Anyone else here ever go to a nightclub when you were a little kid?
I remember one evening when I was about 5 (this would have been circa 1978), my parents went to some nightclub or something. For some reason, they took me with them. This place served snacks or meals, but I'm pretty sure it was a nightclub, not a restaurant. This was unusual, because my folks were actually rather stodgy and conservative by 1970s standards. They weren't the crazy 1970s type. Also, I'm surprised a nightclub would even allow little kids.
The main thing I remember about this club is a person in a mummy outfit performing "Stairway To Heaven." I had heard the song many times before, because it was on the radio all the time around here back then.
Quote from: bandit957 on September 04, 2020, 09:15:18 AM
I'm surprised a nightclub would even allow little kids.
People are really uptight about kids these days.
Quote from: kphoger on September 04, 2020, 10:55:07 AM
Quote from: bandit957 on September 04, 2020, 09:15:18 AM
I'm surprised a nightclub would even allow little kids.
People are really uptight about kids these days.
Times have changed and people are sue happy. When I was 9 or 10 (1985ish), I was sent into a store to buy scratch off lottery tickets and bought them no problem. The owner of a local liquor store (long since gone and the owner deceased) even used to let me stand behind the counter and run the lottery machine when I was like 8. Now with surveillance cameras watching your every move, forget it. I used to sit at the bar at a local social club with by grandparents when I was 6 or 7. Even when I was 16 or 17 and my mom would go out to dinner, we would sit at the bar to avoid the dining room with the young kids (and so that I could keep my eye on any sports game that was on). Now with helicopter parents, Big Brother, and a nanny state mentality, forget it.
Never went to nightclubs but did go to some dedicated bars, usually on vacation. I was evidently good at sitting quietly and entertaining myself with whatever. At least back in the day nobody really cared if you went into a bar with a kid as long as the kid wasn't old enough that he/she could conceivably be drinking.
During my grandparents' time (south side Chicago), they used to send the kids down to buy the beer and bring it back in a bucket for family get-togethers.
In the late 1980s in Will County (IL), when I was probably seven or eight years old, I once rented one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies on VHS from the neighborhood video store. Didn't think anything of it at the time.
When I was a kid in rural Kansas during the 1990s (4th grade through high school), my friends and I used to go the movie every weekend, no matter what the movie was. If it was rated 'R', occasionally we would use their phone to call our parents, who gave the movie theater permission to let us in. Usually, though, they didn't even bother having us call.
When I was about 8, the fire station had bingo fundraisers that gave away prizes. I think you had to be 18 to play, but my mom let me play anyway. But I don't think I ever won a prize. I don't think the prizes were even things I wanted.
Come to think of it, that might have been before Kentucky technically legalized charitable bingo. I know bingo fundraisers were common before becoming legal.
My favorite thing about these bingo events was that the fire station had a big street map of Highland Heights that showed all the paper streets. Real streets were filled in with red, but paper streets were not filled in.
My elementary school had a summer festival that had some sort of sweepstakes with pull-tab cards. I think only adults were supposed to play, but kids played.
Quote from: bandit957 on September 04, 2020, 11:28:15 AM
When I was about 8, the fire station had bingo fundraisers that gave away prizes. I think you had to be 18 to play, but my mom let me play anyway. But I don't think I ever won a prize. I don't think the prizes were even things I wanted.
Come to think of it, that might have been before Kentucky technically legalized charitable bingo. I know bingo fundraisers were common before becoming legal.
My favorite thing about these bingo events was that the fire station had a big street map of Highland Heights that showed all the paper streets. Real streets were filled in with red, but paper streets were not filled in.
My elementary school had a summer festival that had some sort of sweepstakes with pull-tab cards. I think only adults were supposed to play, but kids played.
When the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1986, I remember my family hosting a Super Bowl party at our house. I was four years old. Everyone placed bets on the point spread, and I ended up winning.
My dad didn't let me get the winnings. :D
I went to a Korn concert when I was 14. My first exposure to boobs. And weed.
Quote from: Takumi on September 04, 2020, 09:11:27 PM
I went to a Korn concert when I was 14. My first exposure to boobs. And weed.
14?!? I'd already seen the Grateful Dead 4 times by my 14th birthday.
I don't think I was ever in a nightclub, but I remember going to my dad's Saturday night bowling league when I was 5 or 6. That was not a proper setting to be in then. I don't know how you can bowl in competition while drunk, granted that this was not the PBA Tour with Chris Schenkel.
Exact rules vary from state to state and town to town. And a lot of drinking establishments that are theoretically 21 or over only will let in little kids who have a parent with them, even if they wouldn't let in a parent with a teen who might try to sneak a drink when no one is looking.
This thread is a confirmation that as logic starts dictating decisions, life gets less interesting.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 04, 2020, 10:14:57 PM
Quote from: Takumi on September 04, 2020, 09:11:27 PM
I went to a Korn concert when I was 14. My first exposure to boobs. And weed.
14?!? I’d already seen the Grateful Dead 4 times by my 14th birthday.
I mean, I’m also someone who lost his virginity at 32, so that’s about right for me. (Granted, I’m probably still probably in the top third of the class for this forum by virtue of having sex at all.)
Quote from: bandit957 on September 04, 2020, 09:15:18 AM
Anyone else here ever go to a nightclub when you were a little kid?
I remember one evening when I was about 5 (this would have been circa 1978), my parents went to some nightclub or something. For some reason, they took me with them. This place served snacks or meals, but I'm pretty sure it was a nightclub, not a restaurant. This was unusual, because my folks were actually rather stodgy and conservative by 1970s standards. They weren't the crazy 1970s type. Also, I'm surprised a nightclub would even allow little kids.
The main thing I remember about this club is a person in a mummy outfit performing "Stairway To Heaven." I had heard the song many times before, because it was on the radio all the time around here back then.
If your parents were allowed to bring you in (at age 5) with them, it was NOT a nightclub.*
* - Newport, Ky, and just about everywhere in Louisiana, in the 1970s, had different rules than 85% of the rest of the country.
Quote from: Takumi on September 05, 2020, 09:48:27 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 04, 2020, 10:14:57 PM
Quote from: Takumi on September 04, 2020, 09:11:27 PM
I went to a Korn concert when I was 14. My first exposure to boobs. And weed.
14?!? I'd already seen the Grateful Dead 4 times by my 14th birthday.
I mean, I'm also someone who lost his virginity at 32, so that's about right for me. (Granted, I'm probably still probably in the top third of the class for this forum by virtue of having sex at all.)
:-D
Quote from: SectorZ on September 06, 2020, 08:01:46 AM
Quote from: Takumi on September 05, 2020, 09:48:27 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 04, 2020, 10:14:57 PM
Quote from: Takumi on September 04, 2020, 09:11:27 PM
I went to a Korn concert when I was 14. My first exposure to boobs. And weed.
14?!? I'd already seen the Grateful Dead 4 times by my 14th birthday.
I mean, I'm also someone who lost his virginity at 32, so that's about right for me. (Granted, I'm probably still probably in the top third of the class for this forum by virtue of having sex at all.)
:-D
I may have been a bit drunk when I said that.
I remember my pops taking me into several bars when I was little (he was a pretty heavy drinker). My mother took me into a club once, I think I was like 7 or 8.
I was easily able to buy cigarettes for my mom all the way until 11 years old.
Quote from: kkt on September 05, 2020, 07:37:15 PM
And a lot of drinking establishments that are theoretically 21 or over only will let in little kids who have a parent with them, even if they wouldn't let in a parent with a teen who might try to sneak a drink when no one is looking.
Yep. I've never been turned away while buying alcohol from a store when I had my kids with me, nor was my dad ever turned away when I was with him–but I
have been turned away while buying alcohol with a 19-year-old co-worker along at the store with me. I had to drive to another store and leave him in the car.
Quote from: kphoger on September 09, 2020, 02:29:10 PM
Quote from: kkt on September 05, 2020, 07:37:15 PM
And a lot of drinking establishments that are theoretically 21 or over only will let in little kids who have a parent with them, even if they wouldn't let in a parent with a teen who might try to sneak a drink when no one is looking.
Yep. I've never been turned away while buying alcohol from a store when I had my kids with me, nor was my dad ever turned away when I was with him–but I have been turned away while buying alcohol with a 19-year-old co-worker along at the store with me. I had to drive to another store and leave him in the car.
A few years ago in the next checkout lane, a father and his son were unloading the shopping cart. The kid happened to unload a carton of beer. The clerk said they couldn't purchase it, presumably because if the minor touched it it meant the minor was buying it.
Quote from: kphoger on September 09, 2020, 02:29:10 PM
Quote from: kkt on September 05, 2020, 07:37:15 PM
And a lot of drinking establishments that are theoretically 21 or over only will let in little kids who have a parent with them, even if they wouldn't let in a parent with a teen who might try to sneak a drink when no one is looking.
Yep. I've never been turned away while buying alcohol from a store when I had my kids with me, nor was my dad ever turned away when I was with him–but I have been turned away while buying alcohol with a 19-year-old co-worker along at the store with me. I had to drive to another store and leave him in the car.
My dad bought alcohol with me along when I was much older than a little kid. Either we looked respectable enough that the cashier let it go, or he/she thought I was over 21. Could have been either one, honestly.
Meanwhile it's not uncommon at all to see someone's kid(s) tagging along to happy hour in rural Wisconsin. The very idea that a minor couldn't even sit at the bar or in the bar area of a restaurant was completely foreign to me until I was like 20. You get a soda from the bar and then entertain yourselves with the pool table or the video poker machines while ma and pa have a couple beers with their friends.
And this ain't from some distant past; like last year I've seen it.
It's no big deal. No one's giving booze to kids. No one's assuming someone's gonna give booze to the kids. It's almost as if they expect parents/guardians to make good decisions on their own without threat of the law. :wow:
The thought of a kid "entertaining themselves with the video poker machines" is making the old casino floor attendant part of me seize up.
Though I imagine it did wonders for the machine's payout percentage. No way you're getting close to the theoretical 99.54% on Jacks or Better when a seven-year-old is playing...
Quote from: Scott5114 on September 10, 2020, 05:51:28 PM
The thought of a kid "entertaining themselves with the video poker machines" is making the old casino floor attendant part of me seize up.
Though I imagine it did wonders for the machine's payout percentage. No way you're getting close to the theoretical 99.54% on Jacks or Better when a seven-year-old is playing...
Well the machines still do things when you push the buttons even if you didn't put any money in. ;) :-D
And these are "for entertainment purposes only".
Which means the bartender slides you your winnings. :P
Quote from: triplemultiplex on September 10, 2020, 05:11:00 PM
Meanwhile it's not uncommon at all to see someone's kid(s) tagging along to happy hour in rural Wisconsin. The very idea that a minor couldn't even sit at the bar or in the bar area of a restaurant was completely foreign to me until I was like 20. You get a soda from the bar and then entertain yourselves with the pool table or the video poker machines while ma and pa have a couple beers with their friends.
And this ain't from some distant past; like last year I've seen it.
It's no big deal. No one's giving booze to kids. No one's assuming someone's gonna give booze to the kids. It's almost as if they expect parents/guardians to make good decisions on their own without threat of the law. :wow:
That wasn't limited to rural Wisconsin. My wife grew up in Milwaukee and hung out with her dad at the local tap regularly.
Quote from: triplemultiplex on September 11, 2020, 09:39:04 AM
Quote from: Scott5114 on September 10, 2020, 05:51:28 PM
The thought of a kid "entertaining themselves with the video poker machines" is making the old casino floor attendant part of me seize up.
Though I imagine it did wonders for the machine's payout percentage. No way you're getting close to the theoretical 99.54% on Jacks or Better when a seven-year-old is playing...
Well the machines still do things when you push the buttons even if you didn't put any money in. ;) :-D
And these are "for entertainment purposes only".
Which means the bartender slides you your winnings. :P
I'm guessing we're not talking about the industry-standard IGT Game Kings, then. Usually pressing buttons on those only drops you out of the attract mode.
Quote from: SEWIGuy on September 11, 2020, 09:46:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on September 10, 2020, 05:11:00 PM
Meanwhile it's not uncommon at all to see someone's kid(s) tagging along to happy hour in rural Wisconsin. The very idea that a minor couldn't even sit at the bar or in the bar area of a restaurant was completely foreign to me until I was like 20. You get a soda from the bar and then entertain yourselves with the pool table or the video poker machines while ma and pa have a couple beers with their friends.
And this ain't from some distant past; like last year I've seen it.
It's no big deal. No one's giving booze to kids. No one's assuming someone's gonna give booze to the kids. It's almost as if they expect parents/guardians to make good decisions on their own without threat of the law. :wow:
That wasn't limited to rural Wisconsin. My wife grew up in Milwaukee and hung out with her dad at the local tap regularly.
You can say that about rural Minnesota as well. I would stay with grandma and grandpa for 2 weeks every year and grandpa would go hit up one of the small town bars in the area. Supposedly, my cousin will go to one of these bars with her kids even now. (It may help that the mayor of the town the bar is in is her father-in-law.)
In NJ, there's no state-wide law that prohibits children from sitting at a bar. Towns and bar owners can restrict this on their own though.
In Delaware, I recall one time in college I wanted to buy a case of soda at a liquor store. Because I wasn't 21, I wasn't permitted to purchase *anything* within that liquor store!
Quote from: triplemultiplex on September 10, 2020, 05:11:00 PM
It's no big deal. No one's giving booze to kids. No one's assuming someone's gonna give booze to the kids. It's almost as if they expect parents/guardians to make good decisions on their own without threat of the law. :wow:
Isn't the whole "No Alcohol Under 21, Otherwise the Bartender can be arrested, the Bar lose its liquor license, the underage drinker being arrested, and the underage drinker losing their license for several months" pretty much the very definition of the threat of the law?
This is why kids are given a soda and told to entertain themselves. Without the threat of the law, nothing would stop anyone from offering them up an alcoholic beverage.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 14, 2020, 07:56:58 AM
Without the threat of the law, nothing would stop anyone from offering them up an alcoholic beverage.
Ethics?
Quote from: Takumi on September 05, 2020, 09:48:27 PM
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on September 04, 2020, 10:14:57 PM
Quote from: Takumi on September 04, 2020, 09:11:27 PM
I went to a Korn concert when I was 14. My first exposure to boobs. And weed.
14?!? I'd already seen the Grateful Dead 4 times by my 14th birthday.
I mean, I'm also someone who lost his virginity at 32, so that's about right for me. (Granted, I'm probably still probably in the top third of the class for this forum by virtue of having sex at all.)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
My mom knew every bartender on Nantucket and she'd drag me to the bar. She'd have knocked back like five very stiff drinks, then she'd take me home and head back to the bar.
My parents divorced in September of 1993, and those two have been fighting a "cold war" since then. My dad caught wind of it, as did my school. DCF started paperwork, and by 1995 they were getting ready to pull the plug.
And that's how I ended up in St. Louis for sixteen years.
My buddies and I were in a popular bar on St. Patrick's Day; I'd say it was 2013 or 2014 and some chick in her 20s was making out with a ~5 year old boy. It was a very weird day overall and an all-day drinking event for us (one of my last so far) so it didn't register as much at the moment. The next day I was like, "Did you guys see that lady making out with her kid?" and they hadn't seen it. I don't know if it was her kid or not. Goes to show if people see something really out of the ordinary the tendency is to lock up and question what you saw rather than act.
I have visited a nightclub in Maplewood, NJ back in 2007, because my oldest brother made me go to it since my parents were away from the house. I hated that smoke smell but I got over it. I have meet a few of my brother's friends and they were so nice! Definitely was not as social as I am now, but I would want to go visit a nightclub again! Good times back in the day...
Quote from: GCrites80s on October 01, 2020, 11:31:58 PM
My buddies and I were in a popular bar on St. Patrick's Day; I'd say it was 2013 or 2014 and some chick in her 20s was making out with a ~5 year old boy. It was a very weird day overall and an all-day drinking event for us (one of my last so far) so it didn't register as much at the moment. The next day I was like, "Did you guys see that lady making out with her kid?" and they hadn't seen it. I don't know if it was her kid or not. Goes to show if people see something really out of the ordinary the tendency is to lock up and question what you saw rather than act.
Dude, maybe it was a leprechaun! :crazy:
If it was somebody else's kid, would that be better or worse?
Quote from: GCrites80s on October 01, 2020, 11:31:58 PM
My buddies and I were in a popular bar on St. Patrick's Day; I'd say it was 2013 or 2014 and some chick in her 20s was making out with a ~5 year old boy. It was a very weird day overall and an all-day drinking event for us (one of my last so far) so it didn't register as much at the moment. The next day I was like, "Did you guys see that lady making out with her kid?" and they hadn't seen it. I don't know if it was her kid or not. Goes to show if people see something really out of the ordinary the tendency is to lock up and question what you saw rather than act.
I'll take "Things That Didn't Happen" for $400, Alex.
Quote from: DandyDan on September 14, 2020, 03:18:53 AM
Quote from: SEWIGuy on September 11, 2020, 09:46:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on September 10, 2020, 05:11:00 PM
Meanwhile it's not uncommon at all to see someone's kid(s) tagging along to happy hour in rural Wisconsin. The very idea that a minor couldn't even sit at the bar or in the bar area of a restaurant was completely foreign to me until I was like 20. You get a soda from the bar and then entertain yourselves with the pool table or the video poker machines while ma and pa have a couple beers with their friends.
And this ain't from some distant past; like last year I've seen it.
It's no big deal. No one's giving booze to kids. No one's assuming someone's gonna give booze to the kids. It's almost as if they expect parents/guardians to make good decisions on their own without threat of the law. :wow:
That wasn't limited to rural Wisconsin. My wife grew up in Milwaukee and hung out with her dad at the local tap regularly.
You can say that about rural Minnesota as well. I would stay with grandma and grandpa for 2 weeks every year and grandpa would go hit up one of the small town bars in the area. Supposedly, my cousin will go to one of these bars with her kids even now. (It may help that the mayor of the town the bar is in is her father-in-law.)
I'm another who grew up in that part of the country. My grandfather regularly took me to the bar across the street from his home in Coleman WI until he died when I was 9. He'd usually order me either a Shirley Temple or a root beer (which I preferred). I don't remember being in a bar again until after I turned 17. The drinking age in WI was 18 then. Close enough for me and my friends.
When my dad played bar league softball when I was a kid, I'd go into the bar during the game to buy a soda sometimes. No biggie.
Oh and that bar was across the county road from the field so not only was I going into a bar but I was crossing the highway!
Clutch your pearls, helicopter parents.
My Dad used to take me to the local strip club when Lions home games were blacked out during the 1980s. For some reason they had a satellite feed which actually probably a stronger following than the strippers. My Mom was furious that he took me and was going to the strip club in general when she finally found out.
Probably worth noting my Dad was kind of out there and did a lot of really things people would consider strange.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on March 09, 2022, 07:27:53 PM
My Dad used to take me to the local strip club when Lions home games were blacked out during the 1980s. For some reason they had a satellite feed which actually probably a stronger following than the strippers. My Mom was furious that he took me and was going to the strip club in general when she finally found out.
Probably worth noting my Dad was kind of out there and did a lot of really things people would consider strange.
The strangest part of that story is that it was the Lions he was going to watch.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on March 09, 2022, 07:27:53 PM
My Dad used to take me to the local strip club when Lions home games were blacked out during the 1980s. For some reason they had a satellite feed which actually probably a stronger following than the strippers. My Mom was furious that he took me and was going to the strip club in general when she finally found out.
Probably worth noting my Dad was kind of out there and did a lot of really things people would consider strange.
It's only a little more strange than people taking their children to breastaurants, honestly.
Quote from: abefroman329 on March 09, 2022, 09:45:52 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on March 09, 2022, 07:27:53 PM
My Dad used to take me to the local strip club when Lions home games were blacked out during the 1980s. For some reason they had a satellite feed which actually probably a stronger following than the strippers. My Mom was furious that he took me and was going to the strip club in general when she finally found out.
Probably worth noting my Dad was kind of out there and did a lot of really things people would consider strange.
It's only a little more strange than people taking their children to breastaurants, honestly.
Worth noting, my Dad really did like to frequent Hooters. For what it's worth I did enjoy their chicken wings quite a bit.
"I don't want to eat a burger with boobs in my face." -- A co-worker of mine when a Hooters opened up a couple of buildings down.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on March 09, 2022, 09:49:18 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on March 09, 2022, 09:45:52 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on March 09, 2022, 07:27:53 PM
My Dad used to take me to the local strip club when Lions home games were blacked out during the 1980s. For some reason they had a satellite feed which actually probably a stronger following than the strippers. My Mom was furious that he took me and was going to the strip club in general when she finally found out.
Probably worth noting my Dad was kind of out there and did a lot of really things people would consider strange.
It's only a little more strange than people taking their children to breastaurants, honestly.
Worth noting, my Dad really did like to frequent Hooters. For what it's worth I did enjoy their chicken wings quite a bit.
They're still good. It's definitely a chain to keep in mind if you're in a new city and don't know where to go for good wings.
I've never been in a Hooters, but I've eaten other people's leftovers. They have an awesome club sandwich.
Quote from: kphoger on March 10, 2022, 10:38:04 AMI've never been in a Hooters, but I've eaten other people's leftovers. They have an awesome club sandwich.
Back when sliders were suddenly popular, they had a plate of them that was really good.
Quote from: kphoger on March 10, 2022, 10:38:04 AM
I've never been in a Hooters, but I've eaten other people's leftovers. They have an awesome club sandwich.
This feels like an "I smoked, but didn't inhale" type of story. :D
Quote from: SectorZ on March 10, 2022, 12:22:21 PM
Quote from: kphoger on March 10, 2022, 10:38:04 AM
I've never been in a Hooters, but I've eaten other people's leftovers. They have an awesome club sandwich.
This feels like an "I smoked, but didn't inhale" type of story. :D
My former co-worker liked to run out and pick up lunch for himself and our boss occasionally, and Hooters was one of the places he sometimes ordered from. Whenever they had leftovers, they'd offer them to me.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 14, 2020, 07:56:58 AM
In Delaware, I recall one time in college I wanted to buy a case of soda at a liquor store. Because I wasn't 21, I wasn't permitted to purchase *anything* within that liquor store!
In Oklahoma, you have to have a medical marijuana card to even go into the main room of a dispensary. Dispensaries sell products like pipes, rolling papers and Boveda packs that contain no THC, but you can't buy anything there unless you have a card.
Quote from: bugo on April 23, 2022, 06:16:51 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 14, 2020, 07:56:58 AM
In Delaware, I recall one time in college I wanted to buy a case of soda at a liquor store. Because I wasn't 21, I wasn't permitted to purchase *anything* within that liquor store!
In Oklahoma, you have to have a medical marijuana card to even go into the main room of a dispensary. Dispensaries sell products like pipes, rolling papers and Boveda packs that contain no THC, but you can't buy anything there unless you have a card.
That first requirement is pretty relaxed in Norman, especially if you're with someone that has a card. I'll go in with my wife (who has pickier tastes than I do, so her name is the one on the sale), and when I volunteer to the budtender that I have a card as well, I don't think they've ever wanted to actually see it.
Quote from: bugo on April 23, 2022, 06:16:51 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on September 14, 2020, 07:56:58 AM
In Delaware, I recall one time in college I wanted to buy a case of soda at a liquor store. Because I wasn't 21, I wasn't permitted to purchase *anything* within that liquor store!
In Oklahoma, you have to have a medical marijuana card to even go into the main room of a dispensary. Dispensaries sell products like pipes, rolling papers and Boveda packs that contain no THC, but you can't buy anything there unless you have a card.
You have to be 21 to enter any dispensary in Illinois, recreational or medical.
No, not that I can remember. I would probably remember being that bored and remind my parents ad nauseum.
My folks never rarely drank nor went out with us kids to anywhere other than restaurants; but they had a bong in their bedroom, which may have explained a lot.
Quote from: abefroman329 on April 25, 2022, 09:24:43 AM
You have to be 21 to enter any dispensary in Illinois, recreational or medical.
Minors can get a medical card in Oklahoma with permission from a parent and a recommendation from two different doctors (which is easy to get). I have never seen anybody obviously under 18 in a dispensary, so I don't know if a parent has to accompany them or how it works.
Quote from: bugo on July 31, 2023, 10:36:30 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on April 25, 2022, 09:24:43 AM
You have to be 21 to enter any dispensary in Illinois, recreational or medical.
Minors can get a medical card in Oklahoma with permission from a parent and a recommendation from two different doctors (which is easy to get). I have never seen anybody obviously under 18 in a dispensary, so I don't know if a parent has to accompany them or how it works.
Glad we got that cleared up over a year later.
When I was in 9th grade, the PE coach taught first period math, and sometimes when he didn't feel like teaching, he would put a movie on. We watched several R rated movies including Maximum Overdrive and one of the Freddy or Jason movies (I can't remember which). We also watched a Star Trek movie. I don't remember the name, but it seemed like it had something to do with pigs, so I don't know if it was rated R or not. Back then, kids openly traded pocketknives in class. If you had a Buck knife, you were cool, but if you had a Pakistan knife, you were a loser. Bullies thrived in this environment, and those classrooms were not safe when the teachers left the room.
This is the same coach who got the bright idea that for PE, we should remove the padded mats that hang on the wall of the gym behind the basketball goal and put them in the middle of the floor and have wrestling matches. The rules were simple: a takedown wins. He put me up against this guy who I thought was going to kill me. I was taller than him, but back then I was scrawny and this guy was much bulkier than me. He ducked his head and charged at me and tried to spear me with his shoulder, and I grabbed his head and DDT'ed him on the mat. If you aren't a professional wrestling connoisseur, a DDT is where a wrestler puts a front face lock on another wrester and falls back, causing the opponent's head to hit the ring, knocking them unconscious. I was shocked that I won. I apparently injured the kid, because he didn't participate in PE for several weeks after that. I asked the coach why he wasn't doing any of the activities, and he made a vague comment about him having a neck injury. I wasn't trying to hurt him. It wasn't my fault or his fault: it was the coach's fault for coming up with such a dimwitted idea. This would have been the late 1980s, which really was was a different time. Had that happened today, I'd have been trending on Twitter and Youtube.
All the Star Trek movies are rated either PG or PG-13.
What a horrible coach.
When I was a high school senior, they kept censoring books.
I began first grade going to public schools, but my parents got the bright idea of sending me to a Christian school, so in the middle of the first semester, I started riding a bus 15 miles a day to a compound out in the country. If you forgot your books at home, you got a paddling, no exceptions. That school was boring and I didn't like it. and I didn't care about Jesus. and I didn't fit in. The teacher lady told my mom that God told her to "hold me back" and basically not allow me to get smarter or learn anything so my parents said "hell no" and a few weeks after the beginning of second grade, it was right back to Mena Public Schools. It was somehow a huge improvement. Back on topic: The Christian school had a set of Childcraft encyclopedias. I had a set at home of my own, and I learned a great deal from reading them from front to back. One of the encyclopedias had a chapter about dinosaurs, and the teacher lady ripped those pages out of the book before she would let us read them. That school was a cult, and I don't know why they sent me there in the first place, but I'm glad I got out. Somebody I know went there until eighth grade and transferred to Mena, and they had to take remedial classes because the school didn't teach him things like basic grammar. He's a really smart guy too, and it really bothered him to have to be in the resource room because his teachers were too busy teaching him about Jesus to teach him 4th grade science.
I found more often than not I was free to read whatever book I wanted as a child, no matter how obscene the content within might be. I found that contrast odd because I certainly didn't get the same leeway over movies or video games. I still vividly remember parental types being "outraged" over silly shit like Night Trap. I guess books supposedly were "good for the brain" whereas the others fell into the "brain rotting" category.
My parents tolerated my video games, but they weren't thrilled by them. One year for Christmas, my parents got me a Nintendo Entertainment System and my sister a Sega Master System. The Sega was lasted less than a month when it simply quit working. The leading theory is that it was hooked to the cable TV line, and a bolt of electricity came in and fried the Sega. I don't know why they didn't just take it back to the store.
Quote from: bugo on August 01, 2023, 12:48:41 AM
My parents tolerated my video games, but they weren't thrilled by them. One year for Christmas, my parents got me a Nintendo Entertainment System and my sister a Sega Master System. The Sega was lasted less than a month when it simply quit working. The leading theory is that it was hooked to the cable TV line, and a bolt of electricity came in and fried the Sega. I don't know why they didn't just take it back to the store.
That's like the time we had a power outage and it fried the TV and a whole bunch of other things.
Speaking of the NES, if you are of a certain age, this image will make the area between your index finger and your middle finger on both hands hurt. On weekends I'd play over 12 hours a day and stay up late playing. After 4 or 5 hours, your hand starts aching but you keep playing, because it's the 1980s and that's what you did in the 1980s, you kept playing. One of these days I'm going to find an old NES to keep around the house, but I'm getting the newer dogbone controllers.
(https://i.imgur.com/VKL8Jd1.png)
When it would start thundering, my paternal grandparents would unplug the TV from the wall and from the cable. They had apparently had a TV destroyed by a power jolt in the antenna/cable components. My dad did it when I was very young, but he got out of it and now he doesn't raise an eyebrow when it thunders.
Quote from: bugo on August 01, 2023, 12:58:32 AM
Speaking of the NES, if you are of a certain age, this image will make the area between your index finger and your middle finger on both hands hurt. On weekends I'd play over 12 hours a day and stay up late playing. After 4 or 5 hours, your hand starts aching but you keep playing, because it's the 1980s and that's what you did in the 1980s, you kept playing. One of these days I'm going to find an old NES to keep around the house, but I'm getting the newer dogbone controllers.
(https://i.imgur.com/VKL8Jd1.png)
Wut? Somebody needed to work on their technique. I played NES for hours on end and I don't think it ever hurt my fingers like that.
Quote from: bugo on August 01, 2023, 01:01:57 AM
When it would start thundering, my paternal grandparents would unplug the TV from the wall and from the cable. They had apparently had a TV destroyed by a power jolt in the antenna/cable components. My dad did it when I was very young, but he got out of it and now he doesn't raise an eyebrow when it thunders.
My grandparents bought a new TV in 1963 for their family room. Within 6 months it got fried by and electrical storm. It sat in the same place until at least the year 2000 when my grandma passed and the house was sold. They didn't use that room much. The screen had 2 inches of white stuff all the way around the inside from the incident.
The NES controller on occasion made my right thumb sore. Things got way more ergonomically friendly with the dog bone design of the SNES controller. I never understood why Nintendo went away from a similar design with the N64. Sony ultimately perfected the SNES dog bone design.
We buyed a new TV set in 1984, and it was a great set. But around 1993-94, not long after I moved out, was our big blackout that fried everything.
TV set. Gone.
Clock radios. Gone.
Almost everything else. Gone.
Gone into thin air. Fried. Destroyed. Dead.
My mom acted like it was no big deal, since our insurer would just pay to replace them. But there was a big deductible, and the quality of electronics was going downhill, so the replacements weren't going to be as good or last nearly as long.
The board of directors of the electric company should have been required to eat the appliances they ruined.
Quote from: Rothman on August 01, 2023, 06:53:07 AM
Quote from: bugo on August 01, 2023, 12:58:32 AM
Speaking of the NES, if you are of a certain age, this image will make the area between your index finger and your middle finger on both hands hurt. On weekends I'd play over 12 hours a day and stay up late playing. After 4 or 5 hours, your hand starts aching but you keep playing, because it's the 1980s and that's what you did in the 1980s, you kept playing. One of these days I'm going to find an old NES to keep around the house, but I'm getting the newer dogbone controllers.
(https://i.imgur.com/VKL8Jd1.png)
Wut? Somebody needed to work on their technique. I played NES for hours on end and I don't think it ever hurt my fingers like that.
I recall that these NES controllers hurt your hands after playing for an hour or two, but then you became used to them after a while. Sony's Playstation controllers hurt my thumbs but you eventually got used to that as well...
Controller ergonomics weren't really a thing back then, but then again, neither were most input devices. When carpal tunnel syndrome became a serious worry, it's almost as if the industry changed everything in the next few years to actually have a measure of comfort (or maybe we just became so much more used it from repetition and increased usage).
Quote from: bugo on August 01, 2023, 12:58:32 AM
Speaking of the NES, if you are of a certain age, this image will make the area between your index finger and your middle finger on both hands hurt. On weekends I'd play over 12 hours a day and stay up late playing. After 4 or 5 hours, your hand starts aching but you keep playing, because it's the 1980s and that's what you did in the 1980s, you kept playing. One of these days I'm going to find an old NES to keep around the house, but I'm getting the newer dogbone controllers.
How were you holding the controller? I'm not sure how you'd hurt your hands in that way unless you were holding it in some strange way.
Then again, I still have my NES hooked up. I should conduct an endurance test.
I still have a lot of them installed in my game room. Playing some NES games on SNES remasters (Super Mario All Stars as an example) I've found to be less straining.
Quote from: bugo on August 01, 2023, 01:01:57 AM
When it would start thundering, my paternal grandparents would unplug the TV from the wall and from the cable. They had apparently had a TV destroyed by a power jolt in the antenna/cable components. My dad did it when I was very young, but he got out of it and now he doesn't raise an eyebrow when it thunders.
I'm pretty sure my grandmother's living room TV was destroyed in a similar manner last year. She was not happy about having to replace it. I think it also knocked out half of the power in her house, so it was likely a larger issue with the breaker or something.
Doesn't anyone use surge protectors anymore?
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 01, 2023, 04:34:07 PM
Doesn't anyone use surge protectors anymore?
I use them for my vintage game systems. But that's more a function of me being lazy and keeping them plugged in constantly than actual protection.
All of my main electronics are all plugged into surge protectors. About the only thing of any value that doesn't get plugged into one is my cell phone, and even that is largely wirelessly charged.
I have a friend who found an accessory online that she had 3D printed for her that has a modern controller shape, but with a cutout the size of an NES controller. The NES controller snaps into it, so you have the exact performance of the original hardware but with modern ergonomics.
(https://vgs-media.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/monthly_2019_10/864062908_Screenshot_20191026-1637162.jpg.f659e693f758f3bf0d8577ab1b043b32.jpg)
Bet that become a problem when you try to hit the left D Pad button and smash your thumb into that black overhang.
Wonder if my parents still have our Power Glove somewhere...
I love the Power Glove, it's so bad...
I have short, stubby, fat fingers, which might be why the NES controllers hurt my fingers so much. I play guitar, and having short, fat fingers is a handicap for a guitarist that I've had to overcome to a nonzero amount of success. I also play bass, and a standard 34" scale Fender bass is just too big for my hands. I played a 30" scale Fender Mustang bass that I adored. It was made in Mexico and the quality was great. It had a pau ferro fretboard, which is a wood that has gotten very popular in the last 10 years because rosewood was believed to fall under CITES regulations limiting its use in musical instruments, but that was reversed and now rosewood is as easy to get as it was before, but some companies still use pau ferro. Pau ferro feels harder and denser than rosewood. It feels more like maple, but even harder. Some pau ferro is all the same color. but there are often lighter stripes in it. This can either improve or harm the looks of the guitar, depending on your perspective. I really like the way it feels, but a lot of boomers who hate change and anything that is different bitch and moan about it all day. I have been told that I am a better bassist than a guitarist, but who knows. I haven't played bass nearly as much as I have played guitar.
Quote from: Rothman on August 01, 2023, 09:56:09 PM
Wonder if my parents still have our Power Glove somewhere...
I had one for a little while when I was 14. I barely remember using it. Around age 24 I picked up another one and was still blah about it. Finally around 38 I gave it one more shot before putting it on the shelf in one of my game stores. It indeed wound up on the shelf and took a year to sell at market rate (in the original box).
I want a Power Glove so I can have my cronies bring it me in an oversized aluminum case.
That or so I can replicate the ending of Abobo's Big Adventure (at 4:09):
I was a bit older than 5 but my grandparents were active in the VFW and I used to tag along whenever they had to visit the post during the day whenever I stayed with them. They had a house drum kit on the stage and my grandmother, who was the post bookkeeper, quickly had to hide the sticks from me.
I hope you didn't let that stop you! :-D
That kick drum would still work without a stick. ;)