Sunday Stealing, plus a few other thoughts

Some weeks, the Sunday Stealing quiz is big and hefty and can sustain an entire post on its own. Other times, not so much:

Which one?

1. Pepsi or Coke?

Coke, honestly, but it’s not a super-strong preference. I’m not disappointed if I’m at a place that only has Pepsi products. I do, however, lean much more strongly to the Zero Sugar versions of these drinks, and Coke Zero doesn’t seem to have the reach in its fountain form that Diet Coke does, and I hate hate HATE Diet Coke.

Also frustrating is that I probably need to order Caffeine-free Coke Zero from Amazon, because it is simply impossible to find in stores.

2. Cappuccino or coffee?

On an everyday basis, coffee. But I do love a good cappuccino! I could make one at home, I suppose…somewhere in the garage I have an espresso maker that has the steaming wand for milk. It always seems a bit of extra effort, though.

3. Chocolate or vanilla?

Either, both are wonderful. Vanilla is a beautiful thing that has somehow come to be synonymous with “boring”, and this I do not get. 

4. Hot tea or iced tea?

Hot. I am really not a huge fan of iced tea. Strange that I didn’t inherit that from my mother; she drank iced tea by the gallon.

5. Dinner for two or a party?

The dinner, though honestly, I haven’t been to a party in so long that maybe I’m being unfair to parties.

Other thoughts? Well, here’s some random thinkage:

::  One book I read this past winter was a Japanese novel, translated to English, called The Convenience Store By the Sea. It was actually a collection of short stories, each of which takes place in or around a convenience store in a seaside town in Japan. All of the stories are quiet, low-intensity stories that follow a main character through a particular challenge in their life, and each one is solved or surmounted in part because of their association with this particular store. At the time I thought the novel was pleasant enough…but I’ve found myself thinking more and more about it since I read it. I have just learned that this is actually an entire literary genre in Japan and Korea, called “Healing fiction“. I plan to read more of this stuff as soon as I can.

::  Of course, I’m not reading low-stakes stuff entirely! I also read Empire of Silence, which is a gigantic epic space opera novel that is the first in a series of gigantic epic space opera novels. My roots always call me home, eventually….

::  As I write this, the Buffalo Sabres’ season may come to an end this evening, as they are down 3 games to 2 in their playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens. I root for the Sabres, because they’re the local team, but I still generally know almost nothing about hockey. Their playoff appearance has been lovely to behold, though, in terms of the mood around town. I will say, though, that the degree to which the fortunes of the local sports teams plays into Buffalo’s general level of emotional health doesn’t seem ideal to me.

::  Also as I write this, it’s May 16, which means we’re on the back half of May. And that means that spring at long last seems about to genuinely feel like spring. We even have a burst of outright hot weather in the forecast, as Monday is supposed to be over 80 degrees, which will be our first time hitting that mark since last September, I think. Scenes like this will be more and more frequent, moving forward:

Always remember to turn your baked potato so it bakes evenly!