October 14, 2017

Pardon Me Boy, Is That the Chattanooga Choo Choo?

Good morning! I'm so glad to be getting back to blogging by joining in with Sam and the gang for the Saturday 9 after an especially hectic week...and it's an especially sweet treat to find the Glenn Miller Orchestra featured this week. The GMO was my dad's favorite. I woke up nearly every Sunday of my childhood to the sounds of the band swelling through the house from the speakers of our big old console stereo. Thanks, Sam, for the trip down memory lane!

Here we go!



Saturday 9: Chattanooga Choo-Choo (1941)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1)  Chattanooga is Tennessee's fourth largest city. Have you ever visited Tennessee? If so, where did you go and what did you see?

Mostly I've just driven through on my way to somewhere else, but I did drive a van load of ladies from church down to Kay Arthur's campus in...Chattanooga!...a couple of years back. We went to learn how to teach her method of Bible study. It was a fun trip and while we didn't have much time for anything else, what I did see of the area was lovely. I hope to spend more time in Tennessee at some point. The Smoky Mountains are calling!



Since Glenn Miller's recording of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" was awarded the first-ever gold record, we're going to devote the next questions to your firsts.

2) What was the first award or accolade you ever won?

Maybe an award for best costume in whatever category in our local Halloween parade?  I think I was about 5 or 6 at the time.  I don't remember anything before that.

*Not me or any of my kids!*


3) We know about your blog. But which was the first social media site that you posted to? (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, MySpace ...)

It was a blog, but that was back in 2001. Blogs were nothing like they are now. That first "blog" was one static page that I had to change and update. The first one that had multiple pages was still very plain and basic by today's standards. I can't even remember the company that hosted it....no Blogger or Wordpress back then. 

Other than the blog, my first other venture in social media was MySpace. Gosh, but that site was exciting back in the day! My account still exists over there. I visit it every once in a while out of curiosity. What a ghost town! There are tons of musicians and stuff and they send stuff to my account, but who are they hoping to reach? Does anyone in real life actually use MySpace these days?


  
4) Where did you go on your first plane ride?

My parents had friends who were pilots so it was a local fly-over kind of thing..."Oh look, there's our house!"  That sort of thing.



5) Tell us about your first cell phone.

It was a great little silver and blue flip phone from Sprint. I loved that phone! It made me think of the communicators from Star Trek.  It also had the most awesome collection of ringtones I've ever had....and they came free with the phone, no downloading needed!



6) Tell us about your first tattoo: Where is it on your body? Where did you have it done? What does it depict?

When my 45th birthday was approaching I mentioned to my husband that I was feeling that if I was ever going to get a tattoo I needed to get one or get over it. He responded by driving me to a local tattoo shop called Derma Graffiti. I was lucky that they had a young guy working there who had graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He was really nice, answered all my questions and didn't laugh at the idea of a middle-aged housewife getting her first tattoo.

I decided on an ocean/beach inspired drawing the young man designed for me. It reminds me of my happy place when I can't get away to actually be there. It's on my right ankle. Being that he was an actual artist he went all out and there are 17 colors in my little tattoo. Well, to make it simple, here it is:



7) How old were you when you had your first piercing? 

I got my ears pierced when I was 10, so I'm not against piercings, but this:


to me this goes beyond expressing yourself or enhancing your looks....unless what you're expressing is that you have some major issues. I know some will disagree, but at best I see this kind of extreme body alteration as a cry for attention or an addiction and at worst a manifestation of mental illness or evilness (why on earth would you make yourself look like a demon??? and there are plenty of pics of it...do a search).

8) What had you been drinking the first time you suffered a hangover?

Well, I'm sure it followed a night of drinking at a frat party my freshman year of college so that means it was either I.C. Light (the beer of choice at the time for all the frats because it was cheap) or the notorious garbage can punch made of red Kool-aid and grain alcohol (which incidentally holds claim to the first time I got sick from drinking).



9) Was your first ticket for parking or was it a moving violation?

Believe it or not, I've never gotten a ticket for anything.


16 comments:

  1. What a tattoo. Did it hurt much?

    As for those piercings, I always wonder what those guys are going to look like at 60.

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    1. No, it really didn't hurt much at all...only a bit down at the bottom where it was right over the ankle bone so there wasn't much flesh.

      Flappy. I'm going with flappy as how they will look with their stretched out earlobes and lips.

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  2. I love Absolutely Fabulous. Those women are a hoot!! (your hangover photo). But, those piercings above that give me nightmares.

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    1. AF is funny! And the things people do to their bodies, huh? Leaves me sad.

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  3. I must say your tattoo is the prettiest I've seen. Most are quite unattractive and hard to understand. I especially don't understand all those facial and head piercings. I believe your thoughts about them to be correct. I have always wanted to go to Chattanooga for a Kay Arthur event, but I guess it's not going to happen any time soon.

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    1. Thank you. He did do a very nice job. I might have gotten another, but that young man left the area and I trusted him. My daughter has several and we used to talk about getting mother/daughter ones, but have never been able to agree on a design. I would like to get "Walk by faith not by sight." on the side of my foot, but probably won't ever get around to it at this point.

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    2. Oh, do go to Kay Arthur's campus if you get the chance. It is so lovely. The dorm accommodations were pretty basic and in July they were very, very HOT, but the main building where we had classes and ate was nice and air conditioned! The grounds were very pretty and we enjoyed sitting out on the patio every evening.

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  4. I, too, grew up with sounds of the GMO 'swelling through the house.' (Great phrasing!)

    That Flying 101 image is hysterical. And yes, that last photo box is SO me. I wonder if city cops don't know exactly what we're doing and chuckle.

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    1. *giggle* I used to get that "great phrasing" comment on a lot of my English papers in high school and college. I think it was a skill born out of necessity...as in if you haven't actually finished reading the book, you'd better dazzle 'em so they don't catch on!

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  5. My father has conniption fits over my tattoos, but he's finally getting used to them.

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    1. My dad wasn't alive to see the tat, but I'm sure he'd have had plenty to say about it if he had been. It wouldn't have stopped me, though.

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  6. You got a Nemo tat! That is way cool. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!

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  7. Maybe one of these days I'll get the courage for a tattoo. Might do it for my 70th birthday. LOL I enjoyed this Saturday 9. Tomorrow's Sunday Stealing has some real strange/hard questions.

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    1. That would be an awesome gift to yourself! And why not...I took my mom on a roller coaster for her 72nd birthday! And yes, I agree about tomorrow's questions. Very tough.

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  8. Thank you for saying you *liked* the song choice. Usually people only mention it if they don't like it! It's hard to please everyone and we strive for eclectic here at Saturday 9, and I'm glad you appreciated this week's oldie.

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