$29 was all I needed.....

Was life really easier or do I just remember it that way???? I was given a stereo for Christmas when I was in high school. It was very cool. It had two speakers, a turntable and all the AM and FM radio stations. Oh and it had a 8 track player. You could stack up albums so they would play one after the other. And when the stereo needle started to wear out you could either go buy some more needles to pop in or if you had to wait to make that purchase ....you could tape a quarter to the arm and that would weigh it down enough that you could still listen to the music. When I tell Jenn I grew up in a time where we had only 6 TV stations, the stations went off the air and the test pattern appeared for hours and the viewing day ended and started with patriotic music.....even I think I sound old...LOL. Now I have a zillion channels and I have a hard time finding something to watch. My brother and I used to be so desperate to watch TV when we were small we would watch anything.....when the stations came on at 5:00 A.M. we would watch Sunrise Semester and Modern Farmer......I knew more about Trig and agriculture (including rotating crops) at the age of 4 than most adults. I remember my dad taking small TV tubes down the street to the candy store to the machine to test if the tubes were good. The worst thing was if the tv repairman had to make a visit. And no one wanted to hear the dreaded words "the picture tube was shot". A few months ago one of our tv's died. We took it to the recycling center (can't just leave them out by the curb anymore). From there we went to Target and bought another one......all in a matter of a few hours. This was the first time I had a flat screen tv. When my friend asked how I like the quality of the HD I told him I didn't see a big difference. Turns out I didn't have the HD cord so I wouldn't have seen a difference.....LOL.....

When I had my first job at Bambergers ( a Macy's affiliate) I made $29 after taxes for 15 hours work a week. I was just about to start my senior year in High School. I worked Tuesday and Thursday nights and all day Saturday. I drove a 1969 green pinto, bought my jeans at a place call OHM (they also sold pipes and rolling papers....LOL), and the $29 I earned paid for my gas, jeans, cigarettes (I know I know it was bad for me) and car insurance. Oh it also paid for my social activities.....which basically meant it paid the cover charge at the bars and for drinks. Was it really as easy as I remember.......probably not. Am I showing my age......probably.