Thursday, March 22, 2007

Confession #4

While living in residence, during my undergrad degree, I watched The Young and the Restless. Yes, it's true. Gary S. had two things in of importance in his room: a coffee maker and a TV.

I had a discussion recently with a friend about residence, and I recalled that I lost three things in residence:

1) A magnetic chess set. I am certain that Peter D. has it. Please mail it to me.

2) An old-fashioned toaster. You know, the ones that permit toasting only on one side, and then you have to turn down the sides and flip the bread over. Look at this page if you want a general idea of what it was like. If you are wondering what I would do with an old toaster, since they are now so sophisticated, I would turn it into a guitar amplifier.

Sharon B. has my toaster, but probably sold it ages ago in a lawn sale. She had a Camaro too and a very very short boyfriend who looked like a shrunken version of Ricardo Montalban, without the muscles, charm, wardrobe, or looks, and with an unfortunate mustache, the kind which 16 years old boys try to grow. Now that I think about it, he looked nothing like Ricardo Montalban.

3) Two coffee mugs. Gary S. has these, or had them.

Several of us, including Running42k, if my memory is serving me correctly, kept mugs in his room, and we all made a daily trip at 4:30 to drink coffee and watch Y&R.

All of this not that terribly interesting, but I have to confess that I got hooked. It was like crack. In the summer, I tried to fit my work schedule around Y&R. I would work late shifts at the bar, rather than early ones, so I could see the show before coming in to work. My dad did not have a VCR, so taping was not an option, but I did make a few trips out to a friend's place to see the shows that she taped if I missed them.

After my addiction passed and I tuned in after several months of staying clean, I discovered that absolutely nothing had happened for months, except that some other dude was playing Jack, and we all had to pretend that it was the same guy. It was like when they swapped out Kinchloe on Hogan's Heroes for some other black guy, because they assumed that no one would notice.

Anyway, I am ready to start pursuing my acting career, and I plan to start with a soap opera. If you know anyone hiring actors, please let me know. I could do a good Victor or Brad.

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22 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I first moved to France, I used to watch the news and Y&R every day in order to build language skills. Soaps are especially good for that because the storylines are so repetitive that you hear the same things over and over and over again.

zydeco fish said...

That makes a lot of sense. Maybe I should be watching French soap operas.

ShellyS said...

Dark Shadows, Edge of Night, and Days of Our Lives for me. Later on, I also watched General Hospital (the Robert and Anna Scorpio years) and All My Children which was a hot lunch hour show at one library I worked at.

I remember back in the '60s, they'd put up a caption to tell you a part was now being played by so-and-so.

I think on Hogan's Heroes, the new black guy had a different name.

Of course, there was a outright replacement on Alias Smith and Jones after Peter Duel killed himself and Roger Davis, who'd been doing the voiceover narration, and had been on Dark Shadows, took over the part.

I wish I knew current TV trivia the way I know past TV trivia.

tweetey30 said...

I watch the Y&R when hubby isnt home. He makes rude comments about the rich and us poor folks watching them rich folks with there problems. So I usually dont turn the tv on when hes home.But I do watch Y&R, B&B,One Life to Live, and General Hospital. Sometimes I will listen to Dr Phil after G H.

Anonymous said...

omg...Dark Shadows - that was a good series.

beware the lure of the soap opera...

3carnations said...

I watch All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital and Young and the Restless. Not all the time (that's 4 hours per day!), but I catch snippets of each during the week. Except right now...because I gave up soaps for Lent.

tshsmom said...

My hubby got addicted to Days of Our Lives when he worked in a bar. His excuse was that there was nothing else to do during the slow time.

Oh Shelly! Two of my favorites...Alias Smith and Jones, and Dark Shadows!

zydeco fish said...

How is it that I have never seen Dark Shadows?

tweetey30 said...

I have never heard of it. But if they have seen it, it must be out there. LOL..

ShellyS said...

Dark Shadows was definitely an addiction. ;)

Kate said...

Holy Fire Hazard, Batman! That toaster is something straight out of the fire marshall's nightmares. And I felt guilty about my tiny contraband heating coil for making tea. Ha!

Speaking of dormitory life, I lived there all four years, so I had something like 11 roommates (not in any way a reflection on my personality). Thanks to them, I think that I have watched every soap at some point. Heck, I've even seen the one with the magic. And not the "Days" demon possesion storyline. Ah, yes, soaps are like crack. I'm glad I'm not alone.

Anonymous said...

Shelley, American tv depicting British charactors has some of the worst garbage. A recent ancient re run of Hogans heroes describes a Brit prisoner as a colonel in the British Air Force, what D H wrote that script.
Do all of you people have servants ie cleaners, housemaids etc, how do you find time to watch so much television?

Tweety, dont become addicted to dark shadows as well as your other problems, its a shame you have a rude husband.
Tshsmom, so hubby was a Bar person, did he teach you the terrible habit of drinking?. Drinking Rum and Coke is by far the most addictive.

running42k said...

That was quite a trip down memory lane for me. Are you sure Cal didn't steal the chess set? He was more devious then Pete.

There was also the crowd that watched Hogan's Heroes on Channel 13 prior to dinner.

Unknown said...

In residence we had the Thursday night addiction and you had to choose which TV lounge to go to based on your brand of crack. Knots Landing or Twin Peaks.

Super Happy Jen said...

I used to watch Days of Our Lives in college while I was painting. To be fair, the black and white tv in my cubicle only had two or three channels on it.

Anonymous said...

Tweety, what with blogging and the amount of tv you watch and you say you have kiddies, how do you cope with domestic chores and exercize?do you suffer from insomnia?

Anonymous said...

Tweety, what with blogging and the amount of tv you watch and you say you have kiddies, how do you cope with domestic chores and exercize?do you suffer from insomnia?

Anonymous said...

Wow.

I have a whole other view of you now.

I think Brad is more your kind of role... but that's just me guessing based on your blog.

tshsmom said...

ZF, Dark Shadows was on in the late 60s. Kinda before your time. ;)

tshsmom said...

Sorry ZF; it looks like I DID give you my troll. What an ASSHAT!

Anonymous said...

ta ta ladies, off to scotland tomorrow, new job, contact later

zydeco fish said...

tshsmom: that's ok. But, I may have to begin deleting his comments. Too bad we can't block by IP address.