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Friday, June 10, 2016

As a Kid, I Thought These Things Would Be a Much Bigger Problem.


Was it just me or did the week speed by? I guess it's a good thing. Anytime a week speeds by and it's one day away from the weekend, I'm good.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, I'm weighing in this morning instead of tomorrow. Saturday is the Komen Race for the Cure 5k and this will be the 6th year I've run it. Yea, I haven't ran in a loooong time. An embarrassing long time. If I can just make it through without injuring myself, that would be awesome.

Alright, I've been thinking about this post for a while. When I was a kid we were constantly being told about things that would be dangerous and how we should look out for them. Like constantly. You know what, these things never happened. Never. It's like when I freshman in college and they made all of us watch a movie about the dangers of grain alcohol and how you'd get really drunk and boys would touch your boobs. Then they gave all of us rape whistles.

Well, given the recent events on college campuses, maybe that wasn't the worst thing.

Anyways, I really. really thought these things would be an issue.

1. PCP.

Please, please tell me you've seen this after school special where a young Helen Hunt is coaxed to try some angel dust by her boyfriend and she freaks out and jumps put the window. It's worth the 4 minutes.

And it wasn't just this movie, in school and other specials, everyone was just waiting to lace your other drugs (usually weed) with PCP. As a matter of fact, we were expressly told to watch out for weed laced with Angel Dust. I guess weed wasn't an issue? This was the era of Nancy Regan and "Just Say No", maybe that was why? Was this an epidemic in the 80s? Because I swear no one has mentioned it since then. 


2. Quicksand

Wasn't quicksand on every cartoon and show? Like seriously, I thought quicksand would be everywhere. Going for a hike in the woods? How can I escape the quicksand? Look where you walk, quicksand. Carry a stick to help you get out of quicksand. I still remember that you aren't supposed to struggle, just try and stay still and look for a branch or vine to help pull yourself out. 

3. Anvils

Based on the number of anvils I've seen in cartoons, I thought they'd be a lot more present in real life. I think I've seen 5 anvils in my life and they've all been at either the Renaissance fair, state fair or Williamsburg VA. Were there more anvils in the 50s and 60s? Why did the cartoonists choose to use anvils? Not a clue.

4. Vans

Ok, this was based in fact because there was apparently a local girl who was abducted by someone in a van. But we were terrified of vans and people in vans and people trying to lure kids into vans. Maybe someone is all "Gee Lara, aren't you lucky, I escaped 5 van abductions". Add that to that scene is Silence of the Lambs and vans are nothing but abduction wagons. I still think this is an issue. Never trust a windowless van.


5. Killer Bees

I must have seen at least 10 specials or segments on killer bees as a kid. How they tried to breed the Africanized bees with the happy honey bees so they'd make more honey. Instead the asshole bees killed the other hives and escaped and started traveling north. I even remember a map and a timeline of when we could expect the killer bees to get to our area. 

Apparently Killer bees love to eat thrown kitchen wastes such as hamburger, meat, cheese, spaghetti, and fish.Who knew? But they might still be making their way north, but I swear it was supposed to happen sometime in the early 2000s

What about you? What did you think would be a bigger issue than it turned out to be?

Linking Up! - Meet at the Barre

6 comments:

  1. i'm still leery of vans in thanks to the freak outs in the 80s

    OH MY GOSH - that video. I miss after school specials. The car flying off the edge of the cliff... whheeeeee! :) haha that is hilarious. & how did Helen Hunt survive the jump out of the window in the first place? The power of drugs. haha. Its so fun to look back at those things now. I bet I watched it on my bed & freaked out watching it as a preteen though :)

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    1. If I'm following behind a windowless van, I'm always watching to see if someone is trying to escape or put up a message. Vans are creepy.

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  2. Thank you for speaking the TRUTH about the killer bee issue... I lived in fear one whole summer thinking any minute, those darn things would turn up in Missouri. Where are you NOW, bees?!!

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    1. I was convinced, CONVINCED the bees were coming. Bees and kudzu were supposed to make their way north and take over everything. Yea, now I'm in the south and I don't see either of those.

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  3. Windowless vans still freak me out. If I'm walking near one even in broad daylight I keep a distance from them. Ha! And seriously, I thought killer bees were everywhere at all times. I'll use that as my excuse as to why I'm afraid of bees. Same with anvils. I've only ever seen them at like old-time blacksmith shop recreations!

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    1. My brother thought there would be more people walking across the street with a pane of glass that he'd have to avoid. Cartoons influence kids in strange ways.

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