Thank you to everyone who has donated to and/or shared my friend’s Go Fund Me page in order to help them as they battle Tony’s cancer and, now, transverse myelitis. They have extended the Go Fund Me campaign and Meal Train, so please continue to share if you are able. Thank you so much! ❤️
I don’t want to forget these random thoughts that have been floating around in my head, so I’ve written them down in the notes section of my iPhone. I’m sharing them with you because I suspect they may be something that you can relate to as well.
Or not.
If you’re here for the first time, welcome! You’ll be able to find the other parts of this series here.
1-The summer before my junior year of high school, my friends and I went to a club called Night Moves every Sunday night. It was in the local mall, and only teenagers could go there. Think DJ, dark corners, and a dance floor with cool lighting. There was even a bar where you could get soda and water. I don’t think we realized how amazing this experience was at the time, but I think about it often.

2- I apologize when I cry and wish to stop doing so.
3- I’d like to try caviar just once. Have any of you tried it?
4- Homework, in my opinion, should not exist.
5- I recently learned the phrase JOMO (joy of missing out), and it resonates with me more than FOMO (the fear of missing out).

6- I don’t think “losing” your mind is a terrible thing. I believe the reverse is true. Being “sane” on Earth, in my opinion, is the terrible thing.
7- When certain lights in my house are turned on, they bother me. I present exhibit A:

That overhead kitchen light is causing my eye to twitch. If you know, you know. If you don’t, you don’t, and you don’t need to worry about it.
8- I will go out of my way to avoid having to perform a difficult left turn.
9- It seems like no one talks about quick sand anymore. Also hitchhiking. Why were they so dangerous in the 1970s but not now?
10-I believe that Uber is to today what hitchhiking was to the 1970s.
Agreed: “Uber is to today what hitchhiking was to the 1970s.” I’m more than a little creeped out when I’ve had to use the service. Also love JOMO, a behavior that comes naturally to introverted me.
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YES.
I am happy that others have plans. Tell me all about them while I’m at home with my dogs.😊
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Number 3!!! Me too! I have said that I am going to try it one year on my birthday 🤣
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Let me know what you think!! ❤️
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I definitely believe homework should not be a thing either; at least not until high school and then even only to make sure kids are literally understanding difficult concepts (like math) but definitely not hours worth!! I too will drive a long way out of my way to avoid any left hand turn where it’s busy and I don’t get a green turn arrow.
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Agreed 100 percent.
Thank goodness for green arrows. ❤️
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I agree on the homework. I homeschooled my daughter for middle school and we didn’t have homework. She did her work during the day and was free to go to swim practice at night without losing sleep over homework. I also go out of my way to avoid left hand turns. I used to laugh at my mom for the same thing. Yet here I am.
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I didn’t know you homeschooled!
My Dad is the same way. I am him. ❤️
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I only homeschooled my youngest for middle school. I didn’t have the confidence with my first child and that caused jealousy at the time.
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My oldest also asked to be homeschooled for middle school, and I was equally hesitant since I lacked confidence at the time. I believe she is envious as well, as she should be. So I get it. 😘
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That’s amazing we both went through that. Now my daughter tells me she’s socially awkward because of homeschooling—which is totally not true.
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Ha! My daughter says the opposite! She said it freed her to be herself, which led to more friendships.❤️
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👍🏼
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Jomo is awesome
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Isn’t it??
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💗
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Quicksand and hitchhiking! I used to waitress with a girl (so, let’s say early 20s) who used to pick up hitchhikers all the time, and said if the way she died was by trying to help a person get to where they were going, she was okay with that. I found that to be a pretty grim point of view. I’ve never picked up a hitchhiker but I always think of that scene in Something About Mary when I see one. “Okay, you guys got me.”
I have also NEVER taken an Uber!
That teen dance club looks amazing and I wish there was something like that here, now!
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There was even an Afterschool Special on hitchhiking in the 1980s! We were definitely warned about the dangers. I guess a lot of people needed to get somewhere and didn’t have cars.
Sounds a little fishy.
Insert WII music.
You’re not missing anything.
I wish that too.
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Once again, so fantastic and relatable! Yes, I’ve had caviar once or twice. It’s a salt bomb for me; not really in a good way. I prefer my sodium in olive form.
Night Moves (wasn’t that a song?) sounds like it was a blast. I would have been there, for sure. I’m with you on the homework ban. I think back on the years spent doing homework with my kids and it exhausts me. I feel sorry for my daughter who has kids now. I just learned of JOMO from another blogger last week and it’s definitely something I feel at times. As much as I love my friend group, sometimes I’m just not in the mood.
I always go out of my way to avoid taking a left out of a parking lot. There are some gas stations I avoid because of this. I’m glad it’s not just me.
Those Warner Bros. cartoons with quicksand . . . I’d not know about it, otherwise. Thanks for the day brightener.
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I keep hearing “salty” and “fish eggs,” so I might have to take that off my list for now.
Bob Seger! Night Moves was in Richland Mall, by the way. 🙂
I want to stay home more and more as I get older.
I’m glad I mentioned the left turn because I honestly thought something was wrong with me.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment! That always brightens my day.
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Oh wow, now that you told me Night Moves was at Richland Mall, I think I may have gone once or twice. It would have been in 1985/1986. I don’t remember it being for teens, but I was only 22 years old at the time. It was literally the only place to go at night. I lived very close to the mall.
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YES! I was a junior in high school at the time. On Sunday nights, it was exclusively open to teenagers; the rest of the time, it was only open to adults.
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I wish there had been a Night Moves in my town at that age because maybe my group and I wouldn’t have snuck into nightclubs. 🙂
Never had caviar and I don’t think I ever will. fish eggs? Gag.
I was terrified of quicksand as a kid. Why? Was it in some movies or something?
JOMO might be my newest favorite thing.
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😂😂😂
Yeah, I guess I didn’t really think through the whole caviar thing.
Quick sand was in every movie when we were kids. I think it was even on Little House on the Prairie!! 😂
JOMO, baby!
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Never had caviar, never will. Just the thought of eating fish eggs makes me want to vomit. (I don’t eat any crustaceans either.)
Totally agree – no homework. If kids didn’t learn and do enough in school, then there’s a problem. I also likened it to, how would us adults like to work all day and then have to bring home more work to do at home in the evening? Same thing in my book.
You already know how I feel about overhead lights! Low lamp lighting is ok when necessary though. 😉
I have only taken three Uber rides in my life and that was when I was in CA with Brian and Tim, so I felt safe.
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As someone who tried sushi and didn’t care for it, I’m guessing I won’t like caviar either.
YES. THIS ANALOGY!! Spot on.
We are two neurodivergent peas in a pod. 😘
Anna and I felt safe Ubering around Los Angeles. I don’t think I’d feel safe riding an Uber alone as a woman.
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PS – JOMO…ha ha, love this! (Says the introverted homebody.)
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Isn’t it perfect??
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Caviar is just too salty, I prefer it’s lighter cousin Roe, sometimes found on sushi
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I’ve heard it’s salty!
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Its not gross but i sure wouldnt eat it all the time if i was rich ya know, best to try if its offered as an ap at an event
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Gotcha.
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Agreed! And sushi… Mmmm… Years ago we went to a sushi restaurant that had a “melts-in-your-mouth roll” because instead of rice, they used a delectable slice of tuna, with spicy tuna on the inside and roe on top: that’s what reminded me of it. Yummy!
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I think I haven’t tasted the perfect kind of sushi yet. You’ve persuaded me to give it another shot!
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In my hometown we had Bumpers. My best friend Allison and I had birthdays three days apart, and for our 14th birthday my parents took us to a French restaurant (so chic!) and then to Bumpers afterward, where you had to be 14 to get in. There, I danced with a boy who was actually in high school. (We were in 8th grade, and I’d known him the year before when he was still in junior high with us. He scared me because he looked more man than boy, but it was fairly thrilling all the same.)
Agree with you on homework, mostly. It’s tough for high school, where there are often external requirements that are fairly rigid. (I taught a high school class for college credit.) But, in general: Yes. It’s not equitable; not all students have the conditions they need to complete homework. Also a major drain on families, for dubious/limited benefit. Made me crazy when my kids had to do busy work homework.
Also don’t do difficult left turns. Drives me crazy when one person holds up a bunch of others trying to turn left out of a parking lot onto a super-busy street. Half the time it’s not even a legal turn. Feels rude to me.
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I was hoping for your thoughts on homework. To some extent, I agree. For me, I guess I am relating from a neurodivergent standpoint, which adds a whole other layer.
It annoys me when I see someone in front of me attempting to make a left turn into a busy road. That right there is my trigger. 😂
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I’ve got a family full of neurodivergence–I’m curious about the connection you see between that and homework? For some of us, homework was just further torture. For others, it was a weird sort of comfort (something our brains could get happily lost in, at least for some classes).
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We should talk on Instagram because I can’t really say it here, but homework is difficult for individuals who have struggled through an entire day of school. It is not only a reminder of school (which can be a trigger), but it is also difficult when, for example, you have therapy after school and then come home and have to do three subjects of homework. Does that makes sense?
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JOMO – I LOVE IT! And as for left hand turns? All of our streets would be safer if everyone avoided them whenever possible. I had my friend’s son take me for a spin so he could get some practice in (he has to get so many hours of driving in before he can get his license) and I made sure to stress that particular point to him during our trip.
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That would stress me out, Gigi. I love a no left turn sign situation. It takes the pressure off of me. 😂
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I’m with you on the homework. Let kids be kids. Also, in regards to #6…I’m with you. It’s kinda similar to how ignorance is bliss. If you don’t know something’s wrong it can’t depress you. If you’ve lost your mind, you just don’t care about normality, which makes you happy. JOMO FTW!
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Isn’t that a lovely outlook on life?❤️
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I was terrified of quicksand when I was a kid. I blame cartoons and the many times a character struggled with quicksand. I studied in Ireland my junior year in college and we hitched everywhere. It was considered safe back then, no idea if it is safe nowadays. Hitchers were less inclined to pick up men, so if I was traveling with my brother (who was in Ireland studying that year too) he would hide in the bushes or around the corner and I would ask when they stopped if they had space for my brother too. I think hearing ‘brother’ made people less hesitant. Plus we had American accents and that made us a novelty.
I’ve never tried caviar. No interest.
I dreamt of opening a similar teen dance club when I graduated from college. I think it would’ve been super successful. I also imagined doing a babysitting finding service, now known as care.com – sometimes I kick myself for not following my dreams/believing in my ideas. Dang.
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I wasn’t even thinking of all the cartoons when I thought of quick sand! But, yes, that appeared in all of our cartoons. Our cartoons also included a great deal of violence. It’s no surprise that we all need therapy.
Your brother hiding in the bushes is hilarious…
After hearing the comments, I’m less interested in tasting caviar. This is why I love blogging.
You’d be a multimillionaire. Way to go, Ernie. 😂
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Not only is caviar overrated, it’s disgusting. And this comes from a guy who will eat almost anything.
This also comes from a guy who goes out of his way to make those tricky left turns. I consider it a challenge. Tara considers me nuts and is firmly in your camp.
Quicksand? Ha! I blogged about that once myself. https://markpetruska.com/2020/11/23/ive-got-a-sinking-feeling/
Pardon the shameless self-promotion. 🙂
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This is the best review I’ve read. I think I’ll pass on the caviar. Unless it’s free, then I’ll have to give it a try because I will also eat almost anything.
You are my husband, and I am Tara. 😂
I’m on my way to your post right now!
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I’m your husband? Does your husband know? Does Tara know? This could get sticky!
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😂😂😂
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