Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 11 of 35

Sunday Stealing 200.04: Solitary

1, 1.414, 1.732, 2, 2.236…

This week’s Sunday Stealing is part of the 200 questions that Bev used the past three weeks. Here are 15 more from the same source, so I dubbed it 200.04. These were particularly intriguing, especially the question about solitary.

1. What do you want to be remembered for?

Let’s lean into the things I’m already known for: being my daughter’s father, being on Jeopardy, working at FantaCo comic book store, being a librarian for the New York Small Business Development Center, being smart, being kind (well, usually)

2. If you were put in solitary confinement for a year, what would you do to stay sane?

I would think of all the British Beatles albums, singles, and a selected EP and try to figure out which tracks showed up on which Beatles US albums. Remembering the books of the Bible, which I used to know; I’m now weak on the minor prophets. Figuring out square roots. Trying to remember the musical artists I have in my collection and to think of as many songs by each of them as possible, starting with ABBA (Waterloo) would be the first off; Paula Abdul – what do I know of hers besides Straight Up? Remembering all the presidents of the United States and trying to remember their vice presidents and members of their cabinets.

If I had paper and pencil, I’d write my thoughts. A deck of cards could be entertaining. If I had books, I’d read them.

Where’s the video?

3. If you could have a video of any one event in your life, what event would you choose?

It was a performance of the Green Family Singers; my father Les, my sister Leslie, and I sang at an American Legion Hall near Binghamton in 1970. It was a particularly rowdy audience for us, but we went with it. Somebody asked me recently if I had a recording of my father singing, and I don’t, so that would be really cool.

4. What are the top 3 things you want to accomplish before you die? Have you accomplished them?

One is to get our daughter through college; we’re in the process of that. One is to get further in genealogy. As I’ve mentioned before, there are two nuts to crack: my father’s mother’s father’s parents and the parents of my mother’s father’s mother, Margaret Collins. It would be satisfactory to get to that level in all branches. I’m talking to somebody from the Smithsonian this week about Samuel Walker, so I’m hopeful on that line. The third thing is something I’m working on, but I’m not willing to announce at this point. So, I have not accomplished any of them yet.

5. If you were forced to live one 10-minute block of your life again and again, what 10 minutes of your life would you choose.

I can think of a lot of things that I won’t share here. If pressed, I’d say the Double Jeopardy and Final Jeopardy rounds of the first show I was on.

6. Have you ever saved someone’s life?

Possibly. Twice, I’ve yanked kids out of traffic. Once I performed the Heimlich.

Is this a surprise?

7. What are you addicted to?

Music. I have a very difficult time doing most things without music. When I’m cleaning, or when I used to work at FantaCo or the NYS SBDC, I usually had music on, even if it’s with headphones. If I write, the music is on. Right now, it’s Traveling Wilburys Volume 3, which ends with a great song, The Wilbury Twist; it always makes me laugh.

8. What keeps you up at night?

This is a pretty regular occurrence: conversations I should have had, conversations I should not have had, things that could have said better, and things that I haven’t accomplished. A coterie of things.

9. What do you regret not doing?

Often, I play through scenarios whereby what would it have meant if I had done X versus Y? But the truth is that because I did Y, other things resulted. So I can’t dwell on it too much. I mean, I DO, but I shouldn’t because it’s not particularly useful.

10. What gives your life meaning?

The usual: friends, family, music, being useful

11. What are you most insecure about?

Body image

Busted?

12. What’s the most illegal thing you’ve done?

Back in the 1980s, a friend’s uncle was going through chemo, and he wanted to get some marijuana so that the uncle could stop feeling so nauseous. Somebody I used to work with almost certainly could get me some pot. So I bought it and sold it to my friend at cost. Now, marijuana is legal in many places, at least for medical purposes, but at the time, I could have been busted.

13. What’s the most surprising self-realization you’ve had?

I’m a bit sad that I haven’t traveled to many places: 32 U.S. states and four countries other than the United States. I was doing this project with my daughter, and I realized that it made me insist that she get her passport, which had expired at least seven years before, and I’m hoping that she travels abroad a lot more than I did

14. If you could make one rule that everyone had to follow, what would it be?

Try to make places safe for yourself and others. Two examples. When we were driving to church last Sunday, this woman, probably in her 20s, was on her phone, and she walked right in front of a car, surprised that it was there. She stopped before getting hit. Look around, people, and get out of your darn phone. Also, I was on a bus coming home from the drugstore. A person came in with two heavy bags. When I wanted to get off the bus, I noticed they had placed the two heavy bags at the exit of the bus instead of on a seat – the bus wasn’t very crowded – so they created an obstruction for someone like me to get off the bus. I had to squeeze past the bags, which didn’t make me feel safe and secure.

15. In what situation or place would you feel most out of place?

A room full of strangers with whom I am expected to interact.

Sunday Stealing, 200.03: Oscar

lights out

This week’s Sunday Stealing is part of the 200 questions that Bev used the past two weeks. Here are 15 more from the same source, so I dubbed it 200.03. Next week, it will likely be 200.04.

1. What popular TV show do you refuse to watch?

There are so many current TV shows that I can’t even keep track of. So there’s no sense of “refusing to watch.” I suspect there would be if I were keeping up with more of them. In the past, I started watching a program called 24. The first 13 episodes of the first season had a taut dramatic arc, and then it limped along for the rest of the season. I watched the first episode of season 2, in which the lead character, Jack Bauer, murders somebody so he can literally steal their face and infiltrate the other side. I said I’ve had enough of this, and I didn’t watch it anymore.

2. What pets did you have while growing up?

We mostly had cats. There was a time when my sisters and I had three cats: Tiger, Taffy, and Tony. Tiger was mine, and he got hit and killed by a car; I was devastated. Earlier, we had a cat named Peter, who was so smart that when he wanted to come in, he would get up on the stoop and rattle the doorknob. We also had a dog named Lucky Stubbs, an Alaskan Husky, and he nipped at me. I was not a big fan of this dog, but my father liked him, and we kept the dog until Lucky also nipped both of our pastor’s daughters. Then Lucky Stubbs was off to some farm in rural Broome County.

Rabbit’s foot

3. What is the luckiest thing that has happened to you?

As I noted here, I was lucky that when I moved to the Capital District of New York State, my old pal Pam, who I knew from my New Paltz college days, also moved north. Her boyfriend at the time, Paul, was running a program with the Schenectady Arts Council, and I was able to get a job there, one of my two favorite jobs of all time.

4. What are some small things that make your day better?

Playing Wordle – I have a 636-game winning streak, playing Quordle, posting my blog to Facebook, and saying good morning to my stuffed monkey, Oscar.

5. What’s your favorite piece of clothing you own/owned?

When my sister Leslie went to Mexico in 1972, she brought me back two shirts, a Guatemalan work shirt, and a dress shirt, and I love them. I think I wore one of them the first time I got married, that year, actually.

6. What’s the most annoying habit other people have?

Arguing with people online for long periods as though they were going to change their opinion. I came across one recently about whether God was in favor of or against abortion, which led to a conversation about how God in the Old Testament encouraged the slaughter of certain enemies. I said this is a fruitless discussion.

Black and white

7. What game or movie universe would you most like to live in?

I was taken by the movie Pleasantville (1998), in which everything was simple and black and white until it wasn’t.

8. What’s the most impressive thing you know how to do?

Figuring out square roots with pen and paper and keeping score with bowling. All sorts of totally useless skills that technology does for you instead

9. What was the best book or series you’ve read?

Every time I get a question like this, I always think about the last time, and I try to answer it differently. Today, I’m going with Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben. I have a collection in this very room.

10. What state or country do you never want to go back to?

I’ve been to 32 states and four other countries, and I don’t think there’s a real answer. It was hot and muggy when my daughter and I were in Indiana in 2019. I wouldn’t write off the state over that one experience, but it did suck.

11. Where do you usually go when you have time off?

Into my imagination

Secret

12. What amazing thing did you do that no one was around to see?

“Amazing” would not be the term I’d use. When I was a kid and cars were left unlocked, I would open the doors and turn off the lights. On a rainy or overcast day, I might do this a dozen times on my way home from high school. Now, I remove obstructions – tree branches, tipped-over empty garbage cans – from the sidewalk.

13. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?

I’ve never been all that prescriptive, so I’m not one to suggest that one ought to do anything. I suppose I could say something mundane like do something that gets you out of your comfort zone, but what the heck does that even mean?

14. What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?

Writing a book

15. What is something most people consider a luxury but you don’t think you could live without?

Takeout. I don’t much enjoy cooking; I do make the morning oatmeal or occasionally eggs or pancakes. It’s unreasonable that my wife should come home from work and then have to cook afterward, though she’s good at cooking meals for two or even three nights. There’s a Tuesday farmers market she frequents for about half the year. Around the corner from our house, there’s an Indian restaurant, a pizza place where we often get lamb or chicken on rice, a burger place where we can also get pizza, etc. When I was single, I used to buy frozen meals and heat them, but my wife is not a big fan.

Sunday Stealing 200.02

One score and seventeen

This week’s Sunday Stealing is part of the 200 questions that Bev used last week. Here are 15 more from the same source, so I dubbed it 200.02. Next week, it will likely be 200.03.

1. What takes up too much of your time?

Getting rid of email. However, I tend to rid myself of the “promotional” items on Gmail 100 at a time, and that’s satisfying.

2. What do you wish you knew more about?

How Artificial Intelligence works.

3. What’s the best way to start the day?

I tend to put on some music—I’m currently listening to 18 Tracks by Bruce Springsteen. Unless I have difficulty posting, I post my blog on Facebook. I check my primary email and phone messages to ensure nothing catastrophic happened overnight. Then, I tend to start a blog post while my wife takes a shower. I’ll go downstairs, make oatmeal for two, empty the dishwasher, feed the cat, and feed the humans.

4. What mystery do you wish you knew the answer to?

How has a certain presidential candidate been embraced as being called by God to run?

5. What’s your favorite genre of book or movie?

Books tend to be non-fiction. I watch a lot of movies but I tend to avoid gore.

6. What’s the farthest you’ve ever been from home?

3536 miles (5691 km) – that would be Paris, France, not to be confused with Paris, Texas.

7. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?

That might be Las Vegas, a place I absolutely would NEVER want to live. When I went there, I felt like a sociologist.

8. When was the last time you climbed a tree for fun?

I was always notoriously bad at climbing trees.

Music-related, of course

9. What do you consider to be your best find?

A series of books from Record Research by the late Joel Whitburn about the music charts: I refer to them nearly every month.

10. What’s special about the place where you grew up?

I went to one school from kindergarten through ninth grade. Nine of us went all the way through together; eight of us graduated from high school together. I’m still in touch with three of them. In fact, I had lunch with the three near Albany on April 6, 2021, after we had all gotten our two COVID-19 shots.

11. What age do you wish you could permanently be?

37, old enough to know stuff, young enough to want to learn more still.

12. What fictional place would you most like to go?

Emerald City. I’ve never seen a dancing, singing scarecrow.

13. Where is the most relaxing place you’ve ever been?

No doubt, Barbados, 1999. Seven nights, six days, eating at one of three places. The weather was lovely.

14. What’s the most interesting piece of art you’ve seen?

I have written about it but haven’t posted about it yet. I will in good time. It was in Washington, DC.

15. Who has impressed you the most with what they have accomplished?

I played against Amy Roeder on JEOPARDY in 1998. She’s now a Maine state legislator with an impressive record.

Sunday Stealing: 15 Questions

iptical olasion

This iteration of Sunday Stealing was purloined from a site called 200 Questions, but there are only 15 questions. If they steal another 15 questions, I don’t know WHAT I’ll call that post.

1. What shows are you into?

CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, Abbott Elementary, JEOPARDY! I record a lot of stuff but don’t get around to watching it. So when people say, “You should watch…” I nod knowingly. But I know I’m not going to add it to the queue.

2. What’s your claim to fame?

I suppose #1 is being on JEOPARDY! in 1998. Also, as my friend ADD noted recently, “August 28th marked the anniversary of the opening of the legendary FantaCo Enterprises, a wondrous and much-missed comic book store in Albany, NY,” where I worked from 1980 to 1988. This decade, people STILL recognize me. Somehow, I’ve become the keeper of the FantaCo flame.

3. How often do you play sports?

Not all. I used to play racquetball regularly from 1983 to 2010, when the local Y closed.

4. Are you early or late?

I used to be late, but you can’t be late when you take buses. So unless I’m with someone who is late, I’m slightly early.

5. What quirks do you have?

See this blog, 2005-2024. I like to say certain words and phrases incorrectly, such as iptical olasion instead of optical illusion. Sometimes I can break into speaking like an old black minister. The music I play has a particular order, tied to artists’ birthdays, holidays, award shows and the like.

People

6. How often do you people watch?

Constantly. On Friday, I went to the Capital District Transportation Authority office to get a new bus pass. The guy in line in front of me wanted a discounted card because he has Medicaid. He went into copious detail about how he had been in Denver and Reno, but he never got a license when he was there because he didn’t live there long enough. While he dug through his belongings, the woman helped me, but the card took about five minutes to print. So she helped the guy while finding some assistance for the people behind me who needed bus route info. Then she came out and gave me my card, my ID, and the $3 of change I was due; she was a very well-organized worker!

7. What’s your favorite drink?

A mix of cranberry and orange juice.

8. What do you hope never changes?

I have no expectations of things never changing.

9. What’s your dream car?

A self-driving vehicle powered by solar panels and stored battery energy.

10. Where would you rather be from?

I was where I was supposed to be.

11. What songs have you completely memorized?

Lots, but The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel immediately came to mind. But not that lame verse: “After changes upon changes, We are more or less the same.”

12. What would you rate 10/10

Massage

13. What job would you be terrible at?

Repairman

14. What skill would you like to master?

Time management

15. What movie title best describes your life?

Defending Your Life

Sunday Stealing: ice cream

Who put the rum in the rum raisin?

Sunday Stealing celebrates ice cream.

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Of the readily available flavors, I lean towards strawberry—strawberries and sometimes even strawberry syrup on top of strawberry ice cream. If it’s available, I like black raspberry or black sweet cherry. On the next tier are chocolate-infused items: mint chocolate chip and chocolate swirl. I did a quiz in 2010, and I named Orange Pineapple, which I hadn’t eaten in a long time. For soft ice cream, I usually pick a chocolate/vanilla twist.

2. If you could invent a new flavor of ice cream, what would it be?

I don’t think I need to invent a new flavor. Our local Stewarts stores create new short-term flavors, usually during the summer. I’ve tried a few.

3. Who do you like to eat ice cream with?

I like to eat it with children because kids seem to get great joy, which also gives me pleasure.

4. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be?

It has to have more than one word. It couldn’t be vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry; it could be something like Mint Chocolate Chip or Rum Raisin.

5. Does your family eat ice cream regularly, or just for a special treat?

Unfortunately, I can only eat it occasionally. If I ate it as often as I would like, it would be daily, and I’d weigh 500 lbs.

6. What is your favorite treat from the ice cream truck?

I associate ice cream sandwiches with ice cream trucks.

7. Does frozen yogurt taste different than ice cream?

Oh goodness, yes, they’re not the same at all. According to my taste buds, it’s inferior.

Nostalgia

8. If you could make a super sundae, what would it have?

In college, I used to go to the local shop and have a banana split. It had chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, strawberry ice cream with strawberry sauce, vanilla ice cream with pineapple sauce, and whipped cream. I feel like I didn’t need it very often, but the specificity of my recollection suggests that I did have it more frequently.

9. Can ice cream make a bad day better?

It can make a bad day better if it’s good ice cream. When I was growing up, there was this brand called Fro-Joy, which was marginally better than the store brands, which were meh.

10. Have you ever had homemade ice cream?

Yes, I have had it, but I don’t have any strong recollection of when or where. It seemed like it was A) pretty good and B) way more labor-intensive than I wanted to experience. It could have been at an Olin family reunion.

11. When is your favorite time to eat ice cream?

In the afternoon, between lunch and dinner. You don’t want to ruin your dinner, and you don’t want to have it after dinner and feel a little bit bloated.

12. What is the best kind of ice cream you ever had?

It was almost certainly Rum Raisin. I don’t remember the where or the when, but I do remember that it was so rummy that I thought I was going to become drunk. It was tasty but also quite potent.

Depends

13. Do you prefer your ice cream in a cone or in a bowl?

In general, I prefer it in a cone, but I’ve been in situations where it was so hot, and the person serving had many people to serve. I’d try to be polite and wait for them, but mine started melting on my hand, so I had to eat it faster than I wanted. On a scorching day, a bowl might be a better choice, but on a fall or spring day, the cone is probably a fine choice.

14. Is there such a thing as a bad flavor of ice cream?

I don’t think so. I don’t like peanut butter, so I dislike peanut butter ice cream, but it doesn’t make it bad. One flavor tasted like cotton candy, not my cuppa. I’ve had many exotic fruit things in ice cream that I did not enjoy.

15. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. What does an ice cream a day do?

Adds a pound this way.

16. Is ice cream better when it’s fresh or slightly melted?

A cone should be fresh; a bowl could be slightly melted.

17. What is the craziest flavor of ice cream you’ve ever seen?

I’ve seen plenty of odd flavors, but the names and descriptions don’t stick to my brain.