The Over 40s Club meeting

[RJDiogenes]

^^ That would make for a nicely profitable lawsuit today.

Major Matt Mason..

I loved Major Matt Mason. I had several of the characters and a few of the toys. Not enough, though. I used to constantly pore over those little catalogs to see all the things I couldn't afford....

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

^ Me, too! Me, too!

I used to have a Beany and Cecil beanie, but alas, it disappeared into the vast black hole that was my parent's garage.

Did anybody else play marbles or jacks? We never got into marbles much (I can't speak for anybody else, but for me, the reason probably was that I couldn't bear to play for keepsies, and what's the point of playing marbles if you don't play for keepsies?), but we girls went through a period of at least a couple of years where we played jacks a LOT.

I always wanted to play jacks, but I never really got the chance to because I was a boy.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

*snip*

The teacher hated me; she never missed a chance to make fun of me in front of everyone; and, after the day she dragged me out of the shower naked to show everyone what a body should NOT look like, (we had individual showers) I skipped PE every chance I got.

I hated it.

Ah, yes, the fond memories of being chased by the PE teacher and called a "dingleberry" and a "faggot" and a "sissy" because you didn't know how to play a game or weren't the most athletic ... and then being instructed to go play a game called "smear the queer". Oh how I loved adolescence.

^ Me, too! Me, too!

I used to have a Beany and Cecil beanie, but alas, it disappeared into the vast black hole that was my parent's garage.

Did anybody else play marbles or jacks? We never got into marbles much (I can't speak for anybody else, but for me, the reason probably was that I couldn't bear to play for keepsies, and what's the point of playing marbles if you don't play for keepsies?), but we girls went through a period of at least a couple of years where we played jacks a LOT.

Oh yeah, baby, it was all about the "keepsies"! We treasured our keepsies (because it described both the variation of the game and the spoils thereof.) Our keepsies were our preciousssssssss.

I always wanted to play jacks, but I never really got the chance to because I was a boy.

Yeah, it's funny how there were "girls' games" and "boys' games". Hopscotch, tetherball, jacks and jump rope were all "girl games"; baseball, basketball, football, kickball and even soccer back then were "boy games". The one crossover game I recall from the playground was 4-square. Somehow it ended up being gender neutral. Hmmm ..., wonder why that was.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I also sucked in "PE" and i was never taught how to play softball so god forbid the ball ever flew out my way. I had NO idea where to throw it!

Girls, do you remember GYM UNIFORMS???? Ours was a one piece, grey thing. And no one ever took it home to be washed so they stunk to high hell! And no one ever used the showers after gym. I hated PE!

 

[opali]

I loved 4 Square...tons of fun. I actually don't remember tether being a girls' only game. The girls were taller than the boys for a while, so we enjoyed playing against them.

Girls did play tons of chinese jump rope, though. I tried to get my girls into it and they just did not understand my thrill at completing the challenges . We 'leveled up' before pac man.

 

[1001001]

Kickball!

Slow baby-bouncies.

 

[Star Wolf]

^ Re. the "E" in P.E...

If I remember correctly, and I think I am, we were sometimes actually quizzed on the rules for various games. I don't know if this is a gender difference or a regional difference or what, but yeah, we had actual quizzes, though not that often.

We had a soccer test once. During grades 1-3 we normally played handball with the gigantic rubber ball or tether ball. With some light calisthenics and maybe a walk run around the track. 4-6 we normally palyed touch football, basketball, or softball depending upon which sport was in season. Maybe one of the girls in the class would play. I have no ideal what the rest of the girls were doing.

By junior high we had instruction in other sports but the big three team sports were still emphasized. Boys did start to specialize in their sport. How I performed on the basketball court set my social status. By high school I was in the marching band and that took care of my P.E. requirement.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Barefeet, as often as possible.

What about the broken glass shards? There must have been tonnes of it all over (people didn't recycle back then like they used to, and plastic bottles didn't exist!)

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Ah...PE...I hated that class...What I mostly remember is rope climbing...I could NOT, no matter HOW hard I tried, get past the knot in the bottom of the rope. I could climb a tree, but not a rope...and those...I think they were called horses...The thing you had to run up to and leap-frog over? Nope, couldn't manage that either; not without tripping over my own feet and cracking my jaw on the floor.

The teacher hated me; she never missed a chance to make fun of me in front of everyone; and, after the day she dragged me out of the shower naked to show everyone what a body should NOT look like, (we had individual showers) I skipped PE every chance I got.

I hated it.

And people wonder why PE is skipped, and kids hate it....

 

[KimMH]

There is no way that teacher would still have a job this day and age. She would have been fired faster than she could have said "jack." Sometimes the good old days aren't always THAT good - are they? Grrrr.

 

[T'Bonz]

I liked 4-square. Tetherball was new to me, as we didn't play it in Pennsylvania, but when I moved to San Diego, it was THE thing to do.

Gymsuits. UGLY. Oh God. In middle school, in 8th grade, they put out one that wasn't ghastly. By high school, thankfully, it was t-shirts and shorts and I looked just fine in those.

Never could climb a rope or pole (except once or twice) but could do any vault over the horse. There was one I never tried (where you flipped over after a headstand) because I was always paranoid about my neck. But oh, the vaults. So much fun.

The beam not as much because I could only get a "B". Why? I couldn't do a split or a cartwheel on the beam (I could do the rest of the stuff.) Why not? I can't do a split or a cartwheel on the FLOOR!

P.E. showers. The absolute worst. I don't even like showing a bra strap to anyone, much less being in a communal shower. We all walked in with towels wrapped around us, opened it briefly to let a splash of water in (mandatory, as the teacher stood there and made sure we all did it,) stepped on the treadles to get anti-fungal stuff on our feets and off to dress, again, in front of people, including people who hated me. I could dress very, very quickly.

Such memories. P.E. could have been a fun class. Instead, it was nothing but embarrassment with accidental times of having fun (gymnastics, field hockey, etc.)

Glad I wasn't the only one with mean P.E. teachers.

 

[M'Sharak]

Barefeet, as often as possible.

What about the broken glass shards? There must have been tonnes of it all over (people didn't recycle back then like they used to, and plastic bottles didn't exist!)

They didn't call it "recycling" yet, anyway, but when I was little, a purchase of soda in glass bottles (with the exception of some intended for vending machine use, which were marked "no deposit, no return") included a deposit of two cents on small bottles and a nickel on larger ones, and these could be redeemed at any store which sold those brands; there were usually racks where the empty bottles were collected for return. We'd get someone's little red wagon and go around the neighborhood picking up all of the empties we could find, then go cash them in at the 7-11 for Slurpees and candy.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

*snip*

P.E. showers. The absolute worst. I don't even like showing a bra strap to anyone, much less being in a communal shower. We all walked in with towels wrapped around us, opened it briefly to let a splash of water in (mandatory, as the teacher stood there and made sure we all did it,) stepped on the treadles to get anti-fungal stuff on our feets and off to dress, again, in front of people, including people who hated me. I could dress very, very quickly.

Such memories. P.E. could have been a fun class. Instead, it was nothing but embarrassment with accidental times of having fun (gymnastics, field hockey, etc.)

Glad I wasn't the only one with mean P.E. teachers.

Now I'm sorry I brought it up. The flashbacks have started again!!!

Ahem. Yes. Well ..., let's just say, I know exactly what you're talking about, Bonzie. *shudder*

Barefeet, as often as possible.

What about the broken glass shards? There must have been tonnes of it all over (people didn't recycle back then like they used to, and plastic bottles didn't exist!)

They didn't call it "recycling" yet, anyway, but when I was little, a purchase of soda in glass bottles (with the exception of some intended for vending machine use, which were marked "no deposit, no return") included a deposit of two cents on small bottles and a nickel on larger ones, and these could be redeemed at any store which sold those brands; there were usually racks where the empty bottles were collected for return. We'd get someone's little red wagon and go around the neighborhood picking up all of the empties we could find, then go cash them in at the 7-11 for Slurpees and candy.

Yup, I grew up in Oregon: the first state to pass a bottle bill. I don't recall glass being a problem in the '60s (before the bottle bill); we moved to California in '69 then back to Oregon in '71 after the bottle bill had become effective, and I can remember collecting bottles and taking them back. I don't remember anyone NOT returning their bottles (though I'm sure there must've been some.) We were very earthy-crunchy; even the younguns.

 

[Miss Chicken]

We also had a 2c deposit on bottles. Ever so often we would ask our mother if we could take bottles back to the shop. I remember how we loaded up the wheelbarrow and pushed it down to the shop. In those days a big bar of chocolate cost 20c so if we took 50 bottles down we were able to buy quite a bit.

The only Australian state that still has a deposit on bottles is South Australia.

We played a game similar to Jacks in Australia. It is/was called Knuckles. I think the only real difference was the shape of the pieces. In knuckles sheeps knucklebones were used, or rather by the time we played it plastic pieces shaped like sheep's knuckles were used.

 

[Miss Chicken]

P.E. showers. The absolute worst. I don't even like showing a bra strap to anyone, much less being in a communal shower. We all walked in with towels wrapped around us, opened it briefly to let a splash of water in (mandatory, as the teacher stood there and made sure we all did it,) stepped on the treadles to get anti-fungal stuff on our feets and off to dress, again, in front of people, including people who hated me. I could dress very, very quickly.

We didn't have showers after P.E. in Australia. We just all stank together. As far as I know children still don't have showers after P.E. here. They might in private schools.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

P.E. showers. The absolute worst. I don't even like showing a bra strap to anyone, much less being in a communal shower. We all walked in with towels wrapped around us, opened it briefly to let a splash of water in (mandatory, as the teacher stood there and made sure we all did it,) stepped on the treadles to get anti-fungal stuff on our feets and off to dress, again, in front of people, including people who hated me. I could dress very, very quickly.

We didn't have showers after P.E. in Australia. We just all stank together. As far as I know children still don't have showers after P.E. here. They might in private schools.

They probably mean middle (junior high) school, where you usually have to take showers after P.E. For some reason, when I was in junior high school, we didn't all all-and that was strange, since you do that in junior and senior high school!

 

[Star Wolf]

P.E. showers. The absolute worst. I don't even like showing a bra strap to anyone, much less being in a communal shower. We all walked in with towels wrapped around us, opened it briefly to let a splash of water in (mandatory, as the teacher stood there and made sure we all did it,) stepped on the treadles to get anti-fungal stuff on our feets and off to dress, again, in front of people, including people who hated me. I could dress very, very quickly.

We didn't have showers after P.E. in Australia. We just all stank together. As far as I know children still don't have showers after P.E. here. They might in private schools.

They probably mean middle (junior high) school, where you usually have to take showers after P.E.

I remember early in the run of The Wonder Years when we meet the coach. Part of the first PE class was teaching the boys how to shower, "head crotch and feet"

 

[1001001]

Barefeet, as often as possible.

What about the broken glass shards? There must have been tonnes of it all over (people didn't recycle back then like they used to, and plastic bottles didn't exist!)

They didn't call it "recycling" yet, anyway, but when I was little, a purchase of soda in glass bottles (with the exception of some intended for vending machine use, which were marked "no deposit, no return") included a deposit of two cents on small bottles and a nickel on larger ones, and these could be redeemed at any store which sold those brands; there were usually racks where the empty bottles were collected for return. We'd get someone's little red wagon and go around the neighborhood picking up all of the empties we could find, then go cash them in at the 7-11 for Slurpees and candy.

Exactly.

We traded in bottles for candy.