התמלול המלא של Chuck E. Diner

defeat, it was appended to this 73 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.759 little girl in a yellow rainslicker who was walking around 74 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:50.600 with an umbrella and pouring salt around, no understanding what 75 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:53.839 that meant whatsoever. And of course later I learned that 76 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.839 what they were advertising was the fact that when it 77 00:04:55.839 --> 00:05:00.120 gets humid out, the salt will still run freely. I 78 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:02.959 guess that was a problem. Also, it has iodine in 79 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.399 it because people got goiters, and so they put iodine 80 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.240 in the salt so people wouldn't get goiters. My aunt, 81 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:13.800 my grandma, had a goiter when she was younger, and 82 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.240 my mother told me this. I don't know how it 83 00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:16.680 came up. 84 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:17.800 I just don't. 85 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:21.519 I don't think she blurted it out over dinner one night. 86 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:23.560 Did I ever tell you your grandmother had a goiter? 87 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:29.279 Were susceptible to goiters in this family? Put more salt 88 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:30.399 on your corn. 89 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:35.079 Anyway? So yeah, So. 90 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:39.720 Going back here, oh Leech Lake, right, so you would 91 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.399 We learned that you would pour salt on the leeches 92 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:43.879 if you ever got them, and we would get them 93 00:05:43.879 --> 00:05:45.480 from time to time when we went to the lake, 94 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:48.439 you hated them. But if you'd stopped off at the 95 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:52.639 driveway Crown King Leo's one of those chances are you'd 96 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.600 pick up a little container of salt that you would 97 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:56.399 put on your fries, you'd ask for a couple of 98 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:00.480 extra cold I could I have? Could I have ten 99 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:04.360 packets of salt? Because we're heading to the lake and 100 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:08.360 people would understand exactly why Leech's bad this year. Yeah, okay, 101 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:10.959 well that's what you get for going to to the 102 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:16.639 Leech Lake. So Lake La Lac is one of the 103 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.879 less distinguished lakes, I would say, in the area, in 104 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:24.120 the state, in the country, in the continent. But it's there, 105 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:28.319 and it's deep, it's got fish, it's got fishermen. Doesn't 106 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:32.959 have a lot of cabins, which makes you wonder why 107 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:37.079 it used to be that somebody could have a fairly 108 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:42.319 modest cabin and enjoy the lake lifestyle. When I lived 109 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.160 in Saint Paul, I had a neighbor I think his 110 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:48.879 name was Paul. I couldn't understand it what he said. 111 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:51.199 He was the most mumble mouthed person I'd ever met 112 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:53.720 in my life. Well, well, I can tell you the thing, 113 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:55.759 whoever we're going to go up the lake is we 114 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.240 go up to the lake, we don't get all out 115 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:01.279 of there and get out there and young off the dock. 116 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:04.839 And he drank a lot. Oh man, I was drinking 117 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.399 a beer. And his wife was very chipper, and you 118 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:13.040 could understand every single phoneme. And she didn't drink. But 119 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:15.240 between the two of them, Jacks brought in. Otherwise they 120 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.680 managed to hold it together. They had they had a cabin. 121 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:19.079 Now. 122 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:22.560 He worked at the Ford plant, because down the street 123 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:26.279 and to the right there was a massive Ford plant 124 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:29.800 where they built cars. And Jeff for Paul or whatever 125 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:33.160 his name was, you it was Jeff, Yeah, glad to me. 126 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:37.600 Would I don't know what he did whether he put 127 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:41.439 on rear view windows or in mirrors or you know 128 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:45.399 who's in charge of the little hook assembly that that 129 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:49.720 latches your your hood down. I don't know what he did, 130 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:54.120 but he worked an assembly line and he had a cabin, 131 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:56.959 which is not a good extraordinary at all. 132 00:07:57.720 --> 00:07:59.720 People would could afford him. Now. 133 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:04.480 What they were, of course, was modest. It was a 134 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:08.439 ancient rotting screen door and probably an outhouse out back, 135 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:11.920 and well water that tasted very much, so much of 136 00:08:12.040 --> 00:08:14.279 minerals that after you, if you tried to gargle it, 137 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:18.000 it would be like, you know, sort of you actually 138 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.920 sound like somebody was shaking a handful of pebbles, and 139 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.639 it smelled of fish, and it needed to lick of paint, 140 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:27.720 and there were weeds, and the dock was mossy and 141 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:29.800 all the rest of it. But it was your place. 142 00:08:29.879 --> 00:08:30.839 It was your cabin. 143 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:34.559 Over the years, these places were sold, just like the 144 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:38.200 resorts and turned into much larger establishments for people who 145 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:42.799 had money. And so now the whole

idea of cabin 146 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:48.000 culture in Minnesota has shifted. The demographic has shifted. So 147 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:49.720 when a lake doesn't have any cabins at all, you 148 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:53.960 gotta wonder what's going on here. On the other side 149 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.639 of Lake La Lac was what we used to call 150 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:58.840 back in the days back in the nineties when we 151 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:03.080 were discussing our visits to the diner. Frankly, we were 152 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:06.480 broadcasting them out of KSDP and Maple would It was 153 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:11.080 the enemy diner. And you may think what exactly constitutes 154 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:15.440 an enemy diner, Well, in the sense that they're all enemies, 155 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:20.759 that they have the competitors for your dollar, But no, 156 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.039 it was it was the public radio diner. See, we 157 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:26.519 were coming out of them. We were broadcasting the diner 158 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:30.159 out of commercial station, and there was another diner that, 159 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.960 frankly was being run by public radio on the other 160 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.679 side of the lake. And we really didn't have much 161 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:39.000 to do with them. We didn't engage in any battles 162 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.000 as far as I could tell. Come the fourth of July, 163 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:43.559 we might have pointed a few, you know, mortars at 164 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.679 them and good clean fun. 165 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:47.480 But no. 166 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:52.639 So I thought maybe maybe I could go over to 167 00:09:53.879 --> 00:09:58.399 the enemy diner and do something from there, because I'd 168 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:00.879 never been there before. No, no, no, it was right 169 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:02.519 that i'd been there once. I had been there once, 170 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:06.639 and it was really really nice. It wasn't like the 171 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:09.519 old diner that you know, had still had the boomerang pattern. 172 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:11.960 For Micah count from the fifties and early sixties, with 173 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.360 the chrome stools and the the uh you know, the 174 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:20.360 the phone booth with the accordion doors and the banquettes 175 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:21.799 and all the rest of it. No, it was slick, 176 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:25.600 it was modern, it was clean. It had some boomerang 177 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:28.480 pattern for mica. But it was done ironically. It was 178 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:33.399 it was they'd bought a reissue of it and done 179 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.480 it as sort of an ironic gesture to the real thing. 180 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:39.720 Everyone there was perfectly nice, perfectly calm, a little bit 181 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:44.440 slow talking, and there was a guy who was a 182 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:49.320 classical music expert who was also a chef there, and 183 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:52.360 we had a lot of great conversations, a lot of 184 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:56.480 great conversations. I remember, you know, trying to stump him. Okay, 185 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:00.720 it was a composer who had a love and symphonies, 186 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:06.159 but we only hear nine and you know, he'd say, well, 187 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:07.360 that'd be Bruckner. 188 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:08.559 What do you want to. 189 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:15.519 And we'd have conversations about our favorite composers and favorite 190 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:17.960 moments of Maller and the rest of us, and debate 191 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:19.519 whether or not to if you if you could only 192 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:22.440 listen to Maler or Bruckner, who would you choose. And 193 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:24.360 there's a phase in my life when I actually said Brookner, 194 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:27.720 I greatly regretted. I actually asked Dennis Prager that question. 195 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:28.759 And we both settled on Bruckner. 196 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.519 I don't know what we were thinking. Obviously, it's Maller. 197 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:34.279 Maller's more stories. Maller is all over the world. Bruckner 198 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.799 is great towering mountain ranges, and it's great for nine symphonies. 199 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.879 But after a while, I get it, great towering mountain ranges. 200 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:43.799 You were a strange, strange, pear shaped man in a 201 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:46.559 German town who liked little girls. 202 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:47.840 I get it. I get it. 203 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:52.039 But it's I pulled up to the enemy diner, to 204 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.919 the public radio diner, and it's closed. It's closed. I 205 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:59.039 guess they ran out of money and they closed. And 206 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:01.879 interestingly enough that you shut down last week, a little sign. 207 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:03.480 Of the door. We have voted ourselves out of business. 208 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.879 So that's not an option. 209 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:11.639 Where am I going to go? 210 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:16.679 I think the one place that I haven't even considered yet, 211 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.519 that's a possibility. It's thirteen and a half miles from 212 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:30.000 where I still live, and that would be Chucky Cheese's. 213 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:32.159 I know what you're saying. 214 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:35.240 Why would you do that well, because technically it is 215 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:41.840 a place that serves food. Technically what they serve is food. 216 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:45.440 I think it meets all the basic definitions of it. 217 00:12:45.440 -->

00:12:51.360 It is made of organic material mostly, it can be consumed, 218 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:57.039 it can be kept down, it can be metabolized and excreted. 219 00:12:57.720 --> 00:13:02.639 So in those senses, yes, it is food, but it's 220 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:04.919 not really what you go there for. As a matter 221 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:06.480 of fact, I think most adults go to Chuck E 222 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:13.639 Cheese to simply endure a period of clamorous calamity with 223 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:17.639 animatronic rodents and some of the most meretricious pizza they've 224 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:20.600 ever had in their life. But to tell you the truth, 225 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.679 I loved going to Chuck E Cheese and I went 226 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.679 there once a month. My wife would have a Bunco 227 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:33.039 party and I would, Uh. Somehow it just fell into 228 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:35.840 a tradition where when wife had Bunco daughter and I 229 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:38.360 would go to Chuck E Cheese's. And if you don't 230 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:40.120 know what Bunco is, I know what you're probably thinking, 231 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:43.559 isn't that what Joe Friday Wasn't he on Bunco Division 232 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.279 for a while before they should ever known as on Dragonet. 233 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:51.360 Joe Friday has a different assignment every week. It was 234 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.080 it was, it was, you know, it was Tuesday in 235 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:54.879 Los Angeles. 236 00:13:54.919 --> 00:13:55.840 The weather was dry. 237 00:13:56.440 --> 00:13:59.279 We were out of Bunco, we were out of robbery, homicide, 238 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:02.879 we were out of traffic control. Every week, these guys 239 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.879 get moved around, and I had no idea whether out 240 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.120 They're just randomly shuffling the cops around to keep them, 241 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:10.279 you know, keep them interested, whether Friday had some spectacular 242 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:13.000 or his partner had some spectacular cock up every week 243 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.679 and they'd say, all right, just give him, give him 244 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:20.600 Bunco for a couple of weeks. But in the Bunco division, Bunco's, 245 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:23.559 you know, that was the department that the police ran 246 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:27.480 that dealt with grifters and cheats and frauds. So you 247 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.639 imagine perhaps all the wives are sitting around and changing 248 00:14:29.720 --> 00:14:32.240 and exchanging ways in which they can cheat their neighbors. 249 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.279 You know, how about the fake how about the you know, 250 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:37.159 the gilt edged Bible gambit? 251 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:38.120 What's that? 252 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.360 Oh, you look at the obits, you find

a name 253 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.320 somebody who just died, and then you go around to 254 00:14:42.360 --> 00:14:44.919 their survivors and you say, Bob ordered this Bible before 255 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.440 he died, and it's it's good if they're military. It's 256 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:50.200 better if they're in the service. Uh No, they did 257 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:54.480 not do that. They had this game. So I never 258 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.600 quite understood which they would make a mark on a 259 00:14:56.600 --> 00:14:59.120 piece of roll, some dice, I think, and then make 260 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:00.759 a mark on a piece of paper, and then drink 261 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.639 some wine, and then make a mark on the paper 262 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:06.759 and drink some wine, and then drink some wine and 263 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.000 have some nibblely bets and throw the dice and make 264 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.440 a mark and then and then you know, they might 265 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.279 drink some wine. And at the end of it there's 266 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:17.679 all these pieces of paper with marks on them and 267 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:22.559 wine had been consumed. Great fun. It's a hand party, 268 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.080 that's what it is. But the tradition was was wife 269 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:28.120 went to Bunco and I took daughter and we went 270 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:30.519 to Chuckie Cheese's and. 271 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:32.759 It was, it was, it was, It was marvelous. 272 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:34.440 There were actually a few times there in which the 273 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:37.039 robot band would perform, you know, which for a six 274 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.159 seven eight year old is kind of a cool thing. 275 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:42.480 And she didn't know how bad the pizza was. As 276 00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:45.720 far as she could tell, it had the necessary elements 277 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:51.240 of salt. And I think there are times a couple 278 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.120 when I was on a diet and thought I should 279 00:15:53.159 --> 00:15:54.039 try the salad. 280 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:57.519 I don't advise it. 281 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:02.240 I would drink coffee at Chuck E. Cheese's, and again 282 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:09.559 I don't recommend it, styrofoam cup of something that have 283 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:11.799 been sitting on the bunnomatic burner since four o'clock in 284 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.360 the afternoon. Because nobody drank coffee at Chuck E Jesus 285 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:17.759 except me. The parents would usually order a picture of 286 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.879 beer or something like that, anything to assuage the assault 287 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:25.080 that they were getting from the music or the screaming 288 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:29.399 kids running around or the games, because that's really, you know, 289 00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:34.240 the innovation there. It wasn't the robot singing band so much. 290 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:36.879 I mean, because if they didn't work, it's kind of 291 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:38.960 spooky for a kid who remembers them. Last week. They 292 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.399 were all working. Last week, they were all sort of 293 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.919 why are they frozen now? Well, it's a lot like 294 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:47.519 First Men in the Moon Deer. They are actually solder powered, 295 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:50.000 and when the sun goesway and the sun goes away, 296 00:16:50.039 --> 00:16:52.919 they lose their strength and they fall inerts in immobile. 297 00:16:53.600 --> 00:17:01.080 Oh but the games were great fun to play. The 298 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:02.799 first one that Dona always went and played was a 299 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:05.000 game in which you were encouraged to step on as 300 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:08.799 many spiders as possible. I'm not sure this would actually 301 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:15.240 go over well today. It encourages nothing but a frenzy 302 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:20.079 of death against spiders when they would appear, and somehow 303 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:20.839 the matt. 304 00:17:20.759 --> 00:17:24.160 Below you was keyed to the screen. 305 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:25.759 Or something like that if I remember, and so the 306 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.160 child would have to do this elaborate series of dance 307 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:32.559 like you know, like a tap dancer from the Harlem 308 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:36.839 night reel or newsreel from nineteen thirty seven. And the 309 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.880 dexterity required to get all the spiders was pretty good. 310 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:45.319 But again, you're teaching hate against You're encouraging hate against spiders, 311 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.960 and I think spiders are actually pretty cool. I hate 312 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:53.279 bugs in general. I think all bugs I could do 313 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:56.160 without them. I understand the very important part that they 314 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.440 play in the ecosystem, but I just don't like them, no, sir, 315 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:05.440 Their chittnist bodies and their absolutely soulless blank faces and 316 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:09.480 their little feathery legs. By the millions, I detest bugs, 317 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.920 can't stand them. I think we'd have a really different 318 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.759 relationship with ants. For example, if they were the size 319 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:18.240 of like a beagle, I think we'd have a lot. 320 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:20.480 I think we would have gone on a massive planet 321 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.000 wide extirpation of ants if they were as big as 322 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:28.160 a beagle, because that would be just too too, too uncomfortable, 323 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:32.440 too horrifying.

Frankly, I mean, just imagine you're sitting out 324 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:34.279 in the backyard of the beer in a nice summer day, 325 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:41.319 and this, you know, Schnauzer sized queen, you know, great 326 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:50.200 great benard sized queen with a pendulous, transparent, undulating belly 327 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.359 full of small little ant fetuses, lands and starts digging. 328 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.000 You know. A couple of days later, you've. 329 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:01.759 Got you know, beagle sized ants crawling around your yard 330 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.680 looking for stuff, knocking on your door, carrying off your 331 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:07.400 boxes of cereal. We would have wiped them. 332 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.279 Out, We would we wiped them. 333 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:14.160 Out anyway, So it did. It was not the most 334 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:18.240 moral game, I think, but all of them taught kids 335 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:21.599 how to deal with disappointment. Now, if you did well 336 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:23.319 with these things, of course you were regarded. You were 337 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:26.240 rewarded with tickets. And the tickets, as we all know, 338 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:28.039 could be taken up to the front desk where some 339 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:31.720 complete teen board out of their mind, probably not looking 340 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.480 at their phone because it hadn't been invented yet. It 341 00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:37.119 was two thousand and seven. I don't know what they were. 342 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:38.799 Were they looking at were they. 343 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.000 Just sort of looking at the palm of their hand 344 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:43.359 with blank anticipation? 345 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:44.680 Possible? 346 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:49.000 And you would exchange these tickets for something useless. Here 347 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:53.480 is earrings for your barbie, here's a nerf ball, here's 348 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:57.920 a pencil, and they'd walk away happy. And then we 349 00:19:57.920 --> 00:19:59.640 would also get a little ice cream bar out of 350 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.279 the machine, which is difficult because it was one of 351 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:05.440 those ones where you have to sort of reach into 352 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.599 the little frozen compartment and pull it out, and if 353 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:10.480 it had been pushed in for any reason, it required 354 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.680 tweezers to get it out. But we did and we 355 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.799 enjoyed it and it was great fun. Dead and daughter. 356 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:21.160 I remember one game in particular that she always wanted 357 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:23.920 to play, and I've seen actually versions of this that 358 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.559 worked for adults. It's this rake. There's all these coins 359 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.079 on a shelf, and the shelves are revolving, and there's 360 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:34.400 a rake that keeps raking them in. At some point, 361 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:37.119 your coin is supposed to add to the pile so 362 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:39.119 that all of the coins will come out and you'll 363 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:41.440 get not exactly sure how it works, but if you've 364 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:43.039 played it, you know what I mean. There are, as 365 00:20:43.079 --> 00:20:45.519 I say, adult versions, and I would just tell that 366 00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:47.640 this is the most foolish thing involved. There's no skill. 367 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.400 There's no skill, there's no aptitude, there's no there's no 368 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:54.400 coordination here. It's it's just a stupid slot machine for children. 369 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:59.079 But she wanted to play it. Inevitably. There were two 370 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.599 moments that were great. One while she was off feeding 371 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.440 that stupid thing or playing it in the ballpit or something, 372 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:05.440 I would go over to the pinball machine, because they 373 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:09.240 had a pinball machine for the adults, and I would 374 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.359 do my best. I can walk up to any table, 375 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:13.119 pretty much any table. 376 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.480 And within fifteen. 377 00:21:16.119 --> 00:21:18.200 Minutes, I think I can beat it. I can get 378 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:21.119 a free game, at least I could back in those days. 379 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:27.519 But the other was ski ball. They had the sweetest, 380 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:33.960 easiest ski ball I've ever seen. We would play that thing. 381 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:35.519 We would drop the. 382 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:36.240 Ball in the center. 383 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:38.480 We would come away from that thing with. 384 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:42.640 Just armloads and armloads of tickets. I think there was 385 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:47.680 one time where actually we got two pencils, and we 386 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:50.839 felt really proud of ourselves every time that we went 387 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.440 and we played and we did well. 388 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:55.440 Now it took us a while, of course, but. 389 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:58.920 I just remember us being really good at that, and 390 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:03.960 it's good that remember it, because I don't know if 391 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:11.400 she does. That's that's parenthood. There's a great, huge amount 392 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:16.839 of time that you recall, you know, intensely, and they 393 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:22.920 have no idea. It's the flowers for Algernon thing, in 394 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:25.400 a way strikes me as a. 395 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:27.480 Failure of the human brain. 396 00:22:28.119

--> 00:22:31.279 We can remember so much after a certain point, why 397 00:22:31.319 --> 00:22:34.599 not if we had the ability actually to unlock those 398 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:40.680 early early formative childhood experiences vividly or. 399 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:42.640 Are they? 400 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:50.200 Are they there somewhere. I support research that attempted to 401 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.759 do that. Now there's some people who say, no, thank you, Nope, 402 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:55.000 it was traumatic, don't want it, don't want it, Nope, 403 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:56.440 don't want to learn could be traumatic. 404 00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:57.640 But I do. 405 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:03.319 I do absolutely so. To have unlocked in vivid fashion 406 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.079 memories of your parents when they were young, in the 407 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:08.640 house where you grew up, things that you thought you knew. 408 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:10.759 Oh you thought you knew the wallpaper. You had the 409 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:11.640 wallpaper wrong. 410 00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:15.200 I love that. I would anyway. 411 00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:18.440 As I said, we were good at it, and I'm 412 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:20.880 happy enough not to only remember it but I've got 413 00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:28.519 footage of it. I do. Then they brought in new 414 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:33.799 ski ball tables, tables, machines, lanes, and all of a 415 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:40.279 sudden we couldn't play it anymore. Not that they forbade us, 416 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:46.319 but we were bad at it. Something had happened, something 417 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.079 had been tightened up. Had the cones been made a 418 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:51.559 little bit taller, had the balls been made a little 419 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.039 bit thicker. Were there any actual regulations to this sport? 420 00:23:58.319 --> 00:23:59.960 Whatever it was, we couldn't do it anymore. 421 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:01.680 We just couldn't. 422 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:04.160 We couldn't play, couldn't get a couldn't get a center 423 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.960 hold of save our lives. Everything went bouncing off on 424 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:09.839 the top, and so we did the smart thing. Of course, 425 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:11.599 there are one or two things that you can do 426 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:13.440 in confront like this. You could look at each other 427 00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:15.480 and say, well, there's the circumstances of the nature of 428 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:17.799 the game has changed. It's up to us to adapt, 429 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:18.640 adopt and prove. 430 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.400 So let us let's learn. 431 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:22.960 Let's let's look at this as a problem and figure 432 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:25.000 out what we need to do. What is it about 433 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:28.839 our swing that isn't right? When is it about the velocity? 434 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:30.839 What is it about the point at which we released 435 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:35.480 the ball that isn't quite correct. You can do that, 436 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:37.559 or you can just not play it again and go 437 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:42.160 stamp in some spiders, which is what we did. I 438 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:44.960 was reminded of this of actually just now of when 439 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:47.880 I was playing a candle candlepin bowling with my daughter 440 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:51.200 in Boston. How actually it was sort of a version 441 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:52.759 of the ski ball thing, with the size of the 442 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:54.319 balls and the fact that we didn't know quite how 443 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:57.359 to throw them after all these years. Real bowling and 444 00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:00.559 candlepin is quite different. Never occurred to us, either of us, 445 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:03.039 to bring up ski ball, or did we And I 446 00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:09.720 just forgot No, I would have remembered, No, I could. Ah, well, 447 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:12.799 there's a lot in my mind lately, so it's understandable 448 00:25:12.839 --> 00:25:15.440 if a few things fall through the cracks. So what 449 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:17.839 have we learned today? We've learned the diner is not 450 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.079 there yet. We've learned that the haunted diner is off 451 00:25:20.119 --> 00:25:22.519 the table until at least October thirty. First, we've learned it's. 452 00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:23.359 Not a metaphor, thank you. 453 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:26.200 We've learned that the public radio diner has shut down, 454 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:28.519 and the guy behind the counter, the cook who knew 455 00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:32.319 is Bruckner, is in the wind somewhere we've learned that 456 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:37.960 I have an un really reasonable and unreasonable but an 457 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:42.319 overestimation of my fun of chuck e cheeses, and then 458 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:44.480 I probably chalking a lot of it up to a nice, great, 459 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:47.920 wonderful formative time of my life, but that there were 460 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.960 things to it, and that we were pretty good. We 461 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.519 were pretty good at something until we weren't. But then 462 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:56.799 that's just life. So we were saying, you got to 463 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:58.680 find something else to try and something else to. 464 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:02.799 Be good at. I wonder what that's going to be. 465 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.839 Well, it's entirely possible that diner will be back next 466 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.200 week unless there's a big sign that says that it's 467 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:11.680 being redeveloped and new luxury apartments are being built on 468 00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:13.839 the spot, and that maybe I'll. 469 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:16.079 Move in, maybe I'll have a view of Lake La Lac. 470 00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:17.720 Who knows? 471 00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:18.680 Who knows me? 472 00:26:19.240 --> 00:26:20.400 All I know is that we'll be. 473 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.880 Here next week, wherever here is. And I thank you 474 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:27.559 folks for joining me. This has been overall conceptually the Diner, 475 00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:43.960 and I'll see you down the road. Ricochet Geez, where 476 00:26:43.960 --> 00:26:46.799 a kid can be a kid Join the conversation,