I've been a little busy as of late between school and work, but I've had something in mind as of more recently that I thought I might like to blog about. I was thinking back to junior high school mornings for some reason, and how mornings used to be for me at a certain time during those years. I remember getting my own personal alarm clock, which was a big red wind-up alarm clock with two big bells on the top of it (which I definitely needed at that time), and how I'd set that clock for early the next morning, very early, like maybe 5:30am. The reason for this is that I had developed a whole pattern by which my mornings would unfold during this period, which had to do with turning the TV on at 5:30am and watching the Channel 2 test pattern for a bit, followed by the Channel 2 logo and some backround music by Spyrogyra, a jazz-fusion group, performing the catchy instrumental "Morning Dance", a very bright, dancy little tune, (I later bought the album when I got older) and then the 10 min. Farm Report (I don't know why that was on, other than the early rising farmers in Colorado might have been interested in it). And then, the mainstay of my mornings, a half hour episode of the old black and white "Lone Ranger" series (Channel 2 was the "little" channel in Denver, filling its schedule with all kinds of great, old programming). One morning I thought I had struck gold, when the episode which came on was the original Lone Ranger episode, which explained how the Lone Ranger became the Lone Ranger (a group of Texas Rangers, ambushed by marauders, all killed, save for a "Lone Ranger", who came back into consciousness after the attack, only to find that he was the last and only survivor, and from then on vowing to seek justice for this horrible crime from that day forward. Pretty cool, eh?). So I'd make myself some Top Ramen, every single morning (which I loved), watch an episode of the Lone Ranger, and then throw myself together for school. Then, as it came closer to leave for the bus, Captain Kangaroo would come on. I wasn't so interested in the Captain, but he had a little cartoon-like mini-series that would come on in the show usually in the first 15 min., called, "The Adventures of Tom Terrific!", about a chalk stick figure character with an oil funnel shaped thing on his head, who would get into all sorts of adventures, and face off against his arch-nemisis, Crabby Appleton. I too had an arch-nemisis or two at school, so I really identified with Tom Terrific in his many adventures and close calls that he'd always get into, and out of. The thing with "Tom Terrific" was, that it came on and finished right about the time that our school bus would arrive about two blocks down the street, so it was always an adventure for me to: 1) watch the entire 5 min. Tom Terrific episode, and then, 2) dash off down the street in the hopes of making the bus. I think I missed that bus only once, and came back to a terrible tongue lashing from my mother for missing it due to my morning "habits".
Those were some fun times, though. Funny how things like that always stay with you. I now think that, somewhere in my subconcious, when I get into a jam, I must be thinking, "Now what would Tom Terrific do in this situation?". Or, that when I see an injustice happening in the world, that the Lone Ranger in me still rides out on his horse, Silver, to right the wrongs being done. But most of all, I hope that somewhere, that old black and white flickering Lone Ranger is still out there riding, on some kid's TV, riding on and on, forever and ever, and ever.
