Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. What's your favorite TV channel to watch in the middle of the night?

A. I don't watch TV in the middle of the night. If I wake up and can't go back to sleep, I read.

2. Which decade do you feel the most special connection to and why?

A. Probably the 1970s. That is when I was growing up. The music I tend to listen to is from the 1970s.

3. What is your favorite oldie/classic rock song?

A. Just take those old records off the shelf! I'll sit and listen to them by myself! Today's music ain't got the same soul! I like that old time rock and roll! . . . Probably American Pie, although there are so many it's really hard to single one out.

4. What Disney villain are you the most like and why?

A. I don't watch many Disney movies so this is difficult to answer. The only villain I can think of is Cruella DeVil and I am not like her at all, except that I'm a female. 

5. Have you ever been a Girl Scout/Boy Scout?

A. No. I desperately wanted to be in the Girl Scouts but I had no ride. My parents both worked and no one near me was a Girl Scout.

6. If you were traveling to another continent would you rather fly or take a boat?

A. I think a boat would be interesting and fun, but flying would get me where I wanted to go much more quickly.

7. What are three of your favorite dog names of all time?

A. Major, Ginger, and Schooner. Those were three of my dogs.

8. How do you feel when you see a rainbow?

A. Like I've seen something spectacular.

9. If you were in the Land of Oz would you want to live there or go home?

A. I would live there if I could live in the city and not in the haunted woods. Or if I could live over in Glenda the Good Witch's lands.

10. What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the word:

Air: Water

Meat: Beat

Different: Odd

Pink: Singer

Deserve: Clueless

White: Black

Elvis: Presley

Magic: The Way

Heart: Broken

Clash: War

Pulp: Fiction

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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.

Smile! You Know Who You Are.

 

A Hard Day's Night

Saturday9: Hard Day's Night

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

1) John Lennon sings that he's been working like a dog. What's the hardest job you've ever had? What made it so difficult?

A. One of the hardest jobs I ever had was when I was working with at temp agency. The women at the office I sent to were mean. As in nasty. They didn't want me there. They wouldn't give me any assignments. They called me names. They told me I was fat, to my face. They told me I was useless and they didn't know why I was born. They had me in tears, literally. They did not know but the two of them came after me like tigers chasing prey. I left at lunch and did not go back. I also didn't get any more work from that temp agency but that was fine with me. That was a half-day job but it still sticks with me because it made no sense - still makes no sense. Why be so cruel for no purpose, except for the purpose of getting rid of me, which they did successfully. That was a hard day. But it probably wasn't the hardest job I ever had. 

2) Despite the hard work, he likes his life and asks, "So why on earth should I moan?" What's the last thing you complained about? Who were you talking to?

A. I strongly suspect the last thing I complained about was the events taking place in Texas regarding women's reproductive rights, and I was would have been discussing it with either a friend or my husband, or perhaps some other decent human being who is rightly appalled at the Texas Taliban.

3) John was raised by his Aunt Mimi. She meant well when she told the teen-aged John, "The guitar's all right, but you'll never make a living out of it." What's the worst advice you've ever received?

A. That I would never be a writer.

4) This week's song was cowritten and also sung with Paul McCartney. Paul's father was more supportive of the lads' show business aspirations than Aunt Mimi was, but he still worried that his son wouldn't be able fully support himself as a musician. To please his dad, 17-year-old Paul worked over the Christmas holiday season as the "second man" on a delivery truck. Paul would be the one to hop off the truck and drop off the packages while the driver could keep the motor running and the heat on. Where was the last package you received from? (Extra points if you share what was in it.)

A. I received a package from Amazon. It had Sombra in it, which is a camphor and menthol rub for aching body parts. It was for my husband.

5) After Christmas was over, Dad insisted Paul get a full-time, year-around job. He ended up at a factory, winding heavy coils to be used in electric motors. He hated the work but enjoyed the lunch hours, eating jam sandwiches and, weather permitting, kicking a soccer ball around the yard with his coworkers. What's for lunch at your house today?

A. We are having sandwiches.

6) In early March 1961, the Beatles accepted a booking to play lunch hour gigs at Liverpool's Cavern Club, and so February 28, after less than two full months, Paul said goodbye to factory work. What's the shortest you ever stayed at a job?

A. See the answer to #1 above. I did a lot of temp jobs at various times, and those sometimes lasted a day or a week or longer. I had a job at a bank once and I think I lasted there about six weeks. Sometimes you just know you're not supposed to be somewhere.

7) Enough about these Brits! Labor Day was introduced to celebrate the achievements of the American worker. How many different employers have you had?

A. Um. Lots. If you counted baby sitting job, and then every different venue I've freelanced for, way lots.

8) This weekend may offer a golden opportunity for napping and sleeping in. Do you snore?

A. Yes. My husband calls them, "kitty cat snores." Fortunately, they are not very loud.

9) Labor Day traditionally marks the beginning of the new school year. When she was a kid, Samantha was crazy for her brand new box of 96 Crayola Crayons. It even had a sharpener in the back! What do you remember about preparing to go back to school? If you're an educator, let us know how you get the classroom ready for the kids.

A. I still love to go to the store this time of year and buy a new notebook or two or three. I always enjoyed the new notebooks, and we would get our textbooks and bring them home and Mom would carefully cover them with a brown paper bag cover so they wouldn't get torn or worn.

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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. 

Night Moves

Last night was a beautiful, crisp, clear night. I went out to shoot photos in the darkness, because that is something I'm still learning how to do.

The Milky Way was visible above me - it has been a long time since I've seen the Milky Way. Venus was shining brightly low on the western horizon. My camera isn't strong enough to capture it looking light a planet, but I can view it and see that it is a planet through the camera lens. The Big Dipper was holding water above a tree.

The still was broken by the sound of an occasional low of a cow, a branch breaking as some unknown critter wandered nearby. The night smelled fresh and new because we'd had rain up until yesterday, so the pollen count was down. 

It was a lovely time to be outside.

Venus above the tree line.

No idea how I ended up with these straight lines, but they're pretty cool.

A 15-minute star trail capture, aimed at the Milky Way.

The Big Dipper

Me playing around with lighting. If you look closely you will see the Big Dipper above the green
space. I was shining a flashlight on a tree just to see what would happen. I think it's neat.

Thursday Thirteen

1. No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body. ~ Margaret Sanger

2. Seventy-seven percent of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100% of them will never be pregnant. ~ Planned Parenthood advertisement

3. The emphasis must be not on the right to abortion but on the right to privacy and reproductive control. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

4. If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament. ~ Florynce Kennedy

5. It’s real easy to say you’re 100% against abortion when you’ll never have to make that decision. ~ Anonymous

6. Decades ago, women suffered through horrifying back-alley abortions. Or, they used dangerous methods when they had no other recourse. So when the Republican Party launched an all-out assault on women’s health, pushing bills to limit access to vital services, we had to ask: Why is the GOP trying to send women back . . . to the back alley? ~ Lisa Edelstein

7. Listen to the pregnant woman. Value her. She values the life growing inside her. Listen to the pregnant woman, and you cannot help but defend her right to abortion. ~ Ayelet Waldman

8. Abortion is the insurance against that fate worse than death which is called a family. ~ Peter Kreeft

9. You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion. ~ Hillary Clinton

10. If we lived in a culture that valued women’s autonomy and in which men and women practiced cooperative birth control, the abortion issue would be moot. ~ Christiane Northrup

11. My argument has always been that nature has a master plan pushing every species toward procreation and that it is our right and even obligation as rational human beings to defy nature’s fascism. Nature herself is a mass murderer, making casual, cruel experiments and condemning 10,000 to die so that one more fit will live and thrive. ~ Camille Paglia

12. The issue is not abortion. The issue is whether women can make up their own mind instead of some right-wing pastor, some right-wing politician telling them what to do. ~ Howard Dean

13. What is this ban on abortion—it is a survival of the veiled face, of the barred window and the locked door, burning, branding, mutilation, stoning, of all the grip of ownership and superstition come down on woman, thousands of years ago. ~ Stella Brown

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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 721st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

August 31 Happiness Challenge

It is early, but I am happy this morning because my husband was able to get three more physical therapy visits from our insurance company.

This is health care by insurance company. The doctor sent him to physical therapy, and the insurance company is allotting his visits three at a time. He needs to be going twice a week but can't because of this. Yet some people think this is great health care.

Anyway, he had been waiting on word on three more visits and it came late yesterday, and the physical therapist could see him at 8 a.m. this morning. So not only is he getting his physical therapy, I have a morning alone! I appreciate my alone time.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

August 30 Happiness Challenge

The underwear I ordered has arrived, and it fits! Finally, after three tries!

The Fit For Me by Fruit of the Loom are made in El Salvador now. They smell like insecticide and I had to wash them twice before I could try them on. They are not the same fit as before but they fit better than anything else I've bought recently.

(The Just My Size by Hanes are made in Guatemala. You learn these things when you're ordering undies.)

So that's my happiness for today. My bloomers fit!

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Are you a Jeopardy! fan?  Who do you want to replace Alex Trebeck?

A. I am a fan. I want to replace Alex Trebeck! I never could, but it would be nice to try. Otherwise, I don't think anyone can replace Trebeck, but someone else can take over as host. I have no idea who.

2. What’s your favorite horror film?

A. I don't watch horror films anymore. The last one I saw was The Shining in 1980 or thereabouts.

3. Are you a possessive person?

A. Mine! Mine! No, I don't think so. I mean, I am about some things, I suppose, but mostly not.

4. Who’s your idol?

A. I don't really have one. I think my father is an astute businessman. My brother has a lot of patience. I think Melissa Etheridge is a great guitar player. Nora Roberts is a good writer. But I don't think I idolize anyone.

5. List five things you can’t live without.

A. Air, water, food, something to read, and a toilet. (Extra credit: toilet paper.)

6. Where do you feel home?

A. In my house.

7. What are your three best qualities?

A. According to my husband, I'm intelligent, kind, and caring.

8. Name three things that make you happy.

A. Being creative, being with or talking to my husband, family, or friends, and learning new things.

9. What helps you when you’re feeling down?

A. Music.

10. Which big cities have you been to?

A. New York, Madrid, San Francisco, San Diego, Orlando, New Orleans, Richmond, Charlotte, Paris.

11. What’s your favorite love story? ( Book, film, etc. )

A. In film, I guess it would be Dirty Dancing. In books, I don't know that I have a favorite. Generally it's whatever book I am reading at the moment.

12. Talk about the best concert you ever attended.

A. The best concert I ever attended was Linda Ronstadt with Aaron Neville back in the late 1980s. That woman had a set of pipes, I have to say. Neville was also good back then. But most importantly, it was a birthday present from my husband.

13. What’s one thing you don’t ever want to change?

A. My husband.

14. What scares you?

A. The thought of something happening to my husband.

15. What are three things you want to do before you die?

A. Write a book, see the Grand Canyon again, and obtain my Ph.D.

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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.

So I Had This Dream

Friday night, I dreamed I was in the Epsilon Quadrant (wherever that is), and I and others were trying to stop these men who dressed up in black top hats, white face, and suits that looked like a zebra who, when they sang, entranced people who listened to them. Those people would then do their bidding (rob banks, kill people, whatever), and then fling themselves off a cliff.

Somehow we captured them. I believe it involved ear plugs.

While we were taking them back to Earth for trial, Spock came in and did a mind meld with one of them. He then walked away saying we couldn't keep the men, and he let them all go. He'd been taken over by the guy and Spock flung himself out of the space ship.

By then we were near some other planet and we landed. My aunt lived there. I kept telling her not to listen to the men but she wouldn't listen to me. In fact, no one was listening to me, and it seemed only I knew how dangerous these men were.

The men immediately began setting up their singing trap at intersections of streets. My aunt heard them and was heading out and I had to lock her up in a closet.

That's all I remember.

My husband says I dream vividly when I eat mushrooms. I had mushrooms on my chicken marsala at dinner.

I am thinking now I should eat more mushrooms. 

Saturday 9: Friends in Low Places

SATURDAY 9: FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (1990)

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

1) In this song, Garth Brooks tells us he wore boots to a black-tie affair. When did you most recently get dressed up? What did you wear?

A. I last dressed up last night for my stepmother's birthday dinner. I wore my nicest slacks and a new short-sleeved shirt, along with my nice earrings and a little eye makeup. (I've about given up on makeup with the pandemic.)

2) The lyrics refer to The Oasis, which was a real bar in Concordia, Kansas. What's the name of the last bar or restaurant where you ordered a beverage? (Yes, Dunkin' counts.)

A. Coach & Four, where I was last night. I ordered water because that's all I drink. Incidentally, this is also the establishment where my husband proposed to me in July 1983. 

3) Garth was having a stellar 2021. He kicked the year off by performing "Amazing Grace" at President Biden's inauguration in January, and then over the summer he received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor. Now that we're past the halfway mark, how's your year going?

A. It is going ok. I had hoped we would be beyond the Covid 19 virus by now, but as it appears to be gaining steam in the form of the Delta variant, we have given up on trying to make vacation plans or otherwise do anything other than keep ourselves as safe as we can. Even going to a restaurant last night was chancy, we thought, but we did it anyway. It was the first time we'd been in a restaurant since March 2019. Looks like we will continue ordering take-out and having car picnics in parking lots.

4) But earlier this month, Garth cancelled the remaining August and September dates of his big concert tour. He's provided refunds for the 350,000 tickets that were sold. How do you tend to react when plans change? Are you easily annoyed, or do you roll with it?

A. It depends on the annoyance, but generally I accept it and move on. I had plans to see Melissa Etheridge in March 2020, and that was cancelled, and she rescheduled, and that was cancelled, so I asked for a refund. She is now touring and is scheduled to play here September 20, but I would not go even if I had tickets because of the rampaging virus. Personally, I think she should be cancelling her tours. I understand that she needs to perform, and people need to get out and do things - even an introvert like me can feel housebound - but we're nowhere near safe. We are appalled at the unfortunate deaths of 13 members of the military but shrug off 630,000 deaths from Covid. What does that say about our society, I wonder?

5) Before he sang about having friends in low places, Garth hung around in some. When he was as a struggling performer, he supported himself as a bouncer. What's the most physically taxing job you've ever had?

A. I guess farming, although my husband does all the heavy work. When I was younger, I helped my father on his farm.

6) According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), Garth surpassed The Beatles as the top-selling recording artist of the last 30 years. Who do you listen to more often: Garth or the Beatles?

A. I don't listen to either one of them very much, but I occasionally listen to the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band album by the Beatles. I never listen to anything by Garth Brooks.

7) Garth and singer Trisha Yearwood have been happily married for 15 years now. Trisha says that as much as she loves her husband, his whistling drives her crazy. Come clean: what's your most annoying habit?

A. I talk during the weather forecast. My husband thinks the weather forecast is the most important thing he has to listen to, and I forget. Usually I haven't seen him all day and he wants to watch TV instead of hear whatever I have to say.

8) In 1990, when this song was a hit, Soviet President Gorbachev traveled first to Ottawa to meet Prime Minister Mulroney and then to Washington DC to meet President Bush. Do you have any travel plans? We want to hear about them, even if you aren't meeting any politicians or heads of state.

A. I have no travel plans. We were considering day trips, and if the Covid numbers drop we still may, but for now it looks like we will be staying close to home.

9) Random question: Your dear friend spends weeks planning a party. After just 30 minutes, you find yourself having a terrible time. Would you leave at the earliest (polite) opportunity? Or would you stay till the bitter end out of loyalty?

A. I think it would depend on when the party was ending. I would stay as long as I could, but unless I'd volunteered to help clean up, I would go when I could without looking like I really wanted to get out of there. I don't do parties well anyway, so any of my good friends wouldn't be surprised if I didn't stay long, I suspect.

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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. 

August 27 Happiness Challenge

This evening I went out to eat with my family. It was the first time I'd been inside a restaurant to eat since March 2020.

There were few people around us so I felt comfortable without my mask. We had a nice visit to celebrate my stepmother's birthday. 

We ate at Coach and Four, which is where my husband proposed to me in July of 1983. They even still have the same booth! I should have taken a picture.

For my family to get together and not have yelling and screaming is unusual, but this time we were all very polite and had a really nice time. So it can be done! We can get together and act normal.

It was also a relief to eat somewhere besides my house or in the car in the parking lot of a restaurant. Unfortunately, the way the Covid numbers are climbing, I suspect it will be a while before we return to any semblance of normal.

But at least we had one evening out. Also, Dad paid!

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

In Velvet

 

Thursday Thirteen #720

1. I consider myself fortunate that I've had no immediate family members pass away from the corona virus. I've had distant relations and friends die from it, though. It has not missed me. Globally, 3.9 million people have died from this "hoax" of a virus. Over 629,000 of those were in the United States. It is no hoax.

2. The thing I am writing about is first world inconvenience, to be sure. I realize things are worse in many other countries. I am writing from a place of privilege. I know that.

3. Of the many things I worried about having a shortage of, underwear was not one of them. Yet here I am having underwear issues.

4. I wear my underdrawers, as my husband calls them, until they need to be replaced. As in, there is no more cloth around the elastic, they barely stay up, and they wouldn't even make a good dust rag. I hadn't bought any new ones in several years. Of course I need some now.

5. I'm on my third attempt to purchase underwear that actually fits. Apparently, Hanes and Fruit of the Loom both have changed their manufacturers from those in China to industries in Guatemala. (Why they couldn't have brought those jobs to the USA is beyond me, but I don't own the corporations.) 

6. The new underwear are smaller. Flimsier. They are cut differently in the legs. 

7. They also cost double what they did pre-pandemic. If the reason for the manufacturing change was to keep from paying the tariffs the former guy imposed on China to keep prices low, well that didn't work.

8. I do not have a small butt. I am a big girl. I'm fat. I know this. But in years past, buying underwear has not been a problem.

9. First I bought the size I had been wearing in the Fruit of the Loom Fit for Me brand. Too small now. Apparently butt sizes are different in other countries.

10. Then I bought the size the chart said to purchase in the JMS Hanes brand. Too big. One pair was smaller than the others - what was up with that? Why didn't they fit? Was the chart wrong? Did I misread it? Who knows?

11. Today I ordered a larger size of the Fit for Me because they seem to be better made than the JMS, although from the comments online they are certainly not the quality we the consumer had become used to and expected from these companies.

12. I know in the grand scheme of thing that having your underwear fit is a non-thing. It pales in comparison to most of the ills of the world.

13. But damn, it's been a burr up my butt for four months now!

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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 720th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

August 25 Happiness Challenge

Today I am giving out a big shout to grocery pick up.

I didn't like it when I first started it, back at the beginning of the pandemic, but the store also wasn't up to speed on it.

Now, it goes like clockwork. I sit at the computer, pick out what I want, go to the store, let them know I've arrived, they load it in my trunk, I bring it home.

Easy peasy.

I had gone back to in-store shopping when things looked a bit brighter, but with the cases on the rise, I have returned to using the pick up option. I also had forgotten some of the things that aggravated me when I shopped inside, things like screaming children, overwhelming perfume scents, and cigarette smoke at the door exit.

Seeing people I know is one of the good things about shopping in the store, along with the exercise of walking the aisles, but I came home and walked on the treadmill. So there's that.

Hurray for options.

Lines

 

August 23 Happiness Challenge

This afternoon my hubby and I took a long drive to Christiansburg and on into Radford. We never got out of the car and we were listening to a book, but it was nice to spend the time together. It's hot here, too hot for him to be out working, so we wandered around in the air conditioned car, looking at tractor implements.

That's how farm girls and guys get it on, I guess.

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

August 22 Happiness Challenge

My brother called me this afternoon. We didn't talk long, but hearing from him made my day. We hadn't spoken in a while because he's been busy with life stuff, so I was pleased he found a minute to call me. He means so much to me.

 Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Has anyone ever made fun of your taste in music?

A. Not really. My father occasionally makes reference to "that stuff you like" as opposed to his country music, but I ignore him.

2. Do you have Pop-tarts in your house right now?

A. Yes, I think there are plain blueberry ones in the closet. They may be out of date, though.

3. Does someone owe you over twenty dollars?

A. No.

4. When was the last time you burned any part of your body?

A. I burned my finger a while back, but it has been a long time since I had any kind of serious burn.

5. What kind of booze did you last take shots of?

A. I don't drink. The last alcohol I had was in 2012, when I drank some wine to celebrate my graduation for my masters degree.

6. If you could see any musician live, front row, who would you choose?

A. Melissa Etheridge. I was supposed to see her before Covid, and the show was cancelled several times, and they refunded my money. She's rescheduled but it's for September and I am not going into a small crowded venue right now, so I didn't re-purchase tickets.

7. If I gave you ten dollars, what would you spend it on?

A. A book.

8. Does / did either of your parents serve in the military?

A. My father was in the Army.

9. Do you like sour candy?

A. Not particularly.

10. What do you do to stay awake when you’re tired?

A. Get up and move around.

11. Do you wear your shoes around the house?

A. I always wear shoes of some kind. I hate going barefoot.

12. Is there ever a time that you enjoy cold showers?

A. I almost always turn the hot water to cold and try to stay under it for over 30 seconds when I shower. I read that cold water helped build your immune system. I didn't see where it would hurt anything to give it a try.

13. Are you good at filling silence in awkward situations?

A. I like to let the silence build until it explodes. I always got the best quotes that way when I was doing interviews.

14. Any TV shows you sit down weekly to watch?

A. At the moment, we've been watching Deadliest Catch. Supergirl comes back on this week. TV really doesn't hold my attention much.

15. Are you one to sneak food into movie theaters?

A. I have been known to take a bottle of water and a candy bar into the theater, yes. They charge astronomical prices for stuff in there.

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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: Woman In Love

Saturday 9: Woman in Love (1980)

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

1) In this song, Barbra dreams of love. What's something you've been dreaming of, or wishing for, lately? (It doesn't have to be romantic.)

A. I'd like to remodel my office. Mostly the floor needs to be replaced. It is parquet wood that we put down over 20 years ago, and it is coming apart. But it would be quite a chore since my office is full of books, bookcases, musical instruments, filing cabinets, and a massive desk. I don't expect it will happen soon, if ever. Maybe a good throw rug . . .

2) She sings that she and her lover are oceans apart. Tell us about someone who is far away, and that you wish was nearer this Saturday morning.

A. I have someone who is actually not that far away from me physically but who is lost to me in other ways. I'd like to have that person back.

 

3) This was a #1 hit for Streisand, so popular it knocked Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" out of the top spot on the charts. Are you a Freddie Mercury/Queen fan?

A. I like some Queen songs but I am not a die-hard fan. I like their hits but I haven't heard every song on their albums. Some album cuts that I have heard I've not been particularly impressed by.

4) This song was written specifically for Barbra by Barry and Robin Gibb of the BeeGees. During the late 1970s, when the BeeGees were riding high on the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, she let them know she was a fan and would love to record one of their songs. The collaboration went so well that they ended up writing not one but nearly a dozen songs for her. Tell us about something that went way better for you than you predicted it would.

A. When I decided to go back to college, I was 22 years old. It took me eight years to get my 4-year degree because I was working mostly full time and/or sick a lot of the time. I had to drop out several times because of major surgeries. There were times I despaired of ever finishing, but I did just before I turned 30. Later, I went back and finished up my masters degree before I turned 50. Maybe I'll have my Ph.D. by the time I'm 70. Ha.

5) Barbra traveled to Miami Beach to record this song in Barry's favorite studio. Have you ever been to Miami Beach?

A. No, I have not.

 

6) Barbra went to Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. She had a mad crush on one of her classmates. That boy was Bobby Fischer, who grew up to be an international chess champion. Do you remember one of your big high school crushes? Do you know whatever became of him or her?

A. I went to the prom with a boy named Mike. He went into the Army. I did not hear from him or of him for a very long time, and then in 2012 I learned that he had been injured in a wreck in a fire truck in the Richmond area. I never did learn how he fared after the accident. I was surprised he was a firefighter. Apparently I was destined to date guys who wanted to be firemen.

7) Barbra is responsible for the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai. It's dedicated to the study of heart disease, its impact on women, and the search for more effective treatment. If you could fund a not-for-profit, as Barbra has done, what cause would you champion?

A. I would build a big library and have an entire section set aside for feminist literature to help women grow and become the humans they are meant to be. And then I'd have another section to promote literacy, and employee teachers to help folks learn to read and write. Something like 14% of the population cannot read. I'd like to knock that number down to zero.

 

8) In 1980, when "Woman in Love" was popular, Macaulay Culkin was born. He's best known for the Home Alone movies. Have you seen them? If yes, did you enjoy them?

A. I have seen them. I can't say I enjoyed them. 

9) Random question: On social media, people keystroke LOL all the time. When is the last time you literally laughed out loud?

A. I have friends I talk to on the phone during the week. We always laugh a lot.

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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. 

August 20 Happiness Challenge

I ate Chinese food! I haven't had anything but a bland diet since Thanksgiving, but tonight I decided to try some Chinese. It wasn't the best Chinese, but it was sweet and sour chicken and an egg roll, which means fried stuff and grease.

Two tablespoons of Gavascon preceded the meal, but hey. You do what you gotta do. If this doesn't cause me any issues, I'll know I'm finally on the mend from that ulcer!

Being able to eat something besides bland food makes me very happy!

Each day in August you are to post about something that makes *you* happy. Pretty simple. And, it doesn't even have to be every day if you don't want it to be. It's a great way to remind ourselves that there are positive things going on in our lives, our communities, and the world.