Because it's easy for me to mark the time. I lived in a house which I later called my "tiny baby house" until right around my 2nd birthday. I remember a few things from within this house. But some of them are just insanely weird. Gives you some insight into the mind of early childhood maybe.
I remember that my parents had told me that God caused everything to happen. In the house we had this slightly shaggy white carpet with which I was intimately familiar being so short. One night I had what I believe must have been a piece of food stuck in my teeth but to me it felt just like a piece of that carpet, an individual strand. I remember well trying to explain to my Dad that God had put a piece of carpet in my mouth but it was no good. He, incidentally, has no memory of this event but I can distinctly recall why I thought it was true. I remember running my tongue over the piece of food and thinking "this is exactly the same shape as the strands of the white carpet."
I remember staring up at the pink doorbell-box in the corner of the ceiling and realizing what it did for the first time.
I remember when my parents actually hired a male babysitter instead of the usual girl, this kid from down the street, and I remember fleeing from him when he attempted to put a diaper on me for bedtime. Apparently I had some idea that only women were allowed to do that. I do distinctly remember staring at his feet from underneath the bed, and I remember waking up with my mother pulling me out and laughing.
I also remember a recurring nightmare I had. It always started with Gene Shallit (the movie dude from the Today Show) turning into the Incredible Hulk (really Lou Ferigno I guess) and chasing me down the street, and if I couldn't run all the way to the end of the street fast enough this 18 wheeler would come zooming by and then I would be trapped, naked and floating through space in my carseat while the Days of Our Lives themesong played over and over. I don't know what to tell you, I guess I watched a lot of TV.
My younger brother has clear memories of things that happened when he was still crawling. And I can back him up because I was there. Hell I still remember all of my parents friends from before I was 3. Nina, Mary-Pat, Bill the guy who could juggle pool-balls (that guy was always cool), Clarkie, Miss Mary-Lou, Kathy and Kayla. I'm telling you it's all there if you just dwell on it. And it can give you insight into the foundations of your eventual consciousness.
It was my 11th birthday, my teacher was one of the runners-up, the pilot (Dick Scobee) was teaching a class that I was taking outside of school, the children of several astronauts were sitting next to me watching the launch on the classroom TV. There was a lot of crying and running around as I recall.
In late High School a small group of us explored the Brio site near Houston, TX. It was a new community created by a land developer. Nice houses on the average. Anyway, due to the burying of massive quantities of toxic waste nearby a *lot* of children living there had turned up with leukemia, often fatally.
Consequently the entire neighborhood had been abandoned. However, you could still see the odd lighted window in a house or the flicker of a television in an upstairs window. Bear in mind that there were hundreds of houses in this area - block after block. Most of them were entirely boarded up. It was a decidedly eery experience capped off by our visit to the abandoned elementary school. The overgrown playground alone gave off a terribly post-apocolyptic vibe. There were also abandoned cars littered here and there.
We tried to go back a few months later but by then the police were in force and they sent us home promptly. Still, glad to have seen it.
With regards to Europeans disliking Americans - whatever. I am in Europe right now and spent the better part of 2000 in Europe - visited nearly every country. I have had maybe 1 or 2 negative experiences ever and these people were drunk. Most Europeans are more than friendly initially with the possible exception of Greek tourist representatives:)
Honestly, the people who go on and on and on about Europeans hating Americans because of our hegemonial imperialism are almost always Americans who feel like they'll be that much less culpable if they defame the collective. The more secure among us are able to note we are actually rather popular over here, especially those of us from Texas.
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Because it's easy for me to mark the time. I lived in a house which I later called my "tiny baby house" until right around my 2nd birthday. I remember a few things from within this house. But some of them are just insanely weird. Gives you some insight into the mind of early childhood maybe.
I remember that my parents had told me that God caused everything to happen. In the house we had this slightly shaggy white carpet with which I was intimately familiar being so short. One night I had what I believe must have been a piece of food stuck in my teeth but to me it felt just like a piece of that carpet, an individual strand. I remember well trying to explain to my Dad that God had put a piece of carpet in my mouth but it was no good. He, incidentally, has no memory of this event but I can distinctly recall why I thought it was true. I remember running my tongue over the piece of food and thinking "this is exactly the same shape as the strands of the white carpet."
I remember staring up at the pink doorbell-box in the corner of the ceiling and realizing what it did for the first time.
I remember when my parents actually hired a male babysitter instead of the usual girl, this kid from down the street, and I remember fleeing from him when he attempted to put a diaper on me for bedtime. Apparently I had some idea that only women were allowed to do that. I do distinctly remember staring at his feet from underneath the bed, and I remember waking up with my mother pulling me out and laughing.
I also remember a recurring nightmare I had. It always started with Gene Shallit (the movie dude from the Today Show) turning into the Incredible Hulk (really Lou Ferigno I guess) and chasing me down the street, and if I couldn't run all the way to the end of the street fast enough this 18 wheeler would come zooming by and then I would be trapped, naked and floating through space in my carseat while the Days of Our Lives themesong played over and over. I don't know what to tell you, I guess I watched a lot of TV.
My younger brother has clear memories of things that happened when he was still crawling. And I can back him up because I was there. Hell I still remember all of my parents friends from before I was 3. Nina, Mary-Pat, Bill the guy who could juggle pool-balls (that guy was always cool), Clarkie, Miss Mary-Lou, Kathy and Kayla. I'm telling you it's all there if you just dwell on it. And it can give you insight into the foundations of your eventual consciousness.
It was my 11th birthday, my teacher was one of the runners-up, the pilot (Dick Scobee) was teaching a class that I was taking outside of school, the children of several astronauts were sitting next to me watching the launch on the classroom TV. There was a lot of crying and running around as I recall.
In late High School a small group of us explored the Brio site near Houston, TX. It was a new community created by a land developer. Nice houses on the average. Anyway, due to the burying of massive quantities of toxic waste nearby a *lot* of children living there had turned up with leukemia, often fatally.
Consequently the entire neighborhood had been abandoned. However, you could still see the odd lighted window in a house or the flicker of a television in an upstairs window. Bear in mind that there were hundreds of houses in this area - block after block. Most of them were entirely boarded up. It was a decidedly eery experience capped off by our visit to the abandoned elementary school. The overgrown playground alone gave off a terribly post-apocolyptic vibe. There were also abandoned cars littered here and there.
We tried to go back a few months later but by then the police were in force and they sent us home promptly. Still, glad to have seen it.
With regards to Europeans disliking Americans - whatever. I am in Europe right now and spent the better part of 2000 in Europe - visited nearly every country. I have had maybe 1 or 2 negative experiences ever and these people were drunk. Most Europeans are more than friendly initially with the possible exception of Greek tourist representatives :)
Honestly, the people who go on and on and on about Europeans hating Americans because of our hegemonial imperialism are almost always Americans who feel like they'll be that much less culpable if they defame the collective. The more secure among us are able to note we are actually rather popular over here, especially those of us from Texas.