darkoshi

I just remembered what a bag of Halloween candy obtained by trick-or-treating when I was a kid used to smell like. The candy I've given out as an adult doesn't have those scents. It was probably a combination of scents, but maybe mostly from one kind... chewy and shaped like tootsie rolls with twisted-end wrappers, with several flavors...

I found it, Brach's Royals. The wrappers have changed a lot over time, but this is how I remember them looking:
Brach’s – bulk candy salesman display – 1970’s
The Royals are in the upper left section of the tray, 2nd from the top.
Maybe I'm also thinking of the "Toffee" ones in the lower right, 3rd column from the right.

Ahh, nostalgia. I wouldn't eat those anymore as they are not vegan, and I don't like it anymore when candy sticks to my teeth. But remembering them is nice.

This reddit thread is interesting in regards to children nowadays prefering different candy (not the chocolate ones!) & treats compared to adults/parents:
Are kids these days getting much better Halloween candy than decades ago, or is it just me?

Watch on YouTube

Video title: 50 Years of Scooby-Doo! Intros (1969-2019)
Posted by: SpaceHunterM
Date posted: Jun 27, 2019

I came across this description of a dream I had a couple years ago, while searching through my notes for something else, and found it uncommonly funny in retrospect.

Dream: I was with a group of people (coworkers?) given the opportunity to go skydiving (over Columbia?). The opportunity was presented on short notice while we were doing some other group activity. My first thought was sure, sounds fun. So I got into the small plane with everyone else and sat in a seat in the middle on the right side. The chair felt small and uncomfortably close to the window. I realized that I'm terrified of heights and I'd refuse to jump out of the plane once it got up high in the air. So as the door was closing I said I couldn't do it and asked to be let out. But I think it was too late; they didn't want to open the door again. So I thought that I'd just have to stay in the plane after everyone else jumped out. After waking up and thinking about it I realized there had been no mention of nor training on how to use a parachute first, nor were we given parachutes.

.

It reminds me of the time in high school when I was standing on stage with other National Honor Society members and/or inductees. The speaker had been telling a story about being up in an airplane with the principal of the school, and I hadn't realized it was a joke until the punchline. Then, envisioning the principal jumping out of the plane without a parachute, I couldn't stop breaking out in (possibly well-concealed?) snorts of laughter for the rest of the ceremony. I didn't have anything against the principal, by the way, it just seemed so funny and incongruous.

About that 6' Pole video, something I didn't mention before is that I find the singer's smile rather captivating and/or fascinating, especially the way he looks straight at the camera when doing it. It's like a half smile, or a "knowing" smile, or like an "I have a secret" smile*. And yet when I watched the video again now looking specifically for the smile, it's even more interesting because most of the time where I get the feeling he's smiling, he isn't, or it is only a very slight smile. Even his eyes don't look like they are smiling, and yet I still get that strong "smile" impression.

*None of which are mentioned here: 12 Types of Smiles and What They Really Mean, but I'm thinking now that it fits under the category of "flirtatious smile".

His biggest smile is at 1:51. That's more of a normal happy/fun smile, not like the rest I'm talking about.

Not only that, but the other bandmember (like at 10 seconds into the video), has the same fascinating half smile!

The girl at 56 seconds also has a captivating smile (very briefly shown), but it's a different kind.

In other words, I think I find both band members cute. Not as in wanting to meet them or talk to them or do anything with them, as I have a feeling I wouldn't like them in person. But in that it stirs something in me. Which together with the catchy beat of the song, makes me not mind watching the video again and again. I'm not sure how similar that is to a sexual person finding people cute?

The singer's voice in the song seems at first jarring compared to the music, slurred and unmelodic. But as the song goes on, I get used to it and start liking it. Together with the smile, it starts sounding like the lyrics of the song are a joke he's sharing with you.

And another thing. The purple striped t-shirt he's wearing is very similar to one I had as a kid. I think it was one of my favorites. Although now in looking at the photos, I had two different t-shirts like that! The stripes are slightly different in each, but nearly the same colors and with the same darker purple band around the neck.

I started playing the music files on my laptop in random mode, by means of my VLC script.
The first thing it played was the recording of grandma speaking about Boston. After only a couple seconds of hearing that, in my mind I could smell the sweet scent of unsmoked pipe tobacco; that was what I remember grandpa smelling like. It is funny how hearing a voice from the past can trigger the memory of a scent.

During most of my school years, I brought my own lunches to eat.
In the first few years, my mom fixed my lunchbox for me. Later I fixed my own lunches.
One school during the 5th grade was so close nearby that I could walk home for lunch (my memory is hazy, but I think that is what I did).
So I think it was at most two years that I ate the lunches that the school cafeterias provided.

Yet just now, shaking my almost-empty half-gallon carton of soymilk and hearing the distinctive sound of ice flakes sloshing around in the liquid gave me a flashback to those little half-pint cartons of milk that were part of the school lunches. They often had ice flakes in them like that.

I had a set of Mr Sketch scented markers as a kid. I still have a few of them. When they dry out, I open them from the bottom and drip some water in to rehydrate them. The colors are no longer as bright and strong, but they still have their scents. Black "licorice", dark "green apple", purple "grape", red "cherry", blue "blueberry". I don't have the other colors anymore, but I remember how most of them smelled. Brown cinnamon, pink watermelon, orange, lemon, "raspberry". All except the light blue one shown in those search results. Mango? I don't remember that scent at all. I didn't even remember there being a light blue color. And why mango for blue?

M the 5 year old has been using the markers. The scent of their marks on the paper is still so strong I had to move the papers off this desk. Even though they are 40-ish years old.

From my daily notes today:

That woodpecker is intermittently pecking on the sunroom windows again. It goes from one spot to another, not angrily pecking, just a peck peck here and a peck peck there. Here a peck, there a peck, everywhere a peck peck.

I plan to hang up some strips of what they call "bird scare tape" to see if that will deter the woodpecker. This pecking noise isn't very loud or bothersome (unlike the rapid banging on the other side of the house which sometimes wakes me up), but the pecking itself is damaging my window screens. Today I managed to take a video of the bird when it flew to a nearby tree.

.

Last night in bed, I tried to remember names of stuffed animals I had as a child. It bothers me that I can't remember some of their names anymore. I may have written the names down long ago when I remembered them better, but I don't remember where.

The name "Buttercup" came to me as a possibility for the bunny with the wind-up lullabye music box. I don't think that's the right name though, as the rabbit was pink, not yellow. It doesn't feel right either.

Then I imagined Westley from The Princess Bride saying the following (I turned the light back on to write it down as it amused me):
"Oh Princess Buttercup, you're my cup of butter in the morning, my cup of butter in the evening; multiple cups of butter at night! Oh how I love your cups of butter more than a cup of tea!"

All this time, and I never knew the Princess Bride movie was based on an actual book. I thought the book part of it was just part of the movie! Have any of you read the book? If so, how does it compare to the movie?

I've discovered that heights bother me less at night / when it is dark. Today I cleared pine straw off the roof, using an extensible pole with a rake-like attachment while standing on a ladder leaned against the roof. The sun set before I was done, so I continued while wearing a headlamp (yay LED bulbs which can shine bright for hours without using the batteries up).

Usually doing the side above the garage feels scary to me. But today in the dark, notwithstanding the flood lights and headlamp, it didn't bother me. Doing this task after dark has another benefit - not having the sun glare in my eyes.

.

It reminds me of an amusement park ride I was on as a child. I'm not sure, but it must have been Space Mountain at Disneyland. It was like a roller coaster, but indoors and in the dark. Normal roller coasters terrify me due to my fear of heights. But this ride didn't bother me and was fun.

Last year I found out unfrosted poptarts are vegan. (The frosted ones contain gelatin.) That made me nostalgic, so I bought a box each of unfrosted cinnamon and strawberry poptarts. They still taste like I remember from childhood. Sugary-sweet morning memories; memories that go along with Saturday morning cartoons on the TV. Flintstones, He-man, Thundercats Ho!

Did you know even a single unfrosted poptart contains 12 grams of sugar, which per the nutrition panel is 24% of the recommended daily intake? (Contrary to what I'd expect, the frosted ones purportedly don't have much more sugar than the unfrosted ones.) That is one reason I haven't eaten up these 2 boxes of tarts yet; I only take them out once in a big while as a treat.

I heat mine in the toaster, but the microwave heating instructions on the box surprise me:
"Heat 3 seconds at a time until warm enough."

Does Kellogg's truly expect anyone to start and stop their microwave every *3* seconds to check on the warmth of their tarts? I am guessing those instructions are to avoid any lawsuits due to accidental over-heating of the tarts, since some microwaves heat a lot faster than others. But I wonder if three seconds may not even be long enough for a microwave to start emitting its rays. My microwave generally needs to run for a minimum of 20 seconds to result in any noticeable heating of the food.

On a whim, I bought a ticket to an online stream of a symphony being held tonight at our local arts center:

HAYDN - Symphony No.88
SHOSTAKOVICH - Cello Concerto No.1
RESPIGHI - The Pines of Rome

Thoughts:

The discordant noise of an orchestra warming up is horrible to have to listen to! At least here at home I can turn the sound off. Sitting in the audience, I wouldn't be able to.

Here at home, I can dance and sway, and do hula hoop while listening to the music. And eat dinner. Those poor people in the audience have to just sit there. I remember the last such symphonic event I attended in person, which was a performance of music from Star Wars. I remember disliking that aspect of it, feeling the pressure to sit quietly and unobtrusively in your seat while listening.

Other than that Star Wars and possibly another Sci-Fi music performance, I'm not sure I've ever been to any other symphonic/orchestral style performances. I remember hearing the "Peter and the Wolf" music when I was in elementary school, but am not sure if that was a live performance somewhere or a recording.

All of the performers are wearing black face masks. The wind/brass instrument players push down the masks while doing their parts. Then they put the masks back in place. I'm impressed by that.

I wonder if there are any orchestras that wear a color other than black.

Do cellos come in different sizes? One is huge, 2 others are smaller. Or are they different instruments? (Looking it up, it must be a double bass.)

I am reminded of my brother's first wife. She had a cello and would occasionally play it. That was so long ago. I wonder sometimes how her life is going. Did she become a doctor or a scientist, as she had planned? Germans don't use Facebook much and seem to have more privacy protections, so you can't just do a search and find much info.

They've finished the first piece and switched out and rearranged some players. This cello player now in the front on a small riser must be a star performer. She is not wearing a face mask, but is making up for it with entertaining facial expressions. I like how she has her hair done up, and the muscles in her arms. It's an interesting combination together with the glittery black gown.

There's an unmanned "Zildjian" gong in the back of the hall, tantalizing.

Another switcheroo. The cellist bowed and left and came back and bowed some more, and bowed and left the hall.

More performers now. More discordant noise, but a nicer sort. Maybe the gong will get gonged!

They must have several cameras in place; they've been giving a good view of many different angles.

Oh I see, the gong is being gonged lightly in this piece.

Well. That was that. Wasn't really much my kind of music; only a few parts that spoke to me, possibly they reminded me of other music from my past. Of course, this was playing it through my TV speakers; I'm sure it sounded more impressive in person.

When the bar of soap slips to the floor of the shower, it's like a pinball game with my feet as the flippers, keeping it from sliding towards the drain.

.

I bought Red Vines licorice for possibly the first time. It doesn't taste at all like Twizzlers as I thought it would, nor like strawberry or any other red fruit flavor. But it's tasty and reminds me of childhood and movie theaters, even though I don't remember ever eating licorice in movie theaters as a child. Maybe I had it at Halloween or a birthday party, and only smelled it in movie theaters.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold
The series first aired in English in the United States on the Nickelodeon cable network from June 30, 1986 to June 29, 1990.

So I watched it when I was in high school. The song is the main part I remember liking about it.

Original opening and theme song:

Video title: Mysterious Cities of Gold
Posted by: Peter Gabriel
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcH_ZTF6smY
Date posted: Feb 20, 2006

New 2012 series - it looks quite good based on the below! I may have to watch it. Someday.

Video title: Mysterious Cities of Gold Season 2 English Theme
Posted by: Misha Wisha
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwvr6Lwhzyg
Date posted: Jul 25, 2013

The Mysterious Cities of Gold Opening Multilanguage Comparison

Below, a very good live performance of the theme song!

Video title: Mysterious Cities of Gold Theme
Posted by: Fil hill
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kvOSQQ1uE
Date posted: Apr 4, 2020

Here is a different song which seems to be based on the show. The video gives a good overview of the series:

Video title: Children of the Sun - Thomas Bergersen (Mysterious Cities of Gold )
Posted by: Astrotema
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UApLq2C_9rM
Date posted: Jun 28, 2017

I take my first taste of this:
strawberry banana
So Delicious
Dairy Free
coconutmilk
yogurt alternative

and think "It's like that Dannon!"
(re: the strawberry banana flavor)
the memory of which must be from between 1980 and 1986

and I remember again
the yogurt cups back then weren't plastic;
they were wax-coated paper
with rolled lips at the top
that you could unroll
and chew with your teeth.
I don't remember how they were sealed shut on the top.
Aluminum foil like now, or something else?

That sudden memory may even be false.
Was it really Dannon I ate back then?
Did they have this flavor?
I'm pretty sure there was a vanilla flavor I ate.
I think the vanilla came in blue containers. But maybe yellow.
Not sure I really had strawberry banana way back then,
that might be from more recently.

There's this which mentions them using paper-wax cups in the past:
http://blog.trilliumarts.com/2010/03/dannon-yogurt-cups-part-1.html

According to this photo, they did have vanilla in a blue container.
(Photo from: How Dannon Made Yogurt Mainstream in America After Starting as a Staple for Immigrants)

But I wasn't able to find out how long ago they started making strawberry-banana.

OMG, thanks to MM, I search for "wicky wicky song" and YouTube plays me some of my favorite songs from the 1980s... I think I still have these on cassette, taped from the radio (and therefore somewhere in the converted files on my computer), but I never knew the artist or song names. ::grins and dances maniacally:: ::squee-screams::

Watch on YouTube

Video title: Jam On It
Posted by: Newcleus - Topic
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Qdcl4ja1Y
Date posted: Dec 25, 2014

Watch on YouTube

Video title: Cybotron - Clear
Posted by: Zog26
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGqiBFqWCTU
Date posted: Oct 3, 2008

Watch on YouTube

Video title: The Dream Team Is In The House!
Posted by: LA Dream Team - Topic
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6avddadF8
Date posted: Jul 30, 2018

Yo baby, yo baby, YO!!

..

The roller-skaters in this video are awesome, like break-dancing on skates; I've never seen skate-dancing like this:

Watch on YouTube

Video title: Roller Skate Vaughan Mason And Crew Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll 1979 By Vargas Rádios Amparo
Posted by: VARGAS RÁDIOS AMPARO
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PCuYhZzlNo
Date posted: Mar 8, 2018

Damn, this looks like fun:

Watch on YouTube

Video title: Northern Cali Doin what they Love to do
Posted by: Quad Lovers Sk8 Entertainment
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KgNc6pj7mo
Date posted: Jul 17, 2018

But dang, how can they do all that without falling. I think I had a pair of skates when I was a small kid, but never got any good at it, and don't remember ever being in an indoor skate rink, much less with music.

every page offering free cookies
but then again, where are they?

maybe oscar is a grouch
because people keep tossing garbage into his house

omg, he's got a TARDIS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_the_Grouch
While appearing to be the size of a normal trash can on the outside, Oscar's trash can is actually bigger on the inside than the exterior would suggest...

Last weekend I went to a free concert in Finlay park, downtown. The band was Loose Ends featuring Jane Eugene, an R&B group from the 80s. I didn't recognize their name, but when I looked up some songs of theirs beforehand, at least one brought back nostalgic memories of my youth. So I thought I might enjoy the concert, and I very much did. They even had a meet'n'greet afterwards where audience members could buy CDs and get autographs and photos taken with the band.

I have a short clip of one of the songs that turned out pretty good audio-wise. I'll post it when I have time, if YouTube lets me.

I was at the concert with a family friend - it was her idea to go in the first place. After that concert was over, we met up with my mom and walked to the (tail end) of the Latin Festival which was taking place a few blocks away. We got to hear one or two songs over there before its last band wrapped up for the night. I bought a multi-colored flashing LED baton-type toy from a stall, yay!

The Wikipedia page for Loose Ends mentions several changes to the band members over the years, and seems to indicate that Jane is no longer with the group. That along with the "featuring Jane Eugene" part of the band name made me think that the other musicians playing with her here weren't original band-members, but I wasn't sure. I'm aware that band-members who have split up sometimes continue to perform separately under some variation of the original group name. Jane has a Twitter page and Loose Ends has a Facebook page, but looking at them, I was still confused.

Today I finally found an answer on this page:
https://citywinery.com/philadelphia/loose-ends-featuring-jane-eugene-11-7-2019.html
It lists the names of the musicians who perform with her; they aren't original band members, although Steve Nichol does occasionally make guest appearances.

There's a bit more info at the end of this page:
http://dance2.webdj.co/loose-ends-watching-you/
Carl McIntosh currently performs under the name 'Loose Ends Experience' or 'Loose Ends'...

"Loose Ends - Slow Down" (Watch on YouTube)

Video title: Loose Ends - Slow Down
Posted by: koollatter
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdKdnCSeJwQ

1986 Soul Train performance of Slow Down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzdPynoroCg

"Loose Ends - Hangin on a String (Re-Edit A.V)" (Watch on YouTube)

Video title: Loose Ends - Hangin on a String (Re-Edit A.V)
Posted by: 80's & 90's Forever
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WWHoVH4QM

I had a weird visual phenomenon this evening.

As I was getting a popsicle out of the freezer, there was a small spot in my vision, like the kind you get after staring at something bright. I didn't think anything of it until I sat down in front of my computer and had trouble reading because of the spot. It was grey and blurry with my eyes open, but bright when I closed my eyes. It occurred to me that I hadn't been staring at anything bright, so what the heck could it be?

The spot was in the center right side of my vision. The edge of the spot was psychedelic, flickering color patterns. Over the course of about 15 minutes, it got larger until it filled almost half of my right eye's vision.

I did a search to find out what it could be.

https://www.ourhealth.com/conditions/eye-conditions/temporary-blind-spots-in-vision

Some of the comments on that page mention high blood pressure, so I got out Q's blood pressure monitor and checked mine. 105 over 65; that is normal for me. By then, the spot had faded away.

From some more that I read, it sounds like it might have been an ocular migraine, without the headache. I haven't had anything like that before. Except one time when I was a kid and I lost my vision for a few minutes while I was waiting for the bus; never could explain that either but I had attributed it possibly to chlorine getting in my eyes as I'd just come from the swimming pool.

Now I'm feeling a bit woozy. Not sure if it's an after-effect of that strange phenomenon, or just because it is late.

update, Saturday afternoon: Today while working in the yard, exerting myself, I had a different visual phenomenon, one which isn't unusual for me. The kind where when I close my eyes, I see dark clouds with bright/silvery linings. That only lasts a few seconds.

A guest actor in the Babylon 5 episode And the Sky Full of Stars triggered a memory for me tonight. When I was a kid, there was a short-lived Sci-Fi TV series about an alien from outer space who wore an amulet. That's all I remembered about it, except that I liked the show and was disappointed back then when it was discontinued.

I looked up who the B5 actor was - Judson Scott, and I was right, he was the lead actor in that other series: The Phoenix
(He was also in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.)

The old show must have been very cheesy as it was cancelled so quickly, and I don't think there were ever any reruns. But even so, Judson Scott's character had qualities that were attractive to me back then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvqGS4qrvkg&list=PL86ScMY7yuv0o-tnQnaab-240lTIMK8G2

I had my headphones on a few days ago at work, listening to my music, and the Muppet Show Theme Song came on. It had a strong effect on me, a sudden welling up of emotion. It was like I suddenly felt what things felt like when I was a child. Feeling content, maybe happy, anticipatory, cozy. All the feels instead of hum-drum monotony. It brought tears to my eyes.

It's like when I'm driving in my car with the radio on, and the radio reception improves so that it switches from regular stereo to HD radio. Until you hear it, you can't really fathom what you are missing. But the moment you do hear it, the regular stereo version sounds so very inadequate.

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Darkoshi

Darkoshi's Enchantment

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Page generated Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 04:47 am

Entries tagged with childhood

scent memory, Halloween

Scooby-Doo cartoon theme songs

old dream

flirtatious smiles

memories of sounds and scents

shaking ice flashback

one of a thousand things a thousand colors a thousand scents

woodpeckers and buttercups

up in the dark

them tarty pops so sweet

symphony

flippers and vines

children of the sun

tasty memory flash, maybe

oh yes, they're here!

cookie monster would be so happy with the web right now

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Judson Scott / The Phoenix

the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational...

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