Showing my age ...

An odd thing happened today on the way to lunch. As we walked in, we noticed that they had a small band playing (about a seven-piece horn section, and not much else). They broke into a new tune as we entered, and I immediately recognized it (but I couldn’t believe that they were actually playing it - I had to walk over and look at the music to confirm). It was the theme song to the cartoon ‘Star Blazers.’ Now for those of you who aren’t familiar (I’m guessing almost all of you), Star Blazers was Japanese Anime’ that came to America before any of us knew anything about anime’. It was a story about a group of folks who had to travel through space to save the earth, and they did it in a WWII battleship that they converted into a spacecraft (I see some of you DO remember it). When I was eight, it was the coolest thing on TV. I raced home from school, and would watch it with my grandmother. I’ve often thought of buying it on DVD, but I don’t know if it would be the same (maybe I’ll see if the Haji shop has a bootleg).

I think the thing I found most bizarre about this scene (other than the fact I remembered a cartoon from my youth based on two bars of music) was the fact that NO ONE in this room had any idea what it was that they were playing. I realized that the kids in the dining facility weren’t even born when I was watching this show. I wondered who made the choice of songs … and why? For a second, I WAS the oldest guy in the room. There really aren’t any words to describe how odd the entire experience was. I did walk away with a good feeling, like I was the only one to get the joke. Not bad for a Thursday. Until tomorrow.

-Grease out