THE YEAR 1975
Tis the year I began breathing air. Of course, I remember nothing about this time in my life. I couldn't tell you what the weather was like, who the president was, or even what weather is. Silly humans right! Can't walk for at least one year after birth. Can't feed ourselves, can't even talk to let others know what we are screaming our heads off about. I often wonder what we are doing on this planet, but that's a whole other philosophical discussion that I'd rather not get into. 1975 would be the start of it all, for me. Even though I don't recall any early events in my life, I can give you facts about the year 1975 by researching them. That is my plan for these first few years of, The Life of Brian. I have decided to create this Blog, to document my life one year at a time. My plan is to write two blogs a month covering, you guessed it, each year of my journey on this planet.
Some of these entries may be a tad boring, (probably all of them). Some of them you might not even believe. But this will be, the truest account of what has transpired in my forty-eight years of being alive. Ok, maybe not the truest account, but definitely 97.5 percent accurate. I would miss the Bicentennial year by one lousy year. But that's ok, good things were happening, and who would want to be the age of zero for something as big as the Bicentennial Year! Being a one-year-old was much more interesting. Yes, I know you aren't actually considered to be zero years old during your first year of life. 1975 brought about the first ever technology of the magic eight ball! This invention gave people hope, and dreams, didn't it? The Rubic Cube would make its way on to the shelves. To this day I cannot solve that stupid thing! And yes, I too, took the stickers off the little squares just to make it look like I could figure it out.
Americans were popping Pez candies in their mouths while listening to artists such as Paul Simon on their fresh 8 track tapes. Mr. Simon would create the album of the year with hits such as " Still Crazy After All These Years". Song of the year was by Captain and Tennille, "Love Will Keep Us Together". That song would still be on the radio years later. I can remember listening to it while riding in the back of our family car. No seatbelt mind you. Just rolling around, not a care in the world, in the back of the family station wagon. Movies would include "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", as well as one of my favorites, "Jaws". Ford was president. His Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller. The Vietnam War would end in 75. My Dad had fought in the Vietnam War for the Army. He was lucky to return home. At the young age of 20 he had gotten his draft card in the mailbox. While some ran to other countries avoiding the draft, my dad bravely got on a train and served his time with the U.S. Army. He would spend a total of three years in the Army, one full year in the jungles of Vietnam. I've never really thought about the war ending the same year I was born. I'll have to ask my dad what his thoughts were at that time. Surely it had to have made him ponder. Two happy events, the birth of a child, and the end of a war he had fought in. In his own words, "War is hell, nobody should have to go through that".
My mom remembers people being excited about the upcoming Bicentennial year. She recalls playing records such as Winnie the Pooh, and Remus for myself and my two older sisters. They had no T.V. or radio at the time. When I was a month old, our family would move to the state of New Mexico. Soon to return to California, however. The value of the mighty dollar was much stronger in 75. A loaf of bread set you back .33 cents. A quart of milk just .46 cents. Yes, the hourly wage was far less than what it is currently, but it really doesn't seem to be an even adjustment compared to today's wages vs cost of living. Can you believe gasoline was just .57 cents a gallon! The average cost of a home was just $39,300.00. You can't even buy a new car for that price today. Minimum wage was $2.10 per hour. Americans are making twelve dollars and ninety cents more an hour in the year 2023, and if you only have one job earning that wage, you are close to the poverty level! Homes in my area of California range between seven hundred thousand and tens of millions! Things have gotten way out of hand in my opinion.
The Russians and Americans worked together in 75 by linking up space craft on July 15. Margaret Thacher was the first women elected to lead Britain's conservative party. The Japanese would invent the first recorded tape, and VCR. A man by the name of Steven Jobs would help develop the Apple 1 prototype. Egypt would reopen the Suez Canal after 8 years of closure. Our country had 215,973,199 humans in 1975. The world population has increased to 8,056,941,822 as of Monday August 28, 2023. Yes, that is 8 BILLION people. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we did remember everything from the second we are born. It's probably for the best that we do not. Babies scream for a reason, and most certainly a lot of it comes from some form of discomfort. If you've read this far with me on this Blogging Diary adventure of sorts, stay tuned! There's some good stuff coming your way! And if you are family reading this, feel free to correct me on anything I may have incorrectly stated. Lastly, if you like to write, start one of these Blogs on your own. I think it would be fun to read what others have experienced. Why should we only care what famous people have done. All of us have a story worth writing about.
"You said I'm full of diseases
Your eyes were full of regret
And then you took a picture of your salad
And put it on the internet"
- The 1975, Change of Heart
Music Lyrics
So many memories!
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