33 Comments
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Rudy Fischmann's avatar

Fun Fact: you can't spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" without "expialidocious".

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Andrew Smith's avatar

This comment is super!

I'm not sure it's califragillistic, though.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

I had a lot of Fisher-Price toys as a kid (they lasted longer), but that desk escaped me.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

What years would this have been? What year were you born, if you don't mind sharing? I know this set transformed its packaging near the start of the 80s, and it seems to have kept the same packaging through the early 90s at least.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

I was born in 1980, in Canada. At that time we didn't automatically get everything American companies made, so F-P must have thought we were a secondary market the way many American companies do.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Probably so, although it would not surprise me to discover that people near you had the later version. If you want to go down this rabbit hole, you're welcome to it: https://thisoldtoy.com/l_fp_set/toy-pages/100-199/176-schooldaysplaydesk.html

I like the depth of the history they provide here, but you can clearly see that there are big gaps, too.

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lunafaer (she/they)'s avatar

i had that desk from a garage sale. i also had a speak and spell. that was my favorite toy ever.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I'm dying to find a picture of me with a Speak and Spell!

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Daniel Nest's avatar

Dan Brown certainly took the concept of anagrams to heart and just ran with it for several novels until he ran out of letters. Also, an anagram for "worn band."

Coincidence?

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I've never read any Dan Brown, but he sounds kind of like a down Bran to me. I knew a Bran once who was decidedly not down. He was kind of a nerd.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

Well, one might say that Dan Brown really has his "own brand," if you catch my drift.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

What does Brandon W have to do with this? That guy's a dick.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

We better warn Bond. 007 will want to look into it!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

James bond is such a nob, and we've really drawn this joke out. It's a drawn nob.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

"Dr. Won? Ban this behavior, ASAP!"

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Ann Collins's avatar

Great post, Andrew! Love the photos. As a 9 year old, I remember being obsessed with the novel Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. It was absolutely mesmerizing to see the way Harriet could write her exact thoughts in her notebook. Fitzhugh was able to show a child writer who was completely enjoying her craft. Harriet had specific rituals that gave her daily satisfaction and joy in the process, and I remember thinking: I wish I could do that!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks, Ann! I am that child writer, just enjoying sharing my thoughts with everyone. It took me five decades, but here I am!

I think we have to keep on being children. We pretend that there are two phases in life, but really? We're just learning all the time.

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Ann Collins's avatar

Yes—so true. By the way Andrew, how old is your dog? He reminds me so much of my Killian, a Rat Terrier mix, who is my hiking buddy at 14 years old. 🤎🤎🤎

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Andrew Smith's avatar

We're not sure! We adopted Dink-Dink (Dinkles) a little over 3 years ago, and we reckon she was about 12 at that point. I'd say 15 is a pretty good guess. We have a lot of experience with senior Dachshunds, so I feel fairly confident with a reasonable range.

Post some pics of Killian over on Notes if you'd like! Feel free to tag me or just respond to a #dailydinkles or whatever. :)

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Ann Collins's avatar

I will! 😊

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Andrew Sniderman 🕷️'s avatar

Earliest memory is hiding under the kitchen table with my big sister. All my early memories are with her. Driving up to Portland to see her today!

Don't apologize for writing about yourself; I'm here because you're interesting.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Hey neat! I will keep going; thanks. I can't help but feel a tiny bit guilty, though, and it's worth trying to understand why. I'll be back in a few years once I figure that out, brb.

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Andrew Sniderman 🕷️'s avatar

lol I mean if you think about it, how can one *not* write about oneself? Even if fiction it's from your experiences, your lens yknow

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I definitely see it this way! It's just that I'll have to tell more explicit stories about ME.

How gauche!

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Sum's avatar

I remember sitting in my stroller entranced with what I remember as my first word, which I kept repeating over and over because the feeling of my tongue on my lips was so interesting. It was something like “bladdoo”…

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Wow. I almost literally can't remember anything from before like 13. These memories I keep pointing to are all recreations, I think.

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Sum's avatar

Oh, “bladoo” is also “old Boa”…

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Nice! Also: bad loo. Might wanna give that urinal a scrub!

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Sum's avatar

🤣 as I think about it, it was my first sophisticated word. I probably already knew “momma” and “dadda”…

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I can only imagine we start going like "mama" and "papa" very, very early on, and then someone reinforces us making those sounds. All of a sudden, we have phonemes!

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Sum's avatar

I would think my first word would have been “NO!”

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I think mine was more like "GIMME!" I wanted to experience EVERYthing.

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