At one point during my childhood, I decided that I wanted to bulk up my scrawny physique. My dad took me to a store in Solon called Silverman's, which in that location closed in the late 80's, and sadly the last of these Cleveland-area stores (I just now found out) closed in 2015. I bought this pair of 5-lb dumbells (sic) pictured above, which I have held on to since the mid-80's. If you asked me to show you the mid-80's in one photo, I'd show you this one. Some EG scholars may recognize this photo which was used for the cover of 2003's Dickalis, cleaned up collectively by Mary Alice and Brent Gummow.
After maybe a week a lifting these weights, I would annoy my sister by walking around the house and growling "LOOK AT MY MUSCLES!" while flexing. In addition to the weights, my dad made me a punching bag out of a plastic shopping bag and packing peanuts, attached it to the tree in our backyard, and I would whale on it while chanting "Rocky, Rocky!" while picturing Sylvester Stallone walking up suddenly to surprise me and offer some encouraging words. This girl who lived down the street eventually broke my punching bag after she kicked it while riding our tire swing.