Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 2 of 38

Sunday Stealing with Steph

Communion

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’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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Sunday Stealing – Random Revelations

SCRABBLE or bowling?

This week’s meme was inspired by a post at My Random Randomness. That gentleman shared random thoughts about himself. His revelations have been turned into questions.

Random Revelations

1. Is your phone Apple or Android? What about your laptop?

My last two phones were Apple. Previously, I avoided them for philosophical reasons, not the least of which is some incompatibility when new products come out. But it seems to interact better with other Apple phones. I’ve only had non-Apple computers and don’t see myself changing.

2. Can you say “thank you” in more than one language?

Only in French, German, and Spanish. I took French in high school, and I used to watch Hogan’s Heroes on TV when I was a teenager.

3. What do you draw when you doodle?

Random geometric shapes, because my skills as an artist are nil.

4. Which do you enjoy more, Scrabble or bowling?

I have done both a LOT in the past, but haven’t done either in quite a while. I’ve written more about bowling because it’s tied to my mom. But I played SCRABBLE a lot as a kid and much later. My college roommate painted me a SCRABBLE board, which I still have. It’s a toss-up.

5. Can you juggle?

I assume juggling two items isn’t REALLY juggling! No.

6. Have you ever worn pajamas in public?

Only to bring in the garbage cans from the curb early in the morning, and only a handful of times.

School daze

7. Was your best subject in school the one you enjoyed the most?

My BEST subject was probably spelling, but I didn’t love it. I was good at social studies/history, and I enjoyed it. The topic I most enjoyed was probably mathematics because Math Is Everywhere .

8. When you’re offered the senior discount before you ask for it, are you offended or grateful?

It never bothered me. I like a bargain.

9. Do you agree that with age comes wisdom?

I can think of certain people – one in particular -who are clearly more stupid every day. That said, for those people who learn not to sweat the small stuff as they get older, then sure.

10. Do you consider Sunday the first day of the week or the last day of the weekend?

I’m pretty catholic about it. My calendar growing up in the US was Sunday to Saturday. When I took high school French, I discovered the week ran from lundi to dimanche. (Shrug)

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Sunday Stealing Feels Distinctly Adolescent

live wire

Welcome to Sunday Stealing, which feels distinctly adolescent. 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’s Sunday source is Minnesota Mom, who loves baking (especially cookies). She stole this meme from Esther, whose blog is no longer available, so the trail has gone cold.

These questions require just a yes or no, but you can answer at length if you’re in the mood. The choice is yours!

Litter

But before we get to that, here’s what happened very late Sunday night/very early Monday morning, March 15/16. I was downstairs watching TV about 11:45 pm when the doorbell rang. That’s really unusual. Was there an accident? Is my house on fire? No, the guy said he really needed money to get something to eat. He promised to pick up the litter from my lawn.

Let’s talk about litter. My wife is assiduously dedicated to keeping the trash from our yard. Yet, a day after she’s done, you would not have known of her efforts. It’s not just the schoolkids nearby; it’s the wind.

So I tell the guy at the door. “Sure, whatever,” give him a $5 and quickly close the door. BTW, he does pick up some of our litter.

Electric

About a half hour later, I’m in my office, which is on the second floor at the front of the house, playing Wordle. By now, the rain is pouring, and the wind is gusting so much, perhaps 50 miles per hour/80 kilometers per hour, that the walls are shaking.

Out my front window, in my periphery, I see a large spark. A tree branch has felled a power line that ran from a telephone pole on my side of the street to a house across the street. The large branch lands in the middle of the street, right next to what I assume is a live wire, beside my wife’s car.

I could have called National Grid, our power supplier, but I chose to ring the Albany Police Department’s non-emergency number. After all, they are only two blocks away. The dispatcher tells me that it’s very windy out there, which I acknowledged. But soon, there’s a fire truck blocking my street.

In the morning, the wire is wound up, the branch is gone, and a truck is parked in front of the house, doing SOMETHING, because it’s running 24/7. Two days later, four trucks, including a cherry picker, are out there fixing the situation.

But I wonder if the guy repairing something at the top of the pole somehow mucked up my Internet. It’s not OFF, but I can’t get to sites, or it’s very slow.

On to the quiz

Have You Ever …

1) Skipped school?

The first time I remember doing so was when I had been legitimately sick for a day or two. I was feeling better, but I learned that the Beatles’ new videos were going to premiere on a show called Where The Action Is, which was, inexplicably, airing at 8:30 a.m. So I watched Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. This must have been February of 1967.

The next time was when Julian Bond came to town in 1969.

2) Lettered in a school sport?

No, I never did school sports. I did show up one day at a football tryout, but the ill-fitting equipment and general vibe weren’t for me.

3) Made a prank phone call?

Probably, but I have no strong recollection.

4) Paid for a meal with coins?

Yes, definitely, in 1978 in downtown Schenectady. I went out to breakfast or lunch with a friend, but was short on cash. To be fair, I doubt the meal was more than $4, including the tip.

5) Laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose?

Possibly, but I don’t really remember.