I just learned about Cuddle Parties today. While my friend was explaining what they were, it reminded me of a game I learned to play while in summer camp in high school.

I think the name of the game was something like "Ha!" or else "Ha! Ha!" Basically, you lie down on the floor. Someone else lies down, and rests their head on your belly. Then a third person lays down and puts their head on the second person's belly and so on. When all the people are thusly arrayed, the first person (whose head rests upon no bellies), simply says on "ha!" The second person says, "Ha ha" and so on, with the number of "ha's" corresponding to the position number in the line. This always ended in mass hysterical laughing and was a fun, non-competitive game. I wonder how well it would work with adults.

I was talking to a friend of mine today about going to see Wedding Crashers and asked him if he had seen it. He said no, but had told his girlfriend that I had seen it, as if this would then vet it for her. It reminded me of when my sister and I were kids, and we were allowed to do something, then the other kids would tell their parents, "Hey, the ___'s can go ..." - as if this were the imprimatur that was needed to open the floodgates. This was most often used in the case of being allowed to go to concerts.

Our first rock-n-roll concert was the Pointer Sisters. We went with one friend, and our Jazzercise teacher is the one who took us. If you are still talking to me after I post this, I will know you are a true friend. I LOVED the concert - especially the costume changes but also just the songs and the performances. In some ways that experience set my expectation for every concert I have attended since.

We went on to go to other concerts, including: Moody Blues, Knight Ranger (they sang "Sister Christian"), Starship, Chicago (?), and Huey Lewis and the News. jelazakazone, can you tell me if I am missing anyone in the list?

What was your first concert?

Someone just posted ( this map )
in wiscon and it reminded me of a memory of my youth, which I thought I would share with you fine folk this morning.

I had to comment just because the Weeki Wachee Gardens was on the map. I remember seeing ads for this place on tv when I was a kid, and they had "mermaids" which made me want to go there, just to see them. But in my mind, for some reason they were connected to Sea Monkeys - maybe because they were both advertised on television. Who can understand the mind of a 10-year old!

Update: Apparently Weeki Wachee Gardens is the name of a town, and the entertainment park that used to operate there is no longer open (which kinda makes sense, since 20+ years ago it seemed kind skeevy and run down). I did a google search, and one of the first hits was for a drug rehab place. I guess those mermaids must have been hitting the bottle hard or something.

sparkle_shortz reminded me of an album that was imprinted in my brain as a young child - Free to Be ... you and me. So, now I'm curious. What is your favorite song or track from the album? Also, were there other albums that you have a similar connection to?

I'll answer my own questions here:

"Ladies First" was a fave. I never knew what a mango was until we moved to Florida, and by then I had stopped listening to the album, so it wasn't until much later that I made the connection and figured out they weren't making that up. Second runner-up - the Mel Brooks one about the baby being a boy or a girl. God, I guess I was fascinated with gender issues even when I was 6!

I also had The Muppet Movie soundtrack and probably had the entire thing memorized as a kid. Additionally, one John Denver record and then the piece de resistance - John Denver and the Muppets!