Pete's Ancient and rarely updated
D-land Journal

Thirty-eight years.

Thirty-six years of school, all told.

Thirty-three years of awareness. My first autobiographical memory (as opposed to memories of facts and skills) is of walking through the dining room of our flat at 705 E. Locust St. Nothing noteworthy except that at that time I was aware of having no memories of events prior to that moment. It's as if my eyes opened for the first time and my recording of memories began then. I knew facts and skills, learned things: who people were, how to read, etc.

Twenty-eight years since I started in public schools and discovered I had nothing in common with the children there... I felt a bit like Michael Valentine must have.

Twenty-four years since my first trip out of the country (at least, the first that I remember): a week in Mexico with my middle school Spanish club. My parents went to Alaska when I was two, but I have no memories of that.

Twenty-three years since my first visit to Washington DC, where I participated in a protest march opposing the reinstitution of registration for the draft.

Twenty-three years since grandpa Damian passed away. I wish we had gotten to know each other. Cancer and emphysema took him.

Twenty years of being able to vote. I have voted in every presidential and most off-year and local elections since then.

Nineteen years of being able to drink legally.

Nineteen years since I graduated from high school summa cum laude.

Nineteen years of higher education, resulting in two degrees and a third in December.

Eighteen years since the first Summer Party. Number 19 is coming up in a couple weeks.

Sixteen years since i lived in my own apartment for the very first time (rather than with family or in dorms).

Fifteen years since the first time a close friend, Scott Ackerman, passed away. Cancer took him way before his time.

Thirteen years since I moved from Wisconsin to Massachusetts.

Ten years since grandpa John passed away. I miss him and am glad I was able to tell him so in person rather than simply leaving a letter in his casket, as so many others did. Again, cancer was the culprit.

Ten years since I bought my first computer. I named it Darwin and have been anthropomorphising the things ever since.

Nine years since I moved back to Wisconsin to pursue graduate studies. And I thought I'd never move back...

Six years since grandma Dorothy passed away. I got to know her best in the last few years of her life. So very interesting, I wish we'd had more time. She stopped smoking and THEN the cancer decided to show up... she probably shouldn't have stopped.

Four years since I willfully stayed online and rang in the Year 2000 without panicking about Y2K.

Three years since I acquired my first television, thanks mavin. I don't count the little 13" black and white my dad gave me, I never used it.

Two years since another good friend, Andy, passed away. Not cancer this time, but a heart condition that was incurable.

Two years since getting married. Still happily so.

Four months since buying my first home.

Negative five months since becoming a father. Conceived either at Tau Formal or that first weekend at the newly purchased home.

I can remember seven different presidents of the US, have been alive during the presidencies of eight.

I vaguely remember the day I heard Elvis had died.

Star Trek creeped me out when I was a kid. No I don't remember THOSE original broadcasts, they were already in syndication. But I do remember the cartoon!!!

I remember the bi-centennial.

I remember the Apollo-Soyuz mission.

I remember the Viking missions to Mars.

I remember the launch of the Columbia Space Shuttle that very first time.

I was in the Pub at Ripon College's Memorial Union when the Challenger died.

I remember the excitement caused by the launch of the Hubble Telescope. And the excitement of the de-orbit of the Mir Space Station and Skylab.

It's not much to say I remember the Columbia Disaster, since it happened so recently, but it fits the theme of these last few entries... I am such a space nut.

I remember John Lennon's passing.

I remember hearing that a helicopter crashed at Alpine Valley after an Eric Clapton concert and being terrified that it might have been Claptoin in that helicopter. Just as bad, it was his opening act: Stevie Ray Vauhan.

I watched The Muppet Show when they were being broadcast for the first time.

I watched live as the Wall came down.

I remember the Soviet Union, duck and cover, and all the fun of the Cold War. Funny how, in retrospect, I think the world was a safer place when they were around and everyone was too scared to make any false moves.

I remember being terribly confused by the idea of racism when I was finally exposed to it (upon entering public schools at the age of 11).

I remember my father's good friend, Marilyn Meisenheimer, sitting me down to explain what "Jewish" was, since I hadn't a clue. I had been selling Christmas candles for a trip fundraiser and didn't quite understand why she wasn't interested. That's when I realized the Christmas was a religious holiday, not just a time for family and friends to get together and share their love and good fortune. Somehow, I preferred my version of it... and still do.

I remember E.T. before walkie talkies and politically correct (read: idiot) actresses ruined it.

I remember Star Wars before Lucas decided to screw around with it. In fact, I saw all of the original movies in the theater during their initial release! (Jealous Ken & Kali???) And I think the kid's price at the matinee was maybe $1.50, but that might be too high an estimate.

I remember when Atari was cutting edge, not retro.

The first video game I ever played was Space Invaders.

I remember BetaMax.

The Fisher-Price Little People I played with were the old fashioned ones, the ones that children could choke on... a useful filter for culling the herd, I have always thought. Now they resemble the American people: they're fat, plastic, and made to look as pretty as possible. Bleah.

I remember the first broadcast of the 1984 Macintosh commercial that got the ball rolling. The terrain may have been rocky for a while, but the ball's still rolling and picking up steam.

I recall living into the late 70s without a lock on the doors to the house... we didn't need them despite living in the middle of Milwaukee... then we were robbed, twice, and suddenly we had to include the word "-key" when we described ourselves, not just "latch kids" but "latchkey kids."

I have owned five cars: A 1976 Toyota Corolla Wagon, a 1979 Plymouth Fury, a 1979 Toyota Celica, a 1992 Toyota Tercel, and a 2003 Toyota Corolla.

I have owned five computers: A Macintosh SE (4.33MHz, 2MB RAM), a Macintosh 6100 (60MHz, 64MB RAM), a Macintosh beige G3 minitower (233MHz, 392MB RAM), a Sage iMac (450MHz, 196MB RAM) and a 15" Titanium Powerbook (1GHz, 1GB RAM). All of them except the 6100 still work.

My first camera was a dual lens box camera that one looked down into. It took 620 film, had no flash, and if you forgot to wind, you would double expose things. I still have that camera.

I have been to 33 of the 50 states, seven provinces of Canada, three cities in Mexico, but I've never been off the continent (not counting Nova Scotia and the Keys).

I recall my father being able to drive for a week on two dollar's worth of gas.

I bought dozens of the original release of bubblegum cards for Star Wars, I had the entire set... the individual packs cost me ten cents apiece. In fact, I remember when the State of Wisconsin raised the sales tax from 4% to 5%... suddenly it cost me eleven cents to buy a pack of those old Star Wars cards, boy was I irked! These days I think a pack would probably sell for tens if not hundreds of dollars.

"You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss three bucks goodbye" made sense. Anyone else remember that old movie short: Hardware Wars?

Speaking of Star Wars and movie shorts, I remember the Star Wars Christmas Special... the one that took place on the Wookie homeworld and starred Chewbacca's son, Lumpy, as well as many of the Star Wars cast. I believe George Lucas tracked down every copy in existence and had them all launched into the sun.

I may continue to add to this list as the day or year progresses... as things occur to me.