When I was a kid. a lot of my friends had lava lamps. At that time. I thought they were just the coolest item to own. My older sister had lava lamps in her apartment so I thought it was a really mature thing to have. I begged my parents for one. first for my birthday and then for Christmas. but I never got one. My mother was way too practical; the reason I could not have one was because there was no extra outlet in my room. I was willling to give up my regular lamp. but that idea didn't fly. Neither did the idea that we could put the lava lamps all over the house. My ill-informed mother thought they were ugly.

I had to live by my parents decision. but the appeal of a lava lamp was all consuming. I finally saved enough money of my own from babysitting and dragged a girlfriend to go shopping with me for one. I found a store with a lava lamp on a clearance rack and became the proud owner of one. I figured I could keep it in the closet and it would add an interesting glow to my room. but my mother would not know about it. Since I did not have another outlet. I had to drag an extension cord and plug it into another outlet. I was thrilled with excitement as I put the lava lamp in the closet. using the box it came in as a table. I turned it on. and it was one of the ugliest colors I have ever seen. Maybe that is why it was on the clearance rack? Still. watching the brownish orange blobs float around inside the glass was a thrill. Just them. I was called down to dinner. and while we were eating. wer heard a load crash and then the cat came flying downstairs with a strange looking tail. She was so scared she fled beneath the sofa and wouldn't come out. Of course. the crash was my precious lava lamp hitting the floor when the cat stepped through the extension cord. It didn't take long for my mother to figure out what the strange liquid on the floor of my bedroom was. A terse "Clean it up" said it all. Well. a lava lamp does not have lava in it. but it sure has some strange liquid in it. It was very greasy and smelly and every time I tried to pick up the blobs. they escaped through my fingers. Two hours later the result was passable. but I could not sleep in my room due to the putrid odor. I had to ?fess up to my mom. who said she was very dissapointed in me. Honestly. I was a good kid. and my mom had never said that to me before.

Today when I see a lava lamp I cannot understand what the appeal of that ugly thing was. especially since it caused me so much trouble and only led me to the sadness of my mom's disappointment.