It's 8:45 PM on a Saturday night, what were you doing as an 16, 17, or 18 year old?

[debm55]

I am watching television.

[ret5hd]

1. Well...no good. I can say that much.

[debm55]

9. Oh,

[LakeArenal]

2. Dancing at the Youth Center.

[debm55]

11. We used to have our dances on Friday.

[LakeArenal]

34. After 18 tho, lots of LSD, Qualudes and pot.

[debm55]

36. No LSD, qualudes, but pot and opiated hash. That was after 18, too.

[LakeArenal]

49. Oh. I forgot hash. At one point Mr Lake had five different varieties.

I loved Red Lebonese.

[rsdsharp]

3. Just getting off work.

[debm55]

14. Where did you work at?

[rsdsharp]

23. I worked in the meat department of a small grocery store

from the summer I turned 15, until I graduated. I also worked there the summer after my freshman year in college. After my second year, I worked in a meat locker for the summer.

[The Blue Flower]

4. Babysitting and watching tv

nt

[debm55]

16. Me too, but mostly watching TV.

[The Magistrate]

5. Haven't Told Anybody Yet, Ma'am, Why Should I Tell You....

[House of Roberts]

7. Confession is good for the soul.

Plus, you're among friends.

[The Magistrate]

10. If You've Got One, Sir, I Suppose It Is...

[debm55]

17. Oh okay. Your secret will remain.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Sadly

Nerding and dorking

[debm55]

18. Me too.

[Sneederbunk]

8. Well, it wasn't Lawrence Welk.

[debm55]

19. When I stayed with my grandparents. it was.

[Dave in VA]

12. Getting off work in 30 minutes.

n/t

[debm55]

21. Did you sort of slow down before? When I was 18, we would clean up slowly and then then stand around

the punch out machine.

[Dave in VA]

28. I worked at a Mom and Pop

hamburger joint down the street from our home. Closed at 8:30 pm. Spent the last 30 minutes cleaning up the place and shutting everything down for the night. Just me and the owner. Who was our neighbor.

[debm55]

37. Dave, that was great you had a job that was near and you liked.

[Walleye]

13. Think I would've been working at the Dairy Queen making blizzards, thick milkshake for my friends

[debm55]

25. I never had a job until I was 18. Felt like a nerd always at home. Babysat the neighbors kids

sometimes.

[TC 1]

15. CBS Movies

[debm55]

24. I would pet my cat and read, when I wasn't babysitting. My favorite line up of programs was on

Saturday night.

[Ocelot II]

20. Sitting home, reading or watching TV, brooding because as usual

I didn't have a date. Or maybe I was babysitting for a neighbor. What I wasn't doing was socializing, going to a movie, or making out in somebody's car. I was about as popular as cold oatmeal in those days.

[debm55]

22. Join the club OcelotII. That's how I was until 18 and a half.

[Mr.Bill]

26. Once I had a car at 16,

I was living the American Graffiti life (although ten years later than the movie was set in) in downtown San Jose California. The job I had in high school included Saturdays off. We went to drive-in movies, did a little street racing, hung out at Denny's or other coffee shops, maybe an evening of bowling, going to the A&W after the movie, things like that.

[debm55]

31. I had my license at 15 here in PA. It was a Cinderella license--had to be with a Driver and in by a

certain time. My mother never left me drive until I was in the branch campus of Penn State. I guess she was was afraid I would leave with the car and never come back
Which I probably would have)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. At 16 I was still in high school and had no social life. Sigh.

When I was 17 I quit college, got a job, got my own apartment and lived on my own. Still not much of a social life.

[debm55]

32. As I have gotten older, the idea of a social life isn't as great as it was. when I as younger.

Poindexter, as long as you are happy with you-that is what is important. I have to say it took a lot of courage to get out on your own and I admire you for that.

[FuzzyRabbit]

29. Usually the high school or a church had a live band playing.

If there was a live band I was at the dance listening to the music. I didn't dance much, I was afraid to talk to girls. And couldn't dance a lick.

But boy, all the local bands all sounded great! I have wished for decades that I could relive those dances.

If there was no dance, I was home watching TV, by myself.

[debm55]

33. As a teen, we lived in a suburban area. Cars were a must. Bummed rides with kids my age to the HS

games and dances. We were the nerd/art group. Not the social butterflies. We didn't have dates but we had each other as a group.Danced as a group, went to games as a group or stayed at home. We were the outsiders, but we made the most of it.(to the best of our abilities)

[Fiendish Thingy]

30. Working at a movie theatre

Then rushing home to catch SNL.

[debm55]

35. What did you do at the theatre. I always wanted to make the popcorn. Then one day, they left the

supply door open and they had these huge bags of popcorn already made, or bought. I was really bummed.

[Fiendish Thingy]

47. Yeah, we had bags of prepopped corn too

We were a smaller, second run theatre (we got new movies last, often after a year or more- it was the 70’s). The first run theatres had the fancy corn poppers.

I was an usher, and other than tearing tickets and pointing people to the correct theatre, my duties were comprised primarily of:

1) telling people there was no smoking in the theatre (a new rule back then)
2) kicking teens out of R rated movies like the Exorcist, MASH, and Texas Chain Saw Massacre
3) cleaning up barf, and when we had kiddie matinees (4 hours of daycare in the form of a Pippi Longstocking movie marathon, including a hot dog and coke for lunch for just $1!), pee.

All for the princely sum of $1.65 an hour (at least for the first year)

Ah, good times…

[debm55]

51. Oh, sorry, but it doesn't sound to great. Especially the kiddie shows.

[Fiendish Thingy]

56. It was fun at times

I got to work with lots of cute girls, including, for a time, my girlfriend, and made friends with a few of the other guys who worked there, one of whom was a film nerd like me.

[vanamonde]

38. At 16, at home, building Estes model rockets

In my own little world, with no social interest (or ability for that matter). Hated high school in Duncanville Texas in the early 70's.
However. I did not become a rocket scientist, just a nerdy computer guy.

[debm55]

40. But vanamonde, you made it out of those years. And no you are not a nerdy computer guy. You are an

intelligent computer guy. Of all the things said to me, the most hurtful thing was something I overheard in the school library where I worked as a teacher. I was looking for a book to read to my class. i had previously been nominated for the Golden Apple Award with a prize of $5,000. It went to teachers that parents nominated. I was nominated 10 years in a row and never won. Without knowing it the principal was talking to the teacher SHE gave the award to. The reason was that Mrs, M was socially inept. I put out from behind the stacks, gave her a glare and left. I had no respect for her and never will.Rant off. I wanted to say,"Kiss my skinny little ass" But I continued to do what I loved even if I was socially inept.

[vanamonde]

57. Thank you for the kind words! n/t

[Permanut]

39. Driving around Yaw's Drive in Burgers..

In my '56 Chevy, along with about 50 other hot rods.

[debm55]

41. Oh ,I had a 65 Chevy Impala--aqua.

[LuckyCharms]

42. Me too, same color. I can't remember if we discussed this before or not.

[debm55]

43. I think we did on a thread called Your First car. NO power steering, NO AWD, Drove like a tank.

Glad you are feeling better today. I was worried

[LuckyCharms]

44. Thanks, Deb

No need to worry.

[Permanut]

45. '65 was totally cool..

Still is. I graduated from high school in '63, so I go back just a little farther than you young whippersnappers

[Emile]

46. 18 yrs old I just returned back to the states

from a Mediterranean cruise.

[debm55]

50. Lucky.

[Emile]

52. Not really, that's when we found out about Woodstock

and the great concert we just missed.

[debm55]

54. My husband went and he is a self described nerd. Went to Cornell for pre-med.

[Emile]

55. In August I was in Malta. Connie Stevens & Marty Allen

with the US ambassador to Malta came aboard and gave us a USO show. We had two destroyers tied up along side and the show was for all three ships.

[hunter]

48. Sleeping, running, or writing code for 1802 or 6502 microprocessors.

Sometimes looking after younger siblings, or on rarer occasions as an eighteen year old, going out with my sort-of-girlfriend to watch really depressing, often foreign language, "art" movies. She was goth before that was a thing. One of the date movies she took me to was Eraserhead. She always paid. She had money. I didn't.

I never introduced her to my family, probably because I subconsciously knew they'd tell me I was flirting with catastrophe. And they'd have been correct.

Truth be told, my mind went completely sideways with adolescence and it took me about a decade to claw myself back to any sort of rationality beyond writing code. Writing code and running were my comfort place. Most everything else in my life was chaos.

If I end up in hell then 16, 17, or 18 years old will probably be part of the hell loops I'm condemned to.

Hell is basically a labyrinth of a billion doors, and behind each door, every condemned soul gets their own personalized eternal torment. This torment is colloquially referred to as a Hell Loop, as the torture the condemned soul experiences plays in a constant, repetitive loop, regardless of the length of time in each loop. Each Hell Loop and the person being tortured inside is accessed through a specific door.

Sorry to be a downer.

[debm55]

53. Oh no. hunter, don't be sorry. That time period was the worst of my life too. I have discussed my

home situation and that was the worst of the worst. You are not alone my friend. but you know what? We are survivors and we left the hell on earth we went through. Be proud of yourself. Sometimes it's easy to fall back into the hole. (I do) But yes, for alot of us that time period is one to learn from and forget.

[LudwigPastorius]

58. I was usually playing a gig back then.

Anything from rock at high school beer parties, to country in skeevy bars (they rarely checked band members' IDs), to dinner music at a country club...

[lpbk2713]

59. Probably sweeping or mopping.

At 17 and 18 I bagged groceries by day, cleaned up at night.

[debm55]

69. Thank you Ipbk2713

[sakabatou]

60. Watching TV, ready for Adult Swim (Sat)

[debm55]

70. Thank you sakabatou

[wnylib]

61. Any of 3 possibilities, depending on which Saturday night.

Sometimes on a date, sometimes at a teen center dance with a group of friends, sometimes watching TV while babysitting.

[debm55]

71. Very good ways to spend a Saturday evening

[usonian]

62. High school and college? ( where's the damn calculator?)

That would make me very busy and tired from commuting to both.

SNL most likely ( still looking for calculator)

We had slide rules then. Yikes. I keep a couple to remind myself how those dreams of supercomputers on my desktop came true.

[debm55]

73. I hating slide rulers. Never could figure out how to use.

[usonian]

81. Log ( a * b ) equals log(a) plus log(b). Wow.

And I'll let you in on a little goodie.

DU's server code either deletes a math character in a post's title or returns a 403 Forbidden reply. I had to fudge the title a few times to make it work.

Not a math forum!!

[Elessar Zappa]

63. Probably masturbating.

Hey whadda ya expect, I was 16 with no girlfriend lol.

[debm55]

74. HAHHAHA

[Chipper Chat]

64. I played in a band.

Sock hops at the local YMCA, College dances, after HS basketball ball game teen dances.

[debm55]

75. That's great. Do still play today?

[Chipper Chat]

82. My 50s band was rock n roll.

My present band is Dixieland. I know - big change.

[Mad_Dem_X]

65. In my room, listening to music

I wasn't a very sociable teenager.

[debm55]

76. I knoe what you mean

[Mad_Dem_X]

87. .

[NNadir]

66. Either playing the guitar, listening to music, or engaged in backseat adventures with my girlfriend.

I was a pretty useless kid, somewhat profligate.

[debm55]

77. Well you had some choices there

[Paladin]

67. Seeing a movie or cruising the streets drinking beer.

Or both.

8:45 was usually a little early to be making out with a girl.

[debm55]

78. Oh you.

[Niagara]

68. I was either:

1. Working


2. Racing


3. Getting High


I didn't do any of those 3 things simultaneously.

[debm55]

79. I like your choices,

[Niagara]

83. Debbie, I would like to clarify that I was a marijuana smoker.

I suppose at this point "getting high" could be just about anything out there.

[debm55]

85. So was I

[Bobstandard]

72. Cruising Waikiki for tourist girls my age. (Somebody had to grow up in Waikiki)

BTW, late teen girls on vacation in Hawaii with their parents left their normal conservative personas at home. It gave me and my pals a somewhat unrealistic view of female mating behavior.

[debm55]

80. Oh my. I see your point

[TexasBushwhacker]

84. That would have been 73 - 75

There's a good chance I was at a concert. I went to a LOT of concerts back then. They were affordable and most of them, at the time, were at the basketball arena at University of Houston. My mother was a student and the tickets would go on sale a day before they were sold to the general public. Many times she got me great seats. Good times!

[debm55]

88. Me too, but 73-75 , I was older

[LeftInTX]

86. Sometimes homework. I was grounded alot.

And when I wasn't grounded, my parents were strict.


I also was on juvenile probation for a year too......



I also took these "secretary classes" in high school and typing was the hardest class. I would literally spend Saturday night doing typing homework. I was horrible at it. MASH would be on the background, but I didn't watch much TV.

[debm55]

89. I know I hated typing.One finger typer here

[LeftInTX]

90. I had this "glamorous" goal of becoming secretary...

I lived in a town where everyone got married young and no one went to college. (College was for "old maids".)
I lived than "that kind of town" Old maid: 19 and not married.

So, that was my goal.
But I was flunking anything to do with secretarial skills. I was bad!

Senior year: I decided to go to college and rammed in as many college prep courses as possible. My grade point avg went way up. I went to college and did not become an old maid. However, I did not meet my husband until I was 25.

[debm55]

91. Good for you that you changed directions. I'm proud of you.

[LeftInTX]

92. Best decision ever...