Category: Friday Fives

April is nearly over and we are tumbling toward May and soon it will be the season of graduating. It seems like every class has graduations going on now, so how about you

1. Did you enjoy your senior year of high school?

Yeah. It was pretty great. We had a brand spanking new shiny high school. I was rocking it in speech and debate. I had an unofficial role as the official school MC for most assemblies and two independent studies with no real classwork expectations. Pretty fun.

2. Did you have a senior trip (high school) and were you able to go on it.

No. But in a rural area high school, all of our competitions were miles and miles away so lots of bus trips to Grand Junction, Gunnison, Aspen, Denver, Utah and beyond. In my freshman year, our band took a huge trip to the Portland Rose Festival via a convoy of school buses.

3. Was graduating (from either high school or college/university) a big thing with your family or just another day?

I was the first member of my family to graduate from college. It was a big deal for grandparents and parents.

4. What were you looking forward to the most after graduating from either high school or college/university?

I was fortunate to have a job at a newspaper right out of college and I was looking forward to that opportunity.

5. Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your graduating self?

Pay more attention in high school to writing and English classes.  The math was not too important after all.

1. What normal thing can’t you do?

I am pretty dyslexic about many things and tend to come at things from the wrong direction. As a result, I am not able to play modern video games with any kind of competence.  (I am also told I cut things with knives incorrectly.)

2. What do you personally hate the smell of?

The combination of stale cigarettes and coffee in the morning.

3. People who make their bed in the morning every day, what are the rest of us missing out on?

After being forced to make my bed each morning in the morning while in the army and also as a child – in my college dorm I made it each day so there was somewhere to sit.  As a grown up I don’t really make a bed, per se. I pull up the comforter and toss a ton of pillows bake onto the bed.

4. What is the most pointless thing that actually exists?

This:

5. What is your best use of an item or object that clearly was not made for such use?

I do all sorts of repurposing, but I think my favorite is a kitchen hack – using a hot air corn popper to roast green coffee beans.  

 

1. Who is your favorite comedian?

So many to choose from but I have to go with Groucho Marx. Back in college, I bought “An Evening With Groucho” album at a used record store up on the hill in Boulder and I became smitten.  His talk show/game show from the 1950’s”You Bet Your Life” is a classic that still holds up. The Marx Brother’s films are superb and hold up after all these years.  Spend some time on YouTube and search for his clips. You won’t be disappointed. 

2. Who is your favorite musician?

Springsteen. Duh. Have you not been reading this blog?

3. Who is your favorite actor/actress?

Sean Connery, probably.  

4. Who is your favorite film director?

Francis Ford Coppola

Runner Up: Hal Ashby

5. Who is your favorite personality?

Casey Kassem – I spend each Sunday morning doing the NY Times Crossword and listening to Casey’s American Top 40 reruns on SiriusXM’s 70’s channel

1. What is your least favorite part of Spring?

The random, out of nowhere snow blizzard.

2. What is your most favorite part of Spring?

Longer days and warmer climes.

3. What is the latest good book you’ve read?

Reading “The Lost Book of Mormon” based on the premise that Joseph Smith was a literary genius and the story of the Jewish Nephi people traveling from the Middle East to a Central Mexican valley – it is a work of genius and I highly recommend. 

4. What are your plans for this weekend?

Pizza party and game night.

5. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?

Uncertain. But there was a story of the little eager beaver, emerging from the dam on one crisp spring morning, leaving hibernation to begin to build again. It is a story of determination and steadfast focus on building – narrated by Sam Elliot and directed by Wes Anderson. Starring Kenan Thompson. Delight as eager beaver collects his twigs and visits the duck village and shares his recipe for bog pie.  

1. Who surprises you the most at the fact that they are still alive?

Keith Richards.  Man, oh man. At age 70 or so, he finally decided to stop drinking – but lordy, did he have along run.

2. Which words sound perfectly normal, but look really dumb spelled out?

Laugh, or any of the silent “GH” words.  They all look so odd.

3. What is surprisingly NOT illegal in your country?

The ability to legally amass a huge personal arsenal of guns and ammo.

4. Without swearing, what is your favorite insult?

From years ago at a backyard barbeque, a friend once told someone, “I don’t know where you’re from, but here it is important for your story to have a point.”  I have always loved that remark.

5. A dad used to tell his children that the noise produced from the fan above the stove came from a creature named Kitchen Willy who lived in the walls; what ridiculous creatures or ghosts did your parents convince you that you were living amongst?

We didn’t have any of those stories but in my adult years, we invented our little brother, Victor, who was raised in my parent’s crawl space and educated by my father in a strict parochial catechism including a full-on nun’s habit.

1. What sci-fi hero are you most similar to?

Atom Ant

2. What fictional character from a novel are you most similar too?

Alexander Portnoy

3. What Disney character are you most similar to?

Jiminy Cricket

4. What toy action figure are you most similar to?

Troll doll

5. What car/truck/auto are you most similar to?

AMC Pacer

Quick right off the top of my head. (I am sure more will come to me and this will be amended)

1. What were 5 great things about the 1970s?

• Morning television cartoons; 
• Koolaid®
• The Six Million Dollar Man
• Cub Scouts
• My Dad’s Jeepster Commando

2. What were 5 great things about the 1980s?

• Driver’s license
• The Empire Strikes Back
• Army service
• Apple Macintosh SE
• Hugh School Graduation

3. What were 5 great things about the 1990s?

• College graduation
• Moving to Denver
• Working as a reporter
• Caution, Slow Children At Play
• Slim Cessna shows

4. What were 5 great things about the 2000s?

• Y2K didn’t happen. (Remember when that was a thing?)
• The digital revolution (does anyone even use CDs or cassette anymore? Rember DVDs and VHS?)
• Obama!
• Hickenlooper!
• The Sopranos

5. What were 5 great things about the 2010s?

• Kentucky Derby Trip
• Surviving the heart attack
• Netflix
• Spotify (All the Grateful Dead Dick’s Picks? That is now one huge rando playlist, kiddos.)
• And most recently, Letterkenny (It’s on Hulu, go forth and find it – it is extraordinary. No spoilers but lots of hockey and Canadian jokes.)

1. Do you make up a meal/menu plan for the coming week?

Nah.  I usually just wing it.   I eat pretty simply during the week – eggs and toast for breakfast.  Usually, a small salad or cottage cheese with a dill pickle on the side – and may snack on my infamous seitan loaf that is close to summer sausage in my non-expert opinion.

2. Do you make up a grocery shopping list and stick to it when shopping?

Not usually.

3. What’s that one thing that you always buy – a go-to product you but, but never write down on a list?

Those little yellow tomatoes, I think they are called “Cherubs” or something like that.  I snack on those all day long.

4. Is there anything that you always think you are out of and come home with it to discover you already have a year’s supply on hand?

Nothing specific but usually something in the spice cabinet.  My sister says I have too much “Mrs. Dash” in the spice cupboard.

5. Do you get your groceries delivered?

No, that would be a disaster. I would never leave the house.

1. What size (twin, full, etc.) is your bed?
It’s King size. And oh so comfortable. I am tempted to back and crawl under the covers and go back to sleep right this minute.

2. How many pillows do you sleep with?
Well, embarrassingly, I have kind of thing about pillows – I love them. I have 12 or so pillows on my bed – although at night I usually only sleep with just three. And one of them has to be my Sobakawa Buckwheat Pillow – perfection – supports the neck and doesn’t get all hot at night.

3. Do you have a weighted blanket? If so, does it help you?
Nope. Just a comforter with a duvet thingy.

4. Do you sleep with any stuffed animals?
No. Well, I do have a stuffed Opus sitting on a shelf near my bed, if that counts.

5. Do you have to have the TV on to go to sleep?
No TV but often I will drift off with some headphones on listening to music.