Cheeseburgers

Has this every happened to you:

You’re sitting at your desk working. Your mind is concentrating on projects and deadlines when suddenly a distant memory lurks itself into the forefront of your mind. I’m not sure why this happens. You could be doing absolutely anything and then suddenly you’re thinking about your Aunt Fannie who died when you were twelve. This boggles my mind.

So, here’s what happened:

I’m working on a website, trying to figure out new ways of doing stuff. Searching other sites trying to steal ideas. That’s all that design is really – stealing someone else’s idea and then manipulating it enough to be able to legally call it "original". So, I’m really working here. Going through confusing technical website jargon when out of nowhere I think about the craziest thing...

The craziest thing:

Let’s go back to the 70’s… you’ll probably remember those drive-in theaters. I’m sure they were around before the 70’s, but I wasn’t and can’t account for it. There was one down on Asher Avenue near Colman Dairy and there one also down Cantrell hill. In the groovy 70’s, my family – I’m sure clad in bellbottoms, disco shirts and crocheted hats - would go to either of these theaters for our weekend entertainment.

I loved this. I thought going to the drive-in theater was the best thing in the world. Those metal speakers that had really bad audio could either be left on the metal post or you could put it in your car. I remember the sea of cars all pointing in the same direction as if it were Mecca. Ok, I didn’t think of Mecca when I was eight, but the comparison works anyway. My uncle used to work for Colman Dairy in the 70’s and on Friday nights he would take his date on top of a Colman milk truck and watch the movies for free. Cheap, but romantic.

Anywhoo, if you were ever one of the lucky ones to go to a drive-in theater, you’ll remember the concession stand. All that processed food re-heated by a light bulb. A-really-bright-and-hot-light-bulb. Food just sitting out basking. I guess this was somehow okay with the health department. It makes me wonder: If handling food like this was okay, what would a restaurant have to do in order to be in violation? I gag to even think about it.

They offered food like popcorn, pizza, hotdogs, candy, french fries and ice cold soft drinks. They also had cheeseburgers. The kind where the patty was really really thin and had an after taste that was unrecognizable and odd. I’m not even 100% positive that it was real beef. I think if cloning were available back then, the burger would have come from a hamburger cloning factory – not even from a real cow, just from another so called burger.

These were not award winning burgers. They did not have “The Best Of” posters hanging on the walls. To even call it a burger is an insult to the other burgers. Here’s the crazy thing: I’m craving one right now in the worst way.

I'm just not al'right….

So, like I said, I’m working. Really. I clown around I know, but at this point there was too much to take care of. I was actually truly earning my paycheck. Suddenly out of no where thoughts of drive-in theater burgers were dancing in my head. Why is that? I’m not particularly hungry. I haven’t had one since 1977. What’s the deal? Why is it that I can still imagine the taste of those nasty things… and still have an overwhelming desire to eat one?

Who knows. Like most of my blog entries, I have no point, story or plot. It’s a “take it or leave it” kind of thing. I also don’t have a science background to explain long term memory and its retrieval process. Maybe someone will let me how it all works – in layman terms of course.

I do think it’s pretty cool how a certain smell or a visual cue will suddenly throw you back into the 70’s, 80’s or, shoot, even yesterday. Memories are cool. They’re like “in”.

Now if I can only find me a petrified, over heated burger...