Sunday Stealing Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing Looks Back on April

Stories & Spoken Word Poetry at The Madison

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!

We’re stealing this meme from last month from Life of a Fool. This blogger maintains that this meme has “been seen everywhere.” The questions only require a yes or no, but if you’d like to elaborate, we’d like to hear what you have to say.

In the Past Month Meme: Looks Back on April

During April, did you …

1. Drink alcohol?

Actually, yes. One tequila sunrise after I participated on the 27th, the fourth Tuesday of the month, in Stories & Spoken Word Poetry at The Madison, a theater on upper Madison Avenue in Albany.

“Bring a 5-minute story or spoken word poem/piece to perform. Tellers are encouraged to share a story in the style of The Moth – personal stories with no notes. Not in the mood to tell a personal story… how about a folktale? Don’t have a story or spoken word piece to perform? Grab a beverage from the bar and be part of the audience – support the artists and the Madison! Not up for a late night? Neither are we – you’ll be on your way to your next destination by 8:30! “

In April, I talked about getting arrested and a subsequent hitchhiking excursion. Back in March, I spoke about James Archer. This month, on May 26th, I’ll talk about…

Something fishy

2. Eat sushi?

No. I’m not that fond of sushi. But my wife, daughter, and I ate at a sushi restaurant in downtown Amherst, MA, the weekend of the daughter’s art show. THEY like sushi. I had General Tso’s chicken, far less oily than I’ve had in the past.

3. Go shopping with friends?

I hate shopping, and I certainly don’t go with my friends. It’s likely my wife and I went grocery shopping before we visited our daughter in Amherst.

4. Eat an entire box of cookies by yourself?

No. But I did buy a box of Golden Oreos for my Dad’s Group on Wednesday, the 22nd. The guy who usually eats the most of them wasn’t there. His loss! So I brought them home, and the package was empty within a week; my wife helped.

5. Dye your hair?

What hair?

Sunday Stealing Does Want to Know!

Censorship & Freedom of Speech

This week, we’re stealing from Maggie, who claims she stole these questions from Takupon. Alas, neither of them blogs anymore.

Five Things You Didn’t Want to Know but I’m Telling You Anyway because Sunday Stealing Does Want to Know!

1) Has anyone ever told you they would love you forever?

Oh, I’m sure that’s true. Probably more than once.

2) Who is the last person you were in the car with?

Tim, a tenor who took me home from choir on Thursday night. I talked about my mother-in-law recovering from an eventful week. She’s currently in physical rehab and is doing well.

The day after today

3) Do you have big plans for tomorrow (Monday)?

Well, I did this a day early because I have a specific post to make on the 26th. So, on Sunday after church, our Outreach & Mission Committee is hosting another Lunch & Learn Lecture on Censorship & Freedom of Speech: Understanding the Legal Boundaries, featuring a speaker from the NY Newspaper Foundation’s Media Literacy Program. Also. I’m planning to have an afternoon ZOOM call with my sisters in San Diego, CA, and Charlotte, NC. On Monday, I think I have nothing but to catch up on things I didn’t do the previous week. There are ALWAYS things left on the to-do list.

4) How long do you typically spend in the shower?

10 minutes: the first two involve waking up.

5) What were you doing at 7 AM yesterday (Saturday)?

7 AM Friday, I was sleeping. Since I’m posting this before 7 AM Saturday, if I’m up, I’ll post this blog post, play Wordle and Quordle, and check my email, almost certainly while listening to music, possibly Bob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, Stevie Wonder, or a movie soundtrack.

Drawing is by one of my nieces from a few years back.

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Sunday Stealing with Steph

Communion

This week, we’re once again stealing from Steph, aka Cry Baby. She loves Taco Bell and asking questions like these.

More Questions from Steph

1) Are you the sort of person who can nap or sleep anywhere, any time?

No. But I could take a nap about three days a week. When I do nap, it’s usually once a week for between 45 and 75 minutes.

2) Have you ever walked in your sleep?

Yes, as a child, my mother told me. I usually spoke and, reportedly, occasionally even went to the bathroom.

3) Do you chat with your Uber/Lyft/taxi driver?

I’ve been taking an Uber about once a month, usually the return trip of some medical appointment. I could get home otherwise, but I’ve decided that taking two buses back home over two hours isn’t worth it. I’m too old for that.

As for conversation, it depends very much on the driver. Some have their music on and want to listen to their country/gospel/top 40 tunes. Some are more chatty, and I’m okay with that.

One guy was playing sports radio, and he was bemoaning the poor start by his team, the Baltimore Ravens. I can be conversational, even though I rarely watch many early-season NFL games.

February 14

4) Do you remember what you did on Valentine’s Day?

Not specifically. But it’s likely we went somewhere not too expensive to eat. This past Feb 14 was on a Saturday, and usually we have a date night once a month on our lunaversary, which is the 15th of the month.

5) How many laptops have you owned over your lifetime?

I don’t know. For the longest time, I had a desktop. My current laptop may have been my third, which I purchased only because my previous one fell to the ground and was irreparable. I’ve bought one since then as a backup.

6) How many countries have you visited?

Four: Canada, Mexico, Barbados, and France.

7) Did you/will you go to work today?

Unless you count going to church to prepare Communion, serve it during the service, and then clean up afterward, I’ll go with no.

Just because: What Does ‘Roger That’ Mean?

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Sunday Stealing – What Don’t We Know?

Boys In The Band

This week’s meme was stolen from Ken and Dot’s All Sorts. This blogging duo was asked to share things about themselves that their readers may not already know. Their answers have been used as the basis for this week’s questions.

Tell Us Something – What Don’t We Know?

1. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

No, but I have never mourned that fact.

2. What foreign language did you study in school? How much of it do you still remember?

I took three years of high school French. The first year, I was pretty good, but I got worse and worse in the succeeding years.

Yet when my wife and I went to France in May 2023, I remembered enough basic phrases for the locals to think I was at least trying. And reading French was even easier.

In our Paris hotel, the television stations were some from France but also the UK. But as we traveled farther west, almost all of the TV was in French, some of it dubs of American programs.

3. What recipe did you most recently prepare? Where did you get the recipe, and how did it turn out?

Lasagna, described here. It’s really difficult to screw up Betty Crocker.

34th state

4. What song have you listened to over and over and over again?

As seen above, my church has had the theme “Tell Me Something Good” from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. And every time I see the bulletin, I think of the song Tell Me Something Good by Rufus, featuring Chaka Khan, whose birthday and year are the same month as mine. It was written by Stevie Wonder. I love that song.

But if you mean songs on repeat ever? That is a WAY too long list. And there’s usually a story behind it, such as “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas.

5. Are there currently any pets in your household? Are you considering adding another?

Stormy the cat is it. No, she’ll be the last one.

6. As an adult, have you ever performed with a drama group? (Student productions don’t count.)

Boys In The Band in Binghamton in 1975

Godspell in New Paltz in 1976

Plus roles in some plays at church, including Our Town (1984), Once On This Island (2020), and a couple of others.

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Sunday Stealing: Easter F.A.B.

Mull of Kintyre

Since it’s Easter weekend, we’re going to keep this simple. We stole this from a blogger named Idzie, who called this the F.A.B. (film, audio, book) meme.

Easter F.A.B.

F. Film: What movie or TV show are you watching?

‘Paul McCartney: Man on the Run’ is a documentary about the decade following the Beatles’ breakup. Obviously, it covers the Wings period.

The New York Times review notes: “The director Morgan Neville… takes a lightly unconventional approach. The narration comes from new and archival interviews with McCartney, as well as various members of Wings, family, friends, and, of course, his wife, Linda McCartney, who is key to the story. But we never see any of the interviewees; they supply only voice-over. Instead, archival video, including some rare and previously unseen footage, tells the story visually.”

I liked it more than I thought I would. Maybe this is true: “So this is really a movie for hard-core McCartney (or Wings) fans who want to see all of the rare archival footage — or, conversely, for curious newbies who want a fast-paced introduction to one of the most talented songwriters of all time. For those who fall somewhere in the middle, it’s less satisfying.”

Obviously, I’m in the former category. I learned a few things that I didn’t know, especially about the early Scottish farm period. And the setup for Mull of Kintyre was oddly affecting. Here’s the trailer.

On TV, I’m watching High Potential – Kelly likes it pretty much for the opposite reason than I do.

Music

A. Audio: What are you listening to?

Because it’s April, I’m listening to May birthday artists such as Judy Collins (La Chanson Des Vieux Amants – The Song of Old Lovers); Lesley Gore (You Don’t Own Me 2005 remake); Pete Seeger (Who Killed Davey Moore), and Frankie Valli/The Four Seasons (December, 1963 -Oh What A Night!)

I’m also listening to a lot of movie soundtracks, such as Cry Freedom (The Funeral – Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, September 25, 1987); In the Name of the Father (title song); and I Am Sam (Revolution).

B. Book: What are you reading?

Still reading Mona’s Eyes, which I’m reviewing in nine days. As of this writing, I’m only a little over halfway through it. Necessity can be a real mother.

Oh, I had been voting for Rebecca Jade for a couple of San Diego music awards; we won’t know the results until sometime in May.

I also participated in the fan vote for the Rock Hall of Fame. Collectively, the fans only get one vote, but I played anyway. Early on, Phil Collins was leading by 50,000, but New Edition caught up early. The Hall announcement is due on April 13.

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