Sunday Stealing Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing from Shannon

drinking all day

Regular Sunday Stealer Shannon W. from Moments of Introspection took on 43 questions. The Gal Herself purports to be lazy, so she pared it back to 15. Actually, 14.

1. What book are you currently reading?

60 Songs That Explain the ’90s by Rob Harvilla. Actually, I read it a while ago, but I will be rereading it because I’m doing a book review of it on June 3 at the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library.

2. Have you ever smoked?

Yes, but probably one pack in my whole life, mostly in Charlotte, NC, in the first third of 1977 when I was pretty miserable; I wrote about it here.

3. Do you own a gun?

No, and I categorically will not. On Tuesday, March 25, I attended a book review about Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution by Priya Satia. Jonathan Skinner, PhD, retired statistician and amateur classicist, reviewed it.

During the Q&A, there was a question of who in the audience would own a gun. I commented about the Good [Black] Guys With Guns phenomenon and how E.J. Bradford ended up dead for trying to do the right thing. As I wrote in 2017, the Philando Castile homicide wrecked me; I reread it, and it still does. So, hell no, it would not make me feel safer and could get me killed.

I Want Candy

4. What is your favorite candy?

A Mounds bar. Fortunately, I only got one for Christmas and my birthday. The second fave would be York Peppermint Patties.

5. Hot dogs: yay or nay?

Yay, but I tend to only have them – with mustard, of course – on July 4 and Labor Day.

6. Favorite movie?

This is always difficult. If it is my favorite, oughtn’t I see it more often? I loved Casablanca but haven’t seen it in half a century. Here’s a list I made in October 2024. I might add Conclave, which I liked well enough to recommend it highly to my wife.

7. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?

Every morning, I pass the refrigerator and see bottles of wine. I have a lot of booze in the pantry, yet it’s 1% milk that I consume most often.

8. What do you drink throughout the day?

Water, ginger ale, occasionally orange juice.

9. Do you do push-ups?

No, and I never really did, especially as a kid.

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?

My wedding ring, though honestly I can’t think of another.

11. Current worry?

Authoritarianism

12. Current annoyance?

My messy office

13. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?

Not especially. They seem slippery and cold.

15. Can you whistle?

I was at a talent show at my old church, and I got to sing Anyone Can Whistle from a Sondheim musical I’ve never seen. So anyway, yes.

Prompts and more prompts

jazz

The Sunday Stealing for this week are Prompts and more prompts.

1) How do you show others love? What makes you feel loved?

I thought about this for a long time. I think it’s trying to suss out or observe what makes somebody feel loved. It’s not the same thing from person to person. Some people appreciate you cleaning, making food, remembering birthdays, listening to them, sharing music: I don’t think there’s a universal thing.

I feel loved when I feel heard, when I tell somebody something, and they acknowledge it, or when I write something and they understand what I’m trying to say. The closest appropriate song here is “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by The Animals.

2) Who is someone you admire? Why?

My mother’s mother’s mother’s father, James Archer, is one of three great-great-grandfathers of mine who fought in the US Civil War and survived. He then worked to buy a home that was where four generations lived. I even renamed the Gulf of Mexico after him!

3) Do you have the qualities you value in a friend?

For the most part. I listen well. Yes, I know how to keep secrets; I keep a LOT of secrets. I know a few things to offer advice, but I don’t assume my advice is always accurate or even requested. Sometimes, it’s just showing up. Being a friend is like jazz.

Missing Rball

4) What is something you enjoyed doing when you were younger but don’t do anymore? Why did you stop doing it?

At the beginning of 1983, I played racquetball regularly, first with one or two people and then with a coterie of about a half dozen people. We played at the Albany YMCA in Washington Ave. until it closed in 2010, much to our great disappointment. I tried playing a few times at Siena College, but it never clicked. So racquetball, which I got to be surprisingly good at, has gone off the table for the last decade

5) What is something other people think is fun but you don’t?

Arguing online, watching reality television, and shopping, for instance.

Don’t Cry! It’s Only Sunday Stealing.

Frosty

moon 3/14/2025 Don’t Cry. It’s only Sunday Stealing. This week, we’re stealing from Steph, aka Cry Baby. She loves Taco Bell and asks questions like these.

1) Think about the last person you forgave. How long did it take you to forgive them?

I don’t know. I can’t remember the last time I was in a situation to forgive somebody. The last time I had a lengthy disagreement, they were upset with me much more than I was upset with them. Let’s say we had a political difference of opinion for about four years. Eventually, they decided that they wanted to see me after all.

2) Steph’s favorite fast food is Taco Bell. What’s yours?

It’s been a few years since I’ve been there, but it is probably Wendy’s. I like the burgers, and they have an ice cream-related thing called the Frosty. I saw in a segment on CBS News that they are mixing Frosties with Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. It sounds weird; I wouldn’t mind having one to test it out.

3) Who was the last friend you hung out with? What did you do?

Over half a dozen people played hearts at my house yesterday to honor my birth month. I wrote about the tradition of the hearts game here. I wanted to have a hearts game at my house at least once a year, and, for the most part, since I turned 60, it’s happened.

Lunar eclipse

4) Did you do anything this past week that will still seem important a year from now?

“Important” might be a strong word, but significant, I would say yes. Going to see the solar eclipse in April 2024 was fun, but visually disappointing. Others, even in my area, have seen the Northern Lights in 2024, but I could never find them.

I stayed up until 3 a.m. on March 14th to look at the moon, which was primarily orange during the lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, I don’t have a very good camera—in fact, I don’t have a real camera at all. I took a picture with my phone, which is unimpressive, to say the least, but I blew it up, and it appears in this post. It doesn’t look like the moon, but it’s cool or at least interesting.

5) Will this coming week be better than last week? How so?

I keep making a list of things I need to do next week, and the items remain on the list as I go through the week. Will next week be better? I thought last week would be better, so next week COULD be better, but there are no guarantees. Other things pop up and take me off in another direction.

Sunday Stealing — Countdown from 5

1100 Wordle games

The Sunday Stealing this week is Countdown from 5.

FIVE people who mean the world to you.

My daughter is studying abroad in South Africa for a semester. On Friday, my birthday, I talked to her for about two hours on WhatsApp, during which she talked about all sorts of adventures she’s experiencing.

2. My two sisters called me on Friday.

3. One of my oldest friends, whom I have only known since kindergarten, called me on Friday.

4. The 200 odd – and they are odd! -people who either messaged me on Facebook or commented on my blog on Thursday through today to wish me a happy birthday

5. My wife took me to dinner on Friday at a nice restaurant only a block from our house. By the way, it was extraordinarily windy! As we were leaving, we saw our old buddies Ruth and David. When I reach the end of the year’s survey, it will ask, “What did you do on your birthday?” I will merely point to this post.

FOUR things you fear.

Global warming, climate change, or whatever term you wish to use, less for me and more for my daughter and my nieces

2. Many people cannot discern the difference between rumor, misinformation, disinformation, and verifiable facts; it is usually possible to do so.

3. The inequitable distribution of wealth and access to food and basic medical care allow diseases that should be eradicated to exist. Hear John Green read the first chapter of Everything Is Tuberculosis, his seventh book. Read Working-Class Americans Live Seven Fewer Years Than The Rich.

4. The disintegration of democracy in the United States and Europe

Hayes, Andrews, Williams, Bell, Richards

THREE words to describe how you feel right now.

Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic

2. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

3. Happy, Happy, Happy

TWO things you’re excited about.

The project

I completed another 100 Wordle games early Saturday morning, with zero ones, 10 twos, 41 threes, 41 fours, eight fives, zero sixes, and, most importantly, zero sevens, taking an average of 3.47 turns.

ONE thing you’d like to say to someone.

I Love Everybody, especially you.

Blast off!

“Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.”

Sunday stealing: March 2018

perfect circle?

Sometimes, you just need a Sunday Stealing to free-associate. Bev said it’s coming back in January, but not yet. I took these from March 2018 because I don’t believe I did them before. I’ll only complete the questions I feel like answering.

1. You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be?

Nope. Just because it’s not my taste, it doesn’t mean I should deprive others of an artist.

2. You seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy crap, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it.

I’m taking myself out to lunch, and then give away the rest to people who ask for money, probably $10 at a time.

3. What is your favorite curse word

@$$4013, which is my frend Karen’s fave.

5. You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What’s it gonna be?

Flying. It’s always flying, about twenty meters off the ground. I’ve had dozens or maybe hundreds of dreams involving flying.

9. Give us a word that gets you excited.

Onomatopoeia

11. What word makes you smile?

It’s usually my intentional malaprops, such as refrigagator.

Another quiz

1. Do you tend to have a guilty conscious?

Oh, yes.

2. Do you still have your wisdom teeth?

None of them. They went in my 20s, emoved by a dentist who was a family friend.

3. Peanut Butter – creamy or crunchy?

Neither. I don’t like peanut butter. As I’ve likely mentioned, this has been useful. Since my daughter is allergic to peanuts, I have eaten unlabeled cookies. I can often taste the peanut butter.

4. Get up off your butt. Take 5 steps. Which leg did you start out on?

Right. My left knee is worse.

5. What color is your favorite kitchen utensil?

Black

6. Did you watch the Michael Jackson memorial/funeral?

No. But I remembered when he died.

7. Do you know anyone who graduated from high school this year? Were you invited to their graduation party? Did you go?

Probably. Probably. No.

8. White with black stripes or black with white stripes?

The latter.

9. If we were to call your 6th grade teacher, what would they say about you?

He would not say much, since Mr. Peca is deceased. But he LOVED our class.

More oblong

10. Can you draw a perfect circle?

Absolutely not. There’s an exercise my doctor’s office makes me do every year. I draw a circle, put on the clock numbers, and they give you a particular time of day to display. My circle is terrible and it’s always been thus.

13. How many light switches and electrical outlets are in the room that you are in right now?

One switch, two outlets

14. Do you know sign language?

Alas, no. I’m not great with languages

15. Do you step on cracks in the sidewalk?

Yes, usually intentionally in an attempt to lengthen my stride.

17. What is something that everyone else has, but you don’t?

A liking for coffee, beer, and peanut butter.

And another

4. What is the one meal recipe you think you’ve mastered?

Lasagna

6. Would you describe yourself as spiritual, religious, or something else?

I don’t get all definitional about this. I’m a Christian and attend a Presbyterian Church. That’s always a dodgy proposition because a lot of Christians make Christianity look stupid, venal, and, frankly, unchristian.

7. Did you ever receive detention in school? What sort of kid were you in school – bookworm, smart kid, troublemaker, quiet … etc.

No. Probably all of the above at different times.

8. When’s the last time you ran a mile? How often do you exercise?

Not this century. Most of my exercise is walking.

9. What would you say to your 16-year-old self, and why?

Nothing. He was pretty pigheaded so he wouldn’t lisrten to anything I had to say anyway.

11. Describe a “Hah! I told you so” moment you had recently.

I have them internally all the time but I don’t say them aloud to prove how right I was.

14. Paper or plastic? Do you prefer to pack your own groceries?

Pack my own groceries in a returnable bag. I’m generally better at it than the grocery clerks.

15. Do you have a shoe fetish? How often do you buy new shoes? Do you ever get rid of a pair of shoes no?

No. Only when necessary. When they wear out.