Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

A. "My hair looks awful."

2. What shirt are you wearing?

A. I have on a pink t-shirt that says Roanoke Fire-EMS on it. It's a breast cancer awareness shirt. The firefighters wore them some years back and my husband bought several of them. I wear them around the house all the time since he retired.

3. Do you label yourself?

A. I imagine everyone does. But yes, I do. I am a writer, a wife, a musician, a blogger, a terrible cook, and a fairly good friend.

4. What does your watch look like?

A. It's an Indiglo Timex watch with a stretch band. It's silver and gold and the watch face is an actual circle, not digital. The date on the thing is never correct. I would like to have one that doesn't have the calendar on it but I haven't been able to find one since the pandemic started.

5. What were you doing at midnight last night?

A. Sleeping.

6. Last furry thing you touched?

A. My husband's chest. Although I suppose that is hairy as opposed to furry.

7. Favorite age you have been so far?

A. My 40s were not bad. I think my best years of my life to date have been from 2004 to 2013. That's most of my 40s.

8. What is your current desktop picture?

A. I don't have one. I have a solid blue desktop. I have so many little shortcuts on there that a photo makes it cluttered.

9. If you had to choose between $1,000,000 or to be able to fly what would it be?

A. The money. I don't need to fly anywhere, that's what airplanes are for.

10. The last song you listened to?

A. Mockingbird, by Carly Simon and James Taylor

11. What time of day were you born?

A. I was born at 3:05 a.m., with the sun in Gemini, the moon in Sagittarius, and Aries rising

12. Where did you live in 1987?

A. We were building the house I live in now in 1987, and moved in late in the year. The house we were renting is about a mile away, give or take.

13. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?

A. Nothing, usually. If I were someplace where I could tell someone and get a refund, then I would do that, but I seldom use vending machines and would be lucky to be in the position for some kind of return.

14. Would you move for the person you loved?

A. Yes.

15. Name three things that you have on you at all times?

A. My watch, my glasses, my clothes.

16. What’s your favorite town/city?

A. The Shire in Middle Earth.

17. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?

A. Lunch at Wendy's.

18. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?

A. Earlier in March.

19. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear?

A. I wore black pants and a nice top, sparkling earrings and necklace.

20. Does anything hurt on your body right now?

A. Yes.

__________

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: Fooled Around and Fell in Love

Saturday 9: Fooled Around and Fell in Love (1976)

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

Chosen because Friday was April Fool's Day.

1) As an April Fool's prank, Taco Bell once announced they had purchased The Liberty Bell and renamed it The Taco Liberty Bell. Describe your perfect taco.

A. I have never had a taco. At least I don't think I have. Looks like something I should add to my diet, though.

2) In 1989, a British policeman investigated a flying saucer that had landed in a field in Surrey. When a figure in a space suit emerged, the policeman ran away. Turns out it was a hot air balloon, designed by billionaire Richard Branson to look like a UFO as an April Fool's prank/publicity stunt. Have you ever seen a UFO?

A. Yes. When I was young, I saw strange lights in the sky that I considered a UFO. It may have been a plane or Air Force training - there was a rumor when I was young that the Air Force trained out of the next county over. I was about 11 when I saw it.

 

3) This week's song is about a man who collected girls' phone numbers in a little book. When he and she broke up, he'd tear out her page. Do you keep a pen-and-paper address book? Or do you use your cellphone to hold street addresses as well as phone numbers?

A. I have addresses on paper, in a spreadsheet, in a Christmas list on MS Word, and in my phone.

4) This was the biggest hit blues guitarist Elvin Bishop ever had, but that's not him singing it. While he's proud of his composing and guitar prowess, Bishop felt his voice was too gravelly for this song. Do you like your singing voice?

A. It's ok. It could have been better with training, but I can carry a tune. Anyone who's listened to some of my videos on this blog has heard me sing.

5) A brainy kid, Elvin Bishop won a full scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he majored in physics. Obviously, though, as a blues guitarist he doesn't lean on that physics degree very often. What's something you learned in school that you seldom used again?

A. Trigonometry and Latin. I don't think I've ever had much call to use either one of those.

6) Elvin was born in Iowa, grew up in Oklahoma, went to college in Illinois, recorded in Georgia and now lives in California. How many different states have you called home?

A. Just one.

 

7) In 1976, the Summer Olympics were held in Montreal. When did you most recently visit our neighbor to the north?

A. I have never been to Canada.

8) Nadia Comaneci was the star of the 76 Olympics, scoring a perfect 10 in gymnastics. What have you enjoyed lately that you would rate "a perfect 10?"

A. The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon, was an excellent (though quite long), read. I'd give it a 10 for a fantasy book.

9) Random question: Do you ever talk to your TV?

A. Yes. Just the other night I was watching My Brilliant Friend, and I kept urging Elena, "Don't let them in your house!" Also, during Battle Bots, I was rooting for Witch Doctor and urged the bot to back off when its opponent burned out instead of continuing the fight. So yes, I talk to the things on my TV, but not the TV itself, sitting there with nothing on it.

_______________

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.  

A Lazy Rainbow

About 10:30 a.m. this morning, as I was doing laundry, I glanced outside and realized that the mountain had turned rainbow colors.

The rainbow was simply resting on the mountain. It wasn't up in the sky.

I had never seen this before.

The colors weren't brilliant, but they did come out in the camera. Can you see the rainbow colors?

A Cold Front Sunrise

We had severe storms and rain yesterday, with a cold front moving through today with high winds.

It brought a great sunrise, though, as that ol' big yellow ball peeked through the clouds and turned the mountain tops pink. What could I do but grab my camera and go stand out in the wind and cold in my robe and shoot a few photos?

Pink mountain tops. The camera didn't quite do the site justice.

It was an exquisite site, really, to watch the light change.

The light turned quite red as the sunlight moved from the mountains towards me. The bird just in the middle of the shot was also glimmering in the light, but I could not catch a decent photo of it.

It hit the tree tops.

And then it made a broader swath.

Finally, it reached my yard, highlighting this tree.

And it hit the forsythia bushes to the side. This again doesn't do the sight justice.

Thursday Thirteen #750

I am a terrible procrastinator (sometimes). I thought I'd make a list of things that might help me overcome this.

1. Build confidence and know I can do it.

2. Don't punish myself for procrastinating.

3. Focus on what I need to do.

4. Tackle the most important item first.

5. Set a time limit, like 15 minutes, and do what needs to be done in that time frame. If I want to keep going after that, then do!

6. Break a task into smaller chunks. Clean only one room at a time, say.

7. Plan to take breaks while working on a task so you have something to look forward to.

8. Use a to-do or goal list, and break it into subcategories.

9. Talk myself into doing the work. Also try to center and stay calm and not panic over getting the work done.

10. Consider "done" to be as good as "perfect." Perfect doesn't exist and perfectionism is a big project killer (at least for me).

11. Reward myself for finishing whatever I have set out to do.

12. Change my environment or remove distractions (haven't figured this one out yet with a computer).

13. Be sure my workspace is the best for me.

What about you? How do you avoid procrastination?

____________________

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 749th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Slap

I use my blog for many things - inspiration, a place to try out different techniques, videos, music, poems, etc. Sometimes it's like a journal, and that's especially true when I feel like things around me need to be remembered. This post is sort of a mix.

In the news these days, we have the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or Putin's war, as some are calling it. Ukraine has been valiant and held back the tides of Russian soldiers but is slowly giving way. President Biden is working with NATO, we've sent support, imposed sanctions, and performed other political feats aimed at stopping the Russian aggression in its tracks.

The former guy has called upon Russia to aid him in attacking President Biden. He still can't get over the fact that he lost the election in 2020. I don't care what Hunter Biden did or didn't do. President Biden hasn't placed his son within the Whitehouse and given him places of authority and power. The former guy put all of his adult children (except Tiffany) into places of power within the federal government. There is a huge difference there. What his children did actually impacted the United States because they were part of the government after his election. Hunter Biden is a nobody, except a president's son.

Additionally, the January 6 committee continues to smash away at the Republican insistence that the insurrection of that date was just a "tour" gone wrong, or however they're framing it. A federal judge yesterday released some paperwork that had been withheld to the committee and in doing so stating there was obvious obstructionism on the part of the former guy and obvious efforts to interfere with the electoral count process and obstruct Congress in its official duties. The noose tightens, but will it close fast enough?

Also, the Senate is on its way to confirming the first black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. Susan Collins (R) said today she would support the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, meaning "bipartisan" support, even if she is the only Republican to vote yes. This still leaves the court wildly mismatched, although the Supreme Court should not be the political football it has become.

Locally, Virginia, now a red state with Governor Trumpkin at the helm (though the state senate remains blue), is looking at a late budget, which always holds up the process for the localities when it comes to sorting out school funding and other spending priorities. 

In the entertainment world, the big talk was about how Will Smith walked up the stairs at the Oscars and slapped emcee Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife. And this is what I will end up talking about.

Let me say I'm not a big fan of either Rock or Smith, though I've seen movies with both of them in it. Independence Day is one of my favorite movies, and Smith stars in it. I also like his movie Hitch. Rock I know more as a foul-mouthed comedian than an actor.

At any rate, my thoughts on this are many and varied. I do not condone violence.

The slap was obviously premeditated - Smith had a good walk before he reached Rock. He could have stood there and verbally insulted him, which though bad, would not have been as violent. Smith later said he was defending his wife.

And that, I confess, I admire. And envy. How many times in my life have I wished someone would have stood up for me?

Multitudes. 

How many times was I picked on at school, and no one stopped it (except perhaps a teacher stepping in, but not because it was me, but because she needed to get the class rolling). But my classmates did not step in.

I have had many instanced where people hurt me or laughed at me, or attacked me, even, and no one else stepped in. I felt marginalized and like I was nothing.

I can recount many, many times in my life when I needed someone to stand up for me, and no one did. Many of those times involved men being assholes.

People have helped me, but few have protected me. I have fought my own fights, as best I know, and as best I knew how. Maybe I am forgetting something, have misremembered a few incidents, maybe someone stuck up for me and I never knew about it. I secretly hope so.

With that in mind, I applaud Smith's defense of his wife. She has someone on her side who has her back. 

I don't applaud the way he went about it, but he did stand up for her.

We should all stand up for one another when we see wrongs happening. Everyone needs somebody in his or her corner.

(Ukraine needs someone in her corner right now.)

(This has been edited from the original.)

Northern Flicker

Here's a bird I've not photographed before. We have a small flock of them in the backyard in early morning at the moment. 

This is (I think) a northern flicker. It's a type of woodpecker. Apparently, it also eats grubs and things from the ground.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Are you living a meaningful life?

A. A meaningful life is individual, and what each person deems it to be. This is not something anyone can pass judgment on, probably not even the person living the life. While we like to think of ourselves as individuals, we touch the lives of others every day, and with books and words, sometimes for millenniums. Who is to say what impact an individual life may or may not have?

2. What’s the one thing you cannot live without?

A. Air.

3. When is it acceptable, if ever, to break the law?

A. When it is to save someone else. If the sign says, "Fine of $300 for walking on the grass" and someone is over on the grass yelling for help, I'm not going to not walk on the grass. I'm going to go help.

4. What do you want your final words to be?

A. I don't care what they are, really.

5. What do you think are the five most beautiful things in the world?

A. My husband's eyes, my brother's smile, music of any kind, green grass, and blue birds.

6. What makes you feel empowered?

A. Standing in the Wonder Woman stance. (Hands in fists, held at hips. <|> )

7. Which is more important–what you say, or how you say it?

A. They are both important. In our new world of texting, what you say has become more important than verbal inflexion, but they both matter.

8. Do you live to work, or work to live?

A. I work to do something that I enjoy.

9. How do you think the world will change in 10 years? 50? 100?

A. I'm not sure the US will be a democracy in 10 years. It will still be a superpower because we have so much armory, but democracy is about dead. In 100 years, I suspect we will have blown ourselves up and whatever is left of humanity will be picking up the pieces.

10. What is something you’re certain you’ll never experience?

A. What the world will be like in 100 years.

11. What one responsibility do you wish you didn’t have?

A. Cooking.

12. What is something you’re embarrassed that you’re so good at?

A. Video games.

13. What’s the one thing you most want to achieve before you die?

A. Secret dreams are best left unsaid.

14. What’s something that offends you?

A. Ted Cruz. Well, he's a someone, I suppose. Something that offends me is a KKK hood.

15. What makes you most angry about the country?

A. We've become a bunch of whiny little puffballs who are so wrapped up their individuality that they couldn't come together to build a snowman, much less save a country. I've never seen such emotionally immature and infantile behavior on display in recent years in my entire life. When I was in kindergarten, the kids behaved better than the adults do today. If we were nuked tomorrow, it would be no less than we deserve.

__________

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: Memories

Saturday 9: Memories (2019)

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

1) This song is a toast. Have you ever performed an official toast (at a wedding, a graduation, a retirement party, etc.)?

A. I gave a speech at my high school graduation, but it wasn't a toast.

2) According to Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine, this is a "toast to the ones here today." Tell us about someone in your life that you're especially grateful for.

A. I would say my husband, but everyone knows that, so I tell you about my brother instead. He's three years younger than I am, and he's a great brother. We talk on the phone at least once a week, and he is there if I need him. Hopefully, I am there if he needs me, too. He was very helpful when my husband was hurt in 2014 and he also helped me get him home in 2019 when hubby had his ankle fused together. My brother also gives the best Christmas presents. His name is Loren, but he has a family nickname that we use, although I tend to just call him "bro" and he calls me "sis." 

3) Levine is the song's composer. He said he was compelled to write it, to help him cope with the death of a friend. His lyrics acknowledge that "everybody hurts sometimes." What advice would you share with someone who is struggling?

A. Hold on for one more day. Change will come your way. (Bonus points if you know where that's from.)

4) Adam Levine was one of the original judges on The Voice. Are you a fan of the show?

A. We have watched it during the Covid quarantine. Prior to that, I didn't even know it existed.

5) Among his friends, Adam is known to be an excellent Scrabble player. Is there a game you're particularly good at (or you especially enjoy)?

A. I don't know if video games count, but my favorite video game is Skyrim. It's a first-person player open-world game. No guns. Swords, though, but you can play without killing the NPCs if you want, and just be a hunter and trader and grow rich.

I also like to play Rummy, if you want a more traditional game. That's a card game, in case someone doesn't know.

6) Though he's a multi-Grammy winner, Adam wasn't always successful. In fact, he was fired after just three hours at his first job as a waiter. Have you ever had a job that just wasn't a good fit?

A. Yes. I went to work for a bank and lasted about two months. I hated it. It was boring and lonely, and I didn't seem to get along well with the other people there, and I cried every night. I finally quit it and went back to college.

7) In 2019, when this song was released, Joaquin Phoenix gave his Oscar-winning performance in Joker. Heath Ledger also won an Oscar for is portrayal of the same character in a different film, and Cesar Romero was The Joker on TV. Today The Batman is doing great business at the box office. Do you have a favorite super hero, or arch villain?

A. At the moment, Wonder Woman as played in the newest movies would be my superhero. The scariest villain was The Borg in Star Trek.

8) Also in 2019, two familiar names had books on NY Times best seller list: John Grisham with The Guardians and Janet Evanovich with Twisted Twenty Six. Are either of these authors among your favorites?

A. I have read all of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, of which Twisted Twenty Six is one. I've read a few of John Grisham's novels. I wouldn't call either a favorite author. I'm honestly not sure I have a favorite author.

9) Random Question: What's something you wish you'd figured out earlier?

A. I wish I'd figured out that the publishing industry was going to change so dramatically from 1990 to now. I wish I'd known that newspapers were dying much sooner than I did (or I didn't deny it when I did realize it), and that the old way of publishing books was going to change so dramatically that it's practically a matter of luck and who you know to get a book deal. Maybe if I'd realized things were going to be so different, I would have taken a different route.

_______________

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.  

Blog4Peace - Ukraine

 

Book Review: Complete Confidence

Complete Confidence
By Sheenah Hankin

Copyright 2009

Kindle Edition

Approximately 250 pages

I'm fairly sure this was a free book. I found it in my Kindle library, at any rate, and I don't generally buy books for Kindle. The thing is full of books, but they are all the free kind. I read them at the doctors' offices.

At any rate, I am always looking to improve myself, so I pulled this up on my cellphone to read one day while I was out, seeing as how I'd finished The Lord of the Rings.

It's a right winger's self-help book. I could tell that almost immediately, because anyone who needed therapy this author pinned as a "loser" even though she never actually said that. It came through loud and clear in her writing - if you're reading this book, then you're a loser. You also need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and mental illness isn't a real thing, and only something like 10 people in a million really suffer from depression, and nobody ever needs to take an antidepressant.

Then she confirmed my suspicions by talking about being a guest on Fox News.

Her premise in the book isn't that self-esteem is the problem people have, it's lack of confidence. She doesn't address why people may have lack of confidence (or low self-esteem), really, except to occasionally allude to poor parenting. She also offers little help to anyone who really had a crappy childhood, you know, those who were physically and sexually abused, which is at least half the population if not more. 

There is also nothing here for anyone who suffers from chronic pain. Basically, she writes as if such things don't exist (which, I have discovered, is the thinking of many folks who lean right in their politics) and anyway, if you're struggling, it's your own fault.

This is a bit off-putting, but I read the entire book, nevertheless, to see what someone like this actually might offer.

The takeaways, other than the fact that I'm already a loser and have nowhere to go but up, were these:

Don't complain.

Don't whine.

Don't procrastinate.

Create a motto or a sentence that you can use to "calm yourself" if you're upset and acting "emotionally immature," which, according to this author, I am emotionally immature in multiple factors of 10 zillion times infinity.

It's basically Cognitive Behavorial Therapy without a pinch of reality. Because the reality is, lots of folks suffer all the things she considers to be "emotionally immature" behavior (think Ted Cruz yelling, "Don't you know who I am?" at the airport, or any of the Republican questions to the most recent Supreme Court candidate would likely qualify as emotionally immature examples) for a myriad of reasons.

She does not suffer these emotionally weak people (they are fools) and I honestly worried about the folks she might be seeing in actual practice, even though she proclaims time and again that she was once a loser too (but she got better).

I can't find much about this author online, which in itself is suspicious. She seems to have cleaned her Internet presence and I don't know why. If she really was a guest on Fox, shouldn't there be some bragging rights there? There are two reviews on health websites, both giving her 1 star. I found her on Facebook but she's not posted anything public since 2020, and then she was whining (ha, she said don't whine and she does!) about Covid and quarantines.

The four takeaways mentioned above I will keep in my brain, losing the rest of this overbearing book in the process. I think not whining, complaining, and procrastinating are good notions, even though she didn't really give any method of overcoming the latter (I'm a terrible procrastinator, but then, I'm also emotionally immature to the nth degree, according to this author, so there's that). I like the idea of calming yourself, if you can realize it in the moment and shut up and settle down. 

So far the only thing I've come up with as a motto for this is "Be Still" with the image of a pond in my head, but then the Eagles song, Learn to Be Still, started popping into my head and it says "you never will learn to be still" so I'm thinking this won't work as a motto.

I prefer not to use the words "Calm down" because that is what men frequently tell women, and my husband has been told numerous times not to say that to me, so I need something else.

So, motto suggestions welcome. 

But don't read the book.

Thursday Thirteen

1. At the start of the pandemic, when we were home always (as we are now, for the most part), I stopped wearing makeup. It seemed a waste to continue using it and my husband didn't mind.

2. When I returned to wearing makeup, which was Covergirl, I realized it made my eyes itch to use mascara (and using the other makeup made the rest of my face feel oddly, too). I bought new mascara, but the problem continued.

3. I asked others about hypoallergenic makeup, and most everyone said either Physician's Formula or Clinique.

4. Monday, I went to Walmart and found they had a small section of Physician's Formula makeup. I purchased only mascara (and it was expensive).

5. Yesterday, I wore the mascara. After several hours, my eyes began to itch.

6. This morning, my eyelids are so sore I can barely stand to wash my face. 

7. So that was a waste of money. I hate to waste money, but I don't know how else to find a product that I'm not reacting to.

8. Apparently, I need something beyond "hypoallergenic" since their idea of hypoallergenic and mine are different things. 

9. That leaves Clinique, which I know is quite expensive, and I'm not sure who carries it locally. It's probably near the perfume counter at Macy's or Belk (and I'm highly allergic to perfume), and I don't go in those stores often.

10. I don't look bad without makeup, but I look better with it. I don't look better with swollen eyelids, though.

11. The Covergirl mascara also claims to be hypoallergenic. It only makes my eyes itch; it doesn't make them hurt, so for now if I feel I need that little something extra, I will use the Covergirl.

12. I wonder how many other women are allergic to makeup? It must be many or there wouldn't be the "hypoallergenic" claims on products.

13. Any suggestions? Is it time to embrace my own self-beauty, and go without my face covered with products that may be harmful?

____________________

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 749th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

TV and Movie Thoughts

The HBO series My Brilliant Friend upsets me with every episode. Yet, I can't not watch it. I am breathless in my vigil to see what happens next, even though we're talking fairly routine life stuff here - marriage, having children, almost having an affair. And at the heart of it, a childhood friendship between two similar yet very different young women.

Today I am quite grumpy, as I didn't sleep well. We watched My Brilliant Friend last night and I think it carried over into my night and this day. The show reminds me, quite vividly and pointedly, of the relatively small shelf women and women's rights stand upon. Actually, it's more like we and those rights stand upon the head of pin, much like thousands of invisible and unreal angels.

Because the truth of the matter is, women are, every day, thrown around, mistreated, and married to be a man's sex partner, maid, cook, and baby carrier. All over the world. Even here. 

In the current climate, and with the Republicans doing their best to make the vetting of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson look like a roadside circus while she, being a woman, can't burst into tears and sobs like her predecessor in the process, Bret Kavanaugh. That's because if she did, she'd be called out for it in multiple ways and a single tear would disqualify her, while Kavanaugh's whiny ass histrionics were simply a reflection of a poor man who'd been unfairly raked over the coals because of his purported abuse of women.

And My Brilliant Friend shows how poorly women have been and continue to be mistreated. It also shows how to kill a spirit in someone who needs only a wee bit of support to become outstanding. Elena wants to be a writer, but no one supports her efforts.

It makes me sad.

The Gilded Age ended its season Monday night. That show is no Downton Abby, in spite of being written by Julian Fellowes, who also wrote the latter. The Gilded Age is American greed and capitalism in full display, complete with backstabbing, bitterness, lies, deceit, and merciless racism and again, gender inequality. It was a train wreck from the get-go, but again, one I watched because looking away didn't seem to be an option.

I don't know if I was waiting for Mrs. Russell to find her place amongst the old guard in high society, a position she coveted to the point of insanity, or if I was waiting for the old guard in high society to fall on its face, or for the servants and lower-class labor workers to rise up and proclaim the world belonged to them.

The characters were not likeable, except for Marian, the poor relative who came to live with the rich aunts in New York, and Ms. Scott, the Black woman who went to work for Marian's aunt and who wanted badly to be a writer. She also has a much more complicated life than one may have thought from the first few episodes.

(I note both of these TV shows have women who want to write in them. Perhaps that is the draw for me . . . watching these women who love what I love try to overcome.)

And then there's Spielberg's West Side Story. I may have seen the original at some point, but if I have, I don't remember it.

I disliked this version. I disliked it a lot. There wasn't a character to feel anything for, or time to feel anything for one, anyway. The dancing was fun to watch, some of the songs familiar, and it was certainly well done and spiffy, but I did not like it.

The character I most liked was the girlfriend of the Bernado. Anita (yep, that is her name) is all common sense and she understands the world. She also was a great dancer. I liked her best of all and not simply because she had my name.

This has been nominated for 7 Oscars and a bunch of other awards. I follow a few screenwriters on Facebook and they loved it, although from the comments I could see that not all of their followers liked it. I thought it was an incredibly shallow movie, however skillful the dancing. I felt nothing for the lead characters.

I knew the movie was based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, so I had an idea of how it would end. It seemed more like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, if you ask me.

Even though this version did nothing for me, I would like to see the original in order to make a comparison. There must be something there I am missing, yes?

Break It To Me Gently

This is a cover of Break It to Me Gently, a song made famous before I was born by Brenda Lee, and later by Juice Newton when I was a teenager.

I am playing a Dean Vendetta electric guitar and using a Boss RC-3 Loop Station. I recorded first the rhythm, then some of the lead, and am adding rhythm and lead when I recorded this with my iPhone. The drums come from the Loop Station.

This is actually harder than it looks. :-)

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Do you like sushi?

A. I have never had it nor have I ever had the desire to try it.

2. What color is your car?

A. White.

3. What is your favorite thing about the place where you live?

A. It's lovely here, with the Blue Ridge Mountains ringing the Roanoke valley. The seasons are beautiful, with spring - almost here - dressing up the trees and shrubs with flowers, and summer settling into a comforting sea of green that stretches for as far as one can see. In Autumn, the trees put on their best finery, with colors ranging from dull browns to brilliant reds and flaunty yellows, and while winter can appear dull and dreary, a snowfall quickly changes the world to a wonderland spectacular. And even in the deep darkness of the winter days, there is always the promise of the spring to come. Additionally, most folks are decent - maybe not as kind as in my younger days, but humanity remains. History, too, calls to me, keening out my roots that go as far back as I can trace them, for here my ancestors from England and Scotland settled, seeing something of their homeland in these wonderous Blue Ridge Mountains. And then there is my husband, without whom I would be lost.

4. Are there brands of certain items that you will ONLY buy that brand (ie paper towels, ketchup, etc.)?

A. We have to have Heinz catsup, Baked Lays potato chips, and Lays lightly salted wavy potato chips. I also prefer Cheer Free for washing my private clothes, but it is hard to come by these days so I will be switching to All Free and Clear when I've used the last of my Cheer Free. Additionally, other items must be unscented and hypoallergenic because of my allergies.

5. Are you allergic to any food? Animals? Plants? Medicines?

A. I am allergic to shellfish, dogs, cats, (anything with fur), most trees and grasses, molds, dust and dander, and a few medications. Basically, most of the world.

6. Have you ever been stung or bitten by an animal?

A. I've been stung by bees and spiders. I had a spider bite me on my little finger one time and I couldn't feel it for over a year! I don't recall any serious animal bites.

7. Do you have a favorite bird? Do you feed the birds at your house or the park?

A. I do not have a favorite bird. We put out a bird feeder in the winter months. We were a little late getting it out this year and the birds either didn't need it or had a difficult time finding it.

8. What would you recommend binging on Netflix or similar?

A. I don't subscribe to anything but Amazon Prime and HBO Max (comes with my DirecTv). We enjoyed Downton Abby (that was on PBS), and watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Gilded Age, My Brilliant Friend, Gentleman Jack (returning in April!), and a few other shows. In the past, we really liked Six Feet Under, Masters of Sex, Band of Brothers, and Game of Thrones.

9. What is your proudest achievement?

A. Remaining married for almost 39 years, if that counts. If it doesn't, then obtaining my masters degree.

10. Do you have or are you from a big family?

A. My immediate family had four people in it, but my mother had four brothers and a sister, and my father had a sister and three brothers. So, I had lots of aunts and uncles and cousins, although my father's family all moved to California when I was a baby so I never really knew them except as voices on the phone.

11. What do you do for exercise?

A. I walk.

12. What would be your favorite breakfast? (You didn’t have to cook it yourself.)

A. Eggs, bacon, grits, a piece of toast with Concord grape jelly, biscuits and gravy, and apple juice to drink. I haven't had a breakfast like that in years.

13. Is there an item that you really want but cannot afford?

A. I try not to lust after the things I cannot have.

14. What was the farthest distance you made for your holidays?

A. I don't understand this question.

15. Are you afraid of speaking in public?

A. I am not fond of it, but I have done it.

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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.

Saturday 9: Get on Your Feet

Saturday 9: GET ON YOUR FEET (1989)

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

1) In this song, Gloria Estefan encourages us to stand up and make it happen. What's something you want to accomplish this fine Saturday?

A. Saturday is "change the bed" day, so hopefully that will happen. I would also like to take a drive. We'll see how it goes.

2) She sings that we've all been through some nasty weather. How has winter 2021/22 treated you thus far (weather wise)?

A. We've had a somewhat mild winter, just a few snows and days of cold temperatures. But winter always looks so bleak and dreary - I am glad to see the grass greening and the sheen of green on the tips of trees, if it that does mean my allergies are back.

3) Best known as a recording artist, Gloria is also a best-selling author of children's books. When you were a kid, were you a big reader?

A. Yes, and I still am.

 

4) In addition to music and writing, she's a linguist. As a college student, she supported herself as an English/French/Spanish translator at Miami International Airport. When were you most recently at an airport? Were you traveling yourself, or picking someone up/dropping them off?

A. I was last at an airport around 2017, when I picked my husband up from a business trip.

5) Gloria made her acting debut in 1999's Music of the Heart, a Meryl Streep movie about music teachers in Harlem. Did you have music classes in school? Have you ever taken private lessons?

A. We had music classes at my elementary school. Mrs. Tingler taught us many different songs and brought lots of instruments for us to try out. She taught us many songs, some of which I still sing. Later, I was in band, which began in the sixth grade. I played the flute. Mrs. Arrington came to the school and gave private piano lessons (during class time, I'm not sure how they managed that) and I took lessons from her at her home, too, during the summer. She found me frustrating because I didn't want to learn Bach, I wanted to learn The Eagles. I also took private guitar lessons when I was teenager and again when I was in my early 30s and working downtown. I took them on my lunch hour.

 

6) Today Gloria is one of the celebrity residents of Star Island, a man-made island in Biscayne Bay. Star Island is connected to the mainland by MacArthur Causeway, named for General Douglas MacArthur. Tell us about a street in your neighborhood, and who it's named for.

A. My street is called Blacksburg Road, and it's called that because it's the way people traveled from Fincastle to Blacksburg. It isn't named after anyone. I am not in favor of naming things after people anymore (you just never know what skeletons hide in closets). I think schools, streets, and other public spaces should be named after trees, birds, or geometrical shapes or nondescript nouns, like "Cloud Street" or "Blue Sky School."

7) 1989, the year "Get on Your Feet" was popular, was the year of the first HDTV broadcast. By 1998, high-def shows and TVs were dominant. How many TVs are in your home? Do you watch shows on your computer or phone?

A. We have two TVs, one in the main living area and one in the bedroom. We seldom use the one in the bedroom. I have never watched a show on my phone (tiny little screen) but I have watched shows that I couldn't get on the TV for whatever reason (storm knocked out the satellite dish or something) to catch up on a series.

8) Also in 1989, The Simpsons premiered. It's now the longest-running prime-time TV show ever. Are you a fan?

A. I have never watched an episode of it, although I am familiar with it. Dooh! It is rather hard not to be familiar with something like that.

9) Random question: Should husbands wear their wedding rings?

A. I don't know that they should, but it is nice when they do. Most men I know are in businesses that require the use of their hands - my husband was a fireman and is a farmer, and he does not wear his ring because when he was fighting fires, the ring could get hot and burn his finger, and as a farmer it can become caught in farm machinery. If a fellow at a computer all day, then I suppose he could wear his ring without worrying about losing his finger. I used to be diligent about wearing my wedding band, but I am not so much anymore. We're married whether we have the rings on or not.

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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.  

Abstract Art

I found this photo on my camera. I like it. I didn't take it intentionally; I must've hit the button when I was moving the camera.