Sunday Stealing

 Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Stolen from the "IF" book

 

 

1, If you could change the ending to one movie you have seen, which one would it be, and how would you reshoot it?
I can't think of a one right now.

2. If you were to select a food that best describes your character, what food would it be?
cream cheese -- soft and squishy, not overly sweet, not overly not-sweet, and something that most people like.

3. If you could cure any disease, which would it be?
Alzheimer's, before I get it.

4. If you had to describe the single worst thing a friend could do to you, what would it be?
End a close friendship without a word of explanation and then be angry with you when you tried to find out what you did to make the friendship have to end.

5. If you could be a contestant on any game show, which would you like to be on?
Oh, I'd love to be on Jeopardy, but I'm too old and too unintelligent, especially with sports and modern music to do well on it.

6. If you could choose the music at your own funeral, what would it be, and who would play it?
Steve Schalchlin would have to fly back from New York to play "Save Me a Seat."

7. If you had to spend all of your vacations for the rest of your life in the same place, where would you go?
Someplace overlooking the ocean, with meals included and staff to care for everything you want.

8. If you could ask God a single question, what would  it be?
Why do you allow so much infighting?

9. If you could eat one food in any quantity for  the rest of your life with no ill effects whatsoever what food would you choose?
In main-course-y foods, it would be Dungeness Crab, in snack food it would be either peanut butter or cream cheese.

10. If you could have a year any place in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
I am not really interested in living somewhere other than here, but if I had to, I'd choose the south of France.

11. If you could forever eliminate one specific type of prejudice from the earth, which would it be?
I've never understood why Jews have been attacked...pretty much forever.

12. If you could own one painting from any collection in the world but were not allowed to sell it, which work of art would you select?
One of Van Gogh's Almond Blossoms.

13. If you could ask a single question of a dead relative, what would it be and of whom would you ask it?
I would ask my father's parents to talk to me about their careers in vaudeville.  (They never spoke of it while they were alive and I didn't find out about it until after they died)

14. If you had to choose the best television show ever made, which one would you pick?
The West Wing or M*A*S*H

15. If you could write letters to only one person for the rest of your life, who would receive them?
I've done this twice, once to my friend Phil, who died and once to my friend Peggy.(see #4).  I can't think of anybody I'd like to write to daiiy any more.  I would say Char, but we correspond on FaceBook.

15. If you could write letters to only one person for the rest of your life, who would receive them?

Saturday 9

What's New, Pussycat?

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Saturday 9: What's New, Pussycat? (1965)

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

Welcome to the first Saturday 9 of 2023.

1) In this song, Tom Jones wants to know what's new in his girl's life. Here at Saturday 9, we're concentrating on the new year. What do you hope will be new and different in your life during 2023?
Well, I guess I hope I will go out more than the last two years.  I am in need of lunch with two different friends, for example.

 

2) He sings that he has flowers for his special girl. Are there fresh flowers in your home right now?
I don't normally have flowers in the house, unless roses are blooming, but my daughter-in-law gave me a Christmas cactus for Christmas and it is still blooming.

 

3) He also wants to spend hours with her. What is something you'd like to spend more time doing in 2023?
Learning some kind of web design so I can go back  to Funny the World in its old format.

 

4) Before his music career took off, Tom Jones supported himself by selling vacuum cleaners. Could your home benefit from a once-over with a vacuum right now?
Probably not.  Ned did a good cleaning before Christmas

 

5) Memorabilia from Tom's 1990 world tour was available eBay and the bids went up to $599 a jacket worn by the stage crew. Have you ever bought anything at an auction (online or otherwise)?
I don't think so.

6) Tom's adult grandson, Alex, represented Wales in rifle shooting in the Commonwealth Games. Is there a sport you'd like to try, or get better at, in 2023?
I'm not into sports.  Can't think of one that I'd like to try (bicycling was great until I fell and then my bike got stolen)

7) In 1965, when this song was popular, Tom Jones made a new friend, Elvis Presley. Tom had a meeting at Paramount Studios to discuss recording a song for a movie soundtrack and Elvis was finishing a film. It was the beginning of a friendship that would continue for the rest of Elvis' life. Did you make any new friends in 2022?
I didn't even see any OLD friends.

8) Also in 1965, The Sound of Music premiered and became one of the most successful movies of all time. Have you seen it?
Many times

9) Random question: Were you like those shoppers we saw on TV, in line at a retailer after the holidays to exchange a gift that wasn't quite right?
No.  Didn't get anything that needed exchanging, except the gift I bought myself, which will be mailed back to Amazon.

Baklava

 Right before Christmas, I took pastry out of the freezer.  It was phyllo pastry, thinking I would make an hors d'oeuvre.  Only it turned out that that I needed was not phyllo but puff pastry, so the phyllo has sad, unfrozen, in the refrigerator since Christmas and I kept thinking I would make baklava since I had nearly all the ingredients I needed, missing only a lemon. But I kept putting it off and putting it off.

Finally yesterday I decided to do it.  To my surprise (and relief) the phyllo was still usable, though not in the familiar "sheets" that it normally comes in.  I had to kind of piece it together like a puzzle, but it worked.  I was pleased at how well the thing  turned out after baked.

Baklava is very sweet and I don't know that it is going to be finished and I have no desire to ever make it again, but it was tasty.

An on-line friend of mine posted a link to her "1 second a day" video.  1SE is an app that lets you post something 1 second long every day and at the end of the year you have a video diary of your whole year, in 1 second segments.

I had a difficult time figuring the app out and my friend sent me instructions of how she did it.  The instructions were as confusing as the app's, but I worked with it and finally sort of figured out how it all works and I will be posting a 1 second video or photo every day.  Should be fun.  A new project.

Brrrr

 I've been waiting for the wearable blanket that I ordered to come.  I'm so cold at night and the two blankets I have aren't enough and may be partly why I wake up so often at night.  When I saw a wearable blanket on Amazon, I knew it was what I needed.

It arrived today and it is, indeed what I was hoping for.  Nice and soft, lined with blanket material and very warm.  I was very happy once I managed to get it on me.  But there is a problem.  It is so snugly fitting and has no opening (no zipper, no buttons, just over the head) that, as Ned points out, it is going to be very difficult to go to the bathroom...plus even if I get all that material behind me up high enough, there is always the problem that when it comes down it might pick up things I am unaware of..  So, sadly, I am going to return it and look for something else that will close like a bathrobe and make it warm but easy to get off for bathroom trips.

But it sure is nice and snuggly.

.

No Joy

 Well, we are into a new year. We didn't do anything for New Years Eve but watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN and when it was midnight in New York, I turned off the TV and went to sleep.  Was not awake for midnight in Davis.

I watched the New York Philharmonic concert which ended with "Ode to Joy" (4th movement of  Beethoven's 9th Symphony), which was an amazing concert.  Some 150 in  the chorus and 90 or so in the orchestra and it just brought chills down my spine listening to the music.

It did, however, remind me of one of the most embarrassing mistakes of my life.  When I was working with the Lamplighters, Gilbert, who was the musical director and conductor, realized that he wanted to conduct the Beethoven symphonies, but never would.  So he decided he'd invite members of the orchestra and a few other for audience (a dozen folks or so) over a few Sundays and would conduct a symphony.  He started with the 8th because it's my favorite of the Beethoven symphonies.

I can't remember if he conducted all 9 but when he was doing the 9th, he invited more singers to come and be in the audience and when it got to the 4th movement, he invited anybody who wanted to sing it to come up on stage.  I decided this was my one opportunity to sing on the Lamplighters stage, so went up with everyone else.  He asked the chorus if they wanted to sing it in English or in German and they chose German.  So there I was in the middle of a group of professionals, trying to sing a piece I'd never seen the music to, in a language I didn't understand and I wasn't even singing the melody, but the alto.  What a disaster.  I was sharing the music with one of the principal altos in the company and just kind of moved my mouth while she sang.  

I think of that every time I hear "Ode to Joy" and remember how awful I felt trying to sing with these professionals.

Jean Ziaja and her husband
It was Jean I was trying to sing with

Last entry of 2022

 Yesterday was ... interesting.  The power had gone off at about 5:30 the night before and was still off in the morning.  Very cold!!  I snuggled under blankets. gloves and earmuffs.  Still cold.  Ned talked us into buying a generator 3 years ago and what a godsend it has been.  We have only needed it a few times, but when we need it's wonderful.  It kept the important things powered up -- the refrigerator, the TV, the coffee pot and the bidet.  

We didn't do much...well *I* didn't do much...but watch TV all day.  Ned and Walt were busy keeping the house in order.  I love it that Ned feels I need to keep my leg elevated because of the slight swelling in my feet...makes me feel not guilty for not doing something in the house!

The power eventually came on, which was great, but we didn't get internet access until this afternoon (the day after the power came back on).  

I'm cooking split pea soup for dinner tonight.  We have this huge ham bone and I decided we should have soup (Marta will have a burrito).  I haven't made soup in forever.  Tomorrow I"m going to try baklava since I have all the ingredients for it and I want to find out if the phyllo dough I thawed before Christmas is too old to be used.

This will be the last holidailies entry for 2022.  I didn't make as much use of Holidailies as I usually do but I did write almost every day. 

Thanks, Holidailies for another fun year.

(Tom's dogs)

UPDATE:  I thought this would be Holidailies, but they have stopped taking entries since Jan 1, so this is just a regular Funny the World.

In the dark

 We had horrendous wind yesterday and the power went off. Nearly 24 hours now snd still off. Thank goodness we have a generator. Ned was able to get the most important things turned on — the refrigerator, the tv, the coffee pot and the bidet  And it’s COLD!