SUNDAY FUNDAY - JANUARY 30, 2022

 SUNDAY FUNDAY - JANUARY 30, 2022

WARM-UP

This is the last Thursday in January, February is around the corner (as is Valentine’s Day).  We are over 1/3rd of the way through winter, the sun is getting up earlier, and setting later.

REMEMBERING MY FIRST YEAR IN COLLEGE

Many of us went to college. I was terrified that I would not make it academically and I would come back to my parents - washed out - and have to live in their basement the rest of my life.

I went off to college in the fall of 1965 - with maybe the biggest group then - the Baby Boomers.  Boomers were those born after World War II.  Dad (in many cases), came home from the war and wanted to forget the evil of warfare.  BOOM - cities exploded, schools were built, more roads, more people.  The 1950s saw the Eisenhower Interstate System, television, the Cold War, and the Space Race.

I went from Iowa to Minnesota to go to college.  My older sister was at a private college in Iowa, my parents didn’t have the money to support me, so my paper route savings and summer jobs helped me get through college.

I was in a freshman mens’ dorm - Proctor Hall.  It was an old dorm - wood floors, wood staircases, and none of the modern amenities.  I was on the third floor (no elevators), with a common restroom/shower.  There was a lounge room on the floor, but as the semester started, it was a bedroom with six guys (three bunk beds).  Every dorm floor had the same problem - fitting all the Baby Boomers in, By the first of October, the room was a lounge again - as kids dropped out.

There was one telephone on the floor, in the middle of the hallway across from the shower room.  It would generally ring until somebody answered it.  My room was close to the phone and after about ten rings, I would go answer it.  Of course, it was for some kid at the other end of the hallway, so I’d go there and knock, and generally, the kid wouldn’t be there.  Back to the phone and politely say “Bob doesn’t seem to be in”. They (probably parents) would ask me to take a message (ouch), so I’d have to go back to my room to get a pad and pencil to take the note - and then slide it under Bob’s door.  You learned NOT to answer the phone - as it would take 15 minutes away from studying.

*****

I studied.  I prepared a grid (long before spreadsheets) of when I had class and when I studied.  There was a suggestion for each hour in class, you need to study for three hours.  And, I did.  I read the textbooks.  For my math class, I did every problem in the lesson set and went back and did them again.  (Yes, I did “ace” my math class and was a math major).  I studied every night and even more so on the weekends.  No dates, no fun, just study!!!

I would be asked to go to the games, the movies, to watch television, and other activities and I would say “No, I have to study”. But, all work and no play worked out well as I got great grades that fall semester and learned how to study.  (I graduated with high honors and eventually went on for a master’s and Ph.D.).

College was way different than high school.  Professors (as I learned well later) were kind of unique.  My introduction to political science professor almost put me to sleep every class period.  My history professor wore the same tie day after day.  My math professor had the initials DOM - which I thought was “Doctor of Mathematics”, but he told the class it was for “dirty old man”. 

There were many kids in that dorm that lasted a year and flunked out.  Some lasted a semester and while the college would give them a second semester, Mom and Dad didn’t give them that much time.  

My parents were strict and I never had an alcoholic drink before college.  I remember going out with two friends who did get drunk and I tucked them in - each with a wastebasket for vomiting (and they did).  But, by the second semester, I did learn to let down my hair.

I had a roommate from a small Minnesota town and the first night he set his alarm clock.  The next morning, the radio came on at full blast - playing “On Wisconsin” (on a Minnesota station - but Wisconsin was just across the Mississippi river).  

The girls’ dorms had hours - where they had to be in the dorm by 9:00 p.m. on weeknights and 11:00 p.m. on weekends - with special permission.  Guys didn’t have such hours as, seemingly, once the girls had to be in, the guys would come back to the dorm too.  But, Minnesota was a state where 18-year-olds could drink weak (3.2%) beer, so many found the beer joints.

But, the highlight (maybe) was that in the second semester - POW, BANG, ZING - Batman was on television - and I found I could spare a half-hour a week standing in the back of the TV lounge watching Batman.  (Standing because it was the campus rage, and “everybody” watched Batman!!!

*****

At the time, it was a regular process.  I’m glad the world (and college education) has changed!!!

******

PUZZLER

A haircut in Horse Town (this comes from the “Car Talk” show on NPR years ago where they featured a puzzler weekly).

A man is driving across the Nevada desert when he decides he needs a haircut immediately!!  (Maybe he is driving to a wedding and didn’t have time to get it done before jumping in the car).

He pulls off the road into “Horse Town” - where he discovered there are two barbers on the main street (then, he could have stopped in a phone booth and looked in the yellow pages!!).  

He looks in the window of the first barbershop - and it is messy.  There are no customers, the barber’s hair is messy, he has a poorly kept beard, there are piles of hair on the floor and the barber has a dirty shirt on.

The second barbershop also has no customers.  But it is neat and orderly.  The barber’s hair is well-groomed.  The floor is clean, the mirrors are polished.  

When barbershop does he choose?

(Answer at bottom)

*****

MUSIC

Top songs from this week in 1958

At the Hop (Danny and the Juniors)

Get a Job ( Silhouettes )

Short shorts (who wears short shorts) (The Royal teens)

Don’t (Elvis)

Sail Along Silvery Moon (Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra)

But, also on the list - The Stroll, Sugartime, Great Balls of Fire, Peggy Sue

*****

TOP SONGS FROM THIS WEEK IN 1962

Walk Right In (The Rooftop Singers)

Hey Paula (Paul And Paula)

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (Bobby Vee)

Go Away Little Girl(Steve Lawrence)

It’s Up To You (Rick Nelson)

Up On The Roof(The Drifters)

*****

TOP SONGS FROM THIS WEEK IN 1967

I’m A Believer (The Monkees)

Georgy Girl (The Seekers)

Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron (The Royal Guardsmen)

Tell It Like It Is (Aaron Neville)

Kind Of A Drag (The Buckinghams)

*****

TOP SONGS FROM THIS WEEK IN 1972

American Pie (Don Mclean)

Brand New Key (Melanie)

Let’s Stay Together (Al Green

Sunshine(Jonathan Edwards)

Day After Day (Badfinger)

*****

TOP SONGS FROM THIS WEEK IN 1977

Car Wash (Rose Royce)

I Wish (Stevie Wonder)

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Leo Sayer)

New Kid In Town (Eagles)

Torn Between Two Lovers (Mary Macgregor)

*****

WRAP-UP

Last Thursday in January, college football is over and college basketball has about six weeks until “March Madness” - NCAA tournament.  The National Football League is heading for the Super Bowl on February 13th.  You should be getting your tax information and working on your taxes.

The FireAnts Granny Basketball team has a tournament on Saturday, February 5th.    The Fire Ants have a home game on February 15th at 2:00.  

Valentine’s Day is February 14th.

Have a great end to January 2022!!

*****

Puzzler answer - he went to the barber with the messy hair - since he cut the other barber’s hair neatly!!!

*****

Karen

Thursday, January 27, 2022then