Sunday Stealing Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing – Doing It for Ourselves

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

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!

This week we aren’t stealing, we’re contributing! These are questions suggested by our “usual suspects.” They were entertaining, which isn’t a surprise because our participants are bright and fun. Thanks to everyone who took part.

DIY Meme – Doing It for Ourselves

The obvious song.

1. Would you rather have every traffic light turn green or always get the best parking spot? (Kwizgiver)

As a person who takes the bus a lot and doesn’t have to worry about parking as often as most, clearly the latter. And of course, I’ll always choose green anyway.

2. What’s the most difficult thing you have ever done? (Gold in the Clouds)

Physically, it might have been crawling/hobbling down a mountain in Utah in 1994 with what turned out to be a torn meniscus.

My contribution

3. What information do you know that you are proud of/happy about, but others say, “Who cares?” (Roger)

There are so many! It’s faded somewhat, but I could tell you a state by its telephone area code, which remains a geographic identifier to this day. I wrote about it here, and someone I knew well said, “You must have too much time on your hands.”

But the big one is knowing all of the U.S. Presidential terms by year, even those who died in office. So I know there were three Presidents in both 1841 and 1881. This is useful when examining the history of wars, recessions, land acquisitions, and similar events.

4. What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to? (Myra/Mevely)

There’s even a well-regarded book about it: When Bad Things Happen to Good People. And I think even more about the converse, about seemingly good things happening to arguably bad people.

5. What small, ordinary thing brings you disproportionate joy? (Country Dew)

Rainbows, fer sure. As I’ve noted here, we have a rainbow-creating front door, and even little rainbows cause me indescribable giddiness.

6. What time do you go to sleep/wake up? (Annie)

Oh, geez, going to bed sometime between 10:30 pm and 2 am, depending on how much is running through my head. Up at 5 am to 7:30 am.

7. What is your favorite sleeping position? (Lisa)

On the side. I need at least two pillows.

8. Describe your personal Utopia. (Pandora)

No more wars, no more hunger, a clean environment and we can teleport.

9. Imagine that you have a machine that can create any new invention for you based on your description. What do you ask the machine to create, and why? (Plastic Mancunian)

A miocroplastics/PCB vacuum cleaner that would suck up large bodies of water to separate the bad stuff from the good. You could have them at water treatment plants. The why is that too much of our water is potentially or actually dangerous to us.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Sunday Stealing Knows It’s Not Friday

not a conspiracy?

God — **The star in the center, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, is known as V1331 Cyg and is located in the dark cloud LDN 981.**

Once upon a time, there was a blogger named Janet who posted a fill-in-the-blank meme every Friday. Let’s give it a try.

Stealing The Friday Fill-in, though Sunday Stealing Knows It’s Not Friday

1. Being wrong is not the end of the world. One of the things I’m pretty sure I mentioned on this blog once upon a time was that my goal was to know everything I wanted to know. Some things I’m pretty good at include the order of American Presidents and their years. But misremembering stuff is a function, not just of aging, but, increasingly, of something else more important to me has taken its place.

2. Pie tastes so good! It should be a fruit pie, such as an apple, cherry, or blueberry pie, either room temperature or slightly warm, but definitely not right out of the refrigerator. It should be accompanied by a good vanilla ice cream. Alternatively, pizza, but no ice cream.

3. Sometimes, putting others first is misguided. I am reminded of what flight attendants tell us: take care of our own air masks before tending to the children in our care. In general, saying NO is both difficult for me and utterly necessary.

The usual

4. A whole lot of music is breathtaking, really. Some of it is structural, but a lot of it is memory, the way that a song can recreate a sensation.

When the family buried my father, Taps shook me, much to my surprise. And it was a live rendition, not a mechanical one. CBS News Radio News has gone off the air, and hearing the theme, especially the one from the 1980s and 1990s, made me a bit melancholy. Julie Andrews singing octaves at the very end of “Do-Re-Me” is glorious. The inverse pedal point is possibly my favorite thing in all of music.

5. Well, maybe there are coincidences. From THR: “Have you ever seen a final trailer for a major studio’s event movie that’s narrated by its director? That’s the case for the new trailer for Disclosure Day [Stephen Spielberg], which has enjoyed one of the weirdest and most freakishly fortuitous marketing campaigns in Hollywood history, as the real-life disclosure movement involving government officials claiming a UFO cover-up coincides with Universal’s promotional push for their movie about the same thing. Universal has used a muddy blend of traditional marketing, clips highlighting the director’s own belief that aliens have likely visited our planet, and footage in the latest trailer that looks nearly identical to videos the Pentagon just declassified just last week.” So, maybe, not everything is a conspiracy.

6. This week, my plans include at least one trip to a large metropolitan city. As is usually the case, I won’t say when, where, or why until after the fact. It’s like I didn’t announce that my daughter and I went to Charlotte, NC, to see my baby sister and her daughter until we came back.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Sunday Stealing Makes You Choose

tea and geography

This week, our inspiration is Life of a Fool. This blogger maintains that this meme has “been seen everywhere.” The questions only require a simple, definitive answer, but if you’d like to elaborate, we’d like to hear what you have to say.

Which one? Sunday Stealing Makes You Choose

1. Pepsi or Coke?

Diet Cherry Pepsi. That full-sugar glass bottle of Coke that one used to only get near Mexico

2. Cappuccino or coffee?

I don’t drink coffee, and never did. There is something vaguely uncivilized about not drinking it; some people have tried to make me feel that. Someone makes a pot of coffee, and you don’t share. I probably mentioned my absolute refusal to make it. It was an office task; I made it once, it sucked, and I was off the hook.

Here’s a useless piece of information about cappuccino: “The name comes from the Capuchin friars, referring to the color of their habits, and in this context, referring to the color of the beverage when milk is added in a small portion to dark, brewed coffee (today mostly espresso).

Ice cream?

3. Chocolate or vanilla?

I’m assuming the question refers to ice cream, though it isn’t explicitly stated. I find that vanilla ice cream, as an accompaniment, is about perfect. It goes with chocolate cake, fruit pies, hot chocolate, and much more. A good chocolate ice cream needs to stand on its own, and some do.

I shared this before – it’s about racism and vanilla ice cream.

4. Hot tea or iced tea?

One of the first things I learned when I visited my parents and baby sister after they moved to the Southeast US was that there is tea and hot tea. Whereas, in the North, there’s iced tea and tea. What was the question again? Either one; it’s weather-dependent.

5. Dinner for two or a party?

It must be dinner for two, because I do it far more often. I like other people’s parties, though; I only throw one per year because it’s work.

Sunday Stealing Looks Back on April

Stories & Spoken Word Poetry at The Madison

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.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30