To wrap up the "Blog a Day in May" Challenge, I wanted to mention 5 toys that I never got growing up that I wanted really badly. (Santa, you let me down) 1) Star Wars toys - I asked for so many things and never once got one, not even an action figure. When other kids would bring theirs in for show and tell, I'd only be envious. 2) Operation - You would think for a simple board game this would be an easy request. No clue why I never got it, but the commercials had a jingle that you just couldn't get out of your head.
3) GI Joe aircraft carrier - I never had a lot of GI Joe stuff, but this is something that I thought would be way to cool not to have. Looking back, it was the best thing for me that I never got it. A friend in the neighborhood had one, it was freakin' huge.
4) Telescope - I knew when I was young I wanted one, but could never figure out why. Astronomy never interested me, I just thought it would be cool to have a telescope. We had too many trees around to ever use one to spy on the neighbors, it was probably for the best that I never got one. 5) B.B. gun - Even though "A Chirstmas Story" is one of my favorite holiday movies, it's probably best I didn't get one. I'm sure I would have broken a window or something if I would have gotten one.
Toy #16 - HeMan Lunch Box Why Chosen: Seemed like every kid in my elementary school had a lunch box graced with a popular cartoon at the time, mine was no different. This also brings the first toy I blogged about come back full circle as HeMan was popular in my household. Technically, this isn't a toy, but it's based on one and let's face it; you gotta eat lunch, this is a necessity.
Worst thing to ever happen to this toy: My brother and I had matching lunch boxes so I think I was the one to put a big sticker on the outside of mine to tell the two apart, no doubt that hurt any resale value. My HeMan thermos developed a leak at one point, so I got a G.I. Joe version to replace it. At the time I thought it was weird to not have the lunch box and thermos not match. At one point in time, it became uncool to use a lunch box and the trend became brown paper sacks; R.I.P. lunch box.
Where are they know?: Probably stashed away in my parents garage somewhere, my mom's too nostalgic to have thrown it out or donate it.
If I could play with them now, would I?: Only if there was some resale value where I could put it on eBay.
Relevant in today's times: No, but at least this guy has a Youtube video about the same lunch box.
Toy #15 - Wiffle Bat Why Chosen: This may be the most simple toy that I've blogged about, but one that I had fun with for years doing many different things. I think I got it when I was 5 or 6, but I remember using it as late as high school. It started off as being used for exactly what it was intended, wiffle ball games. Sometimes it was just a parent tossing a ball and me hitting it, other times it was with my brother and I taking turns hitting and pitching. I can only remember once or twice playing with the neighborhood kids. Later in life, it turned into a pool toy having games of pool baseball when we moved into a house with a pool at age 11. As I got older, I realized that I could be a big help to my parents and clear off the drive way of hickory nuts, large acorns and other round things that fell from trees. I would collect a small bucket of whatever I found and take one at a time, toss it in the air and try to hit them over the fence with the wiffle bat. Not to worry, on the other side of the fence was an open field, not a neighbor's yard. This was one of the few activities I would embark on by myself as a kid. As an introvert all my life, I was very content doing this on a regular basis.
Worst thing to ever happen to this toy: When I got older, I put the bat through a lot of abuse but it never broke. Hitting rocks and golf balls with the bat didn't help it out much, but it survived. I never broke any windows or anything, so I thing I managed to never damage anything.
Where are they now?: I would guess thrown away. The years of abuse left it warped, discolored, and full of dents. If it's still sitting in my parents garage, I'd be very surprised.
If I could play with them now, would I?: I played softball a lot in college, grad school and beyond and have since come into possession of a real softball bat. There really is no need to have a wiffle bat any more, but I can't say I wouldn't fight the urge to toss some acorns up in the air and try to hit them if I still had a wiffle bat; my apartment complex might not like it.
Relevant in today's times: Yep, they still sell them everywhere and some colleges/universities even have wiffle ball as an Intramural sport. There's all sorts of Youtube videos using wiffle bats, I'm pretty sure the one below was filmed at Gibbs Hall on the UT campus. That wasn't the building I worked in as an RA, but I knew it well. Gibbs Hall is one half scholarship athletes and the other half guys like this who aren't athletes ( he claimed that "if it's made for kids, it can't possibly hurt me").
Why Chosen: I could choose from just about anything that Nerf had made in the late 80's and early 90's, we had a lot of stuff. This was fun because it was a good reason to take something padded and have me and my brother hit each other senselessly with it and not be overly violent. Yeah, we'd stab and hit each other with the swords a little too hard sometime, but it was supposed to be safe with Nerf (and usually was).
Worst thing to happen to this toy: After many uses, you can imagine that the foam swords would start to show their wear and tear. They would either be permanently bowed or the ends would start to fray/shread.
Where are they now?: These had to still be in decent enough shape to donate or sell at a garage sale. We weren't so harsh with them that they had to be thrown away.
If I could play with them now, would I?: No, don' think that I would.
Relevant in today's times: If you want to see people playing with foam swords, just venture out to Landis Green on the weekends. The LARPer's don't use a Nerf version, but still use a padded version. I was with Tyler, one of our Student Activities GA's, the first time he went to Landis Green and the only thing he could say was, "Looks like something you would see in the movie Role Models."
Why Chosen: This was a simple toy, but also one of my favorite TV shows of all time (see intro above). As a kid, I loved watching this show and seeing what a talking car could accomplish. The toy itself was about 18 inches long, so it was a pretty good size. In addition, it talked in the voice of KITT. If it had fresh batteries in it, you could push down on the back license plate and it would repeat some of the cool phrases that only KITT would say, like "Activate the Turbo Boost." Way too cool! If the batteries weren't fresh, it would be a slow motion sounding voice and not be the same. At the time, I didn't realize how cool it would have been to save the Michael Knight (aka David Hasselhoff) action figure.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: Since the car in the show would make all sort of jumps and tricks, it was only natural to try and recreate them. The car held up pretty well, but I put that thing through some abuse.
Where are they now?: No clue, probably joined the stack of toys sold at a garage sale or donated to charity.
If I could play with them now, would I?: No, it would be nothing more than a decoration at this point.
Relevant in today's times: David Hasselhoff seems to never go away, he's always involved in something so his career is still going. As far as the tv show/franchise, it tried. NBC tried to bring back the show but it just didn't work (see intro below). I was a fan when they brought it back in 2008 but it strayed too far from what made the original popular; went way too top secret and took on some over the top. By the time they went back to what worked, it was too late to save the show. Deanna Russo was my celebrity crush of 2008, so I thank the creators of this remake for bringing her into the public eye.
I'm taking a break from my regularly scheduled blogging topic to share with you the funniest email forward I have ever received. Pocket Taser Stun Gun
Pocket Taser Stun Gun, a great gift for the wife. This was submitted by a guy who purchased his lovely wife a "Pocket Taser" for their anniversary.
Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 22nd anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Toni. What I came across was a 100,000 volt, pocket/purse-sized taser. The effects of the taser were suppose to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety.... WAY TOO COOL!
Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two triple A batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arch of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. Awesome!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Toni what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.
Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-a batteries, right?!!!
There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?
So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.
All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-a batteries, thinking to myself, "no possible way!"
What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best.....
I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, "don't do it master," reasoning that a one-second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad.. I decided to give myself a one-second burst just for the heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and HOLY MOTHER, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION@!@$@$%!@ *!!!
I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs.
The cat was standing over me making meowing sounds I had never heard before, licking my face, undoubtedly thinking to herself, "do it again, do it again!"
Note: If you ever feel compelled to "mug" yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one-second burst when you zap yourself. You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative.
SON-OF-A-.. that hurt like he**!!! A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. How did they up get there??? My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I'm still looking for my testicles? I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return.
Toy #12 - Play Doh Why Chosen: Even though I wasn't the most artistic kid growing up, there was something fun about playing with Play Doh. There were no instructions, so there was no right or wrong thing you could make out of the stuff. There was a time when my brother and I like playing with the stuff so much that my grandmother made us a batch of this stuff at her house. I still never got the Fun Factory that I wanted as a kid (see commercial below), but there was no shortage of cookie cutters to use while playing with this stuff.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: We were pretty rough with this stuff. If there was something that you made out of it and wanted to save it and show it off at a later date, it would dry out and be useless. That was the #1 cause of losing Play Doh, having it dry out. Also mixing the colors wasn't the best idea, you'd never the get the original color back. Lastly, some of this stuff did get caught in the carpet or on the furniture.
Where are they now?: Without a doubt, in the trash.
If I could play with them now, would I?: No, the stuff smelled bad and would leave your hands smelling weird. I'll probably never touch the stuff again, I kind of feel the same way about Silly Putty.
Relevant in today's times: Yes, this toy will never go away.
Why Chosen: One of my all time favorite line of toys growing up. I even found a picture of the first ever figure I had, RamJet. Transformers were awesome, they were robots that transformed into planes/vehicles. What boy at the time wouldn't enjoy it. There was also a cool cartoon series (see intro below) that was popular in my youth, I watched it almost as much as I watched He-Man. To show my ever loving allegiance to the toy franchise at all ages, they had a modern day cartoon series back in the early 2000's that I would watch after work and before classes my first year of grad school.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: These toys were so full of small pieces, they broke off all the time. I remember at one point in time there being a box full of spare parts, broken pieces, and weapons. These toys were made to look at, not really play with; it's sad because I enjoyed them so much.
Where are they now?: Some combination of thrown away, donated, and sold at a garage sale.
If I could play with them now, would I: Maybe for a short time. It would be fun to try and fully transform them from one form to another, but that would be all the fun I would have with them now.
Relevant in today's times: YES, probably the most so of any toy I've blogged about so far. With the two movies made that have made a crap-ton of money and a third on the way, I'd say that the Transformers are going to be awhile for a long time. News broke today that Megan Fox won't come back for the third one; it's a sad day for men everywhere.
Why Chosen: I grew up with my dad playing golf a lot, so it was natural to try things that he did. Usually, we only played min-golf on vacations and it was always a lot of fun. The really fun part about playing indoor golf like this was the creativity in designing your own holes (like the commercial shows below). My brother and I would take turns designing a course to play and it usually involved having the first few holes upstairs and criss-crossing rooms to make a challenging course and the remaining holes would be downstairs. There used to always be a hole that involved starting at the top of the stairs and finishing somewhere downstairs. Doing the opposite way, starting down and going up would have been foolish as I'm sure something would have gotten broken (there is no Nerf pitching wedge).
Worst thing to happen to this toy: Since we had fun with this, I really don't think anything bad happened. I don't think anything was ever broken; I'm sure the people at Nerf would have liked to know that.
Where are they now?: Sold at a garage sale or given away . . . no clue really.
If I could play with them now, would I?: No, I prefer the real, overpriced, outdoor version. Plus, I've grown up and graduated to real golf. I'm still not a great putter, so I guess all the indoor golf was played for no reason.
Relevant in today's times: Not the indoor version, but I have an iPhone app called "Mini Golf" and you can't miss an outdoor version at any tourist town in America. Go to Panama City, Orlando, or Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg if you don't believe me.
Why Chosen: These were fun toys, but I have to admit that I was a Hot Wheels kids when I was really young, but these were so much better when I was a little bit older. I had a lot of these little cars, they really were about the size of a quarter. I also had a lot of the corresponding things like the other picture above, a toolbox that turned into a small city. There were other automotive items (gas can, distributor cap, can of oil, etc) that turned into things that could make everything combined turned into a big city.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: These things were actually pretty durable, kind of surprised for things that were so small. I treated these well because I liked them so much and was a little older (5th-6th grade) when there were really popular. If there was anything bad that really happened to them, it would be in the next section . . .
Where are they now?: I remember my parents having a garage sale when I was in high school and letting them put these up for sale. There was a pretty big box full of all this stuff and it should have gone in the $20-$30 range at the minimum. My dad didn't really know too much about all this stuff and sold the entire box for $5. I was on a school trip the day of the garage sale, but remember hearing about it when I got home. I told him that was for way too little and my mom agreed, but she wasn't around when he made the sale. To this day, that sale still gets brought up from time to time when I'm at home with my parents. I'm too old to really care about it now, but someone got a great deal that day.
If I could play with them now, would I?: I kind of already have in the last 6 months. I found one carrying case of these in the top of my closet when I was at my parents house at Christmas. I didn't pull them out and play with them, but just opening up the case and seeing most of the vehicles again brought back a lot of memories.
Relevant in today's times: In some ways it is. I don't think that small toy cars ever go out of style, but this actual line of toys aren't around any more. How many of you remember the guy from the commercials? He was parodied on an episode of Family Guy within the last couple of seasons.
Why Chosen: After remembering how much fun I had with the Remote Control Car from one of my blog entries last week, it had me thinking about the indoor version we had (see above video). This was quite large and a lot of fun to have set up in our basement playroom. Getting it set up and running was a lot of fun, I wish it had a vertical loop where the cars go upside down but at that age unless I was going to go out and buy one myself, this would have to do.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: The worst thing about this toy was that sometimes while the cars were going around the track, they would just stop. I figured out at the time that it was for one of two reasons. 1) Somewhere along the track, the metal connecting the different track pieces would come apart just enough to disrupt the electrical circuit. 2) The track pieces would be unevenly connected to where there was just enough of a dip/rise between the two pieces where it would act like a speed bump. In either case, you'd have to sometimes inspect every piece of the track and find out where the bad connection was; sometimes easy, sometimes not.
The worst thing that I ever did to this toy was that if you had the trigger on the control pulled all the way back when it was going up the hill (as seen in the commercial), the car would keep going up and fly off the track; sometimes it would hit the wall. Nothing ever broke off of it, but it might fly off the track intentionally sometimes.
Where are they now?: No clue, most likely donated to a thrift store or sold at a garage sale.
If I could play with them now, would I: Yes, it would be a lot of fun if my parents still had it but I wouldn't go out and buy a new one.
Relevant in today's time?: Yep, you can still buy racing kits like this, but they just aren't as popular as they used to be.
I couldn't find an actual picture of this toy, but to stick with my blog entries always having pictures, I present two more Berenstain Bear books that will never be published.
Why chosen: I read a lot of these books in my early childhood days, it had to have been early elementary school. There was always a great lesson to learn while reading this series and sometimes you could even watch a cartoon series based on the books. I don't know why I was drawn to these or liked them so much, but I do remember them being my favorite books to read when I first started reading.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: I kept the books in good shape, I don't think that anything bad ever happened to them.
Where are they now?: Darn good question. Knowing my mom, I'm sure she saved them because she knew I liked them so much. There is a shelf of children's books on the bookshelf at their house, but I guess I could add this to my list of "toy's I'm blogging about to search for next time I go home" list.
If I could play with them today, would I?: Sure, I might one or two for old times sake. Seriously, they couldn't take more than 2-3 minutes each to read, could they?
Relevant in today's times?: According to Wikipedia, there was an updated series made in 2003, so I'd say it's still somewhat relevant on certain PBS stations in syndication. If they started making books like the ones listed below, I'd have to buy them just to say that I owned them.
Toy #6 - Atari 2600 Why Chosen: I know that the Commodore 64 was a rival out at about the same time, but we were an Atari family. This proved to be one of the greatest things that any kid could ask for in the 8-bit graphic era of video games. In addition, you could play on a black and white TV and still be able to tell everything about the game being played, the grayscale was that awesome on this pioneer of the video game era. Throw in the fact that some stores would sell video games at $3-4 each and you could expect a new game from the parents at any time. My parents never got into the video games on the Atari, it wasn't until Tetris on the original Nintendo that they played at all.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: Can't recall a whole bunch that went wrong here. We were rough on the joysticks and the rubber cover would come off and they could still be usuable. I think we broke a couple joysticks because some games were not playable with either the one button not responding of there would be no sensitivity while moving the joystick around. The only other thing that I can think we did bad to this was simple abandonment. After we got a Nintendo (then later a Sega Genesis), the Atari became outdated and forgotten about.
Where are they now?: Not a clue, the system could be anywhere and I wouldn't have the slightest idea. I think most of the games were given to a friend in high school because he loved retro/vintage things and wanted to build up his Atari game collection.
If I could play with them today, would I?: No, I'm not much of a video game player anymore. With the exception of some Wii Sports or Rock Band at parties/gatherings, my video game playing days are behind me. Some of my fellow blog contest participants would never give up video games. If they were to come up with an iPhone app for Atari, I'd reconsider.
Relevant in today's times?: Video games = yes. Atari = no. Look at the commercial below, they stand no chance of competing in today's market.
Toy #5 - M.A.S.K. Why chosen: This should have been one of the first clues in my childhood that I was going to major in Engineering when I got to college. This toy had everything an engineer loves, it transformed from an ordinary mode of transportation to something that was combat ready. Certain vehicles shot plastic missiles, which at the time was way too cool. This was a true toy for any boy out there. In my research on the toy, it's going to show my age, as it was most popular in 1984-86 (K - 2nd grade). There was even a cartoon that went with this line of toys. Whatever marketing strategies the toy companies used, it worked on me (see commercial below, the music in the background is from the old cartoon series).
Worst thing to happen to this toy: The toys themselves actually survived ok, there might have been a small part or two lost/broken but they survived my childhood for the most part. The worst thing that I remember doing with the toys would be to use the heavier plastic missiles to knock down some Lincoln Log projects that my brother did. Eventually, we made a game out of it: who could knock down the structure in the least amount of shots.
Where are they now?: I have a feeling that my parents hung on to these for some reason. I want to say that I saw them in a box the last time my parents moved 6 six years ago. Much like the remote control car, I need to look for these the next time that I go visit my parents.
If I could play with them today, would I?" No, but it would be fun to see them again and bring back some memories. If they're in good enough shape, I'd consider putting them up on Ebay.
Relevant in today's times?: Absolutely no relevance today, kind of disappointing.
Why Chosen: This was a fun toy from back in the day, it was one of the few artistic activities that I enjoyed and it didn't take a lot of talent to figure out how to use it. I enjoyed all the pre-designed templates that told you what color to put where and the different cartoon themes that there were to choose from. I don't remember all the different refills that we had to choose from, but I do remember G.I. Joe, the Muppets, and Disney. The commercial below also has a very catchy jingle.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: The little plastic, colored lights would all the time get lost in the carpet or broken. There may have a time or two that we tried to make a game out of "hide 10 lights in the carpet and see if you can find them all". We didn't find them all, but the vacuum cleaner did. It wasn't hard to tell when one of parents would run over one with the vacuum, I still remember that sound.
Where are they now?: This is one toy that the base for sure got donated and so did the remaining lights. All of refills probably got thrown away, they weren't any good after one use.
If I could play with them today, would I?: No, they were fun at the time but I don't think I would play with them again if given the chance.
Relevant in today's times?: Yes, just ask Buddy the Elf, he used them to welcome Santa to Gimbel's Department Store.
Why Chosen: This was one of my favorite toys growing up, I had so much fun playing with this and the picture above is the exact model that I had. Everyday after school, weather permitting, my dad would usually have the RC Cars (yep, my brother had one too) ready to go when we got off the school bus. We'd race them around the yard and set up obstacles and jumps to have a little extra fun with them. The turbo feature was cool too. There was even a switch on the back that let you set the speed at fast or slow, but on the fast setting the batteries would die quicker. This was the first toy I remember having with rechargeable batteries.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: We tried to recreate some of the scenarios from the TV commercial (see below) and parts of the car might break off (half the front bumper, plastic headlights) if it landed the wrong way. We were rough on those things, but it was a lot of fun seeing what jumps we make. You wouldn't think that it would be hard to run the tire treads on an RC car down to nothing, be we proved you could.
Where are they now: No clue, but I wish I knew where it was now. I'd love to take it for a spin around my parents backyard if they have it anywhere in their attic or garage. I don't think it was in good enough shape to give away, so it might be hidden away somewhere. Note to self, look for it next time I go visit my parents.
If I could play with them today, would I?: Without a doubt, yes! When I lived in Starkville, MS I actually thought on more than one occasion about going out and buying one. There wasn't a lot to do in Starkville, so I would have enjoyed having a new one to play with.
Relevant in today's times?: Sure, there's still a following for them and you can find them at any toy store but unless you want to pay a good bit of money for a good model you're only going to find cheap versions in the store.
Why chosen: I remember this being an exciting gift, but can't really remember why I asked for. I do remember getting it for Christmas one year, surprisingly enough, my brother got some equipment too. The biggest reason I enjoyed playing with this in my youth was that I was a big Star Wars fan growing up and having a Lazer Tag gun and playing the game would be the closest thing to being part of that universe. The gun even made cool sounds when you pulled the trigger.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: Nothing bad really ever happened to it, but they would go though batteries quickly or you might shoot the targets at point blank range and nothing would register. This was not a toy that could easily be used by yourself. If the urge to play with this came on and no one was around to play with, I'd turn the target on and set it on a bookshelf while shooting at it from behind a piece of furniture. This way, I could pop up, take a shot and duck back down like someone was shooting back at me. All of this makes me sound like I was a lonely boy, but I wasn't.
Where are they now: I have no idea, I'm sure they were sold in a garage sale or donated somewhere for a good cause.
If I could still play with them today, would I?: Maybe not in the setting of my home or someone else's, but I'd go to a place like Fun Station and play the version they have there.
Relevant in today's times?: Yes, Lazer Tag is a favorite past time of Barney Stinson from "How I Met Your Mother" and I love that show.
The theme of my blog begins today, although after yesterday's post, I could blog about the flooding in Nashville all month long. The long awaited theme of the month . . . . toys I played with as a kid.
After some conversations with friends and my brother recently, it doesn't matter how old we all get yet we all still feel like we haven't grown up yet. These are friends of mine that are married and have kids, yet they sometimes still feel like kids themselves. In order to slow down our aging process, I'd like to revisit my youth and share with you all the things that I enjoyed playing with as a kid and why I don't play with those things any more. This list is in no particular order, so just because I post something today doesn't mean I liked it any more than stuff I post about later in the month.
Toy #1 - He-Man collection
Why chosen: This is probably the single most collection of toys/action figures that I had growing up and a favorite cartoon of mine (see video above). Between my brother and I, we had most of the action figures, vehicles and castles but didn't have everything.
Worst thing to happen to this toy: Two things come to mind. Number one, a small container of slime came with one of the castles and the entire contents happened to spill on the carpet one day. The slime got taken away from us, but it wasn't hidden very well. The second thing was when my brother and I learned that all the arms could be taken off most of the action figures. We thought it would be a good idea to take them all off and mix and match the arms on the different figures. Turned out that not all of them were so easy to be put back on, we got in a lot of trouble for that one.
Where are they now: I think they're up in my parents attic somewhere. It's been a long time since I've seen them but I'm pretty sure that's where they are. I don't know why we chose to save them, maybe it was because my parents invested so much money into all of it.
If I could still play with them today, would I?: Probably not, but setting them all up and looking at them again could be a lot of fun.
Relevant in today's times?: Sadly, no; not since a failed remake of the cartoon series back in 2002.
So I've decided to delay the theme of the blog for one more day. For the past couple of days, I can't seem to take myself away from the news coming out of Tennessee with all the flooding and record rainfalls. Unofficial rainfall totals are in the 16-20" range for Friday-Sunday. On Monday at work, I was watching the streaming online coverage from one of Nashville's news affiliates and I couldn't believe what they were showing. I have to give Keith Olbermann (whom I'm not a fan of) some credit with his view on how the Oil Spill in the Gulf, failed terrorist bombing in NYC and Arizona immigration laws are overshadowing the natural disaster in Tennessee (please watch the video below). He couldn't be more right about what's going on in Tennessee.
Most of you know that Nashville is where I grew up, I still consider it home and have a lot of family there. The amount of damage that has happened is shocking. The Opryland area sustained heavy damage and the hotel, Opry Mills mall, and the Opry House will be out of commission for months. The downtown area suffered a bit of damage too but I have a feeling that it will be quicker to rebound than the Opryland area.
My parents live 5 minutes from the Opryland area and I've been there more times than I can count; I can't believe what I've seen on TV. My mom works part time in the hotel, but she won't be working there for the foreseeable future, if ever again. Luckily, my family escaped serious damage: my parents had water in the garage, my aunt had water in her basement and my uncle's swimming pool is now a muddy mess from what I hear.
My friend Lillian and her husband Brian didn't get as lucky but it could have been worse. She told me on Sunday that water was coming up through the foundation on to their parquet floors. Yesterday she told me that they had to rip all the floors and baseboards up in their finished basement. They live close to the Cumberland River and from what they told me, the water level crept into their backyard but never got to the house. The neighbors behind them weren't that lucky.
Most everyone affected in TN don't have flood insurance because this flood was unprecedented in the state's history. There are going to be messy insurance claims and lawsuits coming out of this flood. The biggest issue that I see is insurance companies trying to write everything off as flood damage and not paying off claims, when in fact that some houses (like Lillian's) had water damage but not due to flood waters. I told her to take a ton of pictures and to fight it, I hope that it works out for her and Brian.
There's a ton of damage to the entire Middle TN area and it pains me to be so far away and not able to help. I don't know when I'll be up in Nashville again, but I hope it's soon so I can help somewhere doing something.
After last year's Blog a Day in May Challenge, all the participants learned a lot about one another and each of our blogs were are great representation of our different personalities. Kudos to Regina for getting us organized and ready to go for 2010. If it wasn't for her, a winner from last year would have never been determined. To all my readers and followers, I was voted the winner of the 2009 Challenge.
The theme I had last year was challenging towards the end of the month, but reflecting back on different things in my life was a lot of fun. It's safe to say that Top 5 Lists won't be the theme I choose this year, but there will be a theme of some kind.
Here are the participants for this year's Challenge:
Each blogger must submit 1 post every weekday in May – after 12:01am before 11:59pm each day.
Each post must have words – no limit, but just be sure you have put some thought into your post - This is not a scrapbooking contest à compliments of Meghan in 2009
Must request the day off via email to all competition participants. Participants may approve or deny request – majority rules.
Participants must submit blog name before contest begins.
All participants should follow other participants.
All participants should read other bloggers post for support and voting.
You must post about the challenge in your first blog post, although it doesn’t have to be the majority of the post.
Mid-week vacations are not exempt from blogging!!!
In the mean time, if anyone has any suggestions on where the other bloggers can take me for my celebratory lunch/dinner, please let me know.
