December 2009 - Page 2 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

The Lydster, Part 69: LS’s Oth Christmas

Three months before Lydia was born, I made a mixed CD for the child. We didn’t know whether we were having a boy or girl, so she was called Little Soul. Or more accurately, my wife’s friend Alison, who was in our wedding, dubbed her as such.

Anyway, the playlist is this, and for most of them I was able to find something on YouTube:

1. Mr. Sandman – the Chorettes. A song from the 1950s I always liked that I have on some compilation.
2. Lullabye (Good Night, My Angel) – Billy Joel. From his last proper pop album, River of Dreams. One of my favorite songs, even though, or maybe because, it has a certain melancholy.
3. Dreamland – Mary Chapin Carpenter, from her greatest hits album, Party Doll.
4. Good Night – the Beatles. From the white album, a Lennon tune sung by Ringo. I often sing it to Lydia before she goes to bed.
5. Lullaby for Sophia – the Beverwyck String Band. A lovely tune by our friend, violinist/vocalist Britney and a couple of her friends.
6. Alright for Now – Tom Petty. From my favorite Petty album, Full Moon Fever.
7. Sweet and Low – Bette Midler.(Starting at at 2:03)
8. All Through the Night – Shawn Colvin. The last two songs from some benefit album for the rain forest called Carnival, which also features Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals.
9. Common Threads – Bobby McFerrin. A song without words, a transition to the instrumental portion of the album.

Songs above are by the artist on the recording; below are not.

10. Brandenburg Concerto #5 Affectuoso – Bach.
11. Pachebel Canon. The last two by Neville Chamberlain & the English Chamber Music Orchestra.
12. Four Seasons: Autumn, adagio – Vivaldi.
13. Four Seasons: Winter, largo – Vivaldi.
14. Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven. Dubourg.
15. Fur Elise -Beethoven.

Now that she has her own boom box to go to sleep to, it’s in her pile of music to play. Not that she plays it as often as I had hoped, but I’m glad that she doesn’t seem to hate it.

ROG

Christmas Meme, Part 2

Grade/Rate Holiday Movies A – F

91. A Christmas Story. B+

92. How The Grinch Stole Christmas? A+ if we’re talking Chuck Jones. Never saw Ron Howard’s.

93. The Santa Clause? Have I ever seen any of these all the way through?

94. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer? B

95. Frosty The Snowman? B-

96. Home Alone? B-

97. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? D-

98. Elf? Didn’t see

99. Miracle on 34th Street? A

100. A Charlie Brown Christmas? A+

Christmas At My House…(one or the other)

111. Tree is fake/real?

Real, optimally. Though in fact we had no tree when Lydia was nine months old because we were too tired to bother. We didn’t have one when she was 21 months because we feared she’d pull it down.

112. Tree is under/above 4′?

About 5′ most years, though this years is 7′.

113. Open presents Christmas Eve/Day?

Christmas Day. Though there may be stockings opened on Christmas Eve.

114. House/entire yard is decorated?

We don’t decorate the outside.

115. Amount of presents under the tree?

Very few before Christmas Eve.

116. Snowman is a male/female?

Lydia made one Sunday. Male.

117. Go for Santa/Jesus?

I’m not sure what that means.

118. Homemade/delivered/takeout Christmas dinner?

Usually homemade if I’m not making it; otherwise, takeout.

119. Bedtime is before/after midnight?

10 pm most nights.

120. Wake-up is before/after 7am?

Probably 5:30 now. When I was a kid, Dad pushed the wakeup time for the household later and later, from 7 when I was 7 to 9 when I was 16.

121. Go/don’t go to church on Christmas?

Don’t, generally, though I did once or twice recently. Christmas Eve, I go to, usually sing at. Even in my non-church-going phase, I’d go to Christmas Eve, usually a Catholic service. And I’ve never been Catholic.

122. Pray & sing Happy Birthday/do nothing before bed?

I sometimes pray. But “Happy Birthday, Jesus” is hysterical! Jesus almost certainly was a Pisces; seriously.

123. Do shopping before/after Thanksgiving?

If I’m inspired, I shop before Thanksgiving. I was shopping this Sunday past, so that should tell you something.

124. Low-key/over the top decorations (inside and out)?

Low-key.

Have You Ever?

125. Built a snowman?
Of course.

126. Heard Santa’s sleigh?
Yes. Must have been a recording. Wasn’t it?

127. Seen Santa & Rudolph in the sky?
Well, no, except in my dreams.

128. Sat on Santa’s lap?
I know I have. There’s even a picture somewhere. But I don’t really have any memories of it.

129. Shoveled the driveway/sidewalk?
Ugh, yes.

130. Made snow angels?
Yes.

131. Built a fort/igloo?
Yep.

132. Wrote a Christmas list?
Yes.

133. Wrote a letter to Santa?
Yes.

134. Left cookies/milk for Santa & reindeer?
Yes, ever since we had a child. But remember doing so when I was a child.

135. Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
Of course.

136. Went caroling?
Used to do it every year for about a decade and a half.

137. Got hurt during the winter season?
Just the frostbite.

138. Gone ice skating/sledding?
I’m lousy at skating. Sledding I did regularly as a kid.

139. Kissed under a mistletoe?
Yes.

140. Experienced/saw a miracle happen?
Maybe.

141. Get everything you wanted for Christmas?
Yes, but my needs are limited.

142. Cooked/baked?
There was a period that I did both, mostly when I was single.

True Or False

181. You prefer to stay inside where it’s warm?
Truer words were never spoken.

182. You’ve given something (or $) to charity?
Very True.

183. You spent more than what people spent on you?
Almost always true.

184. You like to take your time opening presents?
True, and try to apply the brakes to the child.

185. The thing you want most this year costs $100+?
True, but that’s MOST unusual.

186. You expect to get more than 10 presents this year?
False.

187. You’re a Scrooge/Grinch?
I don’t think so.

188. Christmas = snow?
True, lightly on Christmas Eve.

189. You know the lyrics to more than 25 Christmas songs?
Oh, indeed true. I love Christmas music. I have three or four BOOKS.

Grab Bag

190. Three best things about Christmas?
The music, the decorations, the possibilities.

191. Worst Christmas song?
I especially hate “Dominick the Donkey”.

192. If you were a Christmas character, who would you be?
Bob Cratchit.

193. What type of decoration should stop being made?
Any that are poisoning the environment.

194. Tastiest holiday treat?
Sugar cookies.

195. Favorite pop culture Christmas icon?
I like Charlie Brown and his little tree.

196. Know how to make cookies/brownies/cake from scratch?
I did; haven’t done it in so long, though.

197. Ever cut your mouth on a candy cane/candy?
Yes, as a kid.

198. What other culture would you like to experience Christmas with?
Interested to do so in the Southern Hemisphere.

199. What kind of pattern/pictures do you like on your wrapping paper?
Wrapping paper is a real sore point. I used to think that it was dumb. I would just as soon use the funnies from the Sunday newspaper, but was mocked for it. Now it’s rather ahead of the curve environmentally. So I REALLY don’t care.

200. Will you make a Christmas picture for your blog/website/profile?
Nah, I’m a lazy bum.

ROG

Christmas Meme, Part 1

There is this meme that SamuraiFrog did. Then Jaquandor found some more. But neither of them are as long as this one. So I’m splitting it; half today, half tomorrow. OK, with the skips, it’s not really half. And I’m not renumbering this puppy.

Favorite Christmas…

01. Non-Jesus-related song?
“Good King Wenceslas”.

02. Jesus-related song?
The Coventry Carol; it’s on A Very Special Christmas #1. But then there are all the songs that I sing in choir. The first part of Handel Messiah. Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child. Almost anything in another language, from Adeste Fideles to Stille Nacht. And the Shepherd’s Farewell by Berlioz awes me every verse.

03. Santa-related song?
“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, the Jackson Five version.

04. Fictional character?
Ebeneezer Scrooge.

05. Dinner’s main course?
Variable. Can be turkey, ham or something else altogether.

06. Dinner’s dessert?
Also no tradition here.

07. Scent (pine, gingerbread, candles…)?
Pine.

08. Animated movie?
I can’t think of a Christmas-related animated movie I need to see every year. I did see A Charlie Brown Christmas. Oh, BTW, just came across the mashup of A Charlie Brown Christmas with Hey Ya by Outkast; it’ll be a while before I get tired of it.

09. Non-animated movie?
I’ve seen It’s A Wonderful Life. Not required (e.g., probably won’t see it this year.)

10. Personal memory?
So many, which I’ve mentioned before.

11. Story/Fairy Tale?
A Christmas Carol.

This or That

12. Candy cane or peppermint patties?
Probably the only time I eat candy canes. I prefer peppermint patties but don’t associate them with Christmas.

13. Sugar or gingerbread cookies?
Sugar.

14. Tinsel or beaded strands?
Grew up with tinsel. Now, neither.

15. Multi-colored or same-colored lights?
White. Grew up with multicolored.

16. Flashing or still lights?
Still. Grew up with flashing.

17. Wreaths or mistletoe/holly?
Wreaths, but that’s my wife.

18. Rudolph or Frosty?
Rudolph, because I relate to his oppression. Besides my daughter has a Frosty book and I find it creepy.

19. Sledding or snowball fights?
Incresingly, neither. I liked sledding as a kid, but since I got frostbite on my feet when I was 16, I just don’t play much outdoors.

20. Snow or ice/icicles?
Light snow.

21. Snow hat or earmuffs?
Hat.

22. Getting or giving?
I’ve lost (mostly) my getting vibe. Getting for Lydia is fun; the rest, not so much.

23. Snow days or plow trucks?
Plows. My wife and daughter have snow days and I’m jealous as hell.

24. Stockings or presents?
Both.

25. Cookies & milk or letter to Santa?
Both.

26. Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Christmas Eve for certain.

27. Log Burning Channel or real thing?
The real thing, though I currently don’t have the capacity.

28. Cards or emails?
Cards, though in fact this is is the first since Lydia was born that we’ve sent any (and only nine thus far.)

29. Shoveling or cleaning off the car?
I prefer shoveling. It’s a consistent motion. I went years without access to a car, so the hassle bothers me more. I live in the city so I don’t NEED a car.

30. The Inn’s manger or the animals?
Animals, a function of a Lydia book about the Christmas owl.

31. Mary & Joseph or The Wise Men?
I always played one of the Wise Men, so there’s that. Sang a Magnificat (Mary story) this past week, though, so it’s a tossup.

32. Hot cocoa or eggnog?
Eggnog, because I don’t associate hot cocoa with the season especially.

33. Jack Frost or Little Drummer Boy?
I used to sing Little Drummer Boy.

“Yay!” or “Ugh”:

34. Holiday shopping?
Ugh! (Though online has made it tolerable. Barely.)

35. Icy roads?
Ugh.

36. Limited driving visibility?
Well, ugh.

37. Christmas carolers.
Yay! (I’ve been one.)

38. Mall Santas?
Depends on the quality of the Santa.

39. Salvation Army Santas?
Yay! Love this improv bit!

40. Blizzards?
If I’m at work, Ugh. If I’m at home and I don’t have to go anywhere, Yay!

41. 24/7 Holiday radio?
Ugh! They play the same damn songs every other day. I’ll play my own, thank you. My wife is a Yay om this, BTW.

42. Freezing cold?
Ugh!

43. Setting up the tree?
Yay!

44. Wrapping presents?
Ugh. I stink at it.

45. Visiting/seeing family?
Feh. Doesn’t happen.

46. Ad-Lib on “Rudolph (like Monopoly!)
Does that bit have a more formal name? I find that it exists in lots of songs of that period, including Over the Rainbow and Try a Little Tenderness. Yay.

47. Free mint red/white candy?
Yay!

48. Belief in Santa Claus?
Yay!

49. Chocolate advent calender?
Did this one year. It was really inferior chocolate. Ugh.

50. Peeking at your gifts (or by accident)?
Ugh!

51. Making out with Santa under the mistletoe?
Depends on the Santa.

52. Decorated houses?
Yay!

53. Extreme decorated houses?
Ugh! Big ugh!

54. White Christmas morning?
Yay!

55. Searching for ornaments in the attic?
Meh. Actually we have a ridiculously organized place for them, so no searching involved.

56. Santa knowing when you’re sleeping and awake?
Very Large Ugh! I actually heard a sermon on this topic.

First Thought That Comes To Mind When You Hear…

67. Snowflake!
Crazy. It’s the flake thing.

68. Pinecones!
Snow.

69. Elves!
Hound Dog. OH, ELVES; I thought you said ELVIS. Santa.

70. Sleigh!
Jingle bells.

71. Presents!
Tree.

72. Cookies!
Yummy.

73. Misletoe!
A girl named Mary.

74. Rudolph!
Some Nazi war criminal.

75. Blizzard!
March 1888. Biggest snow storm in Albany history, also affecting NYC. Killed a bunch of people.

76. School’s Canceled!
Lucky them, but I gprobably have to go to work anyway.

77. Ice Skating!
Trying it once to woo Carol. It worked; haven’t done it since.

78. Santa’s Lap!
Uncomfortable.

79. Black Friday!
To avoid at all costs.

80. God’s Son!
We’re all God’s children.

81. Melting Snow!
Relief.

82. Lumps of Coal!
My grandmother heated with coal.

83. Nutcracker!
Tchaikovsky

84. Ho Ho Ho!
Santa Claus

85. North Pole!
Global warming and starving polar bears.

What’s a Winter Activity YOU Do…

86. …In the snow by yourself?
I try not to go out in the snow by myself. I try to stay indoors as much as possible.

87. …Inside by yourself?
Play Christmas songs.

88. …In a public place (with/alone)?
Go to the movies.

89. …With friends/family in the snow at home?
Look, I’m not going out in the snow.

90. …With friends/family inside at home?
Watch TV. Christmas episodes.

ROG

My Solstice Tradition: ASK ROGER ANYTHING!

I’m trying, really trying, to get into the spirit of the season. I’ve been checking out Polite Scott’s Advent Calendar Comic Book Cover Countdowns and Jaquandor’s Daily Dose of Christmas and Tegan’s LEGO Advent Calendar, the Tournament of Carols (Bing will definitely win) and most of all, Fred Hembeck’s The Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, MANY Faces of Santa Claus!

Yet, I’m still felling the seasonal stress. Sunday, in particular, made me very…grumpy. Sunday, I was Christmas shopping. There IS a correlation, though shopping wasn’t the only frustration that day. The neck is sore, for some reason. And my left heel has a cut on it, probably from chafing while wearing some boots when it snowed a couple weeks ago. (But NOT this past weekend, as it turns out.) The one thing that did make me laugh was an e-mail from some cruise line that had the heading, ” There’s Still Time to Give the Gift of Cruising!”

So, to cheer me up, it is your opportunity to Ask Roger Anything. Anything at all; nothing is off limits. These are the exciting rules:
1. You can ask Roger anything.
2. He must answer.
3. He must stop referring to himself in the third person.
4. My answers must be true. Now it can be the truth without being the WHOLE truth, but the discerning questioner will pick up on this.

And starting on Sunday, I will answer your questions. If you want me to answer a question or three, you can leave a comment – I love comments – or you can find my e-mail on the sidebar and you can e-mail it to me.

ROG

W is for Weather

Anyone who spent time in Albany, NY in June or July 2009 would have thought it was Seattle, Washington, because it rained. A lot. And the rain was often accompanied by severe weather – lightning, thunder and/or high winds. (Incidentally, the weather in Seattle at that time was uncharacteristically HOT, cracking 100F or 38C several times.)

One day in June, I was going to ride home, but I bailed. Severe weather – torrential winds, and some of the scariest lightning and thunder I’d ever experienced – meant that I put the bike on the bus and got home. But in that 10 minute-trip, the weather subsided. I took the bike off the bus and rode the last two blocks home. Generally, I cut through a bank parking lot, and past the elementary school, when I came across – well the pictures you’re now seeing tell the story. The red brick building is the school, the more orange building, the Pine Hills branch of the Albany Public Library.)

I called the library – the tree was on its property initially, though where it ell was all school property. But I think it was the school who had cleaned up the mess – at least on their side of the fence, by morning.

I can’t help but think: the weather is SO peculiar these days. Greenland and the Maldives Are Far Apart on the Map But Connected by Rapidly Melting Glaciers and Rising Sea Levels. If you go to abcnews.com and type in Bolivia, you’ll find a story about the disappearing slopes in the Andes, where glaciers are melting at such a rate they can longer be skied in Bolivia. A recent study says a two-degree temperature rise could flood wide areas of the planet.

Yet a kerfuffle over some e-mails – did these people even READ the content? – have led certain people to the irrational conclusion that there is no global warming. Meanwhile, I was hoping for substantive breakthrough, but the climate conference in Copenhagen has generated voluntary, unenforceable goals. I think I’ll keep worrying.

My favorite weather site.

ROG