Yes, I am subscribed to the RSS feed of Ken Jennings’ blog and today he discusses his first five memories of newsworthy events.

Which made me think of the time discrepancy between when I started having concrete memories, and the time I started becoming aware of the outside world.

My oldest memory, while vivid, is extremely mundane. I was around 3 years old at the time, and it involves riding in my dad’s car going southbound on Alvarado St. in Echo Park, going past the Safeway. I remember looking out the back window and staring at the antennae on the hillside, and looking to my left at the church on the corner of Reservoir and Alvarado. This would’ve been sometime in 1979 or 1980.

The first newsworthy event I remember, though, wasn’t until the summer of 1984, when I was almost eight years old, and the Olympics were in L.A. that year. And the only vivid memory I really have is of wandering around Exposition Park with my parents and siblings.

I guess I just didn’t watch the news much when I was a little kid. LOL.

In fact, listing my first five memories of newsworthy events leads me almost into my teen-age years.

1. 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles • Summer 1984
2. Challenger disaster • 28 January 1986
3. Whittier Narrows earthquake • 1 October 1987
4. Lakers repeat as NBA champions • 21 June 1988
5. Kirk Gibson of the L.A. Dodgers hits a glorious home run that wins Game 1 of the World Series versus the Oakland A’s • 15 October 1988

I guess 1988 was the best year for L.A. sports ever.