I remember as a child I never really liked watching television. My parents rarely watched it growing up. Only as I got older did they acquire a taste for the "boob tube-. To me most children's programs and cartoons were "lame". If I knew what drugs were at the time I would have thought the whole crew on Sesame Street was on them because of their wide eyed, overly expressive faces, exaggerated enunciations of words and mannerisms. The Smurfs were just as torturous with their whinny, high pitched blather and Mr. Rogers was just plain creepy. I was more the outdoors kind of girl. Bike rides, monkey bars, swings, cardboard-box rides down bumpy, rocky, spur ridden hills all fun activities. Of course, my favorite activity was to run through the streets during a rainstorm. We lived in Hawaii at the time, in military housing. All the neighborhood kids would come pouring out of their houses the minute a rainstorm started. Warm rain water falling down on us, steam rising from the ground as the rain hits it and me getting as wet as can be. The best part about it is your parents could not really get mad at you for getting all wet and filthy. .
I was only five years old when I received my first real lesson (and probably my parents biggest lesson) on the power of television and the impressionability of a young girl. As I have said, most of the time television was of no interest to me. But, there were a few cartoon shows I liked watching. Loony Tunes being my favorite, and Bugs Bunny my idol. I used to love to imitate Bugs. I would wander around the house with a carrot in my hand (smacking and chewing loudly as I took bites off the carrot), tapping the end of the carrot like a cigar as invisible ashes fell from the end of it. While uttering "Eh.(smack, chew, smack) What's up Doc?-. Sometimes I would be stationary. At this point I would have my elbow resting up against a ledge of some kind, with my carrot in the other hand.