Don’t call an electrician. I am sure this is completely safe…
‘Tis the season for annoying holiday light displays in the yards of suburbia everywhere. Hidden in the background the rainbow of thousands of LED lightbulbs, inflatable penguins (who inhabit the SOUTH Pole), and laser light images that dance across your house while blinding any peeping toms you will always find the dreaded cord monster that looks like a non-UL Listed version of the Kraken. The cord monster responsible for my right-hand neighbor’s amateur light show happens to be right near my driveway, so I snapped this photo that will come in handy with fire investigators as evidence should it short circuit and burn the entire neighborhood down.
Now that I’m finished sharing the fire hazards in my world, let’s share some other things about it with this week’s SYW questions from Melanie!
Non-decorated logo, approved by four out of five fire marshals…
What news event do you vividly remember hearing about as a child, and where were you?
The seminal news event of my childhood was probably the Challenger disaster in 1986. But since I went to a ghetto school that may have had one TV on a rolling cart in it, I didn’t get to watch it live. My oldest sister (2 years younger, I was in fifth grade, she was in third) was in the only classroom that saw it happen. To show you how different things are now and 35 years ago, the rest of us kids in the school weren’t aware of what happened until after our lunch period about an hour and a half after the shuttle exploded…
On the other hand, it was a welcome diversion from all the national news talk about how nuclear war with the USSR was inevitable.
What is a Christmas song that makes you cringe?
That Chipmunks song should make anyone visibly cringe over the annoying, shrill voices “singing” it. But if we’re just talking the Christmas song that I hate the most, it’s that inane bilingual piece of garbage “Feliz Navidad” that is thankfully not as popular now as it was around the turn of the millennium…
I say it every year…. Goddamn blind bastard!
What is one place you shop that might have surprised people?
If I can’t get it at Mecca, I generally do without. The only other kind of store that could lure me in would be one that sold odd trinkets, souvenirs and curiosities…. and that would surprise nobody who’s ever seen my shelf.
When I die, there’s going to be a hell of a yard sale…
What is your least favorite holiday side dish?
Every 80’s kid’s least favorite Halloween candy!
The question didn’t specify WHICH holiday…
GRATITUDE SECTION
As I was running typically late for an appointment to have my car’s annual “maintenance” done this morning, I was horrified to find my wallet wasn’t where I usually left it on the table by my bed. Apparently I neglected to remove it from my pants yesterday, as I finally found it in yesterday’s jeans……….. sopping wet because I had just done the laundry. I did discover, somewhat to my surprise and, of course, gratitude, is that apparently you can run a credit card through the washer and it will still work just fine even with all that fancy pants “security” technology attached to it!
Who knew you could launder money on credit?
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
You may expect a resurgence in the Feliz Navidad song-it’s the 50 year anniversary. Ugh. Talk about an unpleasant earworm.
I have yet to hear it at Mecca… though they rarely play the (cough, hack) “classics” anymore, just terrible cover versions by terrible modern “artists”…
Not a fan of cover versions of most music. Originals almost always are better. Except in the case of Feliz Navidad which should never be heard.
Thanks Bill for Sharing Your Woolly world. I want first dibs on all the SCT critters and their ‘kin’ IF the impossible occurs and you topple off your perch before I do (me being so much more ancient of days than you) and your ‘heirs’ have that yard sale (they could call it an ‘estate auction’ and get a lot more dough. Just sayin’) I’m glad to see that the magnetic strip on the plastic money that we all pretend still has value wasn’t damaged by going through a spin cycle and copious amounts of bio-hazardous laundry soap.. I bet the ‘chip’ wouldn’t fare as well, but that damned chip (not the eternally cute “Chip” of SCT fame) wouldn’t make it through a wash. Mine doesn’t work properly and it’s never been cleaned in its short electronic life. Have a fabulous weekend Mr. Squirrel and I’m looking forward to Santa’s next letter….. Poor brother bear…
I can confirm that the chip does work after being washed, as I watched it used as a chip card at both the car dealer and the Mickey Dee’s drive thru. That’s the part I figured would have been ruined, but it wasn’t. Everyone who follows me seems to have a favorite among the SCT gang, so you might have to fight some people at my estate auction…. but that’s more money for whoever gets stuck with my mess to blow on themselves…
Grew up in Puerto Rico and heard Jose Feliciano’s song so… darn… much! x-O Ugh childhood flashbacks, why did that song follow me to the U.S.?? Wish we would have just thrown that one away 😆
I didn’t start hearing it until the late 90’s when I was already in my 20’s, so I don’t understand how it stayed “hidden” so long and then became the hottest Christmas song of the early 2000’s. That one definitely needs to get lost in the Bermuda Triangle…
awwww – why you be hatin’ on my favorite Christmas song? haha – for real I like it a lot. I like your shelf of odd curiosities too, including those hard to find ‘glade’ and ‘pringles’ cans!
Hope you’re having a fine Friday Eve! 🙂
I remember you were one of the ones who defended it when I included it in my Iconic Songs I Can’t Stand countdown! The fact that it made that list means I do recognize how many people do like it. To each their own!
🙂 🙂
I liked the feliz navidad thingy… but I hate last christmas… the radio station what plays it first is erased for a whole year for me…
I haven’t heard the real version of Last Christmas in years. They only play awful covers of it at Mecca now, and if you had to listen to them, you’d be begging George Michael to come back!
Never liked that song….never…..I always changed channels when it was on the radio. I like all the old stuff – all the old timey “schlocky” carols. Yes it just means I’m older than dirt.
Pam
Any of those old time schlocky carols would sound better than Mariah Carey or Jose Feliciano!
Dammit, why did you have to mention Feliz Navidad? Now I’ll be whisting that crap all day! It doesn’t give me homicidal urges like Last Christmas does though. Thankfully, I haven’t been anywhere to hear that POS annoying song this year. No Mariah Carey screeching yet this year either. I’m actually enjoying being locked down at Christmas time! But only because it suits my goal of avoiding people and forced Christmas merriment. I’ll be back to cursing Lord Inslee and his nonsensical restrictions once the holidays are over.
The news event I remember the most from my childhood was Reagan getting shot but that could be because I was at home sick that week and spent my days parked in front of the TV. I do remember watching footage of the Challenger exploding on our school’s one TV on a cart though.
I hope your neighbor’s cord monster holds up!
I was only 5 when Reagan was shot, so I don’t really remember it at all (though I read a lot of stuff about it while researching “Believe It Or Not” last month, since there was a tie-in to that earworm!). I remember when the first Persian Gulf War started in 1991, and how the news coverage of it was around the clock, which was so weird for that time, but is the way it works for everything now.
I don’t think many schools had many TVs in the 80s, ghetto or no. I remember sometimes we’d watch something – the TV had to be rolled across the school to our classroom. The huge 80s VCR sat on a reinforced shelf underneath…
I hate Springsteen’s (spelling?) version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It makes my ears bleed…