hello! yoshi

I’m the type of person who seems to associate music with a lot of memories. I know, I know, what does it have to do with old cars?

But listen, just for a moment. So I associate a lot of songs with certain types of memories. For instance, when I hear just about any Beatles tune, the first thing I think of is my old beat up Mercury Bobcat. (Yes, if you’re wondering, that’s the Mercury equivalent of a Ford Pinto - Gimme a break it was my first car, ok?)

Anyways, it reminds of one night when me and my buddies were driving…somewhere in Jersey, down route 70, listening to Beatles tunes. That one particular night was pretty magical, because we somehow knew the lyrics of every single song that played. It was really amazing. You know, usually you sing along with a song and you don’t know all the words, right? Well, we somehow did. It was pretty odd. It was definitely a night I’ll never forget.

One particular Beatles tune reminds me of a totally different car though. Here Comes the Sun for some reason reminds me of my friend Kate and one time driving my 1974 Plymouth Valiant (read: Dodge Dart) down I-295, and I was complaining about this guy who’s lights were really bright behind me and was tailing me. And a little later on, I was doing pretty much the same thing to someone else, and Kate pointed that out. I felt guilty and laughed and pulled back a little.

Wow. That was like a long time ago. I don’t even remember where we were going or what we were doing. But for some reason, that song reminds me of that moment. I bet that song wasn’t even playing, but that’s what it reminds me of for some reason. Kate, do you remember that? What was that, like wow, 19 years ago? We’re getting old my dear, dear friend. Well I am at least.

Dana started Memory Monday last year to honor her Grandfather, who suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer’s. This is cool. Feel free to participate. This is my way of not forgetting some of the life changing (and not so life changing) events in my life.

Surfing my usual blogs, I ran across Breigh’s site. She posted about her younger years, and Back when she knew everything. So true. As you can see, I’ve included a picture of me when I was 15. Wow, it’s been oh so many years since that photo was taken.

When that picture was taken, I was quite invincible. I never thought I could ever get hurt, or if I could ever die, or if I could ever have anything happen to me. I really miss those days. Not a care in the world. No worries about taxes, or about the law, or about anything. The biggest worry in my mind at the time was where I was going to eat lunch, and if I could possibly talk to that one girl that I oh so had a crush on. Youth is so fleeting.

When I moved to the states at 15, we spent a few weeks driving across the United States. This was probably one of the worst/best experiences in my life. I was still a teenager, and teenagers, as Breigh says, know everything. And nothing my family or my parents did could ever be right. But during the trip, I just recall seeing so many things, and not truly appreciating them as much as I could have. I really wish I was a bit more knowledgeable at the time, but hell, I was 15! I already knew everything!

We traveled from San Francisco, up to Mountain Home, Idaho (friends lived there), and from there we drove to Oklahoma City to see my dad’s family, then drove from there to New Hampshire. A trip like that to me now would marvel me! I would love to make a road trip of such proportions! For those of you who are long time readers, you might recall I’ve done this a few times already. I’ll be doing it again soon, when my parents move from NJ to WA. I’m really looking forward to it this time. And I won’t be the stubborn teenager who can’t do anything with my parents either.

Breigh had also mentioned meeting her teen self. Wow. What would my reaction be if I were to meet my teen self? I speculate that I would scoff and laugh at myself, being older. There would probably be a bit of advice giving, as my older self would try to tell my younger self what he should do. Then of course my younger self would laugh and say, “Whatever old man!” and walk away. But yeah, that’s how I would expect myself to act if I were to meet myself. (This paragraph is becoming a bit too schizophrenic for me.)

How would you react if you met your younger self?

Dana started Memory Monday to honor her Grandfather, who suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer’s. This is cool. Feel free to participate. This is my way of not forgetting some of the life changing (and not so life changing) events in my life.

One of the things I really miss about living in Japan are the festivals. Of all the festivals, I think one of my favourites is the Cherry Blossom Festival. In Iwakuni, the festival took place around Kintai-kyo. Kintai-kyo (or Kintai Bridge, as we all called it) is a bridge that was built in 1673 by a japanese warlord. What’s the real big deal? It was originally made without nails! Around this bridge, people would set up “camp” and get ready to party. You’d also find tons of stands with food, candy, toys, you name it.

Those were some great days, and let me tell you, the food was the greatest. I remember buying grilled corn on the cob, flavoured with good ol’ soy sauce, that’s pretty much it. takoyaki, another one of my favourites during a lot of festivals, always makes an appearance. I just love festival food.

Just walking around, the people were so friendly, and would often call you to their area to have some fun, a few drinks, and laughs. I remember a few guys dressed up in kimonos and make up, acting like Geisha. That was particularly a lot of fun I remember, because a few of my friends were really reluctant to go say hello to them.

If you ever get a chance to go to Japan, I’d really recommend not going during the festival times, because of the business of travel and such. At the same time though, you almost can’t miss a festival in Japan.

[tags]Memory Monday, Iwakuni, Kintai-kyo, Takoyaki[/tags]

For those of you who were lucky enough to be military brats (like me) and were stationed on Yokota AFB, I welcome you. :) If you weren’t, then I welcome you too!

One of the biggest things I remember about Yokota is something that is no longer there. Yokota Burger. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent there, playing asteroids or just hanging out. I totally miss Yokota Burger. Does anyone have a picture left of it?

I know I’m weird, and let me tell you, it’s all true, but I often recall memories from smell. I know, it sounds weird, but just listen for a moment.

When I flew over to MCAS Iwakuni, my friend “L” and I (which is a funny story of which I’ll probably share later) flew into Yokota AFB on a 747. Now, Yokota was not a commercial airport (of course) and this was a military flight, so we didn’t get the deluxe package things like oh… a covered terminal. So when we got off the plane, I could smell the air, and let me tell you, it was nostalgic. I remembered so much about Japan and Yokota AFB, it was crazy.

Even just thinking about it, I’m pretty sure I was close to tears when I arrived. But I digress.

Yokota was a monumental part of my life while growing up. Aside from the fact that I spent a majority of my childhood there, it was definitely a place where I bonded with some lifelong friends. Yokota High School definitely contributed to that.

Wow. You know there’s so many memories I have of YHS. I remember for gym class, we had to square dance. OMG that was just crazy. I cannot say to this day that I ever benefited from learning how to square dance, and I’m still baffled why we had to do such a thing. For P.E. class. Come on. How many of you folk out there had to do this?

I’ll probably start flowing out more memories of YHS sooner or later, but not today. If you went to YHS, feel free to share some memories. :)

Dana started Memory Monday last year to honor her Grandfather, who suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer’s. This is cool. Feel free to participate. This is my way of not forgetting some of the life changing (and not so life changing) events in my life.

[tags]memories, Memory Monday, Yokota, YHS, Yokota Burger[/tags]

Dana started Memory Monday last year to honor her Grandfather, who suffered from Dementia/Alzheimer’s. I totally sympathize. So every Monday, I plan on posting about some kind of memory I’ve had from the past, so no one will forget them, especially me. So let’s jump into the time machine and drift back to the good ol’ 80’s.

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