Category: Top 5

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Friday Top 5: Rules of Play dating

When I was growing up, there weren’t such things as play dates. If you wanted to play with other kids it wasn’t as neatly wrapped up as your mom calling their mom and setting up a time for mutually beneficial social activity. We would go out on the street and see who else was out there. If you wanted to play the same game, it was on. If not, you compromised or went back inside. Simple as that.

So, when my seven-year old asks me if she can have a play date with one of her little friends, I’m about as lost with the concept as I can be, with trying to come up with activities for her and her friends. I rack my brains to come up with ideas for that mutually beneficial social activity, but I’m clueless. Being here is not quite like when I grew up on the streets of Philadelphia. The houses are farther apart, the kids are few and far between, and most play date mates need to either be driven to our house or we need to drive to theirs.

There are rules to play dates that I’ve noticed apply before the date even begins: Continue reading “Friday Top 5: Rules of Play dating”

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Friday Top 5: Teen Dramas

Through the years there have been television programs geared towards teenagers of the moment, whether it be teens of the ’70s (Welcome Back, Kotter), teens of the ’80s (Head of the Class), teens of the ’90s (Saved By the Bell), or teens of the ’00s (The O.C.). The lure of these shows is that teenagers definitely watched, either because they identified with the characters, or because they enjoyed making fun of the language they used. And they still watch. The problems arise when the shows move beyond the teen years. It becomes harder to keep the viewers they had, and most teen shows fade after three or four seasons because of it. Here is my ode to the teen dramas that have affected me the most.

There is but one.

5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer –

I’ve worked hard to make my peace with the lack of a comma in the title of this series, but otherwise the show was perfect. It had everything you could possibly look for in a teen drama: the romantic entanglements (remember Angel? Spike?), the constant issues, the friend conundrum, and the evil vampires that HAD TO GET SLAYED! What? You don’t remember the evil vampires in your high school? That was the true glory of the show, that it mixed the mundane and the supernatural, and while it was hokey at times, it filled that niche that had never been filled before. Or since. Continue reading “Friday Top 5: Teen Dramas”

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Sam’s Friday Top 5: Tidbits of Advice

From the time we are born, we hear advice everywhere, from our parents, to our siblings, to other adults, and everyone in-between. Eventually our peers also give us advice, and we tend to call that peer pressure. Funny how when it’s people our age it’s “pressure,” but when it’s from older folks, it’s “wise,” and “sage” advice. Even if they say the exact same thing.

But the point is that everyone has an opinion of how we should live our lives, but the only opinion that should matter is our own. We listen to those others, though, because we trust that somehow they know what they’re talking about; however, we need to filter what will work for us, what we subscribe to, and what won’t, what we don’t. Here are my top 5 tidbits of advice I’ve gleaned throughout the years and made my own: Continue reading “Sam’s Friday Top 5: Tidbits of Advice”