Sometimes, it’s interesting what we forget from our childhoods…

Late last week, I happened to be in my coworker Deborah’s office when she happened to show me a fundraising catalog given to her by another coworker. The catalog was typical stuff for school children’s fundraising, including Christmas wrapping paper and ornaments, magazine subscriptions, and chocolates. However, while showing me the catalog and discussing it with the other coworker, mention was made of a particular chocolate item and it took me back to my childhood.

I don’t know how many people reading would remember, but years ago (ending in probably the mid to late 80’s) department stores like Sears sometimes had areas in them where they would sell candy by the bag. My parents and I would go to the mall on a regular basis; if it wasn’t weekly it was at least every other week. When we did, I would always ask for a bag of chocolate covered raisins. I didn’t always get one, but when I did it was a real treat. It was never anything else but chocolate covered raisins, at least until I got to junior high school or thereabouts, when I started eating gummi bears on a regular basis instead.

The weird thing is that I haven’t had chocolate covered raisins since. In fact, I almost never ate them outside of those mall trips, either. It wasn’t that I had developed a dislike for them. For some reason, I just stopped eating them. Over time, I had completely forgotten about those things, to the point that I didn’t even remember Sears (and others?) having the candy counters to begin with. It’s a shame, really… the raisins really were rather good.

I ended up going ahead and ordering from the catalog too. Now I’m just waiting for my two boxes of chocolate covered raisins. :-)

All right, I have to admit it. A lot of you probably knew this by now, but I figured I might as well put it out there.

I had the original LP of Pac-Man Fever by Buckner & Garcia.

Back when Pac-Man first hit arcades, I was rather obsessed with the game. I’d play it every chance I got, and I had all sorts of Pac-Man memorabilia. I had a bedspread, I had a book bag, I had a table-top electronic game, and I even had a watch that could play the game. So, of course, when I heard of the album, I just had to get it.

My parents were kind enough to humor me and got me the record. I got to listen to it every chance I got, and being a kid I overlooked the fact that the songs were almost beyond cheesy. I mean, a perfect example is the song “Goin’ Berzerk”, where a beautiful piano solo starting the song is interrupted by sound effects from the game Berzerk, complete with robots saying, “Chicken, fight like a robot!”

Of course, I grew out of the record, and over time I had forgotten I even had it. I moved on to other games, although I would occasionally put Pac-Man on cell phones I owned for nostalgia purposes. I even got Pac-Man Championship Edition for Xbox Live Arcade when it came out. The record itself, though, is still sitting downstairs in my collection.

A day or two ago, something prompted me to remember the album, and I did a bit of looking. Interestingly enough, I found that Buckner & Garcia had released it to CD, and that it was now available on the iTunes Store. I resisted getting it, as I wasn’t sure I wanted to have it in my music library, especially as it might enter rotation on my office music queue. Finally, though, I purchased it as it was only $8.

So, how has it held up, you might ask? Well, it’s as cheesy as it was twenty-five years ago. However, the interesting thing is that this is not the original recording of the album. As near as I can tell (according to Wikipedia), Buckner & Garcia weren’t allowed access to the original master tapes, so they had to re-record all of the songs from scratch. They’re the same songs, but they just sound different. It’s a tad jarring, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

Ah, well. I fully admit I submitted to the retro temptation. I wasn’t expecting a classic album. In fact, I knew it was going to be so bad it’s good. I just can wait to see what my coworkers’ reactions will be when/if this album starts playing on my work iTunes queue…