Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 28 of 33

Personal History: Sunday Stealing

Who Knows Where The Time Goes

**daughter, wife, niece, sister, sister, niece (Feb 2011)**

This week’s Sunday Stealing is called Personal History, an interesting topic.

1. What would you like people to know about your mother?

I was thinking about this a lot this week. My father was the more outgoing and visible member of the couple. But I doubt they would have been been able to pay the bills if it wasn’t for my mom.

She was a bookkeeper at McLean’s Department Store in Binghamton, NY, then worked at Columbia Gas, not even a block away. When she moved to Charlotte, NC, she was a teller at First Union Bank, which eventually was swallowed by Wells Fargo. I probably got my love of numbers from her. When I told her we were learning base 2, which we were told was the basis of computers, she was clearly excited.

2. What would you like people to know about your father?

I’ll be writing about him on August 10, the anniversary of his death. My eclectic taste in music started with him.

3. What was your childhood bedroom like?

HA! After my second sister was born, my father put up two walls in the dining room, built a wooden shelf into the two walls, then put a mattress on top of that. My storage was under the “bed,” though my books were around the corner on a bookcase. My dad painted the solar system on the ceiling.

Ballgame

4. What was your favorite activity as a child?

Alone: playing with my baseball cards. With others: playing softball/baseball/kickball. And singing.

5. What was high school like for you?

When we first got there, there was a certain hostility from some because my friends were identified as against the Vietnam war. But by the time I graduated, most of the school was against the war. I was on the stage crew and president of the Red Cross club. I was also president of the student government, which is how I sort of got to introduce Rod Serling.

6. Write about your cousins.

I have no first cousins. My parents were only children. Well, essentially. My mom had a younger sister who died as an infant. So my cousins were my mother’s cousin’s kids who lived in NYC and were a decade or more younger than I. Still, aside from my sisters and their daughters, they’re the closest relatives outside my nuclear household.

7. What was your favorite food as a child?

Spinach. Totally indoctrinated by Popeye.

8. What was your most memorable birthday?

My 16th was held at the American Civic Association, so it was a real party. Lois, who I’ve known since kindergarten, gave me Judy Collins’ album Who Knows Where The Time Goes. She was afraid it might be too country for me; it was not.

9. What world events were significant to you as a child?

The integration of the high school in Little Rock, AR. Sputnik. The Cuban Missile Crisis – I didn’t really understand it, but I grokked adults all being nervous. The assassinations of Medgar Evers and John F. Kennedy. The massive 1965 blackout was the only time I ever heard my father worry about a possible Soviet plot.

To Starr Avenue

10. What did a typical day look like as a child?

During the school year, walk to school about half a mile, usually trying to vary my route. At lunch, walk home to my grandma Williams’ house for lunch, watch JEOPARDY with her sister, my wonderful Aunt Deana, back to school, then walk home with, in geographic order, Bill, Lois, Karen, Carol, and Ray. I’d walk home.

11. Write about your grandparents.

Gertrude Williams (1897-1982) operated out of making us afraid of the boogie man. I don’t remember her husband, Clarence Williams (d. 1958), though I may have gone to his funeral.

Agatha Green (1902-1964) was my Sunday school teacher and taught me how to play canasta. She was the first person I knew well to die, and I was devastated. McKinley Green (1896? -1980) was a custodian at WNBF-TV-AM-FM and would bring home stuff the station no longer wanted, such s the soundtrack to The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).

12. Did you move as a child?

I moved from the second floor of 5 Gaines Street, Binghamton, NY, to the first floor when my mother was pregnant with her second child. Until college, that was it.

13. Who taught you to drive?

Several people tried, including the Okie, Uthaclena, my father, and a professional.

14. Which job has been your favorite?

FantaCo, the comic book store/mail order/publisher/convention, where I worked from May 1980 to November 1988.

15. What was the best part of your 30s?

Working at FantaCo, singing in the Trinity UMC choir

Since you asked: Sunday Stealing

music

Since you asked: will I participate in Sunday Stealing this week? Why, yes, I will.

1) What one event from your lifetime would you change if you could, and why?

The outcome of the Presidential election of 2016. It led to the Big Lie and the January 6 riots. It’s also caused a lot of people to lose their bearings. An article in the New York Times asked What in the World Happened to Elise Stefanik? She is a member of Congress in the district adjacent to mine.

“There was a time in 2016 when Elise Stefanik, now the third-ranking Republican in the House, was so disgusted by Donald Trump that she would barely mention his name. Today he proudly refers to her as ‘one of my killers.'” [That’s a good thing, apparently.]

2) If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be, and how old would your younger self be when they got it? Do you think your younger self would listen?

To leave a particular job in 1998. Or certainly by 2005. And no.

3) Would you be any good on Survivor?

No, because I haven’t the energy for that level of manipulation and deception.

4) What’s a safety rule that’s very important to you?

Keeping aisles clear of items that might trip someone, and signage for wet floors, essentially anything that might create a hazard in which someone could trip and fall, slip and fall, et al.

We blew it

5) What would you like to say to people in the future?

Are there people in the future? Sorry, we screwed up your planet so much.

6) What’s your favorite dish to bring to a summer cookout?

Deviled eggs.

7) How much time have you spent outdoors this week?

As little as possible because it’s Too Darn Hot. Also, because of my vitiligo.

8) Where do you set your thermostat?

My wife controls the thermostat. It’s too warm in the summer and too cold in winter.

9) How did you learn to swim?

I don’t swim well. But when I was growing up, my grandma’s next-door neighbors had an above-ground pool, so I learned to hold my breath for over a minute and do perfunctory strokes.

10) How do you avoid overheating?

Take a shower and then sit in front of a fan. Or the air conditioner if it’s available.

11) What are you going to do this weekend?

Go to church. Talk with my sisters on ZOOM.

12) What’s your favorite way to spend time?

Listen to music. Always.

13) What’s the most useless thing you own that you would never get rid of?

Mementos of certain weddings I’ve attended.

14) Have you started planning your next vacation?

Yes and no. My wife has this vague notion of going to NYC to see some Broadway shows this fall. But NYC is COVID-red presently, so we are wary of planning anything.

15) Are you very active, or do you prefer to just relax in your free time, or is it one and the same for you?

I’m more active by necessity.

Hodgepodge is named for me?

molasses

There’s a hodgepodge for Sunday Stealing. But first, what is hodgepodge? As far as I can tell, hochepot came from Anglo-Norman French and Old French. So hocher is ‘to shake’ (probably of Low German origin) + pot ‘pot.’

This became hotchpotch in late Middle English, which, besides being an assortment, also means a mutton stew with mixed vegetables. The late Middle English: alteration of hotchpotch is hodgepodge “by association with Hodge (a nickname for the given name Roger ), an archaic British term used as a name for a typical agricultural worker.” Huh! For the record, I’ve never worked in agriculture or in food services.

1. What’s something you’ve recently accomplished solo.

Moving that broken branch.

2. What’s one product you use that never ever fails?

Golden Oreo Cookies never fail to put a smile on a friend of mine.

3. Have you found your place in the world? Where is it?

I think you have to keep reevaluating this, lest you become complacent.

Hated it

4. Worst movie you ever saw?

I’ll go with Fellini Satyricon (1969), which I saw in college. An IMDB review notes. “Then comes along a movie, teetering on the thin line of questionable success where one can not tell whether there is a plot or not. If, while watching Satyricon, you find yourself wondering whether it is going to wrap up finally into an understandable conclusion, after which you can satisfactorily murmur, “Aahh yes, now I got it’. Well, in the end, there is no such luck.”

Rotten Tomatoes gives it 79% positive reviews from critics and 75% from audiences. But Penelope Houston from the Spectator writes: “Satyricon achieves a curious dual effect. It walks all over the audience with its gross, greasy detail, and at the same time, it is deliberately uninvolved and uninvolving.”

T-bird

5. What’s the last fun thing you did?

Went to see the play ABCD at the Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, MA, this past week. Here’s a review.

6. What’s your favorite Italian dish?

Eggplant parmigiana. In fact, if I want to compare Italian restaurants, it’s my go-to.

7. Have you ever been to France? Any desire to visit there, and if so, what site or city would you most want to see?

No, yes, and Auray, because I have a friend I have known since 1977 who lives there.

8. Have you ever been to Disney or any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They’re open right now, so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip?

Never been to any Disney park. My feeling about Disney is complicated. I do like a lot of their cartoons, especially the Pixar films. But the company is too big, owning Star Wars, Marvel, ESPN, and ABC-TV. Still, I’d take a FREE trip.

Rodentia

9. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more church mouse or perhaps more like Mighty Mouse?

I can be quiet in my living room, taking my blood pressure daily. People who see me in venues where I’m comfortable (church, e.g.) see me as more gregarious than I see myself.

10. Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot-out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What’s your favorite kind of bread?

I don’t bake bread, but my wife does, and she made several loaves this past winter using the breadmaker. My favorite was oatmeal bread; she used molasses.

11. What’s something you might say is ‘the greatest thing since sliced bread’?

The computer.

12. Share with us five little things you’re grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T.

Tallness, Tylenol, television, telephone, telemedicine.

13. Tell us where you were and something about what life was like when you were 20- 21.

I was in college at New Paltz, NY. I have diaries of the time which I will have to read.

14. What’s on the menu at your house this week?

Spinach lasagna zucchini.

15. Something you recently purchased where a coupon was involved? Do you regularly shop with coupons?

I used to, but haven’t in decades.

Travel Questions from Sunday Stealing

It’s ALWAYS been the train

travelogue This version of Sunday Stealing, Travel Questions starts with a couple of bits that we answered LAST week. But it evolves from there.

To which countries have you been?

USA (where I live), Canada, Mexico, and Barbados.

Which countries would you love to visit one day?

Many. France and Ireland may be at the top of the list.

Have been on a trip this year, or have one planned for later?

Most of our trips are of short distances and brief duration. Some of this is based on a resurgence of COVID but also wanting to see local venues within an hour or two.

What kinds of transport do you prefer to travel by? (train, car, plane…)

It’s the train. It’s ALWAYS been the train. The last time I took a plane was to see my sister Leslie in San Diego in 2018. She was 2832 miles away. And as I had previously surmised, it was a flying bus, only worse, especially the Newark to San Diego segment. Middle seat, no legroom.

Do you get yourself a souvenir to take home? If yes, what do you like to buy?

WAY back in the 1900s, my late mother collected porcelain bells. I’d buy one for her. Then she quit collecting them and decided to eliminate her collection as dust gatherers. Thanks a lot, mom, for screwing up my gift-giving opportunity.

For myself, I liked to buy shot glasses. I still have a few, including some that folks have brought me when THEY went on trips.

Cuisine

Do you like to try local food? Can you recommend anything or advise not to try something?

When I was recently in my hometown of Binghamton, NY, my MIL and I talked with a young woman from the Midwest. I recommended the spiedies from Lupo’s or other local establishments. Conversely, I railed at what passed for spiedies at the 2019 New York State Fair in Syracuse. It tasted like boiled (not grilled) unmarinated chicken.

I was in Montreal in 1991 and 1992. I tried poutine but never warmed up to it.

Do you book your travel online or classical in a travel agency?

I used to use a travel agent, but haven’t in a very long time.

Name three things you can not go anywhere without and have in your suitcase.

Dental floss, cough drops, and clean underwear.

Tell about a funny travel experience you had.

I took a train to NYC and saw a guy I’ve known since kindergarten. Oh, here’s a train story.

Tell about a bad travel experience you had.

When my wife and I flew from Barbados to JFK in NYC, we had to go through customs. The queue was in a figure-eight, and our part of the line didn’t progress for a long time.

What accommodation do you usually stay in when you go on trips?

Motel or with friends or family.

All By Myself

Have you ever traveled alone by yourself? Did you like it? If not, would you want to try it?

Before we were married, my then ex-girlfriend seemed to think I couldn’t or wouldn’t travel alone. That was absurd, as I said at the time. I traveled by myself many times before I ever knew her.

Still, in 1998, I took a train from Albany to Detroit to Cleveland to Albany, which I described here.

What is the first thing you do when you arrive at your destination?

If I’m staying more than one night, I hang up my clothes. But I’ll live out of the suitcase if it’s just one night.

What kinds of activities do you like to do when you are traveling?

Museums, baseball stadiums, and non-chain restaurants.

How do you like to spend your vacation? (on a cruise, backpacking, etc)

Mostly in cities, so tour buses or riding around on local transit. I’ve never been on a cruise.

Do you like to travel in your own country? If yes, can you recommend a place?

I LOVE to go to Washington, DC. Beyond that, I like a place with good local transit. San Diego used to be a drive-only place, but the light rail system is tremendous. I know people hate the NYC subway system, but I find it very useful, WAY better than driving in the city.

Would you Rather? Sunday Stealing

Barenaked Ladies

For this Sunday Stealing, Would you Rather?

1. Would you rather eat pizza every day or never eat pizza again?

Pizza, and pie generally, is so variable that I could have pizza daily. White broccoli today, sausage and mushrooms tomorrow. Heck, I’ll even try pineapple!

In fact, this New York Times article recommends you get a good plain pie. “You might dress a green salad and arrange it over the pie, or fry a bunch of eggs and slide them on top. You could examine your refrigerator as you might in advance of making a charcuterie board, and use what cured meats and interesting cheeses you have to adorn the sauce. Sautéed spinach on your pizza? Chinese sausage? Pickled jalapeños? Honey and red-pepper flakes? Sure. Whatever you like. “

2. Would you rather stay forever at your current age or be 10 years younger?

I could stand being my current age forever because Science will be able to fix my various ailments, if not now then in the future.

3. Would you rather have too many friends or too few?

Too many, clearly, though the word “friend” can be pretty fuzzy. I have 2000 “friends” on Facebook. A few of them who interact with me I consider friends, even if I have never met them. A LOT of them were friends in the past, and. absent some major blowout, they still matter to me.

Vlogbrothers

4. Would you rather have no taste buds or be blind?

No taste buds. Maybe then I can eat canned beets without gagging. In fact, you should watch “Sad COVID Boy Hank Green Eats Foods He Hates but Can’t Taste,” because there are things he generally hates, such as black licorice, that he likes because he can’t smell them, which, of course, is a huge part of taste.

5. Would you rather never hear music again or lose the ability to read?

Now we have a tough one. Lose the ability to read because I would listen to audiobooks. Not listening to music, OTOH, would not be a life worth living.

6. Would you rather speak “whale” or read babies’ minds?

I don’t know that anyone should want to read babies’ minds. Where is the joy and frustration of parenting in THAT?

7. Would you rather be the richest person or the smartest?

Clearly, the smartest, because I’ve ALWAYS wanted to know more stuff.

8. Would you rather create history or delete it?

People spend way too much time trying to delete history, to our collective detriment; I’m agin it. So make history, for sure.

A Picasso or a Garfunkel

9. Would you rather create a great piece of art and not get credit or get credit for a piece of art you didn’t create?

The moral choice is obvious to me. I could stand to be uncredited. I could NOT bear to take credit for something I didn’t create.

10. Would you rather age from the neck up, or from the neck down?

The neck up. There’s more below the neck that hurts.

11. Would you rather see the world but live in poverty or stay in one place and live rich?

See the world; that’s an enriching experience.

12. Would you rather become famous or powerful?

Powerful. I think being famous would kind of suck.

13. Would you rather be a creative person or a technical person?

Hmm. I’m mildly creative, more than a technical person, so creative.

14. Would you rather get a paper cut whenever you touch paper or bit your tongue whenever you eat something?

Easy. Paper cuts. I can avoid paper but not eating.

15. Would you rather wake up in the morning looking like a giraffe or a kangaroo?

Kangaroo. I’m reminded of the Randy Newman song Political Science. “We’ll save Australia. Don’t want to hurt no kangaroos.”