A for...

Welcome to Blogging  A to Z 2023. My theme for this year is Childhood Flashbacks/Memories. For Day One, I present....

ALBUMS: 

The word album had many meanings when I was a child. For one thing, it could mean a photo album of family pictures:

Though it's been years since I've looked at them, the photo albums in my house are still in the hall closet on the shelf above the bed sheets. It seems almost shameful that this is one of the lost arts caused by the Internet. I do kind of miss actual photos. The only good thing I have found about digital photos is not having to buy film, taking a few extra shots just to use up the rest of the roll, and waiting a week or so for the photos to be done. 

Another kind of album I had a child was one for autographs by people from school. I had this one:

I'm not sure how many others had one of these things. Of course in junior high school and high school, we got autographs from fellow students in our yearbooks. I now wonder if this is still a thing today.

 

And there were albums for collecting stickers (I will discuss more about stickers in another post):

And of course, everyone remembers this kind of album:

Though I was mainly a cassette listener, transitioning to CDs in the 1990s. I still have many of my CDs (more on this to come).

APPLE COMPUTER:

This of course, is an old Apple Computer, with its former colorful logo. My first exposure to Apple Computers was in school. We would go to the computer lab for math or English class, and sometimes to play games. I seemed to be the only one who did not play Snoggle, a Pac-Man knockoff. Others seemed excited that it had come, but I stayed with playing Hangman.

I did not have an actual computer until I was in college, as I needed one for typing papers. I have been Apple Macintosh user ever since.

 

AFTERSCHOOL SPECIALS:

Anyone who grew in the 1980s (and also in the 70s) will remember these occasionally airing programs for kids on ABC. I can only recall a few right off hand. I was rarely ever home when they were on. Though I can recall the series intros:

The specials were released on DVD, and I rented one or two the seasons that I could find when I first signed up for Netflix in 2007. Kristy McNichol was in at least two of the ones I saw then. 

Airing these specials meant ABC stations would pre-empt their normal afternoon programming. Often during that time of day, it was soap operas and syndicated programs. When syndicated talk shows, like Oprah Winfrey's, started becoming popular and profitable, the Afterschool Specials became less frequent, eventually disappearing altogether. Some can be seen on Youtube.

ANIMATED SHOWS:

Of course, my childhood would not have been complete without watching animated shows. From the ones on Saturday morning, to reruns of shows like The Flintstones on weekdays afternoons. I also liked the Schoolhouse Rock segments in between cartoons on Saturday on ABC (more on this to come). One of my most watched Saturday doing cartoon was The Smurfs. I had the stuffed and miniature toys of the characters, among other things. 

And way too many other most-watched cartoons to mention!

ANIMAL CRACKERS:

One of my favorite snacks as a child. This was the box design I grew up with:

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ALL for today. Will "B" back on Monday.