Happier days

Never having to drive very far, the recent rise in fuel prices hasn't affected me nearly as much as it has some others. Sure, I've had to stop making my monthly trips to Knoxville, and unless the prices start coming down some, I won't be taking any of the other trips around the state that I had been planning during the summer; but in the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of my world. I still have things that I can do locally, and at home. Heck, there's always something that needs to be done around the house.

My last trip to Knoxville, and more specifically, McKay's (heaven for lovers of all things physical media), was back at beginning of February. And while I have been jonesing to get back, gas was at $3.65 as of yesterday, and that's still way too much for me to be galavanting off to Knoxville again anytime soon. It does stink, but again, I'll live. Speaking of that last visit though, I never did get around to recapping my haul, so...

I haven't been making a lot of purchases this year, and wasn't really doing so towards the end of last year either. I've noticed though, that when I do buy something as of late, it's almost always nostalgia based. Growing up the way I did, I am often nostalgic for things that came before me, as is the case with Happy Days. I wasn't alive when it was new, but spent many a year watching the reruns on Nick at Nite. It would seem that I'm now longing for those days spent watching Nick at Nite. Also, the book was only 10¢ (as were the next couple), so it didn't require much of decision as to whether or not I should get it.

Now we're in my era. Anybody remember Chip? Not Quite Human, or it's sequel, Not Quite Human II? I still have the tape that my mom recorded the premiere of the first film on, as well as the commercially released videos of both films. Looking back, robot boys were strangely in during the 1980's. I guess robot girls were a thing too, Deadly Friend... anybody?

At 9 years old, I was the perfect age for Eerie, Indiana when it made it's 1991 television debut. I, like a lot of other kids, absolutely loved the show, and was saddened that it only lasted one season. I was 15 by the time they started releasing the books in 1997, and despite still watching the reruns in syndication, I was not comfortable going into a bookstore and being seen buying a "little kid" book. Such things don't bother me in the least anymore, and was more than happy to be seen shelling out ten whole cents on this particular book.

This is as close to Goosebumps as you can get, without it actually being a Goosebumps. I was already too old for the Bumps when Bobby Stine started putting them out, and wouldn't have been caught dead buying on at the time. Thankfully, I've been able to catch up with them, and their knockoff's, in my later years.

Despite it's many flaws, I would call myself a fan of the film, Phantoms. I've suspected for years though that it probably differed some from the source material, but not until now was I able to see just how much it differed from the book. Aside from the basic premise, and a few of the character names, the two share very little in common. After finally reading it, I can see that they couldn't have ever made this story, as is, into a film, but geez, I do not understand how Dean Koontz was able to butcher his own work so badly, just to be able to get it up on the big screen. Actually, scratch that, I do understand... $$$$$$

Feel free to roll your eyes, but things like cryptids and UFO's were a huge part of my childhood, and strangely, have been making a strong resurgence in recent years. What can I say, I like woo woo!

It seems funny to me that I could never find the Forever Knight books when they were new, and now 25 years later, and nearly 2,500 miles away, I'm finding them left and right. Better late than never, I suppose. 

I rarely bring it up, if only because so few other people are interested in the subject, but I am a longtime fan of old radio programs, and just old radio happenings in general. I could tell you multiple stories of pre-teen me trying to get friends to listen to one of my cassettes of, say, Lights Out, and how well those many attempts didn't go. It wasn't always the easiest being the only kid who liked such things. I don't expect this book to provide much, if any, new info, but it seems to have quite a few photos that I've never seen before, which was enough to warrant my splurging to meet it's $3 price tag. This was my big ticket item for the day, such as it was.

I've talked many times (on the old blog) about the ever continuing decline of quality pictures in the Bargain DVD section ($1.95 or less). There's still thousands of DVD's and Blu-Ray's to look through, but it seems like every time I go there the selection just keeps getting worse and worse. I'd say that a good 60-70% of the movies are now just all of that straight-to-DVD crap that comes from the Dollar Tree. I know why McKay's takes it, because they can pay people 10¢ for them, slap a $1 price tag on it, then make a pretty decent profit when someone other than myself inevitably buys it. Because of the now poor selection, I rarely spend much time going through this stuff, I just sort of scan and walk, and if something jumps outs, I'll pick it up and take a look. Twenty minutes of scanning produced all of one DVD this time, albeit a pretty good one. I bought this primarily for Room Service, as it's one of my favorite Marx Brothers pictures, which I somehow didn't already have it.

That wraps up that trip. I was really hoping to find a few "new" CD's from the CD bargain section, but was unfortunate enough to get up there (they're upstairs) just at the exact same time as an older guy was setting up shop (he brought a folding stool with him). Normally this wouldn't be an issue, as the section is large enough for multiple people to be looking at the same time, but almost as soon as this guy sat down, he started coughing... a lot! He didn't seem to be in any distress, like a "help, I'm dying" sort of thing, he was just coughing, and coughing, and coughing some more. I might've been able to tough out the sound of him trying to bring up a lung, but then he started making weird noises with his throat; noises that started to make my stomach turn. Needless to stay, I didn't stick around for very long after that. I just went back downstairs to the books, and occasionally looked up to confirm that he was still there, which he still was even as I was leaving. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

As is often the case, what with it being on the way home and all, I stopped in at the Book Cellar, and the Threads of Hope thrift store that's right next to it.

History will always be a popular subject with me, but the older I get, the less I care about emperors, famous battles, and other similarly well-trod topics; instead choosing to learn as much as I can about how just regular folks went about their daily lives. I especially like reading about people who were off the beaten path, and this book definitely fit that bill. If you're into such things, I'd highly recommend this one.

I continue to have great luck finding old Scholastic books at the Book Cellar, and with a date of 1969, I'm pretty sure that this is the oldest one I've found so far. Without looking it up, I can't say that I know when Scholastic began, but it sure would be neat to find a cheap book from their first year. And now that I'm thinking about it, it'd be kind of cool to find a book from each year of it's existence, or at least up to 2000, I don't really care about much after that.

Those two were definitely worth stopping for. The thrift store would pay off as well...

This place always has puzzles, enough that I can usually find at least one of interest; obviously I found two this time. I will cover both of these on here a little bit more after they've been completed.

There's no synopsis on the back for me to show, but as implied by the title, this book allegedly covers all things 1950's. I've read a few of this fellows baseball books, but have yet to read a non-sports offering from him.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, hopefully I'll be able to do it again sometime soon.