by Storytime with GamerDude
Products, stores and brands come and go, some more quickly than others. In this episode, GamerDude talks about some of the things he grew up with that were a part of every day life and that now simply no longer exist. He talks about brands, like Texaco, and Zenith, and RCA. He remembers old airlines, like Pan Am, TWA and Eastern. He talks about some of the stores that were huge once upon a time, like Tower Records, Circuit City and Blockbuster. He remembers products, like Polaroid cameras and Time-Life books. He recalls some of the restaurants he used to go to, from Burger Chef to the Ponderosa Steakhouse. And, he remembers some of the foods, and snacks, and drinks that were very good but that have disappeared from our lives. He talks about Jello Pudding Pops, and Snapple Elements and Carnation Breakfast Bars, as well as one of his favorites: Dunkaroos!
When GamerDude was growing up, there was no internet to "hang out" on, or to shop on, or to meet people on. The "hang out" was the shopping mall. Shopping malls popped up all across the country and, as it turns out, had many of the same stores coast-to-coast. GamerDude talks about the main stores he remembers, from the large "anchor" stores like Sears, JC Penney, and Macy's, to the smaller chains. The malls had clothing stores, like Casual Corner and Chess King, and shoe stores, like Kinney and Thom McAn. You could find books at B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, and electronics and software at Electronics Boutique and Software Etc. Before Yankee Candle, there was Wicks and Sticks, and through it all, Spencer's Gifts is still around. GamerDude also talks about the food court, where you could find Hot Sam's pretzels and Hickory Farm and the deliciousness of Orange Julius. And, he remembers the relative "fanciness" of The Ground Round. He also remembers the arcades; malls, both big and small, had arcades for the kids to hang out in, and the larger arcades would get the new release games before anyone else. It was the mall arcades where you could find the large, sit-down versions of games like Star Wars and pilot your own X-Wing fighter. GamerDude remembers what it was like to hang out in the arcade with friends, or to walk through the mall with a date. It was the perfect opportunity to get to know someone, and one that is lost to the way the world has changed.
Going to the grocery store is often one of the least favorite shopping trips for most people, and GamerDude remembers that it was no better when he was a kid. Still, despite how terribly boring it was to go, he still learned a lot about budgeting, saving money, and getting the store to give you exactly what you're looking for. He talks about his mom and her little red clicker that she used to keep track of the household budget. He remembers her use of coupons, and how she price shopped between brand names and generic products. He learned that it was okay to tell the butcher exactly how you wanted your cold cuts sliced ("paper thin, please!") and how to get spare bones for the dog. And he remembers taking those skills to the Kroger supermarket he shopped at in college. He also remembers "sample day" at Kroger, where he and his friends would dine on the various sample trays at the store as they completed the weekly shopping trip for chips and soda, and remembers coming home to shop at the bakery outlets in New Jersey because he couldn't find any in Ohio. He concludes by talking about bags, and how paper bags were the only kind of bags that existed when he grew up. They gave way to plastic bags, which are now giving way to re-usable bags, all of which GamerDude finds simply ridiculous.
GamerDude is a huge fan of movies, as his earlier episodes about favorite movies and dreaded movie tropes show. This week, he talks about the movie-going experience and compares the way it is today to the way it was when he was a kid. His recent trip to see Captain Marvel reminded him of how the experience has changed. Today, people have big screen TVs at home, with DVDs they can watch, and sound systems they can use, that can come close to duplicating the "feeling" of the movies. When he was a kid, "big screen" TVs had a 25 inch tube, and movies were interrupted by commercials, and the sound was filtered through tinny speakers in the console. Today, people bring snacks, have meals, text, call, and talk throughout the movies, and seem to have little regard for others in the theater. When GamerDude was a kid, going to the movies was an experience, and he talks about the thrill of going to the darkened theater, waiting for the lights to dim, and diving in to whatever world the movie was about to show him. He talks about how he misses the days of the magic that going to the movies brought, how the original Star Wars and Raider of the Lost Ark were two of his earliest "magical" movies, and how he wishes the experience, and the wonder, and the magic he felt as a kid could be duplicated today.
GamerDude's recent trip to Florida, and his battle to get two seats together on American Airlines, inspired this week's episode. GamerDude talks about how booking tickets on planes on the internet today is very different from having to call each airline's 800 number to get schedules and tickets when he was younger. He talks about the recent trip he and Mrs. GD took, where American Airlines "spun the wheel of random seating" and gave them two tickets, randomly placed in the plane, and required a fee for each seat to get two seats together - even though the tickets were bought together. He also talks about Peoples Express, one of the first discount airlines, and how convenient and inexpensive it made air travel in the 1980s. He talks about how easy it used to be to fly, and how inconvenient flying has become over the years. He also talks about Spirit Air, the spiritual successor to Peoples Express, and how he prefers their upfront style of selling airfare and all the trimmings.
Taking a page from Johnny Carson's playbook, GamerDude created this "Best of Storytime" episode. It's a re-run that's not a re-run; rather, it's highlights from previous episodes that have gotten the most mentions from listeners, or that GameDude especially likes. In this week's Best Of episode, GamerDude has included the stories of his first date in 8th grade, some thoughts about the power of music, the feelings about friendship inspired by the original Star Trek series, and his driving pet peeves. Enjoy!
The title for this episode comes from a quote by Dr. Maxwell Maltz: "Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand brake on." Low self-esteem is just one of the many insecurities GamerDude has dealt with in his life; that was built in to being "the fat kid" in school. In this episode, he talks about how he came to recognize the insecurities he faced as a child, and the things that spawned them. He remembers being taunted in school, and being picked last in sports, and feeling mortified at having to participate in the "dance unit" during physical education classes. He talks about a party in high school where he truly believed that absolutely no one wanted to talk to him. He also talks about the things he did - and continues to do - to help overcome those insecurities. He remembers the first time he shook off the fear of "what other people thought" in order to dance with the girl he was dating. He talks about learning to trust yourself, to like yourself, and to approve of yourself. He discusses becoming comfortable in your own skin, and realizing that you shouldn't compare yourself to others to determine your worth, and you don't need anyone's approval but your own in order to feel good about yourself.
The longer you live, the more things you see, and that's what GamerDude is talking about in this episode. He talks about the innovation of the transistor radio and how it made music and entertainment portable. He talks about listening to records when he grew up, from vinyl LPs to the little 45s, and his father's old 78s. He remember when cassette tapes came onto the scene, and how they led to the development of the Walkman. He talks about recording the audio on television shows with a cassette recorder before VCRs made it possible to record the actual show. He remembers the "fun" of programming a VCR, and the actual fun of learning how to create a program that made a pixel of the Starship Enterprise sail across the screen of his old Commodor 64. And he talks about how eager he is to see what the future holds, given what he's already seen in his life.
Since starting Storytime, GamerDude has compiled a list of random memories of isolated incidents that happened when he was growing up. Some are brief, some more extended, and they will just pop into GamerDude's head out of the blue. In this episode, he talks about Saturday morning cartoons, from Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry to H.R. Pufenstuf and The Land of the Lost. He remembers "mittens on a string" and "soap on a rope." He talks about the time he wandered off with the family dog when he was a toddler, and how he discovered the "joys" of Listerine after his mother found him eating dirt in the garden. He talks about how certain smells trigger memories from his childhood, from the smell of strawberries and evergreens to the musty, leathery, oily smell of old sheds that remind him of his grandfather's shop. And, he remembers the first dirty joke his Dad ever told him. (It's not "dirty" by today's standards, but for 8-year old GamerDude, it was over the line!)
GamerDude returns to one of his favorite topics - food! He reminisces about his mother's homemade biscuits, and how she used them as both sides for dinner and the foundation for her homemade strawberry shortcake. He talks about how he has always tried, but never been able to duplicate his mother's biscuits, and talks about trying to make pie crusts as well. Despite those challenges, he talks about how baking is not as difficult as some would make it seem. He shares some tips he's learned from baking for many years, from the staples to have in the pantry to tips on baking, from how to mix ingredients to how to test a cake for doneness. He then shares one of his chocolate chip cookie recipes (but does NOT advocate eating the uncooked cookie dough, because that would be unhealthy), and closes the episode with a tip on how to create a substitute for buttermilk. If you need a confidence boost about your baking skills, or simply want a great cookie recipe, this is your episode!