Saturday 9: Why Did I Choose You?

Saturday 9: Why Did I Choose You? (1965)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Barbra Streisand reassures her lover that, if she had it all to do again, she would still choose him. Tell us about a decision you've made that you never, ever regretted.

A. I have never regretted marrying my husband. He is a good, strong, kind, loyal, wonderful man.

2) The music was composed by Michael Leonard, who studied classical music at Julliard and the Handel Conservatory of Music in Munich. Do you often listen to classical music?

A. Sometimes. I wouldn't call it often. I do listen to the music from the Lord of the Rings movies a lot. It is kind of classical sounding. Here's a nice guitar version of some of it:

3) The lyrics were written by Herbert Martin. He taught music in the NYC public school system and during the summer worked in summer stock. That's how he met and began collaborating with Michael Leonard. Tell us how you met someone important in your life.

A. I met my husband many times only we didn't know it. We rode the school bus together for several years, but he was four years older than I, so he ignored me totally, and I thought he was not nice. Then, my father set a field on fire, and my husband, at the time a volunteer firefighter, came to put the fire out. I was down there all sweaty and dirty from trying to beat back the flames and keep them out of the forest; that was the summer I was 19. Then a few months later, in October 1982, we were properly introduced underneath the goal posts at the intra-county rivalry football game. He didn't say much so I stood there asking questions about football even though I'd been in high school band and thus attended numerous football games and understood the game very well. He asked me out for the next night and I had to turn him down because I had plans with my parents. After the football game was over, we met again at Mike's Market, where everyone went to get a soda, and he asked me out then and there, and we went dancing.

4) Ms. Streisand was a very good student, graduating fourth in her class at Erasmus Hall High School when she was only 16. One of Barbra's classmates was Neil Diamond. Do you have a favorite Neil Diamond song?

A. Play Me.

5) While she didn't go on to college, she continued her education by attending two different acting schools simultaneously. Did you enjoy being a student?

A. I loved being a student. I will still be a student if I could.

6) Barbra and her first husband, Elliott Gould, shared a New York apartment over a 5th Avenue restaurant called Oscar's Salt of the Sea. Elliott originated the role of Trapper John in the movie M*A*S*H. On TV, the role of Trapper was played by Wayne Rogers. Can you think of another role that's been played by more than one actor?

A. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was played by Kristy Swanson in the movie, and by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the TV series.

7) Oscar's Salt of the Sea has ties to Sesame Street. Jim Henson loved their food and was amused by how inhospitable the owner, Oscar, could be. That's how Oscar the Grouch got his name. Which is your favorite Muppet?

A. The chef.

8) Back to Barbra . . . She is a successful recording artist (nominated for 45 Grammy awards, winning 8) and an Oscar-winning actress, but she's suffered career disappointments, too. In 2010, she read the book Hidden Figures and tried to buy the rights so she could direct the film version. She lost out to fellow Brooklynite, director Theodore Melfi. In 2016, his movie of Hidden Figures was released. Did you see the movie or read the book?

A. I have not done either. It's on my to-do list.

9) Random question: Your best friend takes up painting and proudly presents her first framed work to you. You think it's atrocious. Would you hang it in your home anyway?

A. I would hang it for a while.

______________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Cardinals

 

Thursday Thirteen

President Biden wasted no time in setting about to undo the last president's edicts as quickly as possible. I do not agree with executive orders from either side, as I don't think that's a power the president should have. Rule by edict is not how our system was set up, but it how it has evolved over the last 40 years. 

It needs to be fixed by the legislative branch. Laws, orders, and monetary spending needs to be created and overseen by the legislature. Not the executive branch.

Things being what they are, I can only watch. Here are some things that happened on Biden's first day:

1. He asked Michael Pack, the acting head of Voice of America, to resign, and he did. Pack immediately turned what was a non-partisan news outlet for the soldiers overseas into a propaganda tool for the 45th president. He was also accused of channeling $4 million in charitable contributions into his own production company. He was only in the office for 8 months.

2. Federal officials last night unleashed tear gas against rioters in Portland, Oregon, where protesters smashed in windows of the Democratic headquarters there and declared Biden could not save them or make the changes they required. The New York Times called these people antifascists and radical justice protestors.

3. One of Biden's executive orders appointed Jeffry D. Zients as the official Covid-19 response coordinator. Additionally, he reinstalled the National Security Council, a group the last president disbanded.

4. He signed another executive order requiring masks on federal property. This is not a national mask mandate. He implemented a "100 days masking challenge." This asks all American to wear masks and urges state and local officials to work to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

5. He reinstated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protects immigrants brought here as children from deportation. The order calls for Congress to provide a path to citizenship for these immigrants.

6. He revoked the last administration's plan to exclude noncitizens from the census count.

7. He ended the "Muslim ban," which had blocked travel to the U.S. from predominately Muslim and African countries.

8. He halted construction of the border wall with Mexico, immediately terminating the 45th president's national emergency declaration that allowed for the use of billions of dollars of redirected funds, not appropriated by Congress, to build the wall. 

9. The United States will again become part of the Paris Accord, which address climate change. Additionally, he revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, reversed decisions that had slashed the size of several national monuments, and re-established a committee on the social costs of greenhouse gases.

10. He ended the 1776 Commission (the page was removed from whitehouse.gov within hours of Biden's swearing in), which historians decried as a distortion of the role of enslaved people in the United States. The report allegedly was a white-washed fairy-tale version of American history. I did not see it personally but by most accounts it was a white supremacists' rewriting of history. It was only released two days ago so I don't think many people saw it.

11. Biden extended a federal moratorium on evictions and asked other agencies, such as Housing and Urban Development Departments, to prolong a moratorium on foreclosures on federally guaranteed mortgages. The extensions run through the end of March.

12. Another executive order reinforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requiring that the the federal government not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, reversing policies put in place by the last administration.

13. He established ethic rules for those who serve in his administration. He ordered all of his appointees in the executive branch to sign an ethics pledge. Additionally, he ordered a freeze on all new regulations put in motion by the last administration in order to give his administration time to evaluate them.

You can read about all of these orders, and others, at the New York Times link.

I have no quarrel with any of these actions. I am particularly glad that Mr. Pack is no longer in charge of Voice of America. As for many of these other actions, I would have preferred a legislative solution, not an executive one, but things being what they are, I understand why these executive orders were issued and Biden is using that particular power. He is following the precedent set by previous presidents, including and especially the last one.

This is what happens when the legislative branch collapses, which it essentially did under President Obama because Senator Mitch McConnell refused to move legislation forward under that administration.

Additionally, I (a) have no clue what is going on in Portland and (b) consider all of this to create, at the least, a distrust of the United States from within and without.

If we are going to pivot every time we change presidents because of these executive orders, then we are not a country any nation can securely do business with. Such strident policy changes make planning difficult, even for folks like me. If the rules change every four years, that is an undue burden on the populace, especially the business sector. 

As a personal example, I have heard for most of my life that Social Security won't be available by the time I am of age to take it. I hope it will be, but it's not money I can count on in my senior years, even if I did work all of my life and pay into the system. 

A country needs stability of leadership, and that should be coming from the legislative branch, and not from executive orders that, as we have seen over the last four years, can undo 50 years of regulations at the stroke of a pen.

_____________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 691st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

A New Year Now

I feel like a child who has watched the abusing parent being hauled away in a helicopter. After four years of bullying tirades and threats, today's inauguration of a new president was a welcome relief.

It was also a day of many firsts as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer swore in Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States.

Harris greets well-wishes after her swearing in ceremony.

After watching men reign supreme for my entire life, finally, a woman represents half of the country in a national office.

Finally.

Only 400 years after the country was founded.

Only 100 years after we obtained the right to vote.

Only four years after a woman ran for the office of president on a major ticket, and lost.

I'm fairly sure the men in my life have no idea what this means to me. My husband has an idea, but I suspect others are clueless. They have always seen themselves reflected back at them; I have not.

No woman ever has. Not in a national elected office.

Oh yes, we have made strides. But now we've made a huge leap.

***

This morning was fraught with fear for me. I would have preferred a more secure area for the ceremony. Inside somewhere. I feared for the life of everyone who was sitting on that balcony. I expected to see a bomb detonate on live TV. I held my breath as I watched, wishing them to hurry it along even as I applauded the bravado, the steadfastness, and the willingness to show to this country and the nation that we will not succumb to those who would deny the U.S. Constitution and its promises.

When Kamala Harris took her oath of office, I teared up. I couldn't help it. I didn't join in with other women who are wearing pearls and Chuck sneakers today, but I didn't need the trappings to admire and be mindful of this historic moment.

When U.S. Supreme Court John Roberts swore in Joseph R. Biden as president of these United States, he actually grinned. A real, honest and from the heart smile. Even my husband commented on it.

I don't think either of us had ever seen him smile before. At least, not enough to note it.

There was little spectacle in this inauguration. Lady Gaga came out in an expected outfit, large physical-distancing skirt trailing around her, a golden dove of peace flying above her bosom. She sang a lovely rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

Garth Brooks later sang Amazing Grace, asking at the end for everyone to sing with him. He left the podium and enthusiastically hugged everyone within reach. (I was glad to hear commentators note that everyone out there had been tested at least twice for coronavirus in the last 72 hours.)

The National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, read an amazing poem. She did a great job. Her cadence reminded me of my college professor, Jeanne Larsen, and how she reads her poetry, stressing certain syllables and lines. 

Gorman's poem was called The Hill We Climb.

Here are a few lines:

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed,

It can never be permanently defeated.

It was nice to have poetry back in D.C.

I am not naïve enough to think that this is the end of things. It is simply a different beginning. I do not want to go back to the normal of four years ago - that normal wasn't working. I want to move forward, into a brighter and better future.

Find our better angels, as our new president said.

They are out there, somewhere. All we have to do is look around.

Now, I can breathe.

Caught In the Middle

My word for 2021 is this:

Moderate.

As in, moderation in all things. Eating, drinking, talking, watching TV, playing video games, whatever.

Moderate.

As in, not a Republican (I'm too far left for them), and not a Democrat (I am too far right for them).

I'm a moderate.

Stuck in the middle. My former editor once told me I was what the Republicans used to be, back in the early 1970s.

What are the things I value, then, if I don't fit into any nice square box?

Authenticity
Balance
Compassion
Citizenship (that means different things to people, but to me it means pay my taxes, vote, serve on a public committee or in a non-profit, volunteer to help. I've done all of those things.)
Contributing
Creativity
Fairness
Honesty
Justice (not revenge)
Kindness
Knowledge
Learning
Love
Peace
Respect
Responsibility
Spirituality
Stability
Wisdom

Some people might look at that list and say, Oh my, those are all liberal values. Somebody else might look at it and say, those are conservative values. Somebody else might look at it and say, shouldn't everybody value that stuff? I don't know. There are other things I value too, like peace of mind and feeling secure.

Why am I too far to the right for the left? 

• I agree with gun control (everybody does, if you ask the appropriate question. If you ask nearly anybody if someone who has proven to be mentally ill and dangerous to society should have a gun, the answer is no. That's gun control.) but not to the point of taking away guns. I have no problems with requiring training, insurance, purchase limits, background checks, or what kind of weapon you own (those are already in place, I can't go out and legally buy a rocket launcher). We live on a farm. We have varmints. Sometimes one must shoot a varmint.
• 
  
• I also don't agree with total student loan forgiveness. The program needs to be revamped and modified. The loans should have flexible interest rates, not the high percentages currently on a lot of them. People should be able to refinance them like they would a house loan, say. But not forgiven. There are many ways to get a college education if you want one, and since we don't have free universities here in our little capitalistic love-land, then people need to find ways to pay for it. For example, I took eight years to get my bachelors (10 if you count the time I was at community college), and it was completely paid for when I graduated. I did not use student loans; we took out a home equity loan to pay for my last year so I could push things along and finish before I turned 30.

Why am I too far left for the right?

• Social safety nets are necessary (so that knocks me off the side of the right) but we need larger government oversight so that the participants meet criteria (that is not the neoliberal way, either). That means we need more social workers or client engagers or whatever you want to call them, instead of having 3,000 people looked after by one single person. It should be like 100 to one or whatever a person could adequately handle in a 40-hour workweek without being stressed. This includes programs like SNAP, unemployment, TANF, etc. I'd throw Medicare, Medicaid, and disabilities into this, too. With appropriate oversight, then the people who really need the money would get it, and the ones who do not need the money, or are receiving the funds when they shouldn't be, (like a dead granny's Social Security check) would be weeded out.
• 
  
• Of course, to ensure a single mother can do a job, we need to provide childcare, which we do not do well in this country. I would be amenable to government-provided childcare for those who need it. (I don't know of any party is offering this up.)
• 
  
• Some people simply can't do what is required of them in a job, for whatever reasons. Human beings are not robots, and they're not all alike. Some people have health problems, some people are mentally deficient, some people can't deal with stress. These people can contribute in some way, but there again, oversight or a program to help these folks along is necessary, and that requires bigger government. Not the starved beast we're currently watching thrash about in the throes of death in the moat. A government whose focus is on the welfare of its people, as it states in the U.S. Constitution.
• 
  
• I am pro-life and pro-abortion. (Yes, you can be both.)
• 
  
• I don't care if you have an alternative lifestyle, because I believe what other people do only becomes my business when it affects me as well. As in, wear a mask because you might have covid and if you gave it to me, I would die, but I don't care who you sleep with so long as it isn't me.
• 
  
• I believe in climate change, but I don't care what is causing it because I think making the air and water cleaner is a good idea even if it doesn't affect the climate. Who wants to breathe in all that toxic crap spewing out of these industries? Not me. I'm all for regulating that.

Those are some of the hot button topics. Generally speaking, we all want the same things. The disagreement is over how to go about it.

Time we find some common ground.

MODERATE is a good word for 2021.

Once Upon A Time in La La Land

Recently we watched two movies, La La Land, and Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood.

I heard rave reviews about both.

I disliked both movies. My husband didn't like them either. There was nothing of substance in either one.  We kept looking at each other and then asking, "What are we missing?"

Sometimes the question was, "Do you have any idea what is going on in this movie?"

Movies are not of great interest to me, so I do not consider myself a movie critic. But honestly, shouldn't there be a plot? Character development? A message? Something to make me not want back the 2.75 hours I spent watching the show?

Sometimes I see a bad movie or read a bad book, and wonder what on earth were they thinking?

Beats me.

If you liked these movies and care to explain why, have at it. I'm always up for learning something.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

A - Annoyance: "This is your second call about your vehicle warranty."

B - Bestest Friend[s]: My husband, my brother, and I have three women friends with whom I am close.

C - Car: I have always liked the looks of a Toyota Avalon.

D - Day or night: Day, now. When I was younger, night.

E- Easiest person to talk to?: My friend Mama T.

F - Favorite Month: June.

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: I don't eat gummy anything.

H - Hair Color: Brown with lots of soft white grey in it. That's my hair color, if that's what this is asking.

I - Ice Cream: I don't eat ice cream.

J - Jewelry: My wedding band.

K - Kindergarten: All I remember about it was that the boys always hogged the truck toys.

L - Longest Car Ride: In 1976, my parents drove my brother and me, along with my grandmother and my two youngest uncles, from Virginia to California and back.

M - Most missed person: My grandmother.

N - Number of Siblings: One. I have a fabulously wonderful brother whom I love dearly.

O - One regret: Not taking better care of my health.

P- Part of your appearance you like least?: My feet.

Q- Quote: Love is never wrong. - Melissa Etheridge.

R - Reality TV Show: Deadliest Catch

S - Shoe: Sneakers.

T - Time you woke up: about 7:15 a.m.

U - Unpredictable?: Sometimes.

V - Vegetable you hate: I don't like coconut, but I don't know if it is a vegetable. Siri says it is a vegetable.

W- Worst Habits: Overthinking and overeating.

X - X-Rays: I've had plenty.

Y - Year you were born: Long time ago.

Z - Zoom: I have never zoomed. I used Facetime at Christmas. Does that count?

Saturday 9: Thank U, Next

Saturday 9: Thank U, Next (2018)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Ariana Grande thanks her former boyfriends for what they taught her about love, life, patience and pain. Do you believe you have learned more from your successes, or your mistakes?

A. Probably my successes. I'm one of those people who doesn't do things I don't do well. That's not a good thing, by the way. It is limiting. However, I cannot handle stress and when I don't do something well, it stresses me. So I try something. It seems ok. The result is promising. Then I see if I can make it better, because the bottom wasn't bad. (This is why I don't knit. I tried it. I made a couple of scarves. Even I could see that I am not good at that sort of thing.)

 

2) One of the young men mentioned in the song is Pete Davidson, a cast member of Saturday Night Live. SNL has been on for more than 45 years now. Who is your all-time favorite cast member?

A. I seldom watched Saturday Night Live. Wasn't there a Mr. Bill on there? I'll go with Mr. Bill. Alec Baldwin did a great #45 in the past four years in the clips I watched on youtube, but I don't think he is a cast member.

 

3) Thinking of funny people . . . As you can see from the video, Ariana performed "Thank U, Next" on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show. Ellen makes people laugh every afternoon. Who in your life can you always count on to make you laugh or smile?

A. My husband can usually coax a smile out of me.

 

4) It looks like Ariana Grande's personal romantic saga will have a happy ending because at Christmastime, she announced her engagement. Do you know anyone who is getting married in 2021?

A. I know two people who are getting married but I don't know the dates of their weddings. So I am not sure. I just know "she said yes."

5) Ariana loves Harry Potter and named her dogs Snape, Lily and Sirius Black after characters in the J.K. Rowling books. Are you a Harry Potter fan?

A. Yes. I have read all of the books. I liked the movies, too.

6) She loves board games, especially Monopoly. Sam isn't crazy about Monopoly because it takes so long. How about you? Are you a Monopoly fan?

A. I haven't played Monopoly in a long time. It is okay.

 

7) In 2018, the year this song was released, Toys R Us closed all its stores and went out of business. Who received the last toy you purchased? What was it?

A. My great-niece received a purple cow for Christmas.

8) Also in 2018, Aretha Franklin died. What's your favorite Aretha song?

A. R E S P E C T

9) Random question: Are you more likely to shed a tear at a wedding or during a movie?

A. I cry over the ending of The Lord of the Rings trilogy every time I see it (which is at least 20+ times), but I have been to weddings and not cried. So I guess I am more likely to cry during a movie.

______________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Unnamed Song

 

This is a song I wrote. I've been working on the guitar part for a bit; the words came this past week after January 6.

I am not happy with it, but I thought it might be interesting to somebody to see the work in progress. I suspect I will have to put it aside awhile and rethink it, when I am not so stressed. I do not consider this to be finished, or even good.

Here are the words because my singing is not the best in this recording. The chords for the words are on top; the guitar part is much more complicated than two chords, that is just to keep me on track. "Guitar Bridge" means that little bit of guitar part I play in between the verses.

Unnamed Song - by Anita Firebaugh

Am

You tell me that you need war

D

I don't know what you want it for.

Am

You tell me that you see red

D

All I see are thousands dead.

Guitar Bridge

Am

You crossed a line that you can't see

D

You're taking away my right to breathe

Am

You believe you have the might

D

I know that it don't make right.

Guitar Bridge

Am

We all know there's a great divide

D

How many tears must the victims cry?

Am

You have all the things you need

D

And now you're stealing liberty

Guitar Bridge

Am                  G

And there are no words . . .  (repeat)

Am

To stop this now

Thursday Thirteen #690

Some quotes to think about:

1. The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. ~ Richard Bach

2. The beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold. ~ Martin Luther King Jr

3. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time. ~ Proverbs 17:17

4. The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession. ~ Mark Twain

5. United we stand, divided we fall. ~ Aesop

6. If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother. ~ Epictetus

7. Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk. ~ Susan Scarf Merrell

8. Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. ~ Hebrews 13:1

9. It’s better that we feel something for each other rather than behave like corpses toward one another, the more so because as long as one has no real right to be called a corpse by being legally dead, it smacks of hypocrisy or at least childishness to pose as such. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

10. Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

11. A brother may not be a friend, but a friend will always be a brother. ~ Benjamin Franklin

12. I believe in one thing, that only a life lived for others is a life worth living. ~ Albert Einstein

13. We’re all just walking each other home. ~ Ram Dass

_____________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 690th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Turkeys at the Window

 

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What are your plans for January?

A. Mostly to live through it. I also need to work on our taxes.
 
2. What do you want to see happen in 2021?

A. A kinder, gentler world. I don't see it happening, though. What I want and reality are two different things. Unlike some people, I can tell the difference between what I think I see and what I really see.
 
3.  What would you give a 5 star rating?

A. Omaha Steaks sends out good meat.
 
4. Do you have writing goals for 2021?

A. Yes.
 
5. How do you feel about memoirs?

A. I read them occasionally. I am not a fan of them. They're self-serving, usually, and try to "explain away" some incident or another that was not a good look for the person. I prefer a biography where you have a little more balance and a lot less "me."
 
6. If you could join any musical group who would you choose?

A. The Indigo Girls.
 
7. What are your favorite genres across all media?

A. All medias is a pretty large area. In music, I like Adult Top 40 and older songs. I read fantasy, historical fiction, mysteries, local history, and self-help books. I don't watch much TV but I like shows that feature strong women characters.
 
8. What candle scents are your favorite?

A. Unscented. I'm allergic to most scents.
 
9. How well can you mimic other accents or voices?

A. I have a strong southern accent, so I assume not very well.
 
10. What books are on your TBR list in 2021?

A. I have a stack of Stuart Woods books that my husband has read that I will use for those days when I want to read something and not have to think about it. I am not a big Stuart Woods fan but the books read quickly.
 
11. When do you decide it’s time to upgrade/buy something new?

A. Usually when it breaks, tears, or no longer fits. I have many items around my house that are over 30 years old that I continue to use. No point in replacing something that doesn't need replacing.
 
12. Why is your favorite color your favorite color?

A. Had to read that question twice. My favorite color is my favorite color because I like it and because it looks good on me.
 
13. Who understands you the best?

A. My husband.
 
14. Do you write letters?

A. Yes.
 
15. How do you keep going when times are hard?

A. You just do. Even darkness must past, and a new day will come. You have to hope that there is some good in this world, Mr. Frodo.

________________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: All Shook Up

Saturday 9: All Shook Up (1957)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

Chosen because January 8 is the anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth. (*It kind of applies to the state of the nation at the moment, too.*)

1) In this song, Elvis shares quite a list of maladies: he's itching, his hands are shaky, his knees are weak, he has chills . . . How are you feeling this morning?

A. Not very well. I have had a return of my chronic pain issues in my abdominal muscles. I am six months overdue for return visits to physical therapy for it, thanks to the coronavirus, but I am doing the best I can with my own efforts and help from my husband. Stress makes it worse.

2) He also mentions being "tongue tied." The dictionary defines it as, "unable to speak freely, as from shyness." Do you often find yourself tongue tied?

A. Not anymore. I did when I was younger. Now that I am old, I say what I want. Usually.

3) Even after he was wealthy, Elvis never lived away from his parents. At one point Graceland Mansion was home to four generations of the family: his grandmother, his father and stepmother, Elvis, his wife and daughter. Have you ever lived in a multi-generational household?

A. No. Well, my immediate family when I was growing up, but that was it.

4) Thinking of family, Elvis Presley was a distant cousin of President Jimmy Carter. Both of their family trees can be traced back to the 18th century and Thomas Preslar (before the surname was changed to Presley in the early 1800s). Have you traced your ancestry? If not, is it something you'd like to do?

A. I have traced my ancestry down various paths, but it is a never ending pursuit. There is always another relative to find. (My family was here before the Revolutionary War.)

 

5) As an adult, Elvis never wore denim (except for a movie role). That's because when he was in school, his classmates teased him for "dressing poor" in jeans and coveralls. Is denim a big part of your wardrobe today?

A. Yes.

 

6) Before becoming famous, Elvis drove a truck in and around Memphis. Have you ever had a job that kept you behind the wheel most of the day?

A. No.

7) In 1957, the year this song was a hit, the Allstate Mechanical Freight Set was popular, too. Kids would wind up the engine and watch it pull two cars and a caboose around the track. To enhance the realism, sparks would shoot from the engine's smoke stack as it rumbled by. Did you ever play with a toy train? If not, tell us about a childhood plaything you remember fondly.

A. I had a Mrs. Beasley doll that I hung on to for a long time.

8) The best-selling book of 1957 was Peyton Place, a scandalous tale of life in a small New England town. Do you suppose there are enough steamy stories behind closed doors in your town to fill a novel?

A. There are enough steamy stories behind any closed door to fill a novel.

9) Random question: Can you do 10 push ups?

A. I doubt it, and I'm not going to try to find out.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Apophenia

Apophenia is a word I recently learned. It means “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)."

In contrast to an epiphany (a moment of sudden revelation or insight), instances of apophenia do not provide insight into the nature of reality. They also do not create a factual interconnectedness, but instead creates an abnormal meaning that is then considered to be factual or real, even though it is not. 

Instead, what comes from an apophenia is self-referential, solipsistic (the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist, i.e., "this is my opinion and therefore it must be correct"), and paranoid, which would or could include thinking all the news media is out to create harm, that all government officials are evil (unless they're on your side or speaking your language), that people are following you, etc.

In today's world, it would be things like 5G is more than another advancement in technology, it's something sinister (so wear the tinfoil hat), we couldn't possibly have a pandemic without it being some covert operation (even though history is littered with instances of pandemics, the 1918 flu and the Black Plague being but two examples), there can't be a vaccine created so quickly (even though they've been working on vaccines for SARS and related coronaviruses for over a decade now), etc.

The falsehoods spread on social media are great examples of apophenia. It's how people are creating these alternate realities, where up is actually down, where fascism is "democracy," where wearing a mask is taking away rights, where someone can believe that people who went spent four to eight years in college and then went into the media are out to get them by telling untruths, where they really believe that Democrats suck the blood from babies and eat the hearts of their enemies, or whatever that idiotic stuff is that I see float across my Facebook pages from time to time because I haven't managed to unfollow the latest person to swallow the bait.

This word explains a lot about what is going on today. We have a large group of people - less than half of the nation, I suppose, but close enough, who believe certain things. These things are based on opinion, unrationalized suppositions, and information pieces that people are trying to put into a space that fits into their world view.

However, the information doesn't fit into their world view, so they create a way to try to make it fit. 

There's a very good article that explains these delusions in video game terms here. It is where I learned the word.

I have experienced this apophenia myself, mostly visually in patterns. I have always seen things in random designs on bathroom floors, in tile, or in curtains. As a child, I had a dinosaur I saw on the bus ride everyday. It was a patchwork of brush that looked to me like a dinosaur. (This is actually called pareidolia, but it falls under apophenia.)

It's the same way we see things in clouds as they float by. Who hasn't looked up at the sky and thought, oh, that cloud looks like an elephant, or whatever.

This is all well and good and harmless. When these kinds of interpretations move into the real world because one cannot accept reality, truth, or facts, then we begin to have a problem.

Addressing why people cannot accept reality, truth, or facts then becomes the question.

I do not have the answer.

January is Not My Month

January is my least favorite month.

Here in southwestern Virginia, it is a cold time of year. Nothing is green. The ground is barren, the grass not yet growing. The trees stand naked against cloudy skies - or as dark protrusions against a bright blue sky on cloudless days.

The chill goes into the bones, leaving me huddled in blankets and sweaters. The humidifiers run day and night to keep the air moist so my asthma stays in check. It is a constant struggle to keep the humidity just right - too much, and I worry about mold. Too little, and the air is too dry. Dryness brings about colds and other ills. It is also not good for the wood furniture, or the hardwood flooring.

The winds howl too, in January. They sounds like rabid coon dogs baying at terrified rabbits as the gusts bluster up to 40 or 50 mph, rounding the corners of my house, making a wail that would frighten the church out of a priest.

Sometimes, the winds keep me up at night, the gusts blowing strong against the siding. It is worse now since we had to remove the blue spruces, all dead or dying from some fungus created by a drought a few years ago. 

We need to plant more trees. But who thinks of planting in the dead of winter, when the forecast calls for snow or ice, and the bitterness is enough to freeze the snot up inside of your nose?

This is also my month for the blues. I cannot recall a January when that particular darkness did not come creeping forth to haunt me during this languid, frigid month. It moves along the pathways of my mind like a spider, leaving webs of despair and dismay behind. I sweep, I clean, I wash, but that spider is quicker than I, I cannot outrun its filmy traces, the dust it collects, or the remove the clingy mess from my mind.

Sunshine helps, and that doesn't come until mid-February, when I see green shoots rising from the ground, a tinge of color on the weeping willow trees, the robins suddenly landing in the front yard. The spider runs from the birds, then, still leaving a webby trail, but disappearing until I sense it no longer. 

Or at least, sense it not so much in the highlights of my thoughts.

Wonder Woman: 1984

This post contains spoilers for the Wonder Woman: 1984 movie. Reading more is up to you, dear ones.

We watched Wonder Woman: 1984 on Christmas Day. I had been anticipating the movie for some time, since it was originally scheduled for release back in June.

Reviews mostly have not been kind. The Facebook crowd have been merciless in calling the movie boring, stupid, etc. Some liked it, but the more vocal negatives (negatives are always louder, are they not?) are the ones dominating the conversation.

I was not enthralled with the movie. I did not dislike it, but unlike the initial Wonder Woman, this second movie is not one I would pause and watch again should I happen to catch it on. I do plan to watch it once more before it leaves HBO/MAX, but if I don't manage that, I don't think it will bother me.

I give it a solid 3 stars. Had the writing been better, it would have been a better movie. It was a "message movie," and those can be well done. This one was not.

The story finds us in 1984, complete with frizzy hair, crazy clothes, and music of that era. Diana Prince is working for the Smithsonian in antiquities. She is joined by a new co-worker, Barbara Minerva, who is portrayed rather unconvincingly as a bag lady with a degree and a job. She is painfully shy and unable to hold her own in a conversation. She is immediately envious of Diana, who has it together, dresses well, holds intelligent conversations, etc. Of course, Diana's had a lot of practice, being immortal and all and having lived amongst humanity since World War II.

Barbara is asked by the government to review a cache of stolen artifacts. One of these is the DreamStone, which grants wishes if you hold it. Diana picks it up and makes her wish that she could see Steve again. Barbara picks it up and wishes she could be just like Diana.

The stone is stolen by the bad guy, Maxwell Lord. He is a grifter who cons people out of money. He has a young son he sees on weekends. He does not treat the boy well, which apparently is meant to indicate how bad a person Lord is.

Here we have the main problem with the writing of this movie. Lord as a bad guy simply does not work. He is not someone you can root against with absolute certainty. He's a guy who wasn't a fortunate son. He's tried to make something of himself and gone about it the wrong way, is all. He's not evil, he's just caught up in the grips of capitalism and the "me, me" and "I want I want" maxims that we have all been raised with. I could not root against him with any amount of rancor. He isn't Ares trying to keep evil in the forefront. He's a guy who wants a condo and a fast car.

Lord wishes to be the DreamStone. Anyone who touches him is then granted their wish. He goes about giving wishes for money.

Diana, meanwhile, is accosted by someone who says something to her about not having enough time. Those were Steve's last words. She stops, and says, "Don't ever say that to me again." The man yanks off his wristwatch and repeats Steve's last words to Diana. "Oh Steve, it's you, it's you." 

He doesn't come back from the dead. He comes back but he is in some other guy's body. Who knows what happened to the other guy. This has a huge ick factor if you stop and think about it. I mean, Diana sleeps with this guy who is Steve but isn't Steve. It is a major yuck factor in the movie, on my part, anyway.

Barbara, meanwhile, discovers that there is more to Diana than just a sense of presence. There is power and speed. She becomes a superhero-bad guy but not really a bad guy, just someone else who wants more of what she didn't have before.

All of this takes a long time to set up, and the first hour of the movie moves slowly. Diana is weakening and not as powerful as she should be. At first I thought that this was because her powers were transferring to Barbara, but eventually it is explained that she is losing her powers in order to keep Steve there in some other dude's body.

There's some detective work and finding out about the stone; it seems to be involved in the ruination of every single civilization because people won't renounce their wishes. Too much of a good thing means the end of all things, I guess. 

Lord takes off for the Middle East, so Diana and Steve steal a plane and go after him. Diana can turn the plane invisible thanks to the powers of Zeus. There's some fighting and Diana takes a few bullets and bleeds because her powers are being drained.

Diana eventually renounces her wish for Steve, and she goes off to stop Lord, who is going to use a satellite (new cable TV technology, I suppose, for 1984), to broadcast wishes all over the world. People start wishing for others to drop dead, for money, power, etc. Chaos reigns.

Barbara sides with Lord and tries to stop Diana from stopping him. She loses. Diana manages to broadcast all over the world that people need to renounce their wishes, that having everything means the end of everything, or something like that. People begin renouncing their wishes. Lord sees his son on a camera and realizes his boy means everything to him, and he renounces his wish, too and goes to find the kid.

The movie had multiple messages, and I think this was the main objection to the movie. It hit you over the head with all of them. The characters were flat and not fleshed out as much as they could have been. The messages, while all very important (and it's too bad so many reject them), should have been secondary.

The messages?

Capitalism is bad and doesn't give equal opportunities.

Women have a tough go of it. (Men were not portrayed well in this film, except for Steve.)

Relationships are more important than things and acquiring things.

Watch what you wish for.

The biggest mistakes of the movie were not making the bad guy bad enough - you really need someone to root against in a superhero movie - and in not fleshing out the characters enough. There was not enough action in the beginning of the film.

I don't usually do film reviews, but I waited to watch this one  for a long time. To be disappointed was, well, disappointing. It is not a bad movie, but it doesn't stand up to the promise of the first one.

A third film is in the works. I understand the same writers are involved. That does not bode well, if you ask me. Patty Jenkins should stick with directing and leave the script writing to someone else.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. First things first, did you have a good year?

A. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. It was a year of change. My husband retired from his job as a battalion chief with the fire department, and having him home all the time was a huge change. Then we had the pandemic, and the worst part for me was that a job I had always coveted opened up but I did not feel I could apply for it during a pandemic, so I did not. In the end, the person who has the job now is simply phoning it in and I feel I could have done a better job even all I did was phone it in. At least what I phoned in would have made sense. But that is water under the dam, and I can only hope the pandemic comes to an end soon. Mostly, I think 2020 was a turning point. Whether that turn is for good or ill, only time will tell.

2. What was your favorite article of clothing this year?

A. My blue jeans.

3. What song sums up this year for you?

A. How about a song from The Brady Bunch? When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange who you are what you want to be.

4. What was your favorite movie of the year?

A. I don't have one.

5. Did an actor/actress catch your attention for the first time this year?

A. No.

6. Favorite new TV show?

A. We watched The Voice for the first time. It passed the time.

7. Did you make any big permanent changes this year?

A. My husband's retirement.

8. What was one nice thing you did for yourself?

A. I became a pen pal.

9. Did you develop a new obsession?

A. No, I stuck with the old ones. I did manage (mostly) to stop biting my nails because of concern for the virus, though.

10. Did you move?

A. No.

11. Did you get a pet?

A. No.

12. Do you regret not doing anything?

A. Yes.

13. Do you regret doing something?

A. No.

14. Did anyone/thing make you so mad it stayed with you for days?

A. Yes. But no one I know personally. The political arena was one big pile of pooh this year. There was always something to be angry over if one read the news.

15. Did you lose anyone close to you?

A. Not close, but I know of five people who passed away from Covid-19.

16. Who was important to you this year but wasn’t important last year?

A. I don't think I want to answer this question in a public forum.

17. Who wasn’t as important to you this year as they were last year?

A. Same answer as #16.

18. What was the best moment of the year for you?

A. Nothing stands out as a "best moment," but Christmas was a lot less stressful. My proudest moment was when my husband received an axe for retiring from the fire department.

19. What was the worst?

A. Again, nothing stands out, but I did have a six-week bout with some kind of sinus thing (not Covid) that left me feeling not so well for quite a while.

20. What have you learned about yourself this year that you didn’t know in the years prior?

A. Procrastination is apparently my default. Also, I like to sleep until 7 a.m.

21. What do you wish for others for the coming year?

A. I hope that every who wants it gets the Covid-19 vaccine, and those who don't want it, for whatever reason, manage to stay safe. I also hope we don't return to normal, because normal wasn't working for a lot of people. There are better ways.

22. What do you wish for yourself?

A. More productivity.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.