Category: Sunday Stealing

Cardinal Virtue

It’s time for another Sunday Stealing! This is another random one from in the past, being that Sunday Stealing is on vacation for the rest of the year.

1.    Have you ever written to a celebrity?  Did they respond?

I wrote to Paul Stanley once. Nope, no response. It’s weird that I wrote to him and not Ace Frehley, though. Ace was my favorite.

 2.  Do you read letters immediately, or wait until ready to reply?

I don’t get letters or personal emails. I check work email two or three times a day and respond as necessary. A lot of employers out there expect immediate responses to emails, as did a former boss, but I can’t work that way. Writing requires chunks of uninterrupted time.

 3.   My preferences when it comes to reading:

Fiction, and my favorite genres are mystery, historic, and horror.

 4.   What I’m least likely to change my mind about:

The incoming US President. He’s disgusting through and through.

 5.   The topics I would get wrong about during trivia:

Sports, architectural styles, theater, cars.

 6.   What I’m hopeful about right now:

Not a whole heck of a lot, actually. The USA is heading for dark days. I’m glad I’m not a young woman. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have to worry about an unplanned pregnancy in the current political environment.

 7.   Philosophies I’ve learned/embraced from others:

I’m self-seeking and prefer Buddhist philosophy. Stoicism is a close second. They overlap in a lot of places.

 8.   What makes home feel like home?

Color. I cannot STAND the whole “beige aesthetic.” It’s boring and lacks imagination. I will always have blue couches and sofas. I will always have at least one room with some purple (currently have three). I will always have another room with shades of red (currently my office). My tree will always have colored lights.

 9.    Talents and skills I like to cultivate:

My rapport with other living creatures. I like knowing that they trust me and will often pick me out of a group of people to approach. Maybe they sense that I won’t try to eat them, like I pass the vegetarian smell test.
 
10.   What makes my heart race:

Too much sugar and/or caffeine.

11.  What power means to me:

The ability to walk away from things that don’t serve me and people who make life harder than it has to be. Hence my swearing off dating and relationships. They sap my energy. The last 10 years weren’t always easy, but they were a lot more peaceful than any time in my life with a man was. If I didn’t have to deal with the Wicked Witch of the West for a supervisor for five and a half of the last six years, I’d have had things pretty rootin’ tootin’ easy.

12.  Some of my comfort hobbies:

Coloring. Ha, still haven’t finished that snowflake. Just haven’t had the time. Vegan baking. Binge-watching documentary series about archeology or space. Latch-hook.

13.  Last time I was pleasantly surprised:

My midyear review at work. Seems my current supervisor thinks more highly of my work than I do.

14.   How was October 2024?

Busy but good. Celebrated my birthday with people, which is something I don’t usually do barring a brunch with one of my friends. This one was special, though, as I made it for a full year after my heart attack.

15.   Those who inspire my growth:

The Buddha, Dōgen, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius.

My favorite backyard bird is the Northern Cardinal. The male’s bright red and the female’s red-tipped wings and tail lift my spirits, and I think their songs are the most beautiful of all songbirds. When I sent holiday cards they usually had Northern Cardinals on them, and I have a cute little holiday dish towel with a Northern Cardinal on it, part of a set that also has a red towel with Mourning Doves and a green towel with a Chickadee on it.

A dish towel featuring a Northern Cardinal bird on a pine branch with pine cones.

Yet oddly enough, I didn’t have any Christmas ornaments with a Northern Cardinal on it–until now. Presenting this year’s ornament:

A Christmas ornament featuring a Northern Cardinal bird and the year 2024.

The was the only one of its kind at Macy’s when I bought a bunch of ornaments, so I consider it fate. Most Northern Cardinal decor is red like the male, but I love the female’s coloring just as much, if not more. Look how pretty she is!

A female Northern Cardinal on a branch.
Image: Timothy Abraham.

Come to think of it, the image above might have to be my laptop wallpaper for January, even though DesktopNexus seems to have returned.

Before I go, have some Northern Cardinal song:

And now to put fresh sheets on the bed and wait for my clothes to dry. Envy the rich tapestry of my life, won’t you?

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing is on vacation, so I did an old one I clicked on at random. I also forgot to post this last night so as soon as I post it, I will post another. Double the fun!

I am looking forward to:

My week off at the end of the month. I need it desperately.

Least favorite words:

Moist. It just sounds gross.

Demure. No, I don’t care about the meme. I’ve hated that word since the teachers in high school said that if our dresses were not “sufficiently demure,” we wouldn’t be allowed in at prom. It was 1984. Little did the teachers know what prom dresses in 2024 would look like.

Lovemaking. It’s the Drakkar Noir of terms for sex: Too much and used by smarmy guys. It’s sex. SEX, okay? SEX. You can use the word SEX.

If I ruled the world:

People wouldn’t be allowed to use the three words above.

Favorite websites and blogs:

They’re personal journals and I don’t blab secrets.

Things I do for myself:

Work out. Avoid the sun. Don’t smoke. Eat right (or try to). Pursue hobbies. Maintain a social circle.

Weekly rituals:

I don’t really have any, unless you count laundry.

DIYs I want to try:

I don’t have any in mind. Every once in a while I get the urge to buy a piece of furniture to put together but that’s about it.

On my shopping list:

Canned vegetables. No joke. I live in the D.C. area. I sense unrest coming when he gets in there. I wouldn’t be surprised if the country ends up under martial law at some point. I’ve already started stocking up. Fresh and frozen will go bad after some time in the event of a power outage. Canned veggies you just have to rinse and eat.

Places to see in your town:

In my county, Arlington National Cemetery. In D.C., the Smithsonian museums, the monuments, the Kennedy Center, and all the fun non-touristy places I’d take you to if only you’d come to visit your Auntie Zen.

Road trip must-haves:

Powdered or chocolate-covered mini-donuts. I don’t know why, but it’s not a road trip unless you have those.

Guilty pleasures:

I don’t believe in those. Anything you enjoy is a bit of self-care, whether it’s sleeping late, reading trashy fiction, or eating dessert. Despite what certain religions tell you, we are not here to suffer.

Things I’d rather be doing right now:

Skiing. Hiking. Stargazing out in a meadow. Birdwatching. Burning down the patriarchy.

Books I’d like to read this year:

Let’s go with next year.

The Eric Carr Story, by Greg Prato. about the second drummer for Kiss, who just seemed like a really cool guy. He died too young, just 40 years old, the same day Freddie Mercury died.

The Serpent and the Pearl and The Lion and the Rose, both by Kate Quinn. She did a great job with the Empress of Rome series, so I’d love to see how she handles the Borgias.

And this bad boy right  here, as I’ve never read any Lovecraft and the few oddball pages I’ve skimmed here and there look fantastic.

A book, The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales by H.P. Lovecraft.

Lessons learned:

Take people as they are, or don’t take them.

You don’t owe anyone any explanations for your choices in life, such as whether to date, marry, or have children; whether you have a religion; who you voted for; your career path or lack thereof; and how you spend your free time. Add how you spend your money to that if you’re single and kid-free.

Shared DNA does not imply family.

No job is worth sacrificing your health, peace, relationships, or interests for.

The United States is not the greatest country in the world. I don’t know which one is, but we’re definitely NOT.

Vacations to take:

Italy. Finland. France. Wherever my hiking group decides to go. Right now Bulgaria seems to be hot. Would like to see more of Poland. England. Germany. Norway. The Netherlands. Iceland. Austria. Hungary. I could go on.

I’ve given up on posting a snowflake a day. I’ll post them as I finish them. As for Christmas, here are some poinsettias from the staff lounge at work. Note how there is no t after the n in poinsettia. That’s one of those holiday-related peeves of mine.

Poinsettias on a holiday table.

Holidailies 2024!

Happy Holidailies! Holy smoke, Holidailies is 25 years old this year. This is my favorite writing project, and I’m glad to see it’s still going. Last year’s was a blast, so let’s see if I can add to some of the magic.

You may or may not notice that this website looks a little bit different from last year. I couldn’t bear to see Inigo’s name get smaller and smaller in my tag cloud, so I got a new template. Or, a new-to-me template as this one is Twenty-Fifteen. This one makes more sense to me because the place to leave a comment is at the end of the entry so folks don’t have to scroll up to the top to leave one. See also, I can still fool around with background images and color schemes without having to deal with block editing and all of that other stuff that drives me batty about WordPress.

Anyway, it seems the random prompt generator thingie at Holidailies isn’t functioning, so I thought I’d kick off with a Sunday Stealing as it’s about one of my favorite topics: books.

Has reading a book ever changed your life? Which one and why, if yes?
Yes. Bambi by Felix Salten. I read it when I was nine years old and it shaped the way I view animals.

Do you prefer to read fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction. I read a lot of medical journals for work and that’s enough non-fiction for me. When I read for pleasure, I prefer to escape into a different time and place.

If you could be a character in any novel you’ve read, who would you be?
I wouldn’t. Novels are based on one of three types of conflict (human vs human, human vs environment, or human vs self) and good writing involves depictions of a fair bit of suffering, and I wouldn’t want to endure either.

Has reading a book ever made you cry? Which one and why?
Yes. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Let’s just say a hawk is involved.

How many books do you read a year?
Not nearly enough. I’m very pressed for time, so if I read three or four, I call it a win.

Name a book you had to read, but hated. Why did you hate it?
I’ll catch hate for this, but the Bible. Twelve years of Catholic school can do that to you. Plus, the writing is just so bad with all the ye, thee, thy, and thine stuff. Unto you I say BLECH.

If someone wrote a book about your life what would it be called?
You’ve Gotta Be Kidding Me: Tales of a Long Island Girl Inside the Beltway. The dust jacket would say something like, “Washington, D.C. is full of blowhards, mansplainers, and pretentious snobs who think their doo-doo doesn’t stink. Enter Zennie. She’s snarky. She’s real. She doesn’t have time for their hot air.”

Have you ever written (or started to write) a book?
I’ve partially written three. Never did finish them. That’s one thing I absolutely hate about being a reporter. When I get home from work, I don’t want to write anymore unless it’s something like a blog or journal entry. Fiction requires a lot of thought and I just don’t have it in me. It wasn’t like that with every writing job I had, but my current workload takes a lot out of me.

If you could pick a book you’ve read to make into a movie, what would it be?
I wouldn’t. The movie is never as good as the book.

What was your favorite book as a child?
See Bambi, above.

What are you reading right now?
I’m reading two books, actually. The first is Dawn Empress by Faith L. Justice, about Pulcheria, sister to the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II. I absolutely dislike the protagonist, though—she’s religious and that’s a turn-off for me in reality, fiction, and historical fiction about real people—so  when I had to take a trip for work, I downloaded Breakdown, an Alex Delaware mystery by Jonathan Kellerman, and am enjoying it much more.

Hmmm… Going back to that question about being a character in a novel, I suppose I wouldn’t mind being Alex Delaware’s girlfriend Robin Castagna. She makes guitars for a living and I can think of a few rock stars I’d love to have as clients, though if memory serves me correctly, she was a target in one of the novels.

In other news… The National Christmas Tree will be lit on Thursday, so as soon as I get down to the Mall and the Walk of Peace, I will start posting photos of the state trees like I did last year. I’m not sure if I’m going to post my own ornaments this year. I have to take a look at them when I put up my tree, which probably won’t be until either December 7 or 14.

However, I got the Finch app this weekend and one of my daily goals is to do something that makes me happy, so here’s a snowflake I colored with glitter gel pens. Sorry for the bad photo. I already started the next one and forgot to take a picture of this one before I folded the book back. Oops. Looks like the white glitter ink doesn’t photograph, either. Really, those spaces are colored in! Live and learn! The book is 50 Snowflakes to Color by Kameliya Angelkova. Gel pens are Tanmit 80/160 in the cloth case, currently selling for about 20 bucks on Amazon, 80 colors with one refill each. (No affiliation, but sometimes folks ask.)

A snowflake colored with glitter pens.