The 20s

I won’t embarrass her with pictures here, but today is my niece Regina’s 20th birthday.

Yikes.

The one memory I’ll share here is one day when she was maybe a year old, and my sister’s family had come by to visit.

I had set up the old Avalon Hill War at Sea game, and Regina sat on my lap as I played a turn.  The British and German navies were attacking each other, and as I rolled the dice, Regina would say, “uh oh” whenever I rolled a ‘5’ (ship damaged/crippled) and exclaimed “oh no!” whenever I rolled a ‘6’ (ship destroyed/sunk).

I hadn’t even explained the rules to her.

In 1999 (I think), my sister called me shortly after the beginning of the Daytona 500.

Maria: What did you teach her?
Me: What do you mean?
Maria: We were watching the start of the race, they waved the green flag, and Regina said, “Go!”
Me (laughing): I didn’t do it.

Regina has always been a smart kid.

Last one:

In 1999, I was babysitting at their place, and Regina was sleeping on the couch.  I left her alone until she woke up, sat up, and vomited all over her onesie.

Eeeek.

I quickly scooped her up and removed the puked-on garment, found another one, changed her diaper since she had also peed, and dressed her in the other onesie.

I then held onto her until she fell asleep again, and then her parents came home.

Happy Birthday, Regina!

The 50s

February 9, 1968: premiere date of the Star Trek episode ‘Return to Tomorrow’

Telepathic aliens take control of Kirk and Spock’s bodies with the intention to build new, mechanized bodies for themselves.

One of my favorite episodes, if only for this moment:

As cheesy as Shatner can get, this is my favorite of all of Kirk’s speeches, in all of Star Trek.

I love that they copied it in Free Enterprise.

It’s also cool to see Diana Muldaur in her first appearance on Star Trek:

 

And of course, smiling Spock:

I’ve found myself in this or a similar pose over the years.  Maybe influenced subconsciously by this episode?