The Friday Fives

1. What was your favorite Christmas? What was your worst?

Worst is easy. It was in the Army and I had no where to go. Went to a movie, went downtown in Stuttgart and hung out with Army buddies. Ate at the barracks mess hall. And none of it felt right.
Best? I have had amazing Christmas moments with my family. And one that stands out, for no real “what a great present” kind of Christmas happened one year during a bit of a blizzard. We were driving to Grand Junction on Christmas morning and the roads were so bad that just outside of Meeker we turned turned the family sedan around, went back home and had an improvised Christmas meal made of convenient items from Circle K (Mom had no fixins’ on hand because we were planning on going to Grandma’s house in Grand Junction.) The sheer oddness and family togetherness of the affair stays with me to this day.

2. How do you deal with confrontation? Do you seek it out or do you avoid it? Are you more apt to be the confronter or the confronted?f

At work I deal with confrontation pretty well. In my personal life, I often let it fester and swell like an ugly skin boil.

3. Do you still listen to the music from your high school/college years on a regular basis?
I still listen to Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and Springsteen. I was in high school from 78 – 82 and there was some stuff from back then and some absolutely terrible stuff, but I guess that might be true from any era. (In my car when no one is around I will listen to some ELO to get through some traffic madness – but Shhh! this is my little secret. )

4. What are your five favorite possessions?

I searched majikwah.com but I can’t determine if this has been asked before – at least not this way – so here we go:

  • My big ass flat screen television. I like this thing perhaps way to much.
  • My lap top. Watching television and cruising the web concurrently is such a satisfying pastime.
  • My car. Trogg, my 2008 Hyundai Tucson is a sweet ride. Comfortable, safe and does amazing in the snow and ice.
  • My leather bound journal. It is huge with lots of big lines and ability to be refilled and it is an absolute joy to write in.
  • My mp3 player. My God, how did we ever live our lives with the conveniences of instant access to all of our music?
  • Honorable mention – my cell phone. However I can live without it – though insta web and text messaging are pretty cool to have.
  • 5. What is the worst movie sequel ever made, what is the best sequel ever, and what movie should have had a sequel but didn’t?

    Worst sequel – “Arthur II” This is extraordinarily bad.
    Best sequel – slam dunk _ “Godfather II.”

    Wacky Friday Fotos

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    Please place your caption in the comments section below.

    Friday Fives

    1. What would you do if you won a million dollars.
    Buy a house, pay off mom’s ranch and invest in stocks. At these prices, how can you not?
    2. How about 5 million?
    At 5 mil I could quit my job and live the good live, move to the beach and write my book.
    3. How about one hundred million?
    I would change my name to Kennedy, drink more and crash a car off a bridge.

    4. how about the babe lottery? Angelina Jolie or Jenn Aniston?
    I have a thing for Jennifer. She is one of my Friends.

    5. really?
    Really – I have never been to Florida.

    The Friday Fives

    1. Do you like the look of your country’s currency (bills and coins)?
    I like where it is beginning to go – the new redesign that has some color and different portraits. Damn, I wish I had a head of hair like Old Hickory on the $20.00 bill.

    2. Regardless of their actual value, do you like bills or coins better?
    Bills – coins weigh me down. That said, I do have an affection for the $1.00 coin. Generally worthless, as most vending machines won’t take them, but I think they are cool looking – and I don’t know why.

    strong>3. What is your favorite foreign currency? And why?
    The Peso is pretty cool looking. So is the Rupe. I like the Deutsche Mark as well. I am not a fan of the Euro – it looks to EuroMod or something.

    4. Do you collect coins or bills? Elaborate.
    I don’t collect coins. My dad did and I think mom still has all his coins. He used to work the mail clerk window at the post office and he would come across lots of cool coins along the way. I had a stamp collection as a kid – I guess part of that post office thing. Dad would by entire pages of stamps that included their lot number on the side and as a result the collection, now about 40 years old, is worth some dough.

    5. Do you think human society could make do completely without money? Explain.
    We will always have money and a world centered around commerce. I don’t think some sort of Star Trek world where money is no longer necessary will ever exist.

    Wacky Friday Fotos

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    Please place your caption in the comments section below.

    Friday Fives

    This week’s Fives come from Lono:

    “Lazy style: Grab your mp3 player and put it on full random. Tell us the first 5 – 8 songs. Riff on them, and what they/ the artist is doing on your iPod/ in your life. I found it easy and fun, so my five quickly stretched to about 8.”

    So, let’s go. (If you have no mp3 player handy, go with the radio and last five songs.)

    1. Wilco/Ashes of American Flags/Yankee Foxtrot Hotel. There is a soundscape throughout this entire album that plays like a black and white travel movie in my head. Tweedy has tremendous pathos in his voice and in his lyrics and yet, behind the cloudy anxiety of the Wilco sound, there is a glimmer of hope in every song.

    2. Nils Lofgren/Little on Up/Live Acoustic. I stumbled on this album accidentally and find it to be a great driving album. Nils is one of Springsteen’s guitar players, as well as one of Jackson Browns and one of Neil Young’s. He has been around the business for years and yet his solo work, which is solid and complex, gets little play anywhere. This song is a nice ditty about fatherhood and his relationship to his child and builds in energy as he realizes what the child has given him in life, a liitle bit at a time.

    3.Robbie Fulks/I Never Did Like Planes/ Live at Double Door 1/16/04. Robbie has a great country voice and a great way with workds. He is not what you would call traditional country and hardly close the rot that comes out of Nashville and Los Angeles – but he does a great job in recreating the late 60s early 70s country and western sound while singing about modern events.

    4. Johnny Cash/Get Rhythm/His 30 Greatest Hits. Johnny. Not a lot has to be said. He is great and an innovator of so much of the modern music scene. This song, covered by a ton of folks has a very early Rock and Roll beat to it. It is considered a country tune now, but it is closer to rockabilly or even early rock and roll.

    5. rickie Lee Jones/Beat Angel/ Duchess of Cool. This is from a huge greatest compedium from Rickie Lee. One of my boner girls – that is, girls singers who make me hot and horny. Rickie has such a sexy, jazzy voice. She, Niko Case, Allison Krause and Emmy Lou Harris are my musical-hotness muses.

    6. Elvis Presley/O Come All Ye Faithful/ If Every Day Was Like Christmas I don’t have to defend this. It is the holiday season. No, I won’t explain how it got on my M3 player.

    Wacky Friday Fotos

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    Please place your caption in the comments section below.

    Friday Fives

    What is the first thing that comes to mind when you read each of these prompts:

    1.What was stolen? my youth like curiousity. Last seen 9/10/2008. If found return to the big box of rainbows and unicorns outside my garage – around back.

    2. On the blacktop . . a big Leer jet revs its engines beginning the take off. The great thing about my office is it is right next to an airport runway for small corporate jets and small prop air craft and there is a take off about every 10 minutes or so.

    3. I have two enemies – Lono, of course and empty calories in such delights as Gummy Bears and Red Vines.

    4. Autumn purple . . . leaves are falling on my car.
    The wind, moist with rain.
    Crap, now I have to wash the thing again.

    5. Ice in a shaker.
    Gin, a small dash of Vermouth.
    A Martini.
    Summer is over.