about our first loves and, particularly, about our first heartbreak.

Here are Maggie’s questions.

1. How old were you when you had your first heartbreak?

I was 18 (or maybe 19).

2. Who broke your heart – first names only?

Her name was Wendy. If she’s still alive, her name probably still is Wendy.

3. Do you remember how the breakup happened?

One night we were parked in my car making out and she, seemingly out of the blue, told me she was in love with someone else. I was floored.

4. Did you have a ring or token of your love? Did you return it?

No, there was no ring or any other “token” of our love.

5. Did you think this was true love?

I was a teenager, so how would I know what “true love” was? It was certainly true lust, though.

6. Did you play any sad songs to soothe the pain? If so, do you remember the name of the song?

After she dumped me, “Tracks of My Tears” by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles became my anthem for how I was feeling.

7. If you were an adolescent, were your parents sympathetic or were they of the “it’s only puppy love” school of thought?

I don’t think my parents expressed an opinion on my lost love one way or the other. Maybe they thought it was just typical case of teenage angst.

8. How long did it take you to get over it all?

Believe it or not, it still haunts me a little.

9. Do you remember this person fondly or is it someone you prefer to forget?

I remember her fondly, even though she broke my heart. Besides, I always thought that she was a little out of my league, anyway.

10. After all was said and done, was it for the best or did you remain longing for a love lost?

I’d say that it was ultimately for the best. After all, a handful of years after Wendy dumped me, I met my soulmate, Mrs. Fandango.