The Time Traveler Meme

I’m now a Presbyterian, not a Methodist.

I found this particular Sunday Stealing rather interesting.

Emily’s Rules:

1. Depending on your age, go back 10, 15, 20, or even more years.
2. Tell us how many years back you have traveled and why.
3. Pretend you have met yourself during that era, and tell us where you are.
4. You only have one “date” with this former self.
5. Answer these questions.

Okay, as we start, what year is it and how old are you?

My sense is that younger people are picking smaller numbers, so I’ll randomly pick 25 years ago, which would be November 1985; I’m 32. As it turns out, that’d be the year in which the movie Back to the Future is set. We probably met at a comic book show.

1 . Would your younger self (YYS, from here) recognize you when you first meet?

Not sure. My skin, specifically my face, is much lighter because of the vitiligo. Given the fact that sometimes I don’t recognize myself now, quite possibly not.

2. Would YYS be surprised to discover what you are doing job-wise?

Well, no. He’d say, “THAT’S what you should have gone to grad school for in the first place. What WERE you thinking with that Public Administration detour?”

3. What piece of fashion advice would you give YYS?

Actually, none. He didn’t care about fashion, and neither do I.

4. What do you think YYS is most going to want to know?

Would I ever find love? Would I get married? Would I ever have children? Would I ever WANT children? And if I DID have children, would I be any good as a father?

5. How would you answer YYS’s question?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Surprisingly, yes. I guess so.

6. What would probably be the best thing to tell YYS?

Well, assuming it wasn’t things like which baseball teams to bet on in 1986 – “The Mets over the Red Sox in the World Series. Really.” – I suppose I’d counsel more patience in affairs of the heart.

7. What is something that you probably wouldn’t tell YYS?

About my father’s death.

8. What do you think will most surprise YYS about you?

That I’m a father. And that I own a house; I was always a renter. And that I’ve written SOMETHING for public consumption – on this blog, as it turns out, every day for 5.5 years; he didn’t think I had that much discipline, and frankly, neither did I, even 5.5 years ago. And that I’m now a Presbyterian, not a Methodist. Oh, all sorts of things.

9. What do you think will least surprise YYS?

That I’m a librarian.

10. At this point in your life, would YYS like to run into “you” from the future?

Yes, but he’d be surprised how much more patient I am now.
***
And speaking of time travel, read my recent posts about going to the Peter and Paul concert, post-Mary; and the Beatles, Again? – don’t forget LENNONYC on American Masters tonight on PBS.

The important theological question of our time

Many Christians know of the “pagan” history of Christmas trees, Easter eggs, wedding rings, funeral flowers and Odin’s day, I mean Wednesday without having to give them up.


I found this interesting: Yogatta be kidding me –

…”Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a ‘post-Christian, spiritually polyglot’ reality.”

Then others…took it a step further, calling Yoga “absolute paganism”: “Should Christians stay away from yoga because of its demonic roots? Totally. Yoga is demonic… If you just sign up for a little yoga class, you’re signing up for a little demon class.”

…Shawn Groves [in] “Death of Discernment”…made some great points about many things that we do that have some pagan roots. Things like tortillas, Halloween… even paper and Thursday (the day of the week).

Maybe it’s just me, but I found the controversy not only slightly silly but having the capacity of making Christians collectively look ridiculous – which I suppose is better than them looking venal. Surely, many Christians know of the non-Christian history of Christmas trees, Easter eggs, wedding rings, funeral flowers, and Odin’s day, I mean Wednesday, without having to give them up. (Actually, I’d give up Wednesday for an extra Saturnday.)

Image from Christian Yoga magazine.

Thanksgiving DVDs

This article from the Washington Post inspired this post, but please don’t feel limited to their list.

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving film?
The Daytrippers
Pieces of April
Miracle on 34th Street
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Ice Storm
Home for the Holidays
Funny People

What, no Alice’s Restaurant?

For me, it’s a no-brainer; it’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It’s my favorite John Candy film, and though I suppose this is sacrilege, it’s my favorite John Hughes movie as well.

What’s YOUR favorite Thanksgiving movie? I hope, for your sake, it’s not the very depressing The Ice Storm.

Watch Turkeys Away from WKRP in Cincinnati.
ROG

I’m Walkin’, Yes Indeed

I will regularly be posting something called I’m Walking; it means, no time for blogging.


In some very specific ways, it has been a difficult year for me. One of my great joys was playing racquetball at the local YMCA. I did that from December 1982 until it closed at the end of April 2010. My racquetball buddies shifted to Siena College’s courts, and I tried that for a couple of weeks, but it proved to be untenable, schedule-wise. In any case, now that I’m taking the Daughter to school every weekday, it wouldn’t have worked out, even if I were still had the Y as an option.

Well, at least I have my bicycle. Well, I DID, until it was stolen from me about a month ago. I was less than six feet away when it happened, and I was so ENRAGED – I hate it when I’m enraged, not AT ALL a good place for me to be – that I’ve barely mentioned it. (It’s a maroon Trek hybrid that has been subsequently seen twice by friends, once at Lexington and Clinton, once behind the main library; it’s a very distinctive bike.)

So, in order to get ANY exercise, at least until we get the stationary bike fixed, I’ve taken to getting up and walking in the morning. Or walking to and/or from church. But walking takes more time than biking, and time is not fungible. The only time I have available is that hour between 5 and 6 a.m. when I usually blog.

Therefore, I will regularly be posting something called I’m Walking; it means, no time for blogging. But I won’t leave you folks TOTALLY bereft and will post a music video or two, at least initially about walking.

I’m Walkin – Fats Domino, a #4 hit in 1957, exactly where it charted the same year for Ricky Nelson.
Walking to New Orleans – Fats Domino, a #6 hit in 1960. Domino needed to be rescued in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in the summer of 2005.

 

States by TV Show

My pick: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, about which he said, “But that was before my time and I never really cared for it.” Which doesn’t really wash.

There was a piece was published on the Huffington Post identifying every state of the U.S. by one movie, which Andrew Shears ultimately responded to with a map of his own for TV series, shown above. I thought I’d comment on what I’D pick in the TV category, with the annoying, self-imposed added limitation that I had to have actually watched one full episode for the shows I selected.

Alabama – His and my pick: Any Day Now, a pretty obscure show (pictured).
Alaska – His and my pick: Northern Exposure, though he doesn’t even seem to consider Men In Trees.
Arizona – His and my pick: Alice.
Arkansas – His pick: 19 Kids and Counting (which I’ve managed never to have heard of). My pick: Evening Shade.
California – His pick: Baywatch, actually a reasonable choice. My just-to-be contrary pick: The Streets of San Francisco. (My wife suggested The Beverly Hillbillies.)
Colorado – His and my pick: Mork and Mindy, though I was tempted to pick Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Connecticut – His and my pick: Gilmore Girls, though I was tempted by Bewitched.
Delaware – Is there ANOTHER show besides The Pretender?
District of Columbia: He makes no pick. My choice: West Wing, over Murphy Brown.
Florida – His pick: The Golden Girls, a perfectly good choice. My pick: Miami Vice.
Georgia – His pick: Dukes of Hazzard. My choice: the person doing the Wiki post makes a compelling case that I’ll Fly Away was based in Georgia, so I’ll go with that; otherwise, I’d pick Designing Women.
Hawaii – His and my pick: Hawaii Five-O – the original one.
Idaho – His and my pick: The Manhunter, mine by default, although I think I watched it only once or twice.
Illinois – His pick: Roseanne (to be contrarian). My pick: The Bob Newhart Show, if only because he never even mentioned it; he didn’t mention Chicago Hope, either, but my second choice would have been that medical drama it went up against, ER.
Indiana – His choice: Parks and Recreation. My choice: Eerie Indiana, which wasn’t very good, but probably saw more episodes of it.
Iowa – His pick: American Pickers, which I’ve never seen. My pick: Apple’s Way, a “wholesome” show starring Ronny Cox.
Kansas – His pick: Jericho. My pick: Gunsmoke; if I had gone more contemporary, Smallville.
Kentucky – His pick: Justified, which he hasn’t seen, over Promised Land, which he has. I’ve seen neither. My pick: Daniel Boone.
Louisiana – His pick: Billy the Exterminator, which I’ve never heard of. My pick: Frank’s Place, one of the first shows I ever heard being described as a dramedy (pictured).
Maine – His and my pick: Murder She Wrote, though Dark shadows crossed my mind.
Maryland – His pick: The Wire, which I REALLY need to watch someday. My pick: Homicide: Life on the Streets.
Massachusetts – His and my pick: Cheers, though St. Elsewhere was REALLY tempting. As he wrote, “Seems like the place to put legal and police procedural dramas, like Ally McBeal, Crossing Jordan, Fringe, Boston Legal and so on.”
Michigan – His and my pick: Freaks & Geeks, one of his and my favorite shows ever.
Minnesota – His pick: Coach. My pick: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, about which he said, “But that was before my time and I never really cared for it.” Which doesn’t really wash, since he mentioned older shows such as I Love Lucy and Bewitched. And Coach?
Mississippi – His and my pick: In the Heat of the Night, in a narrow category.
Missouri – His and my pick: The John Larroquette Show.
Montana – His pick: Buckskin, a western from the 1950s. He says “It’s the only show I could find that was set there,” and he may be right, but I’ve never seen it. My pick: NONE.
Nebraska – His and my pick: The Young Riders, with thin pickings.
Nevada – His pick: Reno 911! as a contrarian pick. My pick: Vega$, though I watched a lot of Bonanza in the day.
New Hampshire – His and my default pick: The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire.
New Jersey – His pick: The Sopranos, which I’d have selected if I had ever seen an entire episode, rather than five minutes here or there. My pick: Baretta.
New Mexico – His pick: In Plain Sight. My pick: Roswell, which I saw once; have never seen Breaking Bad.
New York – His pick: Seinfeld “seems the only show fitting of that stature.” Well, feh. I could make a case for the original Law & Order, where NYC is a vital element of the program. My pick: The Dick van Dyke Show, which had TWO New York cities represented, Manhattan by day, New Rochelle by night. My alternative contrarian pick would be Buffalo Bill; NY State is NOT just NY City.
North Carolina – His and my pick: “The classic program,” The Andy Griffith Show.
North Dakota – His pick: My Secret Identity. My pick: NONE.
Ohio – His and my pick: The Drew Carey Show “because no other show is as proud of Ohio as that one.” True enough, with TWO theme songs (Moon Over Parma, Cleveland Rocks) mentioning places in the state. I do, though have a soft spot for WKRP in Cincinnati.
Oklahoma – His pick: Saving Grace, which I’ve never seen. My pick: either The Torkelsons or its sequel, Almost Home; I know I saw ONE of them, maybe both.
Oregon – His pick: Little People, Big World, which I’ve never heard of. My pick: Saved, a short-lived medical show I saw maybe twice.
Pennsylvania – His and my pick: The Office.
Rhode Island – His pick: Family Guy. My pick: Providence or Doctor Doctor.
South Carolina – His pick: Army Wives. My pick: NONE.
South Dakota – His pick: Deadwood. My pick: NONE.
Tennessee – His pick: Memphis Beat. My pick: Davy Crockett or Filthy Rich.
Texas – His pick: Walker: Texas Ranger. My pick: Friday Night Lights, over King of the Hill and Dallas.
Utah – His pick: Big Love. My pick: NONE.
Vermont – His and my pick: Newhart, with slim pickings.
Virginia – His and my pick: The Waltons, though A Different World was considered.
Washington – His and my pick: Frasier, though the theme from Here Come the Brides flashed through my head.
West Virginia – His and my pick: Hawkins, starring Jimmy Stewart.
Wisconsin – His pick: “That 70s Show is probably the show younger folks (including myself) associate with Wisconsin. Happy Days usually attracts a little older crowd.” My pick: Picket Fences, based in the fictional town of Rome. I will say, though that Laverne & Shirley, a lesser show, evoked Milwaukee strongly for me.
Wyoming – His and my pick: The Virginian.

So my list has two shows each with Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and, possibly, Annie Potts.

Ramblin' with Roger
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