Old School...by Jim Terry

The ending of a year and the beginning of a new year is always, ALWAYS a good time to think of accomplishments, set goals, and reminisce of times past.  I had a wonderful opportunity to do just this the other day--reminisce--as I was working on a mid-something teen girl in the dental chair. 

Our conversation began by talking about how her schooling was going, which boy she was now dating or liking, which store she loved to shop at and then finally about something I love…music. 

She began by telling me that she felt like Drake was the “bomb”

and that “R5 wasn’t too bad either.” Playing it cool,  I said “I like them too.” Now some of Drake’s music isn’t too bad and I do know him but I had NO IDEA who R5 was.  And since I didn’t know who R5 was or what type of music they made, I quickly changed the topic so I would still be "cool" and not get caught with a lack of knowledge on a topic that seemed so important to her.  I then told her how we used to share our favorite songs with our friends when I “was her age.”  As I reveled the method of how we used to do it in the "good 'ole days" via a cassette tape, you would have thought I had “lobsters crawling out of my ears” due to the expression on her face.  

She literally said, “What is a cassette tape?” And then continued by saying, “that sounds sooo OLD school.” 

Now, I will admit that I may have set myself up by saying "good ole days"--or just plain "OLD" in her mind--and I did laugh at her response, but I do have a question to and for society...How can you NOT teach some of the “coolest", most "rad" and most “hip” ways that we used to share music?  Isn’t it important to know about cassettes, records or heaven forbid that I mention an 8-track? J

Within the next week this young girl’s Mother came in for her appointment.  I told her about the conversation I had with her daughter. She proceeded to chuckle and told me “not to worry” as her daughter, within the past month, made her feel “old school” too. Apparently this girl's mother had a party at her house about a month prior for some of her “old” friends and got out the old LP’s or records to play on her turntable. Upon seeing her mother's records, this same young girl who made so much fun of my "old school" cassettes, proceeded to comment by saying to her Mother, “those are the largest CD’s I have ever seen"...I think, and correct me if you think I am wrong, It appears there is some "schooling" going on here in this young girl's life but it is definitely not "old school".  

With that being said and with a little more reminiscing of the "good ole days", I also recently found out that there is a new café/restaurant that has opened up not far from where I live. It is my understanding that inside this restaurant they have a full fledged arcade. And I am not referring to an arcade that would include the x-box, the PS4 or any other modern method of playing games. It’s the good ole arcade games like Donkey Kong, Pac Man, Asteroids and Centipede.  So I intend to get down there soon and play some of those games while enjoying and reminiscing about the "good ole times" this "old school" guy used to have and do some "schooling" myself...Hey, it's still important to have the the highest score isn't it?  

One last lesson or question for today..."Does anyone remember how we used to hold our place in line if you wanted to play an arcade game?"  (The answer, if you do not know, is in the picture to the right).  

THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT YEAR AND ALL THE BEST IN 2015 TO MY FAMILY, MY FRIENDS AND THOSE WHO READ OUR BLOG!  YOU ALL ARE THE BEST!

**Share your stories with us at nutshellstories@gmail.com