This is for some fun!
For about the last six months Mike has been using the phrase back in the day frequently in his conversations with me. It came into his speech suddenly and, figuring he had picked it up from someone who overuses the phrase, I finally asked him who at work says this. He is clueless, wasn't even aware that he'd been saying it. I was intrigued enough about the term to run a search and came upon this great little back in the day calculator built by the folks at happyrobotUSA. They had noticed that people recently were abusing the phrase (I am not insinuating that Mike is among them) to reference a wide range of time. When you select the year you were born and click submit the calculator tells you your real individual time frame for back in the day.
My own time frame for back in the day turned out to be 1968-1974. I'd recently played with my camera at the creek that runs through the little town where I live and thought this shot was as good as any to depict my back in the day. Jimi Hendrix released his album, Are You Experienced? that included the song Purple Haze in 1967, but I didn't get the record until Christmas that year, effectively placing the music into my life as 1968 began.
I've read that Hendrix claimed to have written Purple Haze after a dream in which he was at the bottom of the sea and found himself engulfed in a purple haze, and that his faith in Jesus saved him. OOoo-Kay . . .
I still think it was written about LSD. I never got into psychedelic drugs, having had the strong feeling that I'd be one of those who would overdo and never return. This album was so great you didn't need to be on drugs to feel transported by it, anyway.
At the end of the day, back in the day is only reflection.
Purple Haze
-Jimi Hendrix
Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don't seem the same
Acting funny but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky
Purple haze all around
Don't know if I'm climbin' up or down
Am I happy or in misery
Whatever it is that girl put a spell on me
Help me help me
Purple haze all in my eyes
Don't know if it's day or night
You got me blown blown my mind
Is it tomorrow or the end of time
Help me help me
