Way Back When...

I caught myself doing it again... Here I am, listening to music at work (ah, the luxuries, eh?) and suddenly "Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats comes on. Instantly, I'm catapulted back 21 years into the past...

It was a time of Rugby Pants and T-Shirts with glittery iron-on decals. A time when I could get out of bed, smooth down the parts of my hair that were standing at attention, and go off to school. A time when said school was still in the same neighborhood as my house, so Mom could force me to walk there, regardless of the blizzard raging outside.

And, it was Grade 6... That final year of Elementary when you are the kings and queens of the school, the fear of going to Junior High and being nothing but a peon again still distant enough to ignore. The Commodore VIC 20 was enjoying the distinction of being one of the most popular Home Computers (with color! Eat your heart out Apple...) and we never missed an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard.

I can still picture the inside of the library at Terrace Road Elementary the day of my Grade 6 "graduation"... 20 boys and girls bragging about where they would be going for summer vacation and showing off their photocopied certificates of achievement... Big Tupperware bowls filled with chips and cheezies... Styrofoam cups and 1 litre glass bottles of Coke and 7-Up... A stack of LP's (that's right, good old vinyl records) to dance to... Where was I going with this? Oh yeah! Stray Cats...

So, it turned out that "Rock This Town" was one of the most popular songs played that day, along with "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (who wasn't nearly so white back then). And who was the cool kid who brought the Stray Cats to the dance? Well, that would be yours truly. Unfortunately, that's all there is to this little trip down memory lane. Nothing really exciting happened... It wasn't a defining moment in my social development... No, it's just the image that pops into my head when I hear those rock-a-billy sounds.

I tried to share this experience with my co-worker, the guy I share an office with. He just turned around in his chair and said, "Yeah, I think I was born then..." Well, now that I know he thinks I'm old, I guess I won't bother telling him that today is my birthday... Nah, I'll just smile and go back to listening to my tunes. Hey! "She Blinded Me With Science"! Cool!


P.S. My humblest apologies for the shameless way I slipped my birthday into the blog. I promise not to let it happen again for at least a year...