Category: Music

Alphabetically Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing is still on vacation, so here’s an old one.

A – Ambition: To actually be able to retire. That’s not looking likely. And lemme tellya, if Trumpty-Dumpty and Apartheid Clyde try to do anything to Social Security and Medicare, I will join whatever class-action suit needs to be rendered against them.

B – Birthday: October 21

C – Computer: PC, always. Currently a Dell that is 5 years old. I really should buy a new one before any tariffs kick in. Maybe after Christmas but before the coronation.

D – Dream: I love the one I have of Marko Saaresto (front man of Poets of the Fall) in which we’re standing in a famous D.C. bookstore called Kramer’s and he asks me to help him pick out a book for a child relative back in Finland. I pull out my tablet and type in a line from one of his songs–“I’m secretly grateful you’re sharing this moment with me” from “No End, No Beginning”–and he says “thank you” and we pick out a book and then have lunch and people-watch. Now pardon me if I cry for a second because I was supposed to be at this concert and one in Manchester with my friend Tracy while on vacation in England for a week, but my heart attack said otherwise.

E – Exercise: Cardiokickboxing, interval training, interval treadmill, and The Firm because I’m old school like that.

F – Favorite Food: Today it’s grapes. Tomorrow it might be something else.

G – Garden: Would love to have one. Wouldn’t love to work on it.

H – Hobby: Coloring. And I still have not finished that stupid snowflake!

I – Idol: Joaquin Phoenix. His compassion for animals humbles me.

J – Job: Health writer. Oh, excuse me, I write for clinicians so they’re calling people like me medical journalists now.

K – Kids: Too gamey.

L – Location: Virginia

M – Military: Should only be deployed as a last resort.

N – Name or Nickname: T-bird

O – Optimist or Pessimist: Cynical optimist. Yes, there is such a thing. Ever hear of “plan for the worst but hope for the best?”

P – Pets: I miss mine.

Q – Quote: I hate writing. I love having written. — Dorothy Parker

R – Reads: Mystery, horror, historical.

S – School: Gee Dubya, Class of ’88.

T – Travel: Yes, please.

U – Unfulfilled ambition: One day I will get some fiction published. Or poetry. Or something other than journalism.

V – Vacation spot: I used to love ski resorts. No idea now. I haven’t had a real vacation where I go somewhere far away for at least week in years. Many years. Might have been my honeymoon in 2001. I can’t remember. See: crying, above.

W – Wardrobe: Mostly athletic wear for hiking and the gym.

X – X-tra facts about me: White people say my eyes are brown. People of color say my eyes are hazel. People of color are correct.

Y – Years online: 25

Z – Zodiac sign: Libra sun, Aquarius moon, Sagittarius rising.

Well, that was fun!

A few entries ago, I wrote of my mother’s mistaken belief that Emperor Penguins were six feet tall. Speaking of huge penguins…

I wonder if Pesto will ski, like today’s ornament, one of my new ones from this year.

A Christmas ornament featuring a skiing penguin.

My Song of the Year

Long day, even though I had most of the afternoon off after the office holiday party. Good food, nice conversations.

Spent a couple of hours reading through the hundreds of comments on the Threads version of what I posted here yesterday. I had to split it into two posts, and between both of them it got more than 16,000 likes and 900 comments, although many of those comments are also Threaders talking to each other. I’m kind of overwhelmed, but in the very best of ways because 99.95% of it is supportive, the conversations are thoughtful and fruitful with ideas and sharing of experiences, and it restored my faith in humanity. I really think that the only way the United States is going to get through the next four years is if we all work locally, individually, in our communities, to help one another. I have a few ideas about that, but really, it just comes down to setting aside the consumerist behaviors we’ve all gotten accustomed to and putting the money toward our communities. This has the bonus of hitting some of these billionaires where it hurts: Their wallets.

It’s going to happen by default, anyway, because once Creamsicle Caligula gets in there and destroys the economy, the middle class isn’t going to be able to afford much other than food and shelter, if that. Remember the last time that happened? Marie Antoinette lost her head.

And so I give you my Song of the Year: “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!),” as performed by Gojira at the Paris Olympics.

Without all the applause:

“Ah Ça Ira” is a song from the French Revolution. It’s basically about hanging aristocrats from lamp posts.

As for the .05% of comments that weren’t productive, they were about how Elon Musk owes the world nothing, it’s not his fault a woman is homeless, blah, blah, blah, bronyism, blah. I hid, muted, restricted, and blocked them. First, that’s not the point. The point is people who have the power to change the world for the better and don’t are lousy human beings. Second, don’t derail the narrative on my account with your worship of false kings. If you’re going to fall to your knees in submission to the personification of greed, do it on your own page.

Going to see the state trees tomorrow. It will be cold but fun! And no aristocrats allowed.

It Sounds Like a Whisper

Ha! I can’t wait to see what the third day brings.

Oh, bad form? Yeah. No. Dude made $10 million a year from a company notorious for rejecting claims and letting people die. I had problems with UnitedHealthCare, myself, in which they botched my payment processing through the health exchange and canceled my insurance even though it was their fault. Then I later came home with an $8,000 emergency department bill for a partial small bowel obstruction because I could no longer get insurance for that plan year, so pardon me while I sing “Cry Me a River.” And believe it or not, there’s nothing abnormal about that. There is no “right” way to respond to someone’s death, so whatever you might be feeling about it is fine and don’t let anyone try to make you feel bad if you can’t muster up any sympathy or empathy for it. Patients die because of greedy people like him and these other ghouls.

As for Nick Fuentes, he is the raging misogynist who started the whole “your body, my choice” thing. Well, I guess he’s about to find out that the law doesn’t agree with him. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.

But on to happier news, shall we?

I’m really digging the Finch app. Just finished my first week and I worked out four times since Monday, ate all of my fruits and veggies every day, and stayed fully hydrated. I can’t remember the first time I did all of that in one week. Usually there are a days short on fruits and veggies, or when I don’t drink enough water, or I only work out a couple of times in a week. Finch works for me, so I’m keeping it–which is probably a good thing being that I paid for a full year in advance for $40 on a Black Friday deal. I think it’s 10 bucks a month otherwise.

Right now my Finch, Sherbet, is in Iceland and she has a pet cow. I’ve earned enough points to give her that fancy outfit, including her Cosmic Crown.

Looks like I took the screenie while she was mid-blink. Normally she’s not scowling.

Never thought I’d have a toddler, but here we are.

I’ve been working on a snowflake this evening but won’t finish it by midnight, so I’ll post it tomorrow. In the meantime, have a seat at the revolution, folks.