Monday 27 August 2012

2012 ...My How Things Have Changed
#Monday Listicles

This week’s Monday Listicles topic “List of Ten Clues You are Living in 2012” was courtesy of Anja. It appears I have reached that point in my life where I find I am using the phrase “when I grew up…” waaaay too often. What "I" want to know is when did THAT happen!!!  *sigh* 

So my list this week is a bit of a flashback to how things were when I was a kid and how things have uhhhh changed. Yes I know I am SO dating myself but come…take a stroll down memory lane with me won’t you?    




1.      June 27, 2012. That was the date set as the “destination time” in the original Back to the Future movie back in 1985. I remember watching the movie and thinking by 2012 we would surely be like the Jetsons with robots and travelling around in hover cars. What. Twenty-seven years seems like forever to a 25 year old.




2.      When I finally decided to take the plunge and get a cell phone, the Motorola flip phone (circa 1993) was the one for me. There would be no tucking this baby in your pants pocket or evening clutch for that matter. It did come with a skookum belt clip however the weight of the phone was enough to pull your pants down for a look not unlike the “low-riding” pants of today.




3.      Growing up, my mom worked for a small company who distributed products from Japan. I remember being one of the first families in our neighbourhood who got a microwave oven. It was about the size of a small fridge, weighed a ton which almost required our counter top to be reinforced with rebar and had a cooking power of about 600W. Nothing was digital (it had a dial for the timer); nothing rotated (you actually had to turn the plate yourself) but having the ability to defrost/cook something in under a minute was a miracle!



4.      I am sure Stasha will vouch for me when I say there was a generation of cameras before the fancy-schmancy digital models of today. One of my best childhood friends had a “box” camera (not unlike the one in the picture). Even though I was deliberate in taking pictures due to the cost of film and developing, it wasn’t uncommon to come out with only one or two useable photos in a roll of 36.  *sigh* 




5.      If you are old enough to remember box cameras you will surely remember the introduction of the cube flashbulb. O.M.G! You no longer had to change the bulb after a single picture. No my friend…you could take up to 4 pictures, providing the filament in any of the bulbs wasn’t broken, before replacing the cube. Technology at its finest. 

 


6.      Music back in MY day meant having to make room for an actual piece of furniture. Sure we had portable record players and radios but if you wanted “quality” sound, a console stereo was the way to go. It could also double as the hood of a car and engine for young imaginative minds. OK…I admit I was a bit of a tomboy and had dreams of being an auto-mechanic. Go figure.




7.      See that crate of LP’s over on the right?  I have two others jam packed with disco, movie soundtracks and almost anything that hit the top 10 in the late 70’s-early 80’s. Prior to that I had a pile of 45’s (often times released singles) by the likes of Donny Osmond, The Partridge Family and Bobby Sherman. Yup…I was one “Cool Cat”.




8.      Parallel parking took muscle and brute force. No power steering or auto park back in the day. Cranking the steering wheel to get the wheels lined up was guaranteed to give you a workout. Upon leaving the parking spot the steering wheel would spin like a top at least a dozen times (or so it seemed). Heaven forbid any body parts got near the wheel of death.




9.      Thankfully we did not live near a river or creek of any sort so having to wash our clothes by pounding them against a rock was not an option. Instead we had a semi-automatic wringer washer. By semi-automatic I mean no pounding but also no spinning therefore you needed to manually feed the clothes through the “wringer” part of the washer in order to squeeze out any excess water.



10.   I am becoming my mother. Let’s leave it at that shall we. 




Off you go now. Head over to Stasha's to see what everybody else came up with.  

44 comments:

  1. I loved this old school versus new school post.

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    1. Unfortunately I could only remember old school...haahaahaa!

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  2. hahhaaa i remember EVERYTHING! My grandparents never updated their washing machine... I remember seeing the wringer. We used to play with it ;)

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    1. Another reason we must have been separated in childhood. Notice I didn't say childbirth??? ;P

      Along with the wringer washers were clotheslines and ironing EV.ER.Y.THING!!!

      D

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  3. Your list is such a fun one!I remember all of this stuff except we didn't have a wring washer or else my Mom got rid of it before my first memory. Cube flashes....Plus, you are awesome for mentioning the Jetsons :)

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    1. You are awesome too!!! Go Jetsons! And passwords...AY-YI-YIIII! Just had to change all my passwords. I try and keep a list and then can't remember where I put it. Oi-vay.

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  4. I remember those microwaves. My best friend's family had one. I was so jealous. I think we were one of the last families in America to own a microwave!

    But we did have one of those giant stereo consoles (in fact, I think it may still be in her house!).

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    1. Do you remember the stereo consoles that had the TV behind sliding doors too??? Ours wasn't like that but my parents still had it in their basement until about 10 years ago. :)

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  5. Loved the trip down memory lane!

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    1. That is so kind of you...I'm sure it's more like ancient history for most. Haha!

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  6. I have been sounding like my grandma a lot lately. I have also been looking at using my film camera again. Digital is giving me a crutch to take way too many photos. I think less, but more though of and better photos would be better. ANd don't get me started on post processing...
    Great list. My grandma had an iron she warmed on coal!!

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    1. Do they still actually sell "film"?????

      Phew...not sure I could handle you calling me grandma. ;P

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  7. Oh My that washer....I can remember helping my grandmother do the clothes with one like that. and then we hung them out on the line -- there was no dryer.

    And I really, really want that console stereo and to browse through your records. Seriously, my fingers are literally itching over here. Album art is a lost form.
    I may need a flux capacitor myself to help catch me up with the times ;)

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    1. Absolutely clotheslines and wooden clothes pins! How else would you play "drop the clothespin in the glass milk bottle" at birthday parties??? ;P

      I can not bring myself to part with my LP's. *sigh* Running joke around here that I have "the album" of all the "golden oldies" that are being played now-a-days.

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  8. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Unfortunately, you've been bamboozled by a hoax that swept the Internet about the actual time that Doc and Marty traveled to. It was actually 2015, not 2012. (I actually included this in my own list, that we are 3 years away.) Here's the info:

    http://mashable.com/2012/06/27/back-to-the-future-hoax/

    It was a Photoshopped image, and I fell for it too when I first saw it until I learned about the hoax. And recently I watched "Back to the Future" with my son, and sure enough, it was 2015 not 2012...

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    1. Ohhh noooooo.......Drats! I try and do research on facts but didn't catch this one. Heard it on the news so just went with it. :( Thought it was a little odd that it would be 27 years ahead.

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  9. #6 has been in my parents living room since before I was born. I totally remember the camera flash cubes.

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    1. Cool that they still have one. Bonus with the cube flashbulbs...you didn't have to wait to change the bulb cause they were tooo hot. :)

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  10. I remember when we bought my mom a microwave though she insisted she had no use for one. I don't even think micro popcorn was a thing then.

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    1. You're right...no "microwaveable" foods back then. I do remember my mom buying McD's hamburgers; freezing them and then "zapping" them as a treat. Haha!

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  11. Your list is fabulous! I loved it. I was wondering if I was the only one who noted we were "Back to the Future" with nary a hover craft in sight. :)

    I remember everything on your list! My grandmother even had one of those washers! But you really jogged my memory with those cameras and flash cubes. Man, remember the days of having to judiciously parcel out your photography because you only had so many supplies and so much money to develop the film. Remember the Disc camera?

    Nicely done.

    Ellen

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    1. I know! Can you believe we are STILL driving on. the. road!!!

      Ah yes...the Disc Camera. I forgot about that one. I remember thinking nothing would be able to top that one. Ha!

      Thanks Ellen!
      Diane

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  12. Bahahaha! I love the Back to the Future reference. Aren't we supposed to have flying cars by now?

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    1. I would have thought we would be off the roads by now for sure! Or else using some sort of tele-porter. ;P

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  13. I watched Back to The Future this past weekend and referenced it in my post. So funny what people thought today in 2012 would be like from back then! I love this list! Thanks for sharing! :)

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    1. Back to the Future was one of my favorites. I really should watch it again too! It is funny to look back...some things have advanced soooo far beyond what we could have imagined. Guess hover cars isn't being realistic. Rats. ;P

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  14. I love seeing that big stereo. My grandparents had one and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Another thing I thought awesome. The cube flash. Remember how the bulb went cloudy after being used. I had one with my Brownie Instamatic. A photojournalist in my mind.

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    1. That's right...it did go cloudy!!! Good memory. Was the Brownie Instamatic the one with the film in a cartridge???

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  15. What a great list - and I do remember a frightening number of these things! We thought those archaic clunky things were so high-tech, which always terrifies me because that means all the high-tech stuff today is going to look like junk in another 20 years. Wimper.

    P.S. The counter being reinforced with rebar really made me laugh! :D

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    1. Yikes...never thought about what things are going to be like in 20 years!!! Thank you for that Robyn. Haha!

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  16. We had a stereo console just like that when I was young! My mom upgraded to something with and 8-track deck at some point though. LOL

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  17. ...and when I say "we", I really mean my mom. I think it was long sent to the basement at my grandparents' house before I got my first Andy Gibb or Shaun Cassidy album... ;-)

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    1. Ahhhh yes...the baby brothers of my heart throbs (Bee Gees and David). :D

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  18. Oh, what a fun list! Couldn't help laughing! I still remember my dad's first cell phone - it was about four pounds, and you had to carry it around on a strap, just like a big, ugly purse! =)

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    1. A strap!!! Youza. Sounds like it just may have even been before my first cell phone. :)

      Thanks for such a fun topic Anja!

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  19. I love this list! I remember our first microwave - with a dial timer- it was huge!!

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    1. I kinda remember having to turn the dial past a certain point before "zapping" too. Not exactly precise science back then. Ha!

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  20. I also had an old console record player. It was too hip for words.

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  21. My mom and dad STILL use a console stereo! And I remember the wringer from my grandma's house too! HAHAHAHA! We've come so far!

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    1. My mom just got rid of their console stereo when she moved out of the house (less than 10 years ago). Weighed a ton as well.

      We have come a looooong way baby! HA!

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  22. Great list!!

    I'm also becoming my mother. ;)

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    1. Circle of life or what goes around...comes around??? :)

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