Sunday Stealing Archives - Page 32 of 33

These are a few of my favorite things

In the living room, with my feet up, reading the newspaper. This almost never actually happens.

Cherry-picking through Sunday Stealing, again. This one is from July 3:

1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
The Muppets.

2. What book are you reading?
I’m slogging through a book written by a colleague, which I may soon abandon altogether.

3. Favorite board game?
I’d say SCRABBLE. But don’t you actually have to PLAY it occasionally for it to be your favorite? Backgammon and SORRY.

4. Favorite magazine?
I start reading a magazine, then the next one comes before I finish the first, and I end up with a pile of half-read, quickly dated periodicals. I don’t really read them anymore.

I find Newsweek’s new “hip” style annoying and journalistically thin. I usually switch back and forth between it and TIME.
I suppose, by default, Entertainment Weekly, which I skim more than read.

5. Favorite smells?
Freshly baked bread, or pastries generally. Lilac bushes, which remind me of the one adjacent to my home of 18 years in Binghamton, NY.

6. Favorite sounds?
Depends on the need. It can be white noise, to sleep. I love water, generally, from brooks to waterfalls. And, of course, there are all sorts of music.

7. Worst feeling in the world?
The realization that you have really messed up something that was very important to someone else. This tends to be at the personal, not work, level.

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
What time is it? Can I roll over and go back to sleep?

9. Favorite fast food place?
Wendy’s, maybe because it’s less ubiquitous around here than Mickey D’s or BK.

10. What’s under your bed?
My slippers, and clothes my wife stores.

11. Finish this statement. “If I had a lot of money I’d….?
Have to pull out the list. It depends on the definition of “a lot”. There are so many charities: food pantries, the Red Cross – the demand for their services is only going to increase. But also the arts.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Well, not sleep WITH.

13. Storms – cool or scary?
Depends on whether I’m safely indoors or not.

14. Favorite drink?
I like mixed drinks; orange and cranberry juice, milk and Kaluaha…

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?
Actually watch all the shows I DVR, rather than record and eventually delete.

16. If you had to dye your hair another color, what would be your choice?
Green, of course.

17. Favorite place to relax?
In the living room, with my feet up, reading the newspaper. This almost never actually happens.

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Binghamton, Kingston, New Paltz, Jackson Heights (Queens), Schenectady, Albany, NY. Charlotte, NC.

19. Favorite sports to watch?
I can always watch baseball because I can read or do other things at the same time.

20. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
Well, only if I could remember the mistakes, so I could go make new ones!

Of Anger, Polyester and other things

There was a movie in the 1980s by John Waters called Polyester which a bunch of us went to.

This is a combination of two Sunday Stealing posts from here and here, but I decided to answer only the questions I felt like answering. Besides, I don’t HAVE a favorite mall store.

1. What has been your longest love relationship?

Actually, my current one. We started going out -again – in late 1998. And I’m not even counting the 1.5 years we went out earlier in the 1990s.

4. If you could live anywhere would you live?

I seem to be fine where I am. I fantasize that Madison, WI or Portland, OR might be a mecca for me, and I did like Madison the one time I was there in 1987 or 1988, but I’m unmotivated to change at this time.

7. What’s the longest job that you’ve had?

That would be the current one, where I started October 19, 1992, three work addresses ago. The second-longest was FantaCo (8.5 years). The third place was 13 months.

8. If you won the lottery, who’d you call first?

My wife.

9. If you won, how would you spend your money after investments?

An ever-expanding list of social and cultural programs. Surely the Red Cross would be one.

10. When was the last time you went to church (or a religious house)?

That would be yesterday.

14. What food do you hate?

Canned beets.

16. What’s the longest shift that you worked at a job?

11.2 hours in a factory job after high school, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. But I regularly worked 10 hours, 5:12 p.m-4 a.m., then worked Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.

17. What was the last concert that you attended?

This one. Well, unless you mean classical concert, which was in the spring of 2011.

21. Do you ever sleep in the nude?

Seldom. I want to be able to leave quickly in case of a fire or whatever.

22. Have you ever had a long-distance relationship?

Yes, and it was not good.

24. What’s you’re favorite lyric quote from a song?

“Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.” Which I don’t do nearly enough.

25. Tell us something random about yourself.

I used to have some anger issues, I suppose. Occasionally, it still flares up. It was after church a few weeks ago, and a few of us were in the kitchen. I noted that one of the songs we had sung that morning had a different arrangement from I had sung it previously several times, specifically, a harmony line in the original that was unison in the newer version; inferior, from my point of view, BTW. Apparently, someone else in the choir had made the same observation. So another singer declared that our observation was “stupid,” that we read music and should sing what was there, rather than assuming what was on the page.

I yelled at her that I didn’t appreciate her crap, I didn’t need her crap (and I didn’t; my tooth was still hurting at the time.) I realized later that I got so enraged because I dislike the fact that she, who has also been a school teacher, didn’t understand the fact that we all learn differently.

When I was in the high school choir, we couldn’t even use the score for our twice-yearly concerts. I’ve long tried to get out of the music, keeping in front of me mostly for lyrics and pauses.

And, though I’ve been in choirs for decades, I only read music in relative terms. If note A is this, then a third up must sound like that; I don’t think, “Oh, that’s a C.”

But I suppose the yelling was unnecessary. Though I disliked being called “stupid.”

26. Have ever attended a theme party? If yes, do tell.

There was a movie in the 1980s by John Waters called Polyester which a bunch of us went to. Afterward, we all went to someone’s house, and we had to bring polyester (unreal) food, however we defined it. Marshmallow Fluff, Cheez Whiz, TANG beverage…I don’t remember what else.

27. What is your favorite thing about winter?

Its demise.

28. What was the name of your first pet?

Peter. He was a cat we had for about six years.

30. Has your humor ever been called “sick”?

No. Corny. Obtuse. Situational. Unfunny. But not sick.

Firsts

I essentially inherited both jobs from a guy named Walter Jones, who was the godson of my parents; his grandparents were my godparents.

I used to do these things called Sunday Stealing, but I stopped mostly because the questions started getting a bit repetitive. I found that to be somewhat true with this iteration as well -Have I sung karaoke? – no; have I kissed in the rain? -yes.

But there was a section of firsts that was fresher, so I decided I’d do that, and JUST that.

1.Who was your first prom (or homecoming) date?
Cecily. It was her prom, BTW, though she also went to my prom a few months later.

2. Who was your first roommate?
Ron Fields, a graduate student. His most obsessive habit was writing down EVERY SINGLE thing he spent money on, in these little spiral notepads. Coffee – 25 cents, candy bar – 10 cents. One day, he bought a used car ($1000).

3. What alcoholic beverage did you drink when you got drunk the first time? The first time I drank, I got a little tipsy. It was at a bar on Clinton Street in Binghamton, NY, which, according to legend, had more bars per mile at the time than any other street in the United States. My sister was singing there with a band, so my drinks were free. I was 18 and it was legal for me to drink. I had a Tom Collins, and it was so tasty, I had another. I WAS able to walk home.

4. What was your first job?
My FIRST first job was delivering the Evening and Sunday Press in Binghamton, NY. My next job was as a page at the Binghamton Public Library. I essentially inherited both jobs from a guy named Walter Jones, who was a couple of years older than I was. He was the godson of my parents; his grandparents were my godparents.

5. What was your first car?
I don’t remember the make, because it was really the Okie’s car. I know it was red and had a push-button transmission. I knocked a Dumpster over with it once.

6. When did you go to your first funeral and viewing?
Oh, it was so long ago that I can’t remember. Someone from my church, no doubt. The first one that I can remember was Agatha Green, my grandma.

7. Who was your first-grade teacher?
I had two because I had started school in February, and by September the teacher I had left; maybe she got pregnant, which happened a few times in later grades. Anyway, one was Mrs. Goodrich. BTW, I also had 2 teachers each in second, third, AND fourth grade.

8. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?
From Binghamton to Albany, when I was about 16. I was going to something called the Governor’s Conference on Children and Youth, and I was one of seven representatives from the Southern Tier. We flew in a plane with about a dozen seats, in a thunderstorm; I was terrified.

9. When you snuck out of your house for the first time?
Undoubtedly to see my HS girlfriend.

10. Who was your first best friend?
Possibly Ray Lia, with whom I was in Cub Scouts.

11. Who was your first Best Friend in high school?
Hard to say. Probably Karen and Carol, who I’d known since kindergarten, and saw just this summer.

12. Where was your first sleepover?
Don’t know that I ever did growing up. People slept over at our house, though.

13. Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?
Probably Norman.

14. Who’s wedding were you in the first time you were a Bridesmaid or groomsman?
Trying to remember. I was in two weddings on successive weekends, for Ray and Pam, and for Uthaclena and she who shall not be named, in October 1976.

15. What is the first thing you did when you got up this morning?
Check my e-mail.

16. First time you tied your shoelaces?
I was REALLY late at this. I had loafers until I was nine, I think.

17. Are you Facebook friends with your first crush?
No, and I have no idea where my first crush is.

18. Who was the first person you met from the blogosphere?
Gordon from Blog This, Pal! who I met when I went to Chicago for a conference in 2008. Well, there may have been some local bloggers from the Times Union site before that; I don’t remember the chronology.

19. What was the first music album that you bought?
Beatles VI.

20. Who was your first celebrity crush?
Annette Funicello.

A lllooonnnggg quiz from Sunday Stealing

My best friends I met the first day of kindergarten and the first day of college.

Which Jaquandor did a lllooonnnggg time ago.

1. Tell us who the last person that you took a shower with.

The Wife.

2. Tell us about your favorite tee shirt. Extra points if you show a pic. (We know. What can you do with freakin’ extra points?)

This is one of the T-shirts I got for becoming a Coverville citizen. The model, BTW, is Coverville host Brian Ibbott’s wife Tina. I also like the red one with white text that says, “Not the real thing,” a parody of the Coca-cola message.

3. Has anyone ever hit on you even though they knew you were taken?

Actually, yes, though not in years, thank goodness.

4. Do you plan what to wear the next day?

Generally not. I’m pretty decisive, though, in the morning.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? Why?

Hot. The spring went from too cool to too hot in about three weeks.

6. What’s the closest thing to you that’s black?

The computer mouse.

7. Tell me about an interesting dream you remember having.
Continue reading “A lllooonnnggg quiz from Sunday Stealing”

Doubled up memes

World domination. OK, I jest.

Decided to do TWO Sunday Stealing memes. But I dropped all the questions I’ve answered too recently or the one that just annoyed me.

First, the Players’ Meme:

2. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Go to library school.

3. What’s the worst experience you’ve ever had involving alcohol?

Drinking quite a bit of Polish vodka and feeling totally fine, then it ran out, I drank some Johnny Walker and got instantly sick; I mean, within 2 minutes.

4. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done to another person?

Not being very supportive of a friend going through a difficult period.

5. Who do you think started the concept of memes?

Alfred Lord Mememosia, of the Riverside Mememosias.

6. Give a song title or line that describes how you are feeling right now.

“Ain’t gonna study war no more.”

7. What’s your favorite search engine? Yahoo!, Google, Ask, Bing? or something else?

Google, mostly because I’ve used it so often.

8. If Paul is the Cute One and John is the Smart One and George is the Quiet One and Ringo is the Funny One, which Beatle are you?

The enigmatic one.

10. When should you procrastinate – now or later?

I SHOULD later, but I DO now.

11. What is your favorite fast food?

Haven’t had it for a while, but it’s a burger from Wendy’s.

12. What was your favorite game as a child?

As a young child, 500 rummy (cards) and SCRABBLE. Later, pinochle and bid whist (both card games).

13. Why terrible twos have to be terrible?

Children are supposed to test their limits. It’s natural. Though Lydia’s actually started at 18 months, and her twos weren’t all that bad.

14. Describe your favorite family member.

She 4’2″.

15. What does your favorite breakfast consist of?

My FAVORITE would be pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

16. What food is better the day after it was made?

Indian.

17. What was your last big purchase?

No idea. Tell you what the NEXT big purchase will be, though – a roof.

18. When was the last time you kissed someone and really enjoyed it?

Yesterday.

20. Described yourself using two words that rhyme. (i.e. fuddy-duddy)

Loosey-goosey.

21. If you were given the option of a “do-over” in life .. would you take it?

Probably not.

24. When Life Gives You Lemons, What Do You Do With Them?

Suck on them.

25. How different are you in real life as compared to the online identity you have created for yourself?

WYSIWYG. original and Soul Train versions.

26. Do you know what your parents would have named you if you had been born the opposite sex?

No, and I doubt THEY knew. They labored over coming up with my name as it was.

Threesome Meme

1. At what time of your life were you happiest and why?

Our honeymoon in Barbados, because it was our honeymoon. In Barbados. Paid for by someone else.

2. Where and when did you meet the love of your life?

In church.

3. Favourite item of clothing ever or most treasured possession?

I had this Guatemalan work shirt that I loved, which unfortunately got worn out.

4. Must-have makeup or beauty item?

Toothpaste with toothbrush.

5. What do you think is your worst vice or fault .. honestly?

Pastry.

6. Would you tell your friend, if you knew her husband/wife was cheating on her/him?

Probably talk to the spouse first.

7. What ambitions, wishes or desires, for your life, do you still hold close to your heart?

World domination. OK, I jest. Just trying to make it better.

8. Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Quite possibly the same place. On the other hand, I’m almost NEVER right about that question.

9. If you had the choice of any talent with the penalty that you would lose a talent in exchange, what would you want to gain, and what would you be willing to lose?

Being able to type; being able to roll my tongue.

10. Name three things that you do want to be completed in your life before retiring?

House paid off, daughter’s college fund at a substantial level, visit 5 states I’ve never been.

11. Of all of the people out there who would have been your fantasy date? Date, not romance…

Meryl Streep; don’t know WHICH of her characters would show up.

12. Google put another spell on you, you have just changed genders for 48 hours… what are you going to do with your 2 days?

Get a pedicure; I always wanted one. Buy clothes.

13. If you owned your own island, and got to make it your own country, what would you call it? And why?

Rogeria (row-JER-ee-ah).

14. If you rubbed the lamp and got 3 wishes, what would they be?

End war; end hunger; and anyone in public life who tells a deliberate lie, his/her nose would grow like Pinnochio’s.

15. What is your earliest memory of puberty?

Fear; what the heck was THAT?

16. If you got banished to your Island alone and could only bring 5 things, what would they be?

Food, clothing, some sort of shelter (a trailer), computer with connectivity that held lots of music and reading material. Oh, and you; I’d be lonely without you.