Happy Birthday, Cap’n Socks!
Fun OP, Rosie. 1974 was the year I turned 21, so by that point I’d been happily misspending my youth for umphmumble years – hey, whaddaya want? My daughter hangs out here, you really think I should warp her little mind?
Oh, wait a minute, it’s already hopelessly warped. Never mind. 
I started drinking at the ripe old age of 14 (and stopped at the ripe old age of 22), and although I don’t remember exactly when I first tried pot, I do remember the time a friend shared some seriously strong pot with me. As I recall, I took 5 hits and was stoned out of my gourd for three full days. To make matters even more interesting, I think I was home from college on summer vacation at the time, and at the height of my stonedness my parents insisted that I accompany them to an organ concert at a church that had a lovely HUGE organ. Trust me when I tell you that being stoned out of your mind at an organ concert is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. :dubious: Man, the rushes were amazing!
Anyway, I went to college during the same time of intensive recreational chemistry as Rosie, so there was lots of everything floating around. I tried a little of this and a little of that, but always ended up back with my old standby booze, and that chewed me up and spit me out fast. So all the dubious pleasures of my misspent youth came to an abrupt halt, as I said, a few months before I turned 23. And the rest of my story you don’t need to hear.
But damn, we did have some fun!
We didn’t have a formal high school hangout; instead, we all hung out at the house of two of my friends, a brother and sister only a year apart in age, John and Janet. They had a big front porch, and really cool parents, and so we’d hang out there and listen to music and play games and have amazingly innocent fun. My father was always convinced we were having orgies or something, but I doubt John and Janet’s neighbors would have approved. Unless we invited them, of course. 
Those were the days, eh?
As someone who has successfully fought off carpal tunnel, McUne, may I recommend the ProFlex wrist brace? Lightweight, inexpensive, comfortable, and no metal; very non-activity-limiting. Also machine washable. Between wearing those when I was doing carpal-tunnel inducing activities – my Big Three were typing, driving, and sleeping (yes, sleeping – I’d curl my hands up in my sleep and wake up with them numb!) – and also changing and paying more attention to my ergonomics, I reduced rapidly increasing wrist pain down to an occasional ache. That was 15-20 years ago, and I still keep a set of the wrist braces around for occasional need – I’ll wear one on my right wrist when I’m going to be driving for more than a few hours, for example – but those times are few and far between these days. So I consider myself a carpal tunnel success story. If you want any input on ergonomic changes, ask away; I consider myself somewhat of an expert these days!
Off to caffeinate some more and contemplate whether I want to work first and then try watching a DVD on the new 'puter, or vice versa. And I discovered the 'puter has a slot I can just slip my camera’s memory card into directly to pull my photos off, plus a writeable DVD drive – not that I have anything to write onto it! And I can hook it directly into the TV, not that I see any real need considering how many TVs we have in the house (unless, of course, I want to record a TV show onto a DVD, I guess?). Anyway, it certainly warrants lots of exploration as to its capabilities. And to think this is what passes for a low-end model these days! :eek:
ETA: I will post photos later of our Easter shrimp dinner. Two shrimps apiece, and I was STUFFED! I have never seen such shrimps in my life – definitely oxymoronic in size!
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It’s to the point where I need to go in. They had no appts today, (I’m not surprised) but tomorrow afternoon works.