It's So Party, Let's Go Dancy

Saturday night we threw a party at the Botetourt Golf & Swim Club. The event was to congratulate my nephew and his new bride on their elopement in January.

It was a nice little shindig.

Me and the unmarried nephew. Ain't he handsome?

Early beginning, just to show the decorations. Teal is the bride's favorite color.

Still waiting on folks to come.

Not as boring as that might look.

My sister-in-law. This is probably the best picture I've ever taken of her.

Party going in full swing now.

My mother-in-law (l) has a chat and a laugh.

Family photo of groom's family.

The cake!

Bride and groom cutting the cake.

Smiling at another photo op.

Chowing down!

Lots of discussions.

Grandma with grandsons & new bride.

Special thanks to my dad for letting us use the room at the country club.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Do you own your things or do your things own you?

A. I own my things. I am attached to some of my things, but there is nothing I could not live without. I might have a bit of addiction to computers but after a few days I'd be over it.

2. Would you rather lose all of your old memories or never be able to make new ones?

A. If you're not making new ones, you're probably dead or comatose, so I guess I will have to go with the first choice.

3. How do you deal with someone in a position of power who wants you to fail?

A. Tell them to kiss my ass (and then vote them out).

4. What do you have that you cannot live without?

A. My husband. I mean, I'm sure I could live without him, but I'd prefer not to. And then there's food and water, kind of life's necessities.

5. When you close your eyes what do you see?

A. Darkness.

6. What sustains you on a daily basis?

A. Chocolate.

7. What are your top five personal values?

A. Be loyal to your friends and family. Believe in yourself. Give and care for others. Stand up for what is right. Knowledge is more valuable than opinion. My tribe deserves my protection and love: if you are in my tribe I will fight for you. (I think that's more than 5.)

8. Why must you love someone enough to let them go?

A. Because if you really love someone, you are not controlling them, you are allowing him or her to grow and be the person he or she wants to be.

9. Do you ever celebrate the green lights?

A. When I hit them right and don't have to sit through the red ones, sure.

10. What personal prisons have you built out of fears?

A. I don't travel much now because of my health. And I haven't written a book.

11. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

A. Write a book.

12. Why are you, you?

A. Because I have unique DNA. I am also smart, intuitive, empathetic, and generally kind.

13. If you haven’t achieved it yet what do you have to lose?

A. Nothing except self-worth for not achieving it.

14. What three words would you use to describe the last three months of your life?

A. Exciting, hectic, growth.

15. Is it ever right to do the wrong thing?  Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?

A. Yes to both questions. For example, the law may say "don't swim in the creek" but if someone is drowning you must go in and save them. If the right thing hurts someone else, perhaps it really isn't the right thing. "Right thing" is somewhat subjective.

16. How would you describe ‘freedom’ in your own words?

A. Freedom! Oh freedom. That's just some people talking. Your prison is walking through this world all alone. Oops. Not my words. That's the Eagles. Freedom is the ability to do what you need and want so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. It's also minding your business, which I wish more people would do, and dealing with your own stuff and not interfering in other people's.

17. What is the most important thing you could do right now in your personal life?

A. Manage my stress.

18. If you could ask one person, alive or dead, only one question, who would you ask and what would you ask?

A. I would ask Thomas Jefferson what the hell the second amendment really means. And then maybe get him to explain his "separation of church and state" comments.

19. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?

A. Too bad in this country happiness doesn't count for anything. But writing is my work and it makes me happy. Definitely hasn't made me rich but it makes me happy when I am doing it and doing it well.

__________
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: The Pefect Fan

Saturday 9
THE PERFECT FAN (1999)

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

1) In this song, a son thanks his mother for helping him grow up strong and confident. Who is the last person you thanked? What did they do for you?

A. I thanked my husband for stopping at the store to pick up the Cool Whip that I had forgotten.

2) Who was the last person to thank you for something?

A. My friend thanked me for worrying about her health.

3) This is from the Backstreet Boys' album Millennium, recorded and released in 1999. Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when 1999 turned into 2000?

A. I was at the Ringing of the Bells in Fincastle, one of the few times I've gone. The town has a tradition that goes like this: at the Courthouse, a man with a shotgun shoots the gun in the air just before midnight. The courthouse bell tolls, the Fincastle Church bell tolls, and then the Methodist Church bell tolls, then the Presbyterian Church bell tolls, and so and so forth, and this goes on for about 15 minutes. It's a tradition that is a good 150 years old.

4) This song was written by Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell. Brian voiced himself on an episode of PBS' Arthur. Arthur has been described as an "animated anthropomorphic aardvark" -- which can be difficult to say. Do you easily get tongue tied?

A. I'm a mouth of the South. So not really.

5) The French word for "mother" is "mère." What other French words do you know?

A. No. Au revoir.

6) Mother's Day is a big holiday for card shops. So are birthdays, weddings, and St. Patrick's Day. Hallmark sells greetings for everythingfrom "Congratulations on Your New Job" to "Happy Retirement." Who received the most recent card you bought?

A. My nephew.

7) Have you put away your winter clothes yet?

A. I never put them away. I have a huge walk-in closet and it all just hangs there. Eventually the winter clothes slide to the rear of the closet and then the same happens with the warm weather clothes as the weather turns.

8) Mother Winters used to scold Sam for leaving her dirty dishes in the sink. Sam admits it: as a grown up, she's still a bit of a slob. Do you lean toward "neat" or "messy?"

A. I'm a bit in between. I like things neat but I let things pile up sometimes. Besides, I live on a farm and you wouldn't believe the stuff that my husband tracks into the house. Trying to keep this place clean is a never-ending job.

9) To celebrate Mother's Day, Sam is giving away her mother's favorite: Hershey Bars. Would you prefer classic milk chocolate, dark chocolate or milk chocolate with almonds?

A. Classic milk chocolate, please.

___________

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.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Some days I think back on people I've known who are gone now. I remember them at a certain age, maybe even much younger than they actually were when they died. Does that kind of recall have a name?

2. That thought led me to look up words for odd feelings. I found lists of said words on the Internet, but the words aren't in my Shorter Oxford Dictionary. If they're not in my dictionary, are they not real words? I don't know.

3. Making up words or renaming things is something I do on occasion. For example, I use the term "laminate" when I put food away with a food sealer machine. I laminate the leftovers, in other words.

4. I also change words up a bit. For example, some days I feel "decrapid," which is a cross between feeling old and feeling like crap.

5. Since "invalid," meaning not legally recognized and "invalid," meaning a sick person are the same word, sometimes I pronounce it the first way to acknowledge how I am feeling as a sick person.

6. I also use acronyms. If I tell you I'm fine, I might be okay, but more likely I'm Fucked Up, Insecure, Neurotic and Exhausted.

7. It amazes me sometimes how words flow into our language with uses we didn't foresee. In this instance I'm thinking of the word "sad," which I now equate with #45 and thus I no longer use the word much. It's become a sentence all on its own. Maybe it always was.

8. Other words become verbs or nouns. "Friended" is a favorite irritation of mine. "I friended her on Facebook." What happened to "befriend"? It's a perfectly good word. "I befriended her on Facebook."

9. What does "incentivize" even mean? I think it means to encourage or push someone to do something. Why not "prod" or something. Good grief.

10. Phrases that are old to me: think out of the box, pay it forward, everything happens for a reason.

11. Phrases that simply silly to me: cray cray for crazy. Po-po for police. Just sayin'. My bad.

12. Am I guilty of using some of these words or phrases? Of course I am. I'm a human being living in this madhouse world, simply trying to muddle through life until my last breath, like everyone. Sometimes the most thoughtless way is the easiest and quickest way through the murk.

13. Even though language changes are different, or I think they are silly, that doesn't mean they aren't legitimate. I mean, I will laminate my food until my dying day but that doesn't mean everyone else will (though I do wonder what other people call it as a short cut).

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 603rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Crazy Quilt - 1885

One of the more interesting aspects of my life as I have lived it is that I see a lot of things and am asked a lot of things. Usually I don't know the answer. I am smart because I know I don't know the answers and so I look things up or seek answers. It is what it is.

Anyway, recently I was asked to look at a crazy quilt at the Botetourt County History Museum in Fincastle. The reasoning was that because I am a Firebaugh I would have some idea about quilts donated by Firebaughs.

The quilt has a date of 1885 on it. I am not that old! I'm afraid I am not much help with this particular query.

Apparently this particular quilt was made by Boozes or Zimmermans, both familiar names to the area. I am taking a guess at that because of the Bs and Zs on the quilt.  I suppose it could be Bolton. How it ended up being associated with Firebaugh I do not know, although the Firebaughs and Boltons are related.

An old card, created probably in the early 1990s, indicated the quilt was donated by Firebaughs and there was a question as to whether or not it was created/made or otherwise involved with Willie Firebaugh who was a daughter of a Major Firebaugh (CSA), so I suppose that is where the inquiry came from.

The piece is very delicate but exquisitely sewn. I am not a person familiar with quilting nor do I know much about textile work, but I can tell fine needlework when I see it. This included what looked like embroidery and other types of needlework as well as simply quilting.

I suspect this piece needs to be reviewed by a textile historian.

Here are photos:

Beautiful Weeds

These little lovelies are growing in the ditch near my mailbox. I have no idea what they are. They almost look like a phlox.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Name three things you love about yourself.

A. This is rather hard. I don't think kindly of myself often. Let's see if I can do this. (1) I love that I give of myself to my community. (2) I love that I have a strong relationship with my brother (not all siblings can say that). (3) I love that I have talents, such as writing, playing the guitar, and I love that I have some brains.

2. What’s the bravest thing you ever did?

A. Hmm. Married at 20? No, lots of people do that. Let me go ask my husband. He says it is a tie between going up in a hot air balloon or taking a plane ride in a two-seater with a known drunk piloting the plane.

3. Talk about the craziest night of your life.

A. It was a Halloween party. Big bonfire. Lots of drugs floating around in the air. I slipped in by being in the trunk of a car.

4. Name three things you want in life.

A. To be healthy, to be a good person, and to be helpful to others.

5. Who’s your biggest celebrity crush?

A. I don't really have those, but I liked Viggo Mortenson and Orlando Bloom in the Lord of the Rings movies. However, I do not find either of them attractive in other movies.

6. What’s your most common mistake?

A. I overestimate people.

7. Which three things would you save if there was a fire?

A. Well, the question says "things" so obviously we're not talking about people. I'd grab my wedding ring, my backup hard drive for the PC, and either a camera or a guitar.

8. What’s your favorite sport?

A. I don't play any sports, but I like to watch ice skating/dancing.

9. Talk about something good that recently happened to you.

A. I was asked to be the head of the sub-committee in charge of writing the official 250th anniversary magazine for my county, which celebrates a big birthday next year. So far this means I'm writing most of the magazine and worrying myself dreadfully over it because I seem to BE the committee, but it was an honor to be asked.

10. Which fictional world would you want to live in if you could?

A. Middle Earth.

11. What’s one thing you can never say no to?

A. A hug.

12. Talk about a childhood memory.

A. When I was about four, I was playing outside with a little chair around a tree. I was whipping the tree for being a bad tree when I looked down and saw a snake curled around it. It's a wonder I wasn't bitten. I raced in the house, so frightened I could barely speak, and finally made my mother understand there was a snake around the tree. She called my father, and he came home and killed it. I think it was a corn snake but I'm not sure.

13. Name five things you find attractive in others.

A. Loyalty, integrity, honor, trust, and intellect.

14. Are you good at making final decisions or do you easily change your mind?

A. Once I've made a decision, I usually stick with it. Getting to that point can be a challenge sometimes.

15. Name three guilty pleasures of yours.

A. Eating chocolate, although I have stopped that at the moment; playing video games; staring out the window.

__________
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: Don't Envy Me

Saturday 9: Don't Envy Me (1963)

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

1) What is it about you that you believe your friends and acquaintances envy?

A. Not much, although I know there have been times in the past that folks have been envious of my work with the newspaper. I even had a few people say to me, "I could do that, you're nothing special," and if that's not an envy statement I don't know what is. I would always reply, "You should apply to the editor, then. He can use more freelancers." But they never did.

2) Do you have a friend or acquaintance that you envy?

A. I have friends and acquaintances with traits I admire. I don't think I envy them, though. I do envy folks who have good health.

3) This song was not a hit, even though it was written and produced by the supersuccessful team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Tell us about a project you had great confidence in at the beginning, but didn't turn out as well as you'd hoped.

A. Knitting. I really thought I'd be decent at knitting and it wouldn't take me long to get the hang of it, because I did it when I was a child and was fairly good at it. But no. My knitting projects look like a cat spit them out.

4) George Hamilton is better known as an actor. He is proud of his performance in the 1960 movie Light in the Piazza. He played an Italian who romances an American girl on holiday in Florence. Did you ever find love while vacationing?

A. No. I found love at a football game.

5) George had a small part in Godfather III. How many of the Godfather movies have you seen? Have you read the book?

A. I have seen pieces of the original movie. Never read the book. Not my genre.

6) He's gotten a lot of publicity over the years for his personal life, including his 1966 romance with First Daughter Lynda Bird Johnson. At the time, she was living in the White House. Tell us about a memorable experience you had "meeting the parents."

A. I'll just tell this story: when my husband and I were dating, and close to the proposal part, we went out one night and went parking out at Stone Coal Gap. While we were out, we heard noises. Stone Coal Gap is supposed to be haunted (remember, I was only 19). At some point we both grew nervous and raced out of there. When we got to my house, we went inside and my parents were still up. My mother looked at me. "Why is your shirt on wrong-side out?" she asked. "I guess I put it back on that way," I said. I'll let you, dear reader, figure out how that happened.

7) George is also known for his year-round tan. Have you ever used a tanning bed? Or self tanner?

A. I tried a tanning bed one time and got so claustrophobic I was out of there in less than a minute.

8) In 1963, when this record was released, President Kennedy made a historic trip to Ireland. Have you ever visited the land of your ancestors?

A. I have not.

9) Random question -- The last of a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies just fell on your kitchen floor. Would you eat it?

A. Depends. Do I get them up in 5 seconds? Surely if some landed on top of others those would be just fine to eat. The broken ones . . . hmm. They'd probably be okay, too. Heck, a little dirt never hurt anyone. Let me just sweep up those crumbs.

___________

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.

Free Speech - Yeah, No.

Today in my local paper, I saw two national stories that dealt with speech issues.

In one, a nominee of #45 for an office overseen by the U.S. Senate dropped out because he couldn't withstand the pressure of being interviewed by senators. This became particularly burdensome after someone produced articles he'd written and published about 20 years ago. The articles were inflammatory and particularly biased against women.

So he got sent back to the washroom.

Another article said Facebook had deleted the accounts of what it called hate speech groups - most of them on the right of the political spectrum (Alex Jones is the only name I remember). Howls of protest and cries of censorship ensued.

I am not in favor of banning books. A book sits on a shelf and is there until someone goes and gets it. It doesn't do anything unless someone reads it, and if someone checks out and somebody else objects, the problem lies with the person objecting, not the reader. If the reader objects to the content, that's an easy fix. Stop reading the book. Don't stop me from reading what I want.

Somewhat like a book, my blog is here and sits here until someone comes to my blog specifically to read it. It doesn't cross people's Facebook feed because I seldom link to it.

Facebook, however, is like a living information center where crap passes in front of your face time and again, whether you want it to or not. TV is like that, too, except now there are more channels to choose from, so there is NRATV and Christian Science TV, neither of which I have ever watched nor will I. But that is my choice and it's not in my newsfeed or on my TV screen.

The information Facebook has banned is available in other places, so if someone wants to find it, they can read it there. Rather like a library, they may have to look for it now. But it's still available.

Facebook is also not the government. It's a corporation, and corporations don't have "free speech" laws that they must live by. They have laws against discrimination that they must live by, and while we don't have actual "hate speech" laws here, "hate speech" in and of itself tends to be discriminatory.

Here's a definition of "hate speech" from Wikipedia (not the best source, I know):

Hate speech is a statement intended to demean and brutalize another. It is the use of cruel and derogatory language, gestures or vandalism often directed towards an individual or group. Hate speech is speech that attacks a person or a group on the basis of attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The laws of some countries describe hate speech as speech, gestures, conduct, writing, or displays that incite violence or prejudicial actions against a group or individuals on the basis of their membership in the group, or disparages or intimidates a group, or individuals on the basis of their membership in the group. The law may identify a group based on certain characteristics. In some countries, hate speech is not a legal term. Additionally in some countries, including the United States, hate speech is constitutionally protected.

So, constitutionally, in these United States, folks have the right to be bigots, racists, misogynists, or whatever, but that doesn't give them the right to be a jerk anywhere they please, or to be a hate-filled idiot without feeling the consequences. (And I also don't believe all speech is constitutionally protected, not really. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, or maybe in today's world, the example should be "gun." Parents can be held accountable for verbally abusing their children to the point of emotional cruelty, and that same term can be used to dissolve a marriage. If the boss is a woman and she overhears someone saying bad things about women, then that person should not be surprised when said person ends up jobless.)

If someone walks up to me and start dissing women, I'm going to turn and walk away. Nothing says I have to listen. People can have their words and opinions, but my eyes and ears need not see or hear them.

I'm sure that in my long career of writing, I've written stupid things; words that I no longer agree with, even. I've grown and changed. That's what happens as you mature, if you move beyond being 14 years old (some people never do, I'm afraid). Your thought processes don't stay the same. Mine certainly haven't.

Fortunately, I am not a politician or a high-ranking political official. Even so, whatever stupid thing I wrote may someday come back to haunt me. What will it cost me? I don't know. All I can do is take ownership of whatever it might be and say, "Yes, I wrote that. I was 27 years old. I think differently now and I've grown past that. I wish I hadn't written it, but at the time I didn't know any better." I don't know that "I'm sorry" helps in that situation but I would have no problem throwing it in there.

In this day and age, I think it is foolish not to think that something you wrote a long time ago won't come back to slap you in the face. I am prepared for that situation, sort of. Since I don't know what it might be, all I can do is think of how I might react if or when the time comes.

So am I in favor of free speech? Yes - to a point. Am I in favor of listening or reading every piece of trash out there? Nope. I prefer freedom of choice. I think Facebook has the right to ban whatever it wants from its operations. I also think if you're a nasty person, then you deserve whatever nastiness you get from being nasty.

I also think I have the right not to see discriminatory items cross my Facebook page, and I liberally use the "no longer see posts from . . . " feature on my Facebook page.

I also hope that if I should ever start writing things that are terrible and disagreeable, someone stops me and shakes me until I come to my senses.

Thursday Thirteen

My new name, per Game of Thrones:

I am
(1) Anita of the House Firebaugh,

(2) Spouse of the Lord Firebaugh,

(3) Graduate of the Green and Gold,

(4) Mother of cattle,

(5) Writer of articles,

(6) Keeper of secrets,

(7) the Insane,

(8) Lady of J&A Farms,

(9) Mistress of Coin for the House,

(10) Baker of food in the kitchen,

(11) Collector of books,

(12) Voice for the Universe, and

(13) Blogger of Thursday 13.


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 601th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

May Dreams

    

 

 

 Ah, a new month. Another time to look at the self and consider renewal, or perhaps a time to look back and see where you've been. The first day is all in how you look at it, I suppose.

I am going to look at dreams today. I am still young enough to dream, to think that someday I might . . . what? What ARE my dreams?

My dreams, those real things I have at night, have generally been the stuff of horror films and freak shows. Full of dark things, real and unreal, making for long nights with real screams and wakings covered in sweat.

But those secret dreams - those things held close and dear, what of those? Those dreams of a husband, a house, all of that - I have those old dreams and desires. Dreams achieved.

Being a writer was always the number one dream, and I have obtained that, as well. But not the book. Still haven't written a book and I don't know that I ever will. I have written thousands of articles - there are thousands of entries in this blog, even.

I never wanted to write the Great American Novel anyway. I wanted to write . . . Nancy Drew books. I wanted to be a hack. I wanted to write under a pseudonym and write adventure stories for young women who would grow up to be senators and presidents, CEOs and leaders.

Then I went to college and I'm pretty sure that deflated that dream. Because at college, you were supposed to want to write literature (with a capital "L") - or poetry - or something else similarly "up there."

Sometimes I have written things that are "up there." I've won contests and published poetry. But I loved writing articles for the local paper. Loved it better'n chocolate even, and that's sayin' a lot.

Now that is (mostly) over, and I keep trying to turn my attention and talents elsewhere, only to be dragged back into articles and writing history pieces or doing the things I thought I was moving away from. A sign? Maybe. An inability to move forward? Maybe a little.

After all, I honestly don't know how to go about being a Nancy Drew ghost writer. For one thing, I don't think I could write for young women now. I am an older woman and I've never been around children much. I think there are basic desires and hopes all people have, and I could translate those into something, but I'd have to set them in the 1970s or some time that I am familiar with. I don't talk the language of the youth of today.

So no young adult unless perhaps I wrote a fantasy, where the language would be my own anyway, and only those basic desires, needs, and wants would be what mattered.

They are probably all that matter in any story. They are all that matter in dreams, I daresay.

So right now I am doing, not dreaming. Moving along trying to work on a project that is as scary as it is exhilarating. A time-consuming project at that, one that is forcing me to restructure my days and find a new rhythm. This is not a bad thing, just a different thing. Change is always needed and necessary for growth.

My dreams are in a growth phase, I think. Hiding behind the waning side of the moon, perhaps to pop out at me when the brightest star reaches its zenith. How will I know when I see it, I wonder? Will it grab me by the throat and shake me, saying, "Now!"? Or will it sneak up behind and whisper softly, caressing my neck, sending shivers down my spine, an idea that winds its way through my heart and into my soul until I can't stand not to deliver on it?

Game of Thrones Fatigue

After watching the 87-minute Game of Thrones Season 8 episode last night, I told my friend on the phone that today I have Game of Thrones fatigue.

Don't worry, I won't give away anything in case you've yet to see it.

I stayed up until 10:30 p.m. to watch the show, and then stayed up another half-hour waiting on my sweetie. So I went to bed a little later than normal.

Us older folks need our shut-eye time, you know. Can't be out prowlin' around like them young kids. Or the young kids we used to be.

I am enjoy Game of Thrones but I do not rewatch the episodes all the time. I find them gruesome and they have many bad things happen to women. But I like the story line and some of the characters, although everyone knows by now not to like characters in this show because they generally die.

I was thinking back though to my very first "fandom," which wasn't Star Trek or anything like that. No, it was Xena: Warrior Princess, which started in 1995 and came along about the time the Internet was becoming a thing. We were tied into our desktops then and half of us could only access through dial-up with America Online, but it was the first place and first time I ever found myself involved with other people who liked the same TV show to an extreme that others found, well, nerdy or weird, I suppose.

The fandom gave me many friends, a number of whom I am still friends with today, mostly on Facebook. But these are some of the people that I have known the longest now, people who have been on my radar for almost 25 years.

That's a very long time.

Fandoms are interesting. I found myself with trading cards, dolls, comic books - anything Xena-related suddenly became a prized possession. I think most of my collection is now rotting away in the storage shed, with the exception perhaps of the trading cards and one Xena doll that sits on a bookcase.

Now I have a few Wonder Woman dolls on my shelves, but nothing like with Xena. It can be exciting to throw yourself into a TV or movie show, into its world, to visit with other folks who enjoy the nuances and weird eccentrics of a show.

But not to the point of fatigue.

Part of that fatigue comes from GoT not being on for a year and a half. I'm straining my brain trying to remember the characters and why they matter. Or if they matter. Or what they did to bring them to where they are now. But after seven years, those fine details have fled my brain.

Like I said, I didn't rewatch GoT because of the gore and nudity. I can see it once but I have no desire to revisit it. I've not read the books, either, and have no plan to do so. The TV show is all the gore and gruesome I care to deal with.

That said, if you like fantasy, then Game of Thrones is an interesting watch. If you like intrigue and character assassination, it's interesting to watch. There are many elements to it. People who automatically dismiss it because it's fantasy are missing the point.

Fantasy is dream come to life. It also harbors a lot of truth buried beneath the dragon hordes. Fantasy makes you think, makes you feel, makes you empathize with others. Besides, mysteries are fantasies, really. There's no Dick Tracy wandering around out there. Most fiction is fantasy of a sort. I'd argue that the Bible is the most fantastical of all books, really. The Lord of the Rings has nothing on that piece of work.

I suspect people who say they dislike fantasy have never seen a good fantasy. Their loss.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Your favorite songs.

A. I like most anything from the 1970s. According to Alexa, I have great taste. (Yes, I asked her.)

2. Your favorite bands.

A. Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, ABBA, etc.

3. Your favorite actors or actresses.

A. Right now anyone who is still alive on Game of Thrones.

4. Your favorite books.

A. I read a lot of fantasy. I also like mysteries, young adult fiction, and some memoir.

5. Your favorite movies.

A. Lord of the Rings (all three of them, extended versions please), Wonder Woman

6. Your favorite TV shows.

A. Game of Thrones, Supergirl, The Big Bang Theory, Survivor, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Star Trek, etc.

7. Your favorite foods/drinks.

A. I drink mostly water but like root beer occasionally. I don't eat hot spicy foods because of my ulcer but otherwise I try not to be picky.

8. Your favorite animal.

A. Deer.

9. Your favorite scents.

A. Vanilla. It's the only scent I can stand, generally speaking. Everything in my house is unscented. Unscented soaps, lotions, candles. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find unscented stuff?

10. Your hobbies/ things you do in your free time.

A. I read and play video games.

11. Your pet peeves.

A. People who agree to do something and then don't, finding a hair on my chin, and seeing a ding in my car and I don't know how it got there.

12. Things you collect.

A. I collect Santa Mouse items, lots of books, and things related to Lord of the Rings.

13. Things you like to swap.

A. I don't do swaps. I'm not even sure what this means.

14. Places you've been.

A. I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere! Cross the desert there, man, I breathe the mountain air. Travel I've had my share, man, I've been everywhere! (That's a song. Anybody else know it?) I've been to many states in the U.S., Spain, and France.

15. Places you'd like to visit.

A. New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, Italy.

16. The songs you dislike.

A. I am not fond of rap and hip hop though I have listened to it. Some of it is tolerable.

17. The movies you dislike.

A. I'm not a fan of horror movies anymore.

18. The TV shows you dislike.

A. I don't watch any of the police dramas like NCIS, CSI or whatever.

19. Classes you liked in school.

A. English classes.

20. Classes you disliked in school.

A. Gym. I missed the A honor roll a couple of times because of gym. I mean, really? I do my best and I get a B?

21. Crafts you would like to learn.

A. Painting. I really wish I could paint and draw.

__________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.