Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!
Ignore the above paragraph. This week we’re going rogue with questions inspired by a website devoted to giving penpals topics for their letters.
Sunday Stealing Breaks a Promise: Getting to Know You
1) Describe yourself in three words.
Curious, observant, musical.
2) What’s your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant?
Do I have a favorite dish? I like lamb, and the lamb, in various forms at Kismet on Madison Avenue in Albany, a whole block away, was quite good the last time my wife were there.
3) Did you set goals for 2026? If yes, how are you proceeding toward them?
For one specific goal, which got nowhere near started, I’ve been recalibrating. Rethinking the goal, I can avoid trying for the perfect and accept the “good enough.”
Beyond that, I’ve spent a substantial amount of time on a project which wasn’t even on my list. Somehow, a line from the John Lennon song Beautiful Boy is applicable here.
Just Say No
4) What’s something you have learned the hard way?
Don’t make goals. I have to relearn it frequently.
Oh, and I have a finite reservoir of energy for things I don’t really want to do; saying no is almost always an option.
5) If you could skip one item on today’s to-do list, what would it be?
Any of the cleaning tasks. I’d rather read the paper, write a blog post, even watch TV. But there is a piece of information I need that’s SOMEWHERE in this room. WAIT a minute – I came up with a workaround; it involved making three phone calls, but 1) it’s better than cleaning (which might not have unearthed the note, and 2) it worked. Sometimes, the brain cogitating incessantly is a useful thing.