Never question a Drunk!

[up148]

I don't think the word "hate' was meant in the context you're taking it in. This little ditty was just supposed to be a silly realization that brings a smile, for what ever reason.

Fortunate is the word that comes to my mind. Many of us here grew up in a very wonderful period IMHO. The transition period between WWII and the opening of a new world in the late 60's. Our (at least mine) childhoods was sort of a never-never land when anything was possible and the future was full of wonder and Awe. Life was far from perfect or idyllic, but looking back it sure seemed so. Memories are funny things, you can either choose to remember the good or the bad.

I too have never attended a class reunion. I was close with a small group of friends and we fell in and out of each other lives as we matured, but I was never a class leader or joiner and chose that. I mostly preferred working and being around adults than riding the bus to football games or being in choir or band or any school social groups. But, I had my own car that I paid for and always had money for dates an a steady girl. For the most part HS was silly and I couldn't wait to graduate.

BH

[MurphOnMillerAve]

For me, the contrast between our two experiences at attending high school is amazing. I much enjoyed reading all that you wrote, BH. Thanks for the reach-back.
Murph

[Mitch]

BH's second paragraph suits me to a Tee with one exception: I didn't have my own car. Never went to a reunion; missed my 50 year reunion last month. Only had a few friends that lived close and rode the same bus, never saw them again after graduation. They went on to college. I was only 17 when I graduated. Couldn't get a decent job; too young for workmens' comp. There was a war on so I joined the Navy. Left for boot camp a few days after my 18th birthday.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

How about sharing some photos, Mitch?

Who went to college, and who did not, who went to Vietnam, and who did not had everything to do with who ended up where in life. All of us, we scattered to the winds, many of us looking back only when a Reunion presented itself via the efforts of our Class officers, who as it turned out (and we knew well it would) dedicated themselves to making sure they happened.

[E7]

How about sharing some photos, Mitch?

Who went to college, and who did not, who went to Vietnam, and who did not had everything to do with who ended up where in life. All of us, we scattered to the winds, many of us looking back only when a Reunion presented itself via the efforts of our Class officers, who as it turned out (and we knew well it would) dedicated themselves to making sure they happened.

So Murph, more than one person has said they don't attend their OWN reunions. Why would they be interested in people they NEVER met or Knew?

Know any good jokes?

Rich the grumpy

[Roy]

Looks like Dresden:



Reminds me of when they tore down the Whittier theater. It was the only place in Whittier to have some roadside vernacular flavor to it - a lighthouse, with the name of the theater chain on it, in neon.



Bruen's Whittier theater, in happier times.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I didn't have my own car.

Neither did I. In fact, I did not own a car until after I was married.

"Service rep"? Don't forget to thank the Rep for your eyes getting healed and better.

We're going to have a long talk about QC and design issues, too. I'm sure all I'll get back is a "Warranty Expired" notice,

[MurphOnMillerAve]

How about sharing some photos, Mitch?

Who went to college, and who did not, who went to Vietnam, and who did not had everything to do with who ended up where in life. All of us, we scattered to the winds, many of us looking back only when a Reunion presented itself via the efforts of our Class officers, who as it turned out (and we knew well it would) dedicated themselves to making sure they happened.

So Murph, more than one person has said they don't attend their OWN reunions. Why would they be interested in people they NEVER met or Knew?..
Rich the grumpy

You're right, Rich. So I removed those Class Reunion photos that had nothing to do with anybody here other than to be illustrative of a point I wanted to - was attempting to - make about "herd mentalities."

Regarding asking Mitch to post photos of his experiences and himself, I felt that seeing photos of what mattered to various voices on this forum nurtured a sense of conviviality and community here by seeing artifacts and/or representative sights of individual memories. If you ever saw them, The Dirt and Hev and Mitch and I were shown in a photo taken at the "Tractor Pull" in Lancaster, PA, some time ago, and it preserved a moment and a place that cannot ever be repeated again but that was pleasant and valued by those in attendance.

As a further example, the point Roy made, above, with his photo (thanks, Roy) of a place, the Whittier Theater, which was important enough to him to have been saved by him in a photo, plus, the comment he made about the site, further enriched an understanding of things and significant spots valued by Roy, even if just a bit; yet, his posting contributed nicely to the conversation.

We keep coming back here, to MTJ, for the conversation and, perhaps, even some camaraderie. It sure isn't the food.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I don't think the word "hate' was meant in the context you're taking it in. This little ditty was just supposed to be a silly realization that brings a smile, for what ever reason....

BH

I understood its context and the hyperbole of its use. I just elected to pivot on it to make my point, inspired by the "poster" in the first place about the experience of being with folks of the same age as I. And by the way, I noticed the bottom of the sign stated the sentiment was made by a female entity.

[healey36]

This year I'm thinking of hitting homecoming at the college I attended...it's been forty years, and I've lost a number of my closest college friends in the past few years. I don't plan on participating in any of the school-organized functions, just wander around, do some tail-gating at the football game, have a few beers at the local hangouts. Depends on who amongst us survivors have interest...if everyone poo-poo's the idea, then I probably will too.

Those four years of undergrad remain the formative period of my life. There I found my social footing, the friends I made there have persisted, while the guys I knew in high school have largely gone by the wayside. High school reunions hold no interest for me...that was generally a miserable period I've tried to blot out over time, lol.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

This year I'm thinking of hitting homecoming at the college I attended...it's been forty years.....

Strangely enough, my better half was encouraging me to go to my 40th next year - I'm not sure that there will be a single soul there that I will know as well as there being a reciprocal condition in play. I knew who these people were 40 years ago, but I knew very, very few of them. I was never a part of the social scene.

I may go.

I don't plan on participating in any of the school-organized functions, just wander around,

That would be my plan as well.

Those four years of undergrad remain the formative period of my life.

While much of it was jumping through a series of hoops, a focused aspect was not; I concede something similar as that aspect opened doors to where I have been and am now.

[Mitch]

How about sharing some photos, Mitch

Murph, there are precious few pictures of me or the family during my school years. My Dad had two cameras. One was an old Ansco double reflex 35mm that the shutter spring broke in. The other was his "new" Kodak 35mm that maybe shot two rolls of film in its life. He kept the camera in the original box, and it usually only came out at Christmas.

I never had a camera until after boot camp and assigned to the USS Cabildo in Long Beach, Calif, I bought a little Kodak Instamatic at the Exchange on the base. Think it was less than $10, (a lot of money when I only cleared $33 every two weeks), and used Kodak 110 film, the type where you just drop a cartridge in and start winding, and when the pics are done, drop the cartridge off for development. The pics come back approximately 4" x 4". I probably have some of those pics in a box in the attic, but I'm not goin' up there to dig 'em out. When stationed in Gitmo, I sprung for a Yashica 35mm camera. I think I shot maybe two rolls out of that camera and the battery corroded and ruined it. In the late '80s, I bought my Canon AE1 program camera, with a 70mm-210mm zoom lens, a 28mm wide angle lens, and the stock 50mm lens. Still have it, (though the battery door spring broke on it), but I haven't had it out of the case in years. I think Fuji (and Walmart) still make 35mm film. I bought my first digital camera 3 years ago, a cheap little Canon Power Shot. Still have tons of pics left on the original memory card. So I'm just not big into preserving my own history.

[Roy]

It's only been in the last few years I've had a digital camera. All my photos are of my projects. I processed and posted some of my Lionel General conversion, which is the last thing I got to a sharable level of finish. They are on the 3 rail board.

I understand that most "model railroaders" are big on buildings and scenery. I'm not. Never have been. I like the trains themselves.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It's only been in the last few years I've had a digital camera. All my photos are of my projects. I processed and posted some of my Lionel General conversion, which is the last thing I got to a sharable level of finish. They are on the 3 rail board.

I understand that most "model railroaders" are big on buildings and scenery. I'm not. Never have been. I like the trains themselves.

Roy, I'd love to see your work. Where on that sub-forum should I go, or would you consider sharing some of those photos here?

P.S. And regarding being "big on buildings and scenery" or big on "the trains" themselves, each of us in this hobby has our preferences, and are respected accordingly, I would hope. I have the impression that we, each of us, discovered our chief or sole interests in this hobby of ours as we went along. I know I did.

To me, without the trains posing and zipping through a vista, it is an empty canvas, like seeing a painting laid flat, ostensibly beautiful and, marvelous but lifeless. This is, after all, a model train hobby, not a scenery hobby (which may sound funny coming from me, I realize.) However, for me, giving the trains somewhere to be and somewhere to go, and somewhere from which to return, makes the whole presentation and self-expression something able to be happily shared with others, which for me is the essence of life - sharing and being with others - even via the Internet experience.

I love those trains, and I love making the places they go, too.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...Those four years of undergrad remain the formative period of my life. There I found my social footing...

Completely true for me, too. College in Ohio changed me from a steel-mill-town boy (you can make your own conclusions about what that might have meant) to being, for some of my hometown associates, somebody completely unrecognizable from the kid who delivered newspapers, then shoveled as a sewer cleaner-outer that ran under this hell, and emigrated to a wholly different world, far, far away from what you see here.....


The sewer I cleaned out daily ran under such pits as these hellholes...