Your Favorite Pastime As a Child...

[John in Covina]

Since we lived close to the Great South Bay on Lon-Guyland we would go fishing and crabbing a lot and when i was real young do a little personal clamming. When I was young there was a lot more woods and less houses and we played mostly in the woods and in the cleared lot next to my house that was owned by my dad's aunt & uncle.

When they were dredging and using the fill to make new land for the Beach park in Copiague, we used to bike ride alot there and play Rat Patrol. I loved the balsa wood gliders and rubber band wind up planes, and also box kites. When older we played with frisbees and play basket ball and version of street hockey, baseball, softball and football all "sand lot" games.

As a matter of fact I currently am nursing a sore knee with torn cartilage that was first dislocated in a sand lot football game as a junior in HS.
:eusa_doh:

 

[Twitch]

Overall bike riding. At different times plastic model building, model air plane flying and model car race tracks. That's about it.

 

[Novella]

I liked to play dress up, choreograph dances with friends, and write stories. When I was an older kid I used to film little movies with friends, often mysteries with spies.

For awhile I thought I was going to major in film studies, but I ended up a history major. Film's not far off though, my latest research project is on film fan magazines in 1930s Britain. : )

 

[AtomicBlonde]

would have killed in the defense of Barbies

me too! I was really careful with my barbies and my dolls... they always were dressed and I always brushed their hair and kept them looking nice... it drove me NUTS when I went to a friends house and their dolls and barbies were thrown around half dressed with messy hair. Can we say OCD? My sister didnt like playing barbies with me because I was too bossy. I remember once however, deciding that one of my barbies should have short instead of long hair... the results were not what I expected and took it to my mom in tears.

I also very distinctly remember thinking that all my stuffed animals actually had feelings and that if I picked one over the other to sleep with at night the others would be sad. My parents still laugh over coming to wake me in the morning and not being able to see my face because I was burried in a pile of stuffed animals.

Geez... rereading what I just wrote makes me think that maybe I was an oddball child?!

 

["Doc" Devereux]

When I was a boy, I liked to play with fire, and things that went bang. I was also terribly keen on aeroplanes and wanted to be a pilot.

Well, my eyes won't let me get a commercial pilot's licence, but after a little boiling with a laser should be fine for a private, and every November I get to play with a fireworks crew. I wouldn't claim to have grown up, but being older lets me play with cooler toys.

 

[Nora Charles]

I used to line up my teddy bears and teach them things on my little chalk board. Today - I'm a teacher!

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Same here

I also assembled and painted intricate model soldiers from kits by Historex and Airfix. Made dioramas. My obsession was the Napoleonic wars. I was 12 years old at the time.

.

I was WAY into dioramas with Airfix figures.And of course models. Any war was cool with me. WW1, WW2, The Civil War, knights, Romans, you name it, I was into it. Seems it was always war and destruction, but paradoxically, I grew up to be creative. Maybe the background of re-creating all that history made me think creatively? [huh]
I guess it's just a guy thing...........

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Etienne, what a superb idea for a thread! :eusa_clap What a fascinating discussion; really great to see how folks got started on their way to being future Loungers. Especially those of you who had the courage to follow your interests in your career/livelihood choice. That's just beyond cool

I wound up getting a B.A. in Home Economics, with dual specialization in Early Childhood Development and Interior Design!

Sweet, I've in the last 6 mos bought a stack of 40s interior design books seeking "the authentic look" for when funds are sufficient to furnish a home "by the book". Taking night classes over next couple years or so also in prep for planned 2nd career in (emergency?) medicine, am just finishing a "lifetime development" psych class, fascinating - Erickson, Piaget, Bronfenbrenner... and it's nurture, not nature!

Always loved adventuring--... Actually I am interested in joining the Canadian Army as a way to get into UN Peacekeeping--I don't like the way they do things now, and I reckon I can at least try to fix it.

Cheers
Craig

A career in line with your personality, what a great concept, something I never grasped as an undergrad :eusa_doh: - Go for it farnham54!

Who knows if I'll end up doing what I want or not but at least I know what led to my being the way I am now. Natural inclination!

L_H

At Least go for something "remotely similar"!

I spent an (probably) unhealthy amount of time playing with stuffed toys - aka teddy bears. My favourite was an otter ...

bk

How's that translated into what you do now BK? (It doesn't? you could occasionally set an otter or two loose in the office then run around and catch it... hey that gives me an idea, let me consult my cubemates )



[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]When I was a boy, I liked to play with fire, and things that went bang. I was also terribly keen on aeroplanes and wanted to be a pilot.

Well, my eyes won't let me get a commercial pilot's licence, but after a little boiling with a laser should be fine for a private, and every November I get to play with a fireworks crew. I wouldn't claim to have grown up, but being older lets me play with cooler toys.[/QUOTE]

Doc, a thought just crossed my mind, could you have just spoken the Meaning of Life

Since we lived close to the Great South Bay on Lon-Guyland we would go fishing and crabbing a lot and when i was real young...

CRABBING! Yes! Virginia Beach VA, 64th street extended. Way cool, Everything about it, from dodging jellyfish (which I learned right quick! and how to handle a "jellyfish on a stick") to pounding giant rusty nails into spare chicken bits, driving the other ends tied to pieces of scrap wood into the sand, standing there feeling for vibes on the line ready to swoop with the net, a Tommy Dorsey cassette running up on the beach... Dangit John, now I wanna go do that NOW!



Swing High,
- Cousin Hepcat

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Oh, forgot about me Music!

An unusual combination of 30s-40s swing band music (thanks to 78s given by my Grandfather when I was 8) and of the 1980's rap music that all my friends in my neighborhood grew up listening to also. So I'd save up milk money every week to get off at different bus stops & buy any swing 78s I could find at the junk shop, then when I got home, go biking with friends making up & reciting raps for hilarious "cutting contests"! (I even won sometimes)

The 78 hobby culminated with "the big haul" when I was in college a few years back, after which I said I'd never find a better find, and quit: (No I didn't buy all these! Only about a couple hundred)

About the same time: This one's kinda scary, but here ya go... (my excuse: I was in college, everyone was drunk, I was invited to a halloween party, and all I had was a 10-year-old old Freddy Krueger mask with the jaw ripped off... I won't post the MP3, lucky for you all who'll get more sleep tonight...)

I recently found a picture of me c. age 6 at Colonial Williamsburg listening with absolute facination and attention to a costumed interpreter who was telling me a story about something. I told my mom it should have a caption under it that says "so the facination begins"

-Jess

Awesome - Can you post it Jess? & Mind if I borrow that idea?

Me as a kid visiting with my granddad, when my hair was still gold-colored, where my fascination with swing music began: - he was a sharp dresser, even in the hideous era of the Late 1970s!! :eusa_clap WISH I had on hand the pic of him with his band in the 1920s... Really wish had some of his Fedoras...

My work unfortunately has nothing to do with my hobby; more power to the folks whose work does.

Looking forward to a new lifelong hobby in swing dancing - already had an interest in & done it just a little in school, but more definite now thanks to the good folks at the Lounge for posting this awe-inspiring video link!:

http://s137057073.onlinehome.us/videos/kc2.mpg

Swing High,
- Cousin Hepcat

 

[Etienne]

I'm REALLY enjoying reading all of these posts! Feels like I know each member on a slightly deeper level. Oh the riches of childhood!--Etienne

 

["Doc" Devereux]

Oh, forgot about me Music!

Y'know, I forgot that too!

I grew up listening to 20s and 30s dance music and comic songs. That ended up with me pulling a couple of years as a crooner in my early twenties. Cigarettes and whisky have got to the voice, but I still sing occasionally and boy is it ever fun!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

As a small child, I was mainly either outside in the dirt with my Tonka toys or inside with my Tinkertoys or Erector Set, as well as myriad Matchbox, Corgi and Hot Wheels cars and trucks.

Nowadays I do some video production, doing a good job of pretending that I know what I'm doing.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Erector Set

What on earth is an Erector Set? I have terrible visions.

bk

 

[scotrace]

So as not to damage your delicate psyche

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That just makes it worse ... "Hello Boys!" ... "I have some cute baby bunnies at home. Would you like to see them?" Shudder. Innocent days.

And Cousin ... I'll bet you went through all those records, didn't you? A bit like me with ties. This dame just kept producing more and more suitcases full of 30s ties at a buck a piece. Irresistable.

bk

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

And Cousin ... I'll bet you went through all those records, didn't you? A bit like me with ties.
...
Irresistable.
bk

3 days and 3 nights!!! (a quarter million 78s I was told, didn't count )

yup, Irresistable ... (have you posted any of your tie collection on the lounge? any ties with otters, bears, etc? )

As a small child, I was mainly either outside in the dirt with my Tonka toys or inside with my Tinkertoys or Erector Set, as well as myriad Matchbox, Corgi and Hot Wheels cars and trucks.

Nowadays I do some video production, doing a good job of pretending that I know what I'm doing.

Yess! had one Tonka, *metal* dump truck, those things were Awesome.. and the Hot Wheels - and Legos out the wazoo! The "expert builder" sets they called them, with all the moving gears, pulleys, axles and motors...

- Cousin Hepcat

 

[Anagaharad]

When i was little, i was always playing dress up and digging up bugs, frogs, and toads. i had an old 10 gallon fish tank that i turned into my personal lab and watched the bugs eat, grow, reproduce and then die. No wonder my major is Biology. (Purdue has a good Biology program, by the way)

 

[Marc Chevalier]

A bit like me with ties. This dame just kept producing more and more suitcases full of 30s ties at a buck a piece. Irresistable.

Baron, see the new thread in the "General Attire and Accoutrements" section. It's got your name on it, mate ...


.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Yess! had one Tonka, *metal* dump truck, those things were Awesome.. and the Hot Wheels - and Legos out the wazoo!

And don't forget Topps baseball cards. (We always threw out the gum ... our goal was to collect all the Hank Aaron cards. Baseball card trading taught me that the first barter economy was undoubtedly invented by children.)

And what about Topps "Wacky Packages" stickers? (We called them "Wacky Packs".) I still have my collection in storage somewhere. A few of my stickers are from the first series (1969?).

 

[Irena]

When I was little (only a couple of years ago, by the way), I played with all sorts of things. Tonka trucks, toy tractors, Barbies (I really liked to make houses and furniture for them), sticks, shovels, dolls, stuffed animals, builing blocks (still play with those), Legos, and much more. I can entertain myself with just about anything (I still play acrobats with hot chocolate packets), but I usually found myself building things, designing cities, and the like. I really dislike making things with big tools, though. I prefer hand saws and knifes to power tools. Oh, yes - I'm always drawing houses: pictures, plans, details, interiors. Have been since I was tiny.

Well, I'm going to college next year to become an architect, then I want a degree in Civil Engineering and one in forestry engineering, so I can say that me childhood pastimes are affecting my future.

Irena