What do you remember?

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I was 10 years old, going on 11, when Astro Boy first aired in 1963. After the show went off the air I almost forgot about it, although I do recall seeing a manga magazine with "Mighty Atom" on the cover in English, and the rest of the page in Japanese. My Uncle worked for Panasonic and he went to Japan once or twice a year on business, and sometimes brought stuff like that manga book back with him. That's how I knew Astro originated in Japan.

Now here's a question for the older members of this forum, have you ever had a flashback of an old memory suddenly hit you. Something that you don't know why you would ever recall it?

Well, here's one that came back to me recently. I remember back in 1970 or '71, it was the summer and I was just out of high school and in college, or about to start in college. A few friends and I were planning on going to the beach and I needed to buy myself a new bathing suit. The only ones I had were old, and rather 'baggy'. You got out of the water and the darn thing would cling all wet to you and take a good long time to dry, it was like a sponge. I rather thought I'd look good in one of the speedo types like the guys on the high school swim team wore, and they would dry quickly when you got out of the water. It was the first time I'd ever went to the store to buy myself any item of clothing, my mother had always done such shopping for me before then.

I'd forgotten about this for so long, probably because it wasn't anything special, just a cheap speedo swimsuit that fit well and was comfortable. But, it was black, with a narrow green band around the waist. I don't know if I subconsciously chose that one because it reminded me of . I know I don't have any photos of myself wearing it.