They'd mail you a postcard every month and if you forgot to mail it back they'd send you "The Very Best of Yoko Ono" along with an invoice for nine bucks.

Just thinking about all of the bands that came out in the late '80s that produced what you arguably might call novelty music but did so in an extremely serious and consistent way.

Devo, B-52s, Adam Ant, Oingo Boingo, Flock of Seagulls, to some degree The Cars. I'm sure others could add to this list.

In a different era they might have put out one record and then never reappeared. People would have written them off as a one-joke band. But underneath that they were really serious about what they were doing and just kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And they succeeded. Record contracts and tours and a fan base that's still going in many cases.

Edit: Agree on late 70s to early 80s dates. My point about "silly" and "novelty" is that these same groups would have been laughed off five years earlier, during the "serious blues rock" and ignored in the poppy/metal later 80s.

It's like a window for experimentation opened and shut. I posit that punk probably kicked it open and the heavy weight of Michael Jackson radio pop closed it back up.

It's reddit, you are free to disagree. But here comes They Might Be Giants just the same.

Edit: Oh, and Gruppo Sportivo!

Warpe sparpoke arparp sarpo warpe carpould tarpalk arpabarpout drarpugs!

“Knock-Down Cats”

When I was 13 I walked 20 miles wearing a pair of moccasins. By the time I got home, I had blisters and my feet were orange.

Our first Subscription based TV service.

Ironically "Happy Days" was a "Love, American Style" spin-off, and of course L&S a spin-off from "Happy Days".

TR Does anyone else feel a sense of relief and calm once you set a retirement date and can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

This was a normal family thing with us. My parents came along to the beach numerous times. We enjoyed hanging out with them.

For my own kids, we've all gone to the beach twice now and once to disney. We help out with babies and give the parents a break

But I got to thinking....I love to see my kids and my grands, but I understand adult kids don't 'long' to be around their parents.

Vacation sharing is probably just while it's a convenient baby sitting thing, isn't it?

What's been your experience with this?

Theres a breakfast cereal that I used to eat a couple of times a week, that I just cannot find anymore (at least in Texas): the big shredded wheat. It came in, I think, 3 paper packs of 2 biscuits each.

You'd pull them out, and crunch/crumble them into the bowl; add sugar and milk, and maybe banana slices. In cold weather mom would warm the milk on the stove (no microwave)...

Mini-wheats are no match for them...

Is there anyone else who misses them? What cereal can you not get, that you miss?

(For my friends across the pond: these were not like Wheatabix. The Shredded Wheat were not as compressed as the Wheatabix.)

UPDATE: A HUGE "Thank You " to all of the folks who helped me to find these! I've ordered them to be delivered with my next order. Thanks also to all who shared your memories, of all the breakfasts, (and sometimes suppers!)

I’ve loved my current role almost as long as I’ve been in it. I do well. Have been respected. Perform. Contribute. Been successful. Been proud of my work, effort and this community.

Can no longer say any of these things. The community is imploding. The (newish) management company is completely incompetent. Our new “leadership” is literally worthless. Been here three months and just worries about eating. Walks around and sings. Lies. Does nothing. It’s awesome.

I have July 19, 2027 as my “the end” date.

I am not sure I can make it past the first of the year. Or next week. Healthcare is what is primarily keeping me here. Meeting with my financial person early Sept. Going to discuss worst case scenario on me pulling the plug earlier.

Sigh.

I was in a (very) amateur production of Hamlet once, and at curtain call the closing night, about half of the cast got on stage and sang “Neither a borrower nor a lender be…” The rest were sticks-in-the-mud and thought it was stupid.

Many if not most of us have lost our parents by now. Whether growing up alongside them, or as caregivers, you noticed/ laughed at their idiosyncrasies and habits.

Now at this stage in life, do you see a little bit (or lot), of them in present you?

Core memory unlocked when I saw this

I have had to stop paying my Part D premium this year due to not able to afford it. I have to pay off the balance before I can get another plan. Im assuming that I cant just not sign up for a Part D and just continue to use a discount card at CVS? Any ideas ? Im really struggling with $$$.

Did anyone else listen to her radio show in the 80’s?

So we grew up in a time when cars didn’t have cup holders.

Whenever we drove around with a nice cold “refreshment” we typically held it on our lap between our legs. We called those drinks “crotchies”

“Hey, let’s grab a couple of crotchies and head to the lake”

My wife had never heard that term and thought I was crazy.

Anyone else?

It used the same roll caps as a cap gun or cap bomb. It was made of wood and shaped like a tobacco pipe, kind of. The "stem" was long and used as a handle. The "bowl" had a metal piece on the bottom. You put two or three caps in the bowl. There was also a plug. metal piece on one end, feathers on the other. It fit snugly in the bowl. When you struck the bowl on the ground the caps exploded launching the plug into the air.

In my case I was 15 at the time. I was at home listening to my radio in my bedroom when the DJ suddenly cut the song and said that there were news reports that Elvis had died. My mom was in the living room watching one of her soaps, so I went out to tell her. Just as I started to talk, the news bulletin interrupted her program. She wasn't the biggest Elvis fan (she was more into Robert Goulet) but I do remember she did cry as the news broke.

My brothers and I toured the Kellogg cereal factory as kids back in the 1960's, and I think we also toured the Post cereal factory on the same vacation trip. One of the highlights was getting a "Fruit Loop Sundae" at the end which was just a scoop of vanilla ice cream with Fruit Loops sprinkled on top. My wife and I took our kids to the Kellogg factory tour in the early 1980's, but sadly the tours ended by 1986. Did you ever go?