What was going on when I was born?

The Japanese have been dissuaded from bringing mopeds and golf carts. President Francois Mitterrand of France, as requested, will be served no cream sauces and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain will be given an extra bedroom for her security detail, instead of the dressing room that was offered. Dignified, purposeful Colonial Williamsburg - a museum, one is reminded, not a theme park in red brick and clapboard - is approaching its role as host to the ninth annual economic summit conference of industrialized countries next weekend with poorly disguised excitement and a touch of awe. Dozens of monarchs, presidents, princes and princesses have visited the restored colony over the years, but this occasion is clearly special. ''We've never done anything quite this large,'' said Bruce P. Hearn, general manager of the Williamsburg Inn, which will house all seven leaders in 19th century Regency and 18th century Colonial style. Also at the inn will be Gaston Thorn, president of the executive commission of the European Economic Community.

WHEN the time comes, and there is no one in the household who doubts it will, Jeff Kunkel can think of it as a return trip to the major leagues. He was a young boy the first time a baseball brat - and American League ball parks were his summer playground. Whether it was in New York, Baltimore, Boston or Anaheim, his pockets would be lined with change for frequent trips to the concession stands and he felt as if all the empty seats were reserved for him. ''I remember umpiring at home plate in Yankee Stadium one day and turning around to look in the stands behind me to see what Jeff was doing,'' said Bill Kunkel, Jeff's father and one of the most respected umpires in the major leagues. ''Jeff wasn't there. I looked around and finally spotted him sitting in the upper deck near the foul pole. There wasn't anybody else around. He had just wandered up.'' At an early age, Jeff Kunkel and his younger brother, Kevin, met the stars and visited the locker rooms. The door to the big leagues was opened for them by Bill Kunkel, a marginal pitcher who spent three seasons in the majors with Kansas City and the Yankees before becoming an umpire. He gave his sons a glimpse of a life they would grow up wanting to be their own.

The Director of Central Intelligence and another senior Administration official have predicted that Americansupported Nicaraguan rebels have a good chance of overthrowing the Sandinist Government by the end of the year, Administration and Congressional officials said today. Members of Congress said that the predictions were made by William J. Casey, the C.I.A. director, and Thomas O. Enders, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. The Congressmen said the predictions seemed to undercut the Administration's longstanding assertion that American support for the rebel groups was primarily for the purpose of stopping arms shipments to guerrillas in El Salvador. The Administration asserts the arms flow through Nicaragua.

Owners of oil tankers that operate solely between ports in the United States have begun a campaign against an Administration proposal that would increase the number and size of tankers eligible to compete in the domestic market, especially in the $1.3 billion a year Alaska oil trade. The proposal would strike down existing rules that prohibit tankers built with Federal subsidies from engaging in domestic trade and would allow a company that repays the subsidy to operate the vessel wherever it wished. Only companies operating unsubsidized ships are now allowed to compete in trade between United States ports, while the subsidized ships, with some exceptions, must engage exclusively in foreign trade. The subsidy program, designed to offset the higher costs of building vessels in the United States, was begun in 1936, although the Reagan Administration has never requested money for construction of new ships and wants to discontinue the program.

Among the capacity crowd of 18,482 at the Spectrum here today was a group of fans dressed in the biblical garb of Moses, staff and all - a tribute to the Philadelphia 76ers' center Moses Malone. And near the end of the 113-107 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, in the opening game of the National Basketball Association championship series, a makeshift banner appeared in the stands. ''Moses Parts the Lakers,'' it said. The banner exaggerated only slightly. Malone scored 27 points, had 18 rebounds and won his battle with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whom Malone called ''the best offensive center in basketball.'' In the second half, Abdul-Jabbar, who finished with 20 points and 4 rebounds, did not get a single rebound.

Last November, when thrift institutions were granted new powers allowing them to make commercial loans, some analysts predicted that a price war would break out with their traditional rivals, the small commercial banks. Six months later the commercial banks, which strenuously opposed allowing thrift institutions to do commercial lending, have little to worry about. Despite clamoring for the additional powers, most savings and loan associations and mutual savings banks are moving gingerly into the riskier - and potentially much more profitable - arena of commercial banking. Under the Depository Institutions Act of 1982, federally chartered savings and loan associations can invest up to 5 percent of their total assets in commercial loans this year, while mutual savings banks can invest 5.5 percent of their assets. Next year the ratio will rise to 10 percent for both kinds of institutions.

Yasir Arafat was reported today to have moved to put out a smoldering rebellion among Palestine Liberation Organization commanders in eastern Lebanon. Mr. Arafat, the P.L.O. leader, returned to Lebanon recently for the first time since he left Beirut last August during the Israeli siege. Today he visited Palestinian positions in Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, a close aide said. Both personal and political frictions seem to have touched off the mutiny, according to representaives of both sides. Efforts to Control Radicals The main cause appears to have been Mr. Arafat's efforts to control the more radical elements of the Fatah faction of the P.L.O. by transferring two commanders in the Bekaa, the valley in eastern Lebanon, and replacing them with trusted Arafat officers. The mutineers said this was a sign that the P.L.O. chairman was planning to pull Al Fatah out of Lebanon.

The neighborhood groups that used to demand better services from city halls around the nation are now providing those services themselves. Under mounting financial pressures and despite opposition from unions, many city governments are hiring civic groups to perform services that have historically been carried out by public employees. City Hall gets more for its money but gives up central control in the process, officials say. Here in Kansas City, the government has let contracts to three neighborhood organizations to carry out all inspections for health and safety code violations in the areas where the organizations are active.

''If you can live with the devil, then Vassar has not sunk its teeth into you'' - Meryl Streep at Vassar's commencement. (B2:2.)

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the city's best-loved landmarks, will be 100 years old tomorrow, and a big birthday party is planned. A parade of 18,000 will cross the grand old bridge on foot, on horse, in carriages, on floats, in historic buses, by horse-drawn ambulance and horse-drawn pumper, in a Model T Ford and even atop a small elephant. They will march 10 abreast, fifing, drumming, tooting, piping, twirling and stepping smartly in joyful celebration of the anniversary. The Police Department is preparing for 1.5 million spectators along the route of the parade, which will step off at 9:30 A.M. from Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn, wind around local streets to the Brooklyn Bridge, cross over to Manhattan, work its way behind City Hall to Broadway and continue down to the Battery. Thousands more will watch the spectacle from office windows along the route. In the evening, there will be a parade of harbor craft up the East River to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and back down. There will be a street fair at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan and a street fair and formal rededication ceremony at the Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn.

International Overthrow of the Sandinists in Nicaragua by the end of the year is possible, William J. Casey, the Director of the Central Intelligence, and another senior Administration official believe, according to Administration and Congressional officials. The prediction, shared with Mr. Casey by Thomas O. Enders, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, that the Americansupported Nicaraguan rebels have a good chance to bring down the Sandinists, seemed to undercut the Admininstration's longstanding assertion that American support for the rebel groups was primarily for the purpose of stopping arms shipments from Nicaragua to guerrillas in El Salvador, members of Congress said. (Page A1, Column 6.) A mutiny among P.L.O. commanders in eastern Lebanon has precoccupied Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. On his first visit to Lebanon since he withdrew from Beirut last year, he has been traveling constantly in the area in Lebanon to put out the rebellion. His efforts emphasize the apparent seriousness with which he views the events there. P.L.O. officials in Damascus tried repeatedly to play them down. (A1:4.)

A chart accompanying an article on portable computers in Business Day Friday incorrectly reported the weight of the Gavilan computer and misstated the units of measurement for the internal memory of computers.