Sunday Stealing hodgepodge

2 Samuel

Sunday StealingThis Sunday Stealing hodgepodge was so detailed that I could have written whole posts about a few questions. And in fact, that’s why I’ve done it here a few times, link to items previously discussed.

1. Where do you get your news these days?

I’ve thought about this a lot. I get a lot of newsfeeds, “mainstream,” progressive, and what one might call rightwing. About the latest mass casualty event, I receive a dozen notices. Elon Musk dithering about whether to buy Twitter I read about ad nauseum.

Yet the first time I read that Bob Lanier, Hall of Fame basketball player and an apparently really good guy had died, it was in from Kelly’s blog. And the second was from a weekly newsletter that linked to this article. It’s more and more difficult to know everything.

2. Do you like crab meat? What makes you crabby?

It’s OK. People hijacking the Consitution and/or the Bible.

3. Does freedom mean more choices? Have you ever felt there were too many choices? Elaborate.

I think we have a gazillion choices of picking watching TV/movies, e.g. – so many platforms! Sometimes keeping track of the options is essentially impossible.

4. Barbara Millicent Roberts was introduced to the world on March 9, 1959…that’s Barbie to most of us. Did you have Barbies as a kid, or did you let your own children play with Barbies? What well-known Barbara (living or not) would you most like to meet?

I think my sisters may have had a Barbie. I can’t think of a famous living Barbara I’d like to meet, but maybe Barbra Streisand.

5. What are three things you value most in another person?

Integrity, intelligence, and compassion.

THEY are old…

6. How would you define “old.” At what age is a person old?

It’s always been true: 30 years older than I am.

7. A place you’ve been that’s “old.” Tell us something about your visit there.

My Grandma Williams’ house was old and is now non-existent. This is a picture of my parents in the backyard of 13 Maple Street, Binghamton, NY.

8. Something you miss about the “good old days.” When were they?

In the 1960s, there were a bunch of Supreme Court decisions that were making the United States a better place: Mapp v. Ohio, Baker v. Carr, Gideon v. Wainwright, New York Times v. Sullivan, Griswold v. Connecticut, Loving v. Virginia.

9. In what way are you a ‘chip off the old block’? Or if you’d rather, in what way is your child a ‘chip off the old block’?

My daughter understands my motivation in terms of time usage, way better than her mother does.

10. Old fashioned, Old Testament, old-timer, same old same old, old glory, good old boy, old wives tale…choose an ‘old’ phrase that relates to something in your life or the wider world currently and explain.

My Bible study has been slogging through the Old Testament histories, presently in 2 Samuel. While some of the theology is mystifying, it is an interesting reflection of human foibles.

A juicy mango

11. July 5th is National Hawaii Day…have you ever been to Hawaii? Any desire to visit or make a return trip? Pineapple, mango, or guava…what’s your pleasure?

Never been to Hawaii, though I’d like to. There’s a story about that. Pineapple, though I never had mango until the last decade or so.

12. Last time you were ‘thrown in at the deep end’? Explain.

The Gutenberg block editor on WordPress, which I wrote about here. Just this past week, I tried it again, but could not “get” it.

13. Sun, sea, sand, salt…your favorite when it comes to summer?

I’ve NEVER done sun for the sake of it – ixnay on the unbathingsay, and that was before I had the vitiligo.

14. Bury your head in the sand, the sands of time, draw a line in the sand, pound sand, shifting sands…pick one and tell us how the phrase currently relates to your life in some way.

Sands of time. I’m getting older, and achier.

15. On a scale of 1-10 (1 = make your own rules and 10=like a warden), how strict were your parents? If you’re a parent where on the scale do you land?

My dad was a 7.3, and my mom was about 2.3. I’m much closer to my mom’s score than my dad’s.

 

8 Things I Am Too Old For

Just as get to the point that I don’t care, I have to figure out what someone else would consider a guilty pleasure.

keenp_01In the HuffPo, Michelle Comb, who owns up to be 52, suggests there is an octet of things she’s too old for. “Time does change a person and I am finding that it is easier to accept these changes than to fight them.

“These are things for which the ship has sailed:”

1. Shutting up. There IS something about 50. I started this blog at 52, and I think people know that I have opinions, and I’m willing to share them. (Whereas some people who read my Times Union blog are willing to attribute to my thoughts that I did not express.)

My current feelings about politics and religion are rather clear, with the caveat that they can be changeable. However, writing about things sometimes codifies my thoughts, such as why Daylight Saving Time is stupid (doesn’t save energy, causes accidents, and heart attacks).

The librarian’s caveat is that I try not to go off half-cocked about an alleged injustice that is easily disproved in Snopes. There are a LOT of problems in this world, and I don’t have time for tilting at imaginary windmills.

2. Worrying how I look to others. For some reason, my receding hairline, or graying hair and beard has seldom been a source of distress.

I realized a long while back that I’m fat, and that fat people on bicycles are funny to some passersby.

3. Guilty Pleasures. Just as get to the point that I don’t care, I have to figure out what someone else would consider a guilty pleasure. Listening to ABBA? Nah.

Maybe it’s watching the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, still. I remember one summer, when my family was at his family’s house, when Fred Hembeck explained how he was loyal to shows, no matter how much off the rails they went. He was probably talking about Desperate Housewives. Well, Grey’s is my DH. It has an absurd number of regulars whose characters have been killed off

4. Uncomfortable shoes. Going back at least to 7th grade, my feet have always been a problem. I’d been wearing sneakers, usually Chuck Taylors, for years. If I had to wear something more formal, they’d still be Rockports. Now, at the Wife’s suggestion, I wear a couple of pair of Keen shoes (pictured), which are more like sandals.

5. Making excuses for my messy house. This is slightly trickier because my somewhat younger wife is still holding on to the notion that the house can be neat. And we have different senses of “neat”; her papers on the kitchen counter is clutter to me, while the pile of clothes in the corner of our bedroom is problematic to her.

6. Accumulating stuff I don’t need. This is definitely true. Except for books. And an annual Hess toy truck.

7. Spending unnecessary time with people I don’t like. This doesn’t seem to be an issue with me at present.

8. Finding the good in every person I know. Well, not EVERY person. But I DO see good in a lot of people with whom I vigorously disagree. I don’t think that is the issue.

One of my sisters was having an issue with someone, and this other person, ancillary to the primary conflict, started inserting himself in the conversation, attacking her on the phone and in email; I’ve seen the latter. Oh, yeah, he’s a “pastor” of some sort. And he’s a tool. I COULD say he’s being a friend to the other guy, but he’s just feeding him poison.

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