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Favorite birthday gifts....
Jul. 9th, 2012 04:36 pmYeah, my birthday is coming up soon. And I'm thinking back to some of the gifts I received over the years.
There were a few clunkers, like the Bedknobs and Broomsticks game I got when I was 6. I tried playing it once or twice, but I didn't have the dexterity to balance the ball on the little plastic platform as I added plastic extenders at the bottom.
As for parties, I really don't remember having any birthday parties. Maybe my neighborhood friends came over and helped me celebrate, but I don't have any distinct memories of that happening.
1971: My 7th birthday. I received a Juliette portable cassette tape recorder. (I forgot the model number, but it had a knob instead of piano-key-like buttons, and an external microphone.) For the next 3 years, I'd tape programs off of TV, music from the radio, and conversations with my friends. Then it stopped recording, for some unknown reason. But it still played tapes, so I kept it. I added a headphone jack in 1979. I finally tossed it in either 2002 or 2003.
1974: My 10th birthday. I received a Realistic AM/FM digital clock radio. (I think the model was the Chronomatic 100. Not quite sure of the model number,though.) This had the old leaf-type digits with white numbers painted on black "fins" of plastic; no LEDs or LCDs. One would drop every minute. Years later, the clock mechanism stopped working, and my dad used the radio in his basement workshop. It was moved upstairs to the kitchen when the existing kitchen clock radio died.
1977: My 13th birthday. It wasn't a gift to me per se, but my dad bought himself a Realistic Minisette IV radio and cassette player that year. I used it to re-dub and copy the tapes I already had. We had to replace the AC adapter, as I left it plugged in the wall, didn't have it connected to the tape player, and the adapter melted. It would have caught fire if I hadn't pulled it out of the wall.
1980: My 16th birthday. My parents offered to pay for a trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario with some of the older members of my Boy Scout troop. I think this was their gift to me that year.
1981: My 17th birthday. Not really a birthday gift, as I had graduated from high school the month before. I received a Panasonic RX-5100 boom box. I began taping stuff off the air again, and made cassette copies of my albums. But it had a history of eating tapes, and I had to repalace the plastic door holding the tape. Until recently, I used this as the amplifier for my Minimoog. I still have this unit, and should take it apart and clean it up.
And no, I didn't go out to a bar and get drunk on my 18th or 21st birthdays.
Now, when I celebrate my birthday, it's not about the gifts. I usually go out for a good meal for dinner, and have steak and eggs for breakfast. (It's what the astronauts ate!)
There were a few clunkers, like the Bedknobs and Broomsticks game I got when I was 6. I tried playing it once or twice, but I didn't have the dexterity to balance the ball on the little plastic platform as I added plastic extenders at the bottom.
As for parties, I really don't remember having any birthday parties. Maybe my neighborhood friends came over and helped me celebrate, but I don't have any distinct memories of that happening.
1971: My 7th birthday. I received a Juliette portable cassette tape recorder. (I forgot the model number, but it had a knob instead of piano-key-like buttons, and an external microphone.) For the next 3 years, I'd tape programs off of TV, music from the radio, and conversations with my friends. Then it stopped recording, for some unknown reason. But it still played tapes, so I kept it. I added a headphone jack in 1979. I finally tossed it in either 2002 or 2003.
1974: My 10th birthday. I received a Realistic AM/FM digital clock radio. (I think the model was the Chronomatic 100. Not quite sure of the model number,though.) This had the old leaf-type digits with white numbers painted on black "fins" of plastic; no LEDs or LCDs. One would drop every minute. Years later, the clock mechanism stopped working, and my dad used the radio in his basement workshop. It was moved upstairs to the kitchen when the existing kitchen clock radio died.
1977: My 13th birthday. It wasn't a gift to me per se, but my dad bought himself a Realistic Minisette IV radio and cassette player that year. I used it to re-dub and copy the tapes I already had. We had to replace the AC adapter, as I left it plugged in the wall, didn't have it connected to the tape player, and the adapter melted. It would have caught fire if I hadn't pulled it out of the wall.
1980: My 16th birthday. My parents offered to pay for a trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario with some of the older members of my Boy Scout troop. I think this was their gift to me that year.
1981: My 17th birthday. Not really a birthday gift, as I had graduated from high school the month before. I received a Panasonic RX-5100 boom box. I began taping stuff off the air again, and made cassette copies of my albums. But it had a history of eating tapes, and I had to repalace the plastic door holding the tape. Until recently, I used this as the amplifier for my Minimoog. I still have this unit, and should take it apart and clean it up.
And no, I didn't go out to a bar and get drunk on my 18th or 21st birthdays.
Now, when I celebrate my birthday, it's not about the gifts. I usually go out for a good meal for dinner, and have steak and eggs for breakfast. (It's what the astronauts ate!)
