Happy Friday, which is also National Bavarian Crepes Day and National Goof Off Day, which I shall observe tomorrow. I’m still in the thick of Covid-24, and it’s turning out to be milder but drippier than Covid-22. I did work a full day though. I’m pooped out, so let’s skip right to the Friday 5. This week’s theme is Initial Here.
- What do you remember about your first camera?
My first camera was a Kodak Pleaser instant camera that I earned by selling personalized Christmas cards door to door in my neighborhood when I was in elementary school. (Your girl here has always had a little hustle to her.) Polaroid rightfully sued the shit out of Kodak because the Pleaser was a direct ripoff of Polaroid’s patented technology, and Kodak stopped selling the film. I had to send the camera back and received some sort of gift certificate in return. - What do you remember about your first cell phone?
My mother bought one of the first mobile phones available, which came in a giant bag that you had to carry along with you. I think it was a Nokia and it was an embarrassing inconvenience to carry around. But she worried, so I carried it. My own first phone was a typical Nokia brick phone with a tiny monochromatic screen. Mobile phones then had a much better signal than mobile phones now.
My favorite mobile phone is still the little Samsung flip phone that I had in the early to mid-aughts. - What do you remember about your first radio?
It’s only a vague memory, but I think I had a little red transistor radio with a wrist strap. - What do you remember about your first countertop kitchen appliance (or device)?
I received a slew of countertop kitchen appliances/devices for my (first) bridal shower in 1997. None of them stand out to me. My favorite kitchen appliance is my 20+ year old Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, and my least favorite was our air fryer. - What do you remember how to do from your first job?
My first non-paper route, non-babysitting job was at my local JCPenney. I worked in the Catalog/Credit/Customer Service area, and 80% of my job was retrieving and ringing out catalog purchases that the customers had sent to our store for pickup. If you handed me one of those invoices today, I still remember my associate number, and that 073 was the register code for merchandise, 074 was the code for shipping/handling, and 075 was the code for tax. I also remember that a credit card transaction that was about to be declined took a millisecond longer to process than one that was going to go through.
I’m going to go play “fever or hot flash” now. Enjoy your weekend.
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