Unplanned Hiati!

Is hiati the plural of hiatus? Let me go check….

Answer: It is not. It’s hiatuses. OK then!

Anyway, I had no planned intention to take an entire weekend off from posting here, but that’s what happened. Nothing major happened, just a busy weekend full of stuff I felt like doing more than posting here. I’ll write about some of that at some point soon, but for now, just as a quick way of getting back into things, I’ll do something I used to do a lot: a quiz-thing! This one is from Sunday Stealing, which Roger faithfully does most weeks. Here’s this week’s quiz:

1) What is your favorite way to spend a lazy day?

For purposes of this question, I’ll assume that the lazy day is a day at home (i.e., not on vacation someplace) without much by way of expected activities or duties. My answer depends a bit on the weather: if it’s nice out, I might go to a park for some walking or hiking and photography. Also, sitting and reading and writing is always on the docket! Listening to music, too.

Basically, a lazy day is a good time to engage my various hobbies.

2) What do you look forward to every week?

The weekend!

OK, fine, let’s be more specific and less obvious. Saturday night, we usually have a cheese-and-cured-meat selection for dinner (yes, I could use the hoity-toity word Charcuterie for this, but come on, do we really need a fancy French word for cheese-and-crackers?). We also usually stream a movie on Saturday nights, so that’s a pleasure. I also follow some content producers who generate stuff on weekends; their work is always nice to see. One example is Critical Role, which I do not have time to follow in entirety (each episode is like, four hours long!), so I skip through quite a bit. I don’t always know what’s going on–no, scratch that, I almost never know what’s going on, but the geeky energy surrounding that table is always infectious.

3) Name three pet peeves you currently have.

Like, fairly new pet-peeves? OK: well, right now, thanks to some BS unfolding over the weekend, I’m sick of guys issuing challenges for debate. The latest example is RFK Jr., who has become a fountain of complete bullshit, and Joe Rogan, who has yet to find a shitty idea he won’t amplify, challenging a vaccine scientist to “debate”. My general position on debates is that they are always, in every single instance, a complete waste of time.

(Oh, by the way? Remember the 1988 Vice Presidential Debate, when Dan Quayle got the “If you became President, what would you do first?” question three times? And on the third time he dragged out his comparison of his Congressional tenure with that of JFK’s, to Lloyd Bentsen’s obvious delight? The obvious right answer to “If you became President, what would you do first?” is, “Well, it depends, doesn’t it?” Or even “How the f*** do I know?!” I mean, is he taking over because the President had a heart attack, or is it an assassination, or a 9-11 style attack that killed the President, or is it a huge scandal that forced the President to resign, or….” As cloying as it was, probably the most authentic and actual answer Quayle could have given was one he did give: “First I’d say a prayer.” Anyway, the Bentsen “You’re no Jack Kennedy!” line was a delightful piece of red meat for a Democrat like me, but it also started me thinking, “Maybe debates are kind of a waste of time?”)

Moving on…oh wait, I didn’t finish the question. Two more pet peeves: People who don’t clean up their dogs’ solid waste, and people who wear their overalls with one strap unfastened. I hate that last one. It always looks weird to me.

4) If you were to win an all expense paid vacation for two weeks to anywhere in the world, where would you choose to go? What are some of the things you would like to experience while you were there?

Ooooooh…I would not be able to choose, so I would do so randomly. I would roll a d8 (that’s an 8-sided die, for those of you who don’t play role-playing games), with these results, dependent on the roll:

1-2: Finger Lakes vacation, either in Ithaca or Geneva, NY
3-4: NYC
5-6: Toronto
7-8: Waikiki

In each case? Sight-seeing, visiting museums, shopping, eating, drinking, walking around, and folding in a few lazier days. I have no problem filling up time. The Finger Lakes and the Waikiki vacations would present opportunities for nature engagement that NYC and Toronto don’t, but the cities would have live theater and movies to a greater degree.

5) What was one of your favorite toys as a kid? Did you save any special things from your childhood that you still have today?

Check this out:

My parents gave me that little nesting doll set when I was in first grade (I think). I remember wanting nesting dolls because I loved the concept. I remember being a little confused by these because I was expecting the traditional “Matryoshka” style, but this grew on me quickly. I still dig this little sailor family–made in Poland!–and this item has a place of pride on my desk even now.

6) What is your favorite holiday? What is your least favorite holiday?

Favorite? Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years Day are all in a big tie. And honestly, Halloween is right up there. I love that the year ends with four months of cool celebratory days, each with its own flavor and air.

Least favorite? Hmmmm. It’s never really on my radar because I never get it off, but Columbus Day sucks and needs to be renamed to something better. As in, not honoring a racist colonizer.

7) Have you ever met anyone famous? What concerts have you attended?

The vast majority of concerts I’ve attended are classical concerts. Outside that area, I’ve heard Celine Dion (that was a great show!), the Trans-Siberian Orchestra several times (always a blast), and…gosh, that’s about it. I do think more about going to concerts moving forward, though. After hearing what I’ve heard about her current “Eras” tour, I’m intrigued by going to hear Taylor Swift.

I’ve met almost zero famous people, but as a kid I once went backstage after a Buffalo Philharmonic concert to get then-music director Semyon Bychkov’s autograph. He was very friendly and gregarious.

8) Are there any expressions that people use that really annoy you? If so, what are they?

Roger doesn’t like “common sense”, and I am in agreement.

Of course, some other expressions come and go depending on what pop culture does with them. Thanks to Letterkenny, I have a new appreciation of “To be fair”.

9) Do you like your name? Are you named after anyone? Is there a story how you got your name? Would you change it if you could? If so, what name would you give yourself?

My name’s fine. At this point, changing it would seem kind of pointless, and anyway, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t love it or hate it…I’ve never been one to find some innate connection between myself and the name I carry around, but it’s fine.

If forced at gunpoint to change my name, though? Hello, Max Power!

10) It is said that it’s the little things that make life worth living. Name five of those little things in your life.

• Mandarin orange sparkling water with cranberry bitters
• Sharing a Nutter Butter with the dog after work
• Walking around the Hamburg Farmers Market
• When I figure out how to fix something I’d never taken apart before
• This deer in my neighbors’ yard last week. The deer was determined to eat from their bird feeder, so she (I’m not sure of the gender, but no rack, so…she?) geared up, reared up and stood on her back legs, and balanced there while she ate. I watched her do this twice, and before executing her standing maneuver, she would suddenly wag her tail quickly.