What age do you think it optimal for a parent to be,
I see this article in Chicago Now, Six Reasons Parenting a Toddler at 50 is So Much Easier than at 30. Interesting to me because I had my one and only child at 51.
I think, for the most part, the points made in the article are true. I’m more patient and less diaper averse. On the other hand, I have a bit less energy. I’ve almost gotten over being thought of as her grandfather, as there are parents at my daughter’s school young enough to be my children. But in the main, I’m a better dad.
Whether or not you’re a parent, what age do you think is optimal for a parent to be, and why?
It would be a place by the water, preferably running water, like a river or waterfalls, because I love water; maybe it’s the Pisces in me. It would be neither too hot nor too cold. MaybeVictoria Falls, in September.
2. Where did you come up with the name of your blog?
There was a long-running radio talk show called Rambling with Gambling, from which I got the Ramblin’ part. The Roger part, I have no idea.
3. How do you define blogging success?
It really does vary. While I don’t especially care, when my Times Union blog is trending, or when Chuck Miller declares it one of the week’s 10 best, I enjoy that.
But the real success is that I find people with whom to have reasonable, usually rational, dialogue. Such as with New York Erratic.
4. What is your favorite type of “going out” entertainment?
I like going to the movies because I like seeing movies in the theater. Watching videos often creates the temptation to pause it and do something else. That’s OK with something I’ve seen before, but not the first time. That’s why I ultimately canceled Netflix; I had The Hurt Locker for four or five months, and never found two solid hours to watch it without The Daughter around, or being too tired, or too busy.
5. How many states (name them) have you lived in?
North Carolina (for four months). New York (the rest of my life.)
6. What is your favorite holiday and why?
Ash Wednesday. Let me say that while Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful and all, there seems to be a lot of sense of obligation. The beginning of Lent is a time of quiet reflection. When I was a kid, it was only the Catholics I knew that got the ashes on the forehead, but lots of Protestant churches, including the last two I’ve belong to, participate, and I think it’s an easy, but symbolic, way for religious rapprochement.
7. What’s your favorite number and why?
I really do like zero. It’s nothing, yet it’s massive in combination. It’s that dividing line between the positive and the negative. What’s not to like?
8. What would be your dream vehicle to own?
Some motorized bicycle that I’d turn on for hills, and pedal otherwise.
9. What is your favorite hobby?
I suppose it’s singing, though, until you brought it up, I never thought of singing as a hobby, but rather just WHAT I DO, WHO I AM. Or blogging.
10. How do you try and keep your blog fresh?
I change the blog filter every 3,000 miles. Cereally, I actually plotted out 2014, or parts of it. I decided on my ABC Wednesday topics for every week in Round 14, back in October; didn’t write them, of course, but knowing what I was going to write about gets the brain working. Then I found the half dozen people who turn 70 I want to write about. Then there are holidays and observances. And anything I find interesting I don’t have anything to write about, I link to at the end of the month. This leaves the rest of the time for movie reviews and life experiences. In other words, I throw the blog against the wall and see what sticks.
11. Where do you do your best thinking?
In the shower, or riding the stationary bike. Or when I first wake up, which is why I like to blog when I first wake up (and don’t particularly like to blog at night).
Periodically, I’d pick up the book, leaf through it and note that I hadn’t had spoken to X for awhile and I’d call him or her up.
There was this article in Salon a while back, Nobody ever calls me anymore, with the subtitle “I feel like the last person who still likes talking on the phone. Why did we give it up, and should we reconsider?” And it’s not that Sarah Hepola’s friends are merely using instant messaging, e-mail, texting, and the like. “A lot of people I spoke with despise the phone and have for a long time. Why would they use it if they didn’t have to?… A voice call… demands too much attention… ‘Maybe it’s that there are too many distractions (TV, folding laundry) and I am guilty of giving in to them OR it’s that I can hear the other person doing the same thing. There just never seems to be a good time to sit down and speak into the void.'”
Don’t get me wrong; I use e-mail a lot, especially when it involves a lot of detail. But for a real conversation, I still like the phone. I call one sister and ask if she’s heard from the other sister. Generally, they’ve been texting back and forth. I have not warmed to texting, maybe because most of the people who I know who text seem to miss the point, that someone will back to them as necessary, when there’s a chance; some folks retext or even call to ask, “Did you get my text?” Then again, I don’t use my cellphone except when it would not bother other people; I’ll pull it out while waiting for the bus, but not on the bus, unless it’s really short, such as “I’ll be late for work.”
I was reminded that, back in the 1980s, I had something called an address book, where I kept people’s addresses and phone numbers. Periodically, I’d pick up the book, leaf through it, and note that I hadn’t had spoken to X for a while and I’d call him or her up. I had this girlfriend who saw me doing this and chastised me for it; “You should call people you want to call without this crutch.” I totally disagreed. It was like randomly wandering through a library, picking out a familiar book, and reading a chapter.
Even at work today, I am more likely to pick up the phone than any of the librarians, all of whom are at least a decade younger than I am. For one thing, I’ve collected a lot of contacts over the years. Also, there’s so much that’s NOT in the databases or the webpage, nuances that can only be discerned by talking to the right person. But more than that, I LIKE talking to (most) people, which our youngest librarian, about half my age, disdains.
What is your relationship with the telephone? *** Dustbury quotes someone whose experience is very similar to mine. How Your Cell Phone Hurts Your Relationships– “The mere presence of a phone affects how you relate to others”
I had this cassette of Procol Harum’s greatest hits and it included a live version of Conquistador, with an orchestra. Years later, when I got a similar CD, it had the studio version; not nearly as impressive.
Just listened to a Ladysmith Black Mambazo album. They do a couple songs from Graceland, Homeless and Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes, sans Paul Simon, but with Sarah McLachlan and Melissa Etheridge, respectively. Can’t find these online, unfortunately.
I’m really struck by Lesley Gore’s remake of You Don’t Own Me (this is a live take, not the version I really wanted from the 2005 Ever Since album), recognizable as the same song as the classic original, but different.
Have you discovered a breach in the time-space continuum?
I came across this article that referenced “the experts” providing guidelines of how much time you should spend doing different tasks. The total is 34 hours a day, give or take. USA Today did a report some time ago that put the number as 42 hours a day.
So the question must be: What items on your own list tend to fall by the wayside? or How the heck do you do it all? Have you discovered a breach in the time-space continuum?
For me, I should clean more, but the weekly routine is enough of a drag. Definitely would exercise more. And reading sometimes gets the short shrift. *** It was 93 degrees F (34C) in our attic last night at 9 pm. It’s officially too darn hot.
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I see this article in Chicago Now, Six Reasons Parenting a Toddler at 50 is So Much Easier than at 30. Interesting to me because I had my one and only child at 51.
