Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 18 of 26

Thinking back over the year

book decisions

Each year I complete a year-end survey that Kelly uses. So when Sunday Stealing posted, Thinking back over the year, I was thinking about skipping it.

But then I pondered, “What if I come up with DIFFERENT answers to some of the repeated questions?” Ooo, fun! I’ll probably post the Kelly iteration, which I’ve already completed, on the 1st or 2nd of January.

What did you do this year that you had not done before?

Play Wordle and several other word games. I wrote about that here and will address this again soon after I reach game #300.

Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions/goals for the year, and will you make/set more for next year? What are they? What are your new ones?

I had never found making resolutions particularly useful except a couple of times when I decided to leave two different jobs.

What was the best book you read this year? How many did you read?

I started LOTS of books. I skimmed a great deal, especially regarding baseball. This is because my cousin-in-law, Diane, gave me a bunch from the collection of her late husband, Jack, whom I liked greatly. So I had to decide what would be shelved on the second floor, which I could access readily; these tended to be statistics. The rest go to the attic, where I actually have more bookcases!

The health of others

Did anyone you know die? Or have a serious illness/injury?

Several passed away, who I’ll mention next week. I’m going to write about one who died in December.

Fran Allee (pictured) was a real force at my previous church for many years, elegant, eloquent, and intelligent. Over three decades, she cooked hundreds of church meals and even nudged me to make dinners for 40 people. The Thursday before Thanksgiving, she would make seven different types of stuffing, and they were all delicious.

Each summer, for years, she had several people out to her cottage about 40 minutes from Albany, NY. This involved a Bible study led by Jim Kalas, who also died this year.

Her marriage to her widowed old friend Jack in her late 60s ended when he passed away less than two years later. She was 104 when she died!

Two friends, one from church and a hearts buddy, dealt with cancer this year. The latter reportedly is much better. The former is home for the holidays from the hospital as they respond well to ongoing treatment.

A church friend who I haven’t seen all year because of various injuries, but we believe they’ll be back early next year.

Oh, and my wife’s cellulitis, described in part here.

What places have you visited?

I didn’t go anywhere outside Massachusetts and New York State in 2022.

Any new pets? Lost a pet?

No, and no.

Desire

What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year (doesn’t have to be a physical thing, i.e., love, job security, peace of mind…)?

I just watched a CBS News piece on Watergate that I had recorded six months ago about President Richard Nixon’s downfall in 1974. I would love to have the U.S. Republican Party comparable to that back then, with members who put principle over party instead of supporting terrible candidates (US Senate candidate Herschel Walker, e.g.) and tolerating intolerable public officials (Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene, for one).

What date from this year will remain etched in your memory and why?

June 13. My daughter and I went to Carnegie Hall, which I noted here.

What was your biggest achievement this year?

Helping to get some new folks on the FFAPL board.

Did you get sick or injured?

My whole family had COVID in late August, which I wrote about here. It wasn’t that bad, truth to tell, but I’d been inoculated frequently.

What was the best thing you bought?

Music.

Where did most of your disposable income (money left over after paying for food, medical care, basic clothing, transportation, and shelter) go?

Music.

Queen of memes: Sunday Stealing

Grocery shopping

This Sunday Stealing is from the Queen of Memes.

1. What do men really want in a woman?
4. What do women really want in a man?

If these are romantic questions – in which case, they are terribly heterocentric -then it depends: safety, security, sex, sanity, support, salvation, sacrifice, sincerity, sociability, silence, simplicity, and sparkle. Sometimes, in various and contradictory combinations.

Most of my friends are female, and it’s been true for most of my life. I’m still friends with some women I’ve gone out with.

2. Should marijuana be legalized?

It largely is, and I’m happy enough about it. The only time I ever purchased it, back when it was still illegal, was for a friend whose uncle was undergoing chemotherapy.

That said, marijuana has seldom been something I’ve enjoyed. It just puts me to sleep.

3. Why did the cow jump over the moon?

To show off.

5. When you are having a really good day, what usually makes it good?

I write a lot while listening to music. Then we see a movie or go to a play.

Actually, I had a good Friday evening at the art opening at the Pine Hills branch of the Albany (NY) Public Library. Several pieces were tied to the theme of redlining. The display is there until May 2023.

I introduced the new library director to a couple of Literary Legends. And I met someone willing to help me enact a scheme I’ve had in mind for several years to address certain rude drivers without keying their cars. (I would never actually DO that, BTW, but I THINK about it.)

Gone south

6. What can make your good day turn into a bad day?

Shockingly rude – racist, sexist, homophobic, and/or just entitled – people.

7. If you could “start from scratch” and turn back the clock for a re-do, what would you re-do?

Nothing. The more I think about this, the more I realize that if I had changed THIS, it would ALSO change THAT, and it would not end up better.

8. Do you make a list when you go grocery shopping?

It depends on whether I’m shopping for myself or someone else. For myself, it’s always the same things – fruit, veggies, cereal, and stuff in the dairy aisle. If my wife says, “Can you pick up X,” that’s fine. But if it’s more than three items, I have to write it down.

There was an episode of the 1990s sitcom Mad About You – I think it’s this one – when Jamie and Paul are talking about items for the Thanksgiving meal they are hosting. Intermittently, Jamie tells Paul to get another item. Paul recites the one, then two, then three items. When she requests a fourth, he says, “I’m writing this down.” So three is the maximum for the fictional Paul Buchman and the real me.

9. Do you buy more groceries when you’re hungry?

Not so much MORE as food that I probably ought not to consume calorically. So I make a point, almost always, NOT to shop hungry.

10. Coupons. Use ’em?

When I was in college, I used to all of the time, organized by category. Not so much in the 21st century, though if the receipt prints out a coupon for something I regularly buy, sure.

11. Have you ever complained to the manager of your grocery store?

Not to my recollection.

Sam Walton

12. Do you like to buy groceries at huge chain stores like Walmart? Or do you shop exclusively at food stores?

My wife goes to the Hannaford, and I go to Market 32/Price Chopper. Except when she was out of commission when I went to the Hannaford because she liked their selections better.

My problem with Walmart, as I noted here, is that it tended to drive other supermarkets, hardware stores, et al., from the market. Some people in the US can ONLY grocery shop at Walmart. That said, when my wife couldn’t get out of the house, members of our family ordered food to be delivered from Walmart. The service was quite adequate.

13. What do you typically have for lunch?

It depends. Eggs or sandwiches or leftovers.

14. If you work outside your home, do you pack your lunch?

When I was working, seldom. I was so distressed by work by the end that I didn’t even want to be in the building at lunchtime.

15. Tell us about your last lunch date and what made it special.

It was at a restaurant that my wife and I had gone to, but she wasn’t up to eating out. So my sister, visiting from California, and I went there in early October. She loved it, not just the food but the ambiance.

Swap-Bot Sunday Stealing

assault weapons, peanut butter, the movie Rollover

The Sunday Stealing this week came from Swap-Bot. These were dubbed by the moderator, Bev, as silly questions. Some of them are just plain weird.

What mythical creature would improve the world most if it existed?

The phoenix could fly around from town to town, helping them to rise from the ashes of fires and the devastation of droughts. Maybe it could work on wind and water damage too.

What inanimate object do you wish you could eliminate from existence?

Assault weapons, such as AK-47s. BTW, I agree with those who have ever been in conversation about these weapons of massive destruction and are seeking to ban them. You call something an AK-47, but it’s an AR-15. So you are chastised that since you don’t know the difference, your opinions don’t matter. What I do know is how either one affects the human body. There’s a video from 60 Minutes from 2018, unfortunately now housed behind the Paramount + paywall, which explains this quite graphically.

What is the weirdest thing you have seen in someone else’s home?

It was actually at my grandmother’s house, I think. A tiny picture of “Jesus”was in a frame, and the eyes seemed to follow you around. It was creepy. The technique is mentioned on this site.

What would be the absolute worst name you could give your child?

Jelly Bean Green

What would be the worst thing for the government to make illegal?

Voting. And sometimes they try.

What are some of the nicknames you have for customers or coworkers?

Not a nickname, but when I was a working librarian, we always said, “We don’t know everything, but we know how to find it.”

Jif

If peanut butter wasn’t called peanut butter, what would it be called?

Toxic paste. My daughter is allergic. When I was young, I used to eat a lot of peanut butter, specifically Jif. I’m convinced I probably ate too much at some point because now I can’t stand it. This has actually been a boon to our family for a couple of reasons. 1) When we’re somewhere with unlabeled cookies, I can take a bite and tell my daughter instantly not to eat them before I spit them out. 2) My wife got Reese’s Pieces that my daughter would receive for trick-or-treating.

What movie would be greatly improved if it was made into a musical?

I’ve thought about this a lot. While I don’t particularly remember the film well, I thought it was TERRIBLE. (While 7 of 9 Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a positive review, the audience was only 33% positive.) I’m picking Rollover (1981), about which one critic wrote, “Perhaps I might have liked it if I knew what it was all about.”

The plot: “The wife of a murdered petrochemical company chairman and a banker investigating the liquidity of his new bank stumbles upon an international financial scheme that could lead to global economic collapse.” It starred Jane Fonda, during a run of several well-regarded films, and Kris Kristofferson. I believe a scene was filmed at SUNY Albany. Music could only have made it better.

What would be the worst “buy one get one free” sale of all time?

A week in Antarctica in July.

Name game

What is the funniest name you have actually heard used in the real world?

It’s a strange thing. When you hear it over and over again, it’s not so weird. I’m specifically thinking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who most Hollywood agent types thought he should change. Now, there are so many diverse names, perhaps difficult to pronounce, but people figure it out.

What sport would be the funniest to add a mandatory amount of alcohol to?

People in the stands drinking beer are usually okay. Watching people drinking while performing is not interesting to me.

What would be the coolest animal to scale up to the size of a horse?

All of the examples I thought of were terrifying. A hard PASS.

What set of items could you buy that would make the cashier the most uncomfortable?

I find most cashiers don’t care all that much.

What is something you just recently realized that you are embarrassed you didn’t realize earlier?

Probably the definition or pronunciation of a word, but frankly, I don’t remember (or much care) what it was. And “embarrassed” is a gross exaggeration.

What are some fun and interesting alternatives to war that countries could settle their differences with?

Not necessarily fun, but games of tic-tac-toe with the starter alternating. You succeed when you win ten games in a row. It’d go on forever, so there would be no time to fight.

Swamp bot for Sunday Stealing

early ecology

The meme Sunday Stealing has More Swap Bot questions

-If you could witness any event from history, what would it be?

The excitement when World War II ended.

-What do you think about conspiracy theories?

Probably 0.5% of them are actually true.

-Do you like cartoons? Do you have /had a favorite one?

I love cartoons. I’m partial to the Hanna-Barbera ones I grew up with: Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Quick Draw McGraw. I also like the funny papers.

This reminds me of something I did when I was a kid. I would wrap presents with the pages of the Sunday comic strips. This made sense to me, rather than purchasing wrapping paper to use it once and then throw it away. I did NOT get any support for this idea, which was ecologically sound, before I knew what the word ecology meant.

-What did you most dislike in school times?

Arbitrary dress codes. When I was in high school, girls couldn’t;t wear culottes because they were considered pants, even though I’d think they would have considered them more modest. There was actually an in-school protest over that.

-How do you think the end of the world will look like?

I hope I’m not looking at it now. People have been predicting it for centuries, but with the climate crisis, this might actually be the trigger.

-What sounds are, in your opinion, relaxing? The sound of the sea? Traffic? Vacuum cleaner? Combine harvester on the field? Some kind of music? Birds singing? …

The sea, if it’s rhythmic. Some instrumental music. But when my wife vacuums, it DOES make me sleepy.

Which way?

-Which would you take: The well-worn path or the road less traveled?

Physically, the former. Emotionally/intellectually, I strive for the latter.

-What was the last thing you read?

Mark Evanier’s blog post about the late comedian Gallagher

-What is one thing that has stumped you so hard you won’t ever forget it?

It happens so often that I actually HAVE forgotten. It’s the belief by some people of some easily disproven idea. They hold onto the thought and just can’t let it go.

-What are you interested in that most people aren’t?

Doing square root by hand, keeping score in bowling by hand, multiplying by two to 16,384. Pretty much everything in this post

-What’s something you really resent paying for?

Water

-What did you think was cool when you were young but isn’t cool now?

Leisure suits

-If you could choose a different time period and place to be born, when and where would it be?

I don’t, actually. Though I’d love to be at gatherings of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, I wouldn’t want to be around that early.

-Do you think cats have any regrets?

No. They’re cats.

-What question do you hate answering?

Pretty much any insecure query. There’s a difference between when someone is interested (“Why did you do that?”) and derisive (“Why did you do THAT?”)

Sunday Stealing: Extraordinary Penpals

Donny Hathaway

Here’s another Sunday Stealing from the League of Extraordinary Penpals

Have you ever written to a celebrity? Did they respond?

I don’t know that I’ve ever written to any celebrity directly except to some comic book creator types who I have gotten to know. I did write to Paul Simon’s label once to complain that the six-minute version of Boy In The Bubble should have been on the expanded version of Graceland, but there’s no reason to think that Paul himself ever read it.

Do you read letters immediately or wait until you are ready to reply?

What are “letters”? Oh yeah, I remember letters. Usually wait, although if I think I’ll let it slip through the cracks, I’ll try to push it up in my queue.

My preferences when it comes to reading

Sufficient light (a growing requirement), probably on the sofa because it’s the only place, other than my office (and I want not even to see the computer, lest I be tempted to check it out), that provides comfort and sufficient illumination. The television must not be on. Music can be, but it should not have words, which is to say mostly classical or jazz.

Invisible pain

What I’m least likely to change my mind about?

Things that are true over time. An example: my wife had some medical issues involving her left leg. She has not been to church in over a month. I recommended that she take her cane to church today. This is because when someone does not appear hurt/injured, others perceive that he or she is better physically than they might be.

I believe this to be true because my wife and I have a friend who has experienced severe pain over time. They have told us that because they don’t LOOK unwell that others believe they are faking or malingering. Having a crutch or sling or wheelchair or visible bandages – and my wife has bandages under her clothes – is a sign that “something is wrong.”

Whether my wife will take the advice, IDK.

The topics I would get wrong during trivia

Car models, flower varieties, and actors who became famous in the 21st century.

What I’m hopeful about right now?

That my wife will continue to heal

Philosophies I’ve learned/embraced from others

A Unitarian once told me that “we create our own theology,” and I think that’s true. I may believe something uplifting from the Gospel according to Matthew, but I don’t feel obliged to explain some dreadful verses from Leviticus.

What makes home feel like home?

Music and books.

Talents and skills I like to cultivate

Getting around via mass transit, keeping up with political events

More music

What makes my heart race?

Music, for sure. There is music that will make me cry with joy or cry with melancholy. Take one example: Gone Away by Roberta Flack. It really doesn’t get going until the second verse. It’s described here: The late, great Donny Hathaway “lifted that fleeting horn melody from his own ‘I Believe to My Soul’ and used it to anchor the chorus and closing section.” In the right mood, the song can make me weep.

What power means to me

The ability to turn on my computer, my CD player, my cellphone…

One of my comfort hobbies

Playing with my Hess trucks.

Last time I was pleasantly surprised

When my wife started changing her own bandages this week

How was my October 2022?

Busy and exhausted, as noted here and here and here and especially here, plus another post I haven’t put out yet.

Those who inspire my growth

Almost anyone who has a rational point of view. Of course, I get to define what I think is rational.