This Sunday Stealing edition is PenPals, Part 2, stolen from the League of Extraordinary PenPals.
1. Do you make new friends easily?
I don’t think so. Acquaintances who may become friends down the road, perhaps. But almost all of my friends I’ve known for decades.
2..Which podcasts do you like at the moment?
I only listen to three. Coverville: Brian Ibbott plays new renditions of previously recorded songs. Hollywood and Levine by Ken Levine, an Emmy-winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. AmeriNZ by Arthur Schenck, a gay American-born New Zealander.
3. One thing that immediately makes your day better
Music. I play a LOT of music. Currently, it’s people whose birthdays are in March, such as Aretha Franklin, Elton John, and James Taylor. Also, LOTS of soundtracks in honor of the Oscars.
4. What app do you use most?
The Capital District Transportation Authority’s Navigator tells me when the next bus is coming.
5. The friends who would have your back no matter what
6. What is something you’ll never do again?
So many things… I’ll say get married. (Note: I like being married.)
7. Something you practice often
The intentionality of kindness. A movie I saw two years ago called The Antidote spoke to this.
Better than drugs
8. What gives you an adrenaline rush?
I repeat myself when under stress. I repeat myself when under stress. I
repeat myself… It’s music. This week, I was commenting on how the bassline of Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart by the Supremes moves me. Or how The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel breaks my heart.
My choir is practicing Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain, the last piece from Handel’s Messiah. We began working on it in March 2020, and then we didn’t perform it for some reason.
9. How well do you do in social situations?
I fake it well, I gather. Our dermatologist told my wife this week that I was “full of personality” from when I was there a couple of months ago.
10. Are you a light sleeper or a deep sleeper?
Definitely light.
11. Do you get stage fright?
Yes.
A small tribe
12. Which family members are you closest to?
Well, my family is small. There are two nieces on the Green side, two sisters, one daughter, and one spouse. My parents are deceased, and they had no siblings, so I never had any first cousins.
13. How was your February?
Exhausting. Although I’ve said for years that I wasn’t in charge of my church’s Black History Month, I suppose I was. I called a meeting in October for ideas, several of which sounded promising, but only one panned out. I scurried around finding events for three classes of Adult Education.
14. What is your favorite candle scent?
I have no idea.
15. One book that you would recommend as a “must read”?
I don’t believe in a “must read, ” an album people must listen to, or a movie folks must watch. It’s too prescriptive for my sensibilities. Besides, it depends on the individual I’m recommending to.