The Trash Heap Has Spoken. Nyah!

This year, in celebration of my 20-something birthday, I received a rather unique gift that has given me endless hours of amusement. Now, I must preface this tale with the disclaimer that said gift was not listed on any birthday list of mine. However, with each passing day I am more and more amused by it and utilize it heavily in my classroom. This gift was, in fact, the complete first season of Fraggle Rock.
Do you remember this show? Funky little Muppet creatures that live under ground, eat glass-like structures built by Doozers and seek advice from the all knowing, all seeing, all everything trash heap? I remember having an entire VHS tape of this show when we were kids in Germany. It was part of our Saturday routine for several years. Then we grew up and moved on to more sophisticated TV adventures like Animaniacs and X-Men. Still, there lurks deep in our hearts a soft spot for Uncle Matt and his near mishaps with unsuspecting fire hydrants and Sprocket the dog.
Needless to say I was somewhat surprised to open the package to find this particular gift. Surprise soon gave way to utter amusement at the thought of the excitement my sister must have shown the day she bought. I can see her now, getting the kids all excited about sending Aunt Leslie the exact same show she once sent them. Time has not permitted me to watch more than a few episodes, but it is nice relaxer after a long hard week at work and school.
A couple of days ago, a boy in my 3rd hour class suddenly asked me, "Have you ever heard of Fraggle Rock?" I blinked at him for a moment or two , my instinctual response to surprise, and began to sing, "Dance your cares away. Worry's for another Day." At this point he joined to finish the last two lines of the chorus. The rest of the students didn't seem to know what we were talking about, but several have told me they plan to rent it and see what the hype is about. Now the Fraggle Rock theme song has become an ice breaker in that particular class. Whenever this student comes in looking down, I start to sing the song. The entire class seems to be amused by it.
Since I do tend to sing a lot during my lectures , I am fast becoming known as the singing Biology teacher among my students. I used the Tootsie Roll while teaching metric conversions today. Which direction do we move the decimal? To the left, to the left. The reference was lost on many of them, but they were amused anyway.