The story does start at Christmas, 1962, when I was eight. I got one of those Brownie box cameras, which meant in that year something made of plastic, including the lens, a spring-powered shutter, and 120 film.
In March of 1963 my name was drawn out of a hat, and I appeared on the "Engineer Bill Show" on channel 9 in Los Angeles. It was a kid's game show, and the game was kind of a Simon-Sez thing: I had to take a drink of milk when Bill said the correct phrase, and not when he said the other. My family got to sit in the back of the studio, and I gave the Brownie to my Dad. I'm the kid on the left. The one paying attention while Engineer Bill explained the rules.
To make the story short, I kicked the other kid's butt around the block. This was my favorite part of the loot they showered on me:
For several Christmases after that, at least until I was 12, when the Sears catalog came around at Christmas time, I'd go straight to the chemistry sets and put a big "B" for "Bobby" next to the one I wanted.
Along about the age of 12, we moved into a place with a neighbor who ran the county crime lab, and he was generous about providing me real chemlab glassware and bottles of pretty much whatever chemicals I asked for. Like crystalline iodine, which does wondrous things when mixed with ammonia.
But that's another boyhood story.
Off Topic » in reply to I would look over those chemistry set ads for hours
My first chemistry set
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- Those were the days...
- Yeah, I remember how cool the Sears Christmas catalog was when I was a kid.
- Re: Yeah, I remember how cool the Sears Christmas catalog was when I was a kid.
- I would look over those chemistry set ads for hours
- Re: Yeah, I remember how cool the Sears Christmas catalog was when I was a kid.
- Yeah, I remember how cool the Sears Christmas catalog was when I was a kid.