Questions!

[gottawonder]

We haven't done any fun questions for a while!

What television show are you watching (if you are watching one)? Doesn't have to be a newer one.


What song has been popping up in your head a lot lately?


What is something you are really hoping others will appreciate about you (since it isn't easy to toot your own horn, so to speak)?


What outfit are you dying to wear somewhere, but don't have an occasion yet?


What do you love about spring in your neck of the woods?


Do you have a good joke?


What famous painting would you love to have hanging in your house?


What is something that you changed your mind about, that is kind of surprising to you? What made you change your mind?

Comments

THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

What song has been popping up in your head a lot lately?

It's the remix of "We Don't Talk About Bruno"

What is something you are really hoping others will appreciate about you (since it isn't easy to toot your own horn, so to speak)?
Someone once said that the person with money is the one who has control. I have been in the position of having enough to take care of three denizens plus Lois and a terrier, and I did not once consider it a position of power or control, only of opportunity and duty.


What outfit are you dying to wear somewhere, but don't have an occasion yet?
I have an Erdem skirt and no fancy place other than attending the ballet - but I kept my coat on.


What do you love about spring in your neck of the woods?

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<i [...] city,>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

What song has been popping up in your head a lot lately?

<i>It's the remix of "We Don't Talk About Bruno"</i>

What is something you are really hoping others will appreciate about you (since it isn't easy to toot your own horn, so to speak)?
<i>Someone once said that the person with money is the one who has control. I have been in the position of having enough to take care of three denizens plus Lois and a terrier, and I did not once consider it a position of power or control, only of opportunity and duty.</I>


What outfit are you dying to wear somewhere, but don't have an occasion yet?
<i>I have an Erdem skirt and no fancy place other than attending the ballet - but I kept my coat on.</i>


What do you love about spring in your neck of the woods?
<I enjoy seeing scilla cover hills and valleys in the city, with daffodils naturalising in clumps.</i>


Do you have a good joke?
<i>A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?"<i/>


What famous painting would you love to have hanging in your house?
<i>I'd like anything by David Hockney, Bridget Riley or "The Little Wanderer" by Yoshitomo Nara. Or maybe something by one of the Group of Seven, or a sketch by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.</i>


What is something that you changed your mind about, that is kind of surprising to you? What made you change your mind?
<i>I expected to be repelled by the official policies of Marine Le Pen, as she is described as "far right". Her policies are more nationalist than racist or religious-right. I decided to read what she says about her platform instead of relying on media hyperbole.</i>

Re: THIS, THAT

[gottawonder]

That's very interesting about your feelings about having the money to care for others. You're right, that's not something that most people would be aware of, or appreciate about you. It takes a very kind person to see money as a way to care for others, and not some kind of leverage.

I like a lot of the Group of Seven works as well. We get to see some of them regularly at the public art gallery in the city, and it is tough to choose just one.

It is also very open-minded of you to consider the policies of someone that is known for being far right, if you are not. I agree that we have to at least understand what someone is representing, and not just let the media do that for us.

Re: THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

I saw the ability to look after the denizens as duty more than anything else. I gave Lois a cheque to cash every month when her mental acuity was slipping and she no longer held a position. I told her she could be a reference model for my company, and I let her pose for various assignments. She enjoyed this. It worked out well for both of us. She enjoyed cashing cheques and spending a little bit of money on niceties. She'd slip me $50 as well: "Here, honey - I was well-paid this month." She never caught on, and I am glad.
I don't think often of these times, as they were difficult in some ways that took centre stage.

Because I know people who are anything but open-minded, it is easy for me to choose not to be like them.

Re: THIS, THAT

[gottawonder]

I think I recall you mentioning this, and it seems like such an act of love to give someone money that they needed, but in a way to preserve their dignity.

Re: THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

She didn't really need it for basics, but she certainly enjoyed being a wage earner. She liked putting money in the bank... well, who doesn't? I saw no reason for this to come to an end for her. It was kindness, yes, but it was good to see her thrive when many older people become obsolete and know it.

Re: THIS, THAT

[sherlockishere]

I think now that I want to be your mother when I'm old! I can't imagine a kinder, more wonderful gift to give her.

Re: THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

I like to think that the gift of extended purpose gave her extended happiness.

Re: THIS, THAT

[gottawonder]

P.S. I always feel like the person with the money is in control, even if it doesn't seem overt.

Re: THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

The person with the money doesn't have to rely on the mercy of others, that's for sure.

Having the money gives one control over one's own comfort, too, even if they don't control others.

Re: THIS, THAT

[gottawonder]

I think that having enough money of one's own to have control over one's comfort, is truly the absolute truth about having money. That's what it would mean to me.

Re: THIS, THAT

[cf2princessawnw]

Rat is an angel-hearted soul. I can't put it better into words right now, but to make someone not feel obsolete in that way is I think tapping into the best of the qualities anyone can ever choose to have. And money.... yes that is why I want to earn money - for the control of my own life's quality to be better, and hoping to have enough to help others.

I will try to answer these soon. Thanks for stirring up conversation and interaction! :)

Re: THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

You're very kind to think highly of me, Princess dear. I don't often talk about this time, as it had other challenges attached to it. But the best part was letting her slip me $50 after she deposited the cheque. The other part of her I wanted to preserve was her generosity as a parent.

Re: THIS, THAT

[ratunderpaper]

That's exactly my thinking.

Although I like learning to be Ms Fixit, I want to have enough money to put in a new boiler should it break down, or replace a washing machine or the a/c without relying on Kijiji cast-offs all the time.

[gottawonder]

Apr. 28th, 2022 01:51 am
gottawonder: (Default)
We haven't done any fun questions for a while!

What television show are you watching (if you are watching one)? Doesn't have to be a newer one.

I have been watching "Gotham" and really enjoying it.


What song has been popping up in your head a lot lately? I had that weird thing where a song just keeps playing randomly, or popping up of its own volition. This is a pretty old song, and first it was on the radio, then in some video, and then a cover of it...all in a day or so.

https://youtu.be/iGu24kvWUPU


What is something you are really hoping others will appreciate about you (since it isn't easy to toot your own horn, so to speak)?

I hope that my very uniqueness can be appreciated, rather than seen as mere oddity.

What outfit are you dying to wear somewhere, but don't have an occasion yet? I have a few pairs of lovely palazzo style linen pants that are so lovely, but I don't seem to find the right way to style them. Like, the right way to wear them that they don't seem over the top. They are kind of meant to be casual but elegant.


What do you love about spring in your neck of the woods?

I love brushing the horses and ponies in the spring, because they shed all at once. You can brush out enough hair to make another pony.

I love the early part of cleaning quack grass out of the garden, IF the dirt is soft. If it is too heavy with clay it is misery.

Hearing the frogs singing.

The smell of poplars waking up.

Do you have a good joke? Knock knock.

Who's there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrupting (MOOOOOO!) cow who?


What famous painting would you love to have hanging in your house? There are MANY. Lots of choices from Georgia O'Keefe, lots of the art inspired from The Hobbit, including Tolkien's original works, lots and lots. I do love this painting by Rosa Bonheur who had to dress like a man to go make sketches of the horses at the horse fair in Paris. It is titled "The Horse Fair".

https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/435702/2078727/main-image


What is something that you changed your mind about, that is kind of surprising to you? What made you change your mind?

When I was younger, I felt intimidated by art. It seemed snobby and elitist. Yet I've always been drawn to it, and so on one hand I would scoff a bit at it, all the while just feeling like I wanted more.

I am less intimidated by it now, am more likely to try to engage with harder things like modern art, and I am more open about it in general. I do still feel like it can be a bit snobby and elitist, but only because snobs and elitists like to be that way. It isn't the ART being pretentious.

The real tipping point came when I was in college in Wyoming, and I got to be part of the Honors Program. That program was about enrichment, and we got to go to lots of art museums, and the opera, and so on. We were asked to write papers about what we saw, and had a class to discuss it, and had to pick something to make a presentation about. It was the most exposure to art I had ever had, and the most I had ever discussed it with a group of people, and I found that I was ABLE to understand it and to discuss it, and to enjoy it.

[cf2princessawnw]

So many great phrases here!

"You can brush out enough hair to make another pony." hahaha! :)

"It isn't the ART being pretentious."


and I love palazzo!! You totally deserve that moment of wearing them and feeling how they make you feel. I hope you get that!

[gottawonder]

I'm serious about the crazy amount of hair you get from brushing a pony. It is so satisfying.

[cf2princessawnw]

This may be a dumb question, but is there anything you can use it for or make?

[ratunderpaper]

Oof, if it doesn't rain tomorrow, I should go outside and pull out all the early creeping weeds.

[ratunderpaper]

Gordon's "back stairs" were a half-block from here, though his ex-wife had the original house torn down. There are three rather modern houses squished onto the property.

[gottawonder]

How interesting! I was never really clear on the meaning of the song, even after looking at the lyrics. I didn't know if it was about infidelity or just sex, and I don't know...the creeping round my back stair would be a jealous lover?

[ratunderpaper]

Sundown was written about Gordon Lightfoot's then girlfriend, the same woman who would later inject John Belushi with a fatal dose of heroin. I guess before that she was creeping 'round the back stair.

My next door neighbour is in his 80s and remembers living across the street back then. It was a lovely property and did not need six houses on it. C'est la vie.

[gottawonder]

How strange it would have been to live across from a celebrity. These days a lot of them live less accessible homes. I guess Gordon was a celebrity, but not crazy rich like some of them.

I see those magazine shots of celebrities doing ordinary things like getting groceries or walking the dog wearing ordinary clothes, and I think what a shock it would be to be getting groceries and running into someone famous. I would likely just stare at them, wondering if it really was a celebrity, or just someone who looked like them.

[ratunderpaper]

Celebrities probably aren't recognisable as celebrities when they're out of their ballgowns and stage makeup. I've heard that people waved to Gordon Lightfoot at the intersection when they saw him and he waved back, but that would have been the 70s - a kinder, gentler time.

I would probably react the same way as you - Is that really so-and-so?

Someone once told the Queen that she looked just like the Queen, and her reply was "How very reassuring."

[gottawonder]

That sounds like what the Queen would say.

[ratunderpaper]

I do not know her (as you might have expected) but she seems very dedicated and charming. I think she inspires me to make a nice house and to live decently.

[sherlockishere]

Here's my answers!

What television show are you watching (if you are watching one)? Doesn't have to be a newer one.
I'm so enthralled with my new phone that I'm playing with it, instead of watching TV!

What song has been popping up in your head a lot lately?
My own song. I don't know how or why this happened, but I got a tune stuck in my head a while back and haven't been able to get rid of it. I don't think it's anything I've heard, just apparently my own tune!

What is something you are really hoping others will appreciate about you (since it isn't easy to toot your own horn, so to speak)?
I hope people appreciate my good intentions, especially as I move into this new position. I've been a little surprised by how much my colleagues hold on to minor miffs and read some intention to hurt into others' behavior when none was intended. That hypersensitivity can create a lot of negativity at the office.

What outfit are you dying to wear somewhere, but don't have an occasion yet?
Well, I HAVE my occasions! I especially can't wait to wear the long dress for Lucy's wedding, since I haven't had a long dress on since I got married almost 40 years ago. I hope it turns out the way I see it in my imagination.

What do you love about spring in your neck of the woods?
I love the fact that it's cool and comfortable outside, especially because I know the Summer of Hellish Heat is coming.

Do you have a good joke?
Nah, I'm terrible at telling jokes. My sense of humor is pretty sarcastic. But in the nicest way.

What famous painting would you love to have hanging in your house?
Could I have one of Michaelangelo's line drawings? I find it amazing that he captured texture in a drawing without any paint at all.

What is something that you changed your mind about, that is kind of surprising to you? What made you change your mind?
The most surprising thing I have ever changed my mind on involves really forgiving my parents for their abuse. I would not have understood that some day I would be able to remember them fondly, knowing that the abuse was a manifestation of their own pain.

[gottawonder]

I really hope your colleagues appreciate your good intentions as well. After all, you mainly took this position almost under duress, because no one else was stepping up that was qualified.

I have a very dry/sarcastic wit too, and I pretty much can't use it, because there are so few people who can really be okay with it.

I too, love the drawings of some famous artists almost as much as the paintings, because the drawings let you see "the bones" of their work.

It must have been very hard to forgive your parents.

I struggle back and forth with my own family too, and I TRY to see when the situation was simply the best they could do at the time. I agree that many people create bad situations for everyone around them because they either lacked the tools to do better, had serious health issues, financial issues, their own history and culture to deal with.

[sherlockishere]

Honestly, you are one of the most insightful people I know. I just had to say that!

About the sarcasm... Here's a family story. When my kids were in middle/early high school, I became aware of how many sarcastic comments I was making. And I got worried about the kids adopting my own sarcastic bent.

I talked to them both about how my sarcasm was problematic... how it can reinforce a pretty jaded view of the world, and that I really didn't want them to pick that habit up from me. So I created a "Sarcasm Jar" in the kitchen and swore I would put in a dollar for each sarcastic comment I made, to remind me to quit this behavior.

It was a disaster! I just couldn't seem to bring it under control, and I was stuffing the thing with dollar bills to the point that it wasn't funny anymore. I finally almost stopped talking because I was so afraid I would say something sarcastic in front of them!

After a few days, they both sat me down and told me that this just was NOT a good idea. That they understood that I was blowing off some mild aggression in these comments, and that I did it mostly at home, when I wasn't around people like their friends' parents. They assured me that they knew why using sarcasm to a teacher or a principal was a bad idea, and that I would not jade them for life. And that they wanted their old, sarcastic mother back!

It was a tremendous relief!

(And yes, they both have wonderful sly sarcastic bents!)

[gottawonder]

I am a LITTLE sarcastic, but I've really reined it in because I know it sounds mean. Also, because of being n this site, I know you pretty much can't use sarcasm because it won't translate in print.

I also had a very "adult" sense of humor which pretty much had to stop except around a few friends who are okay with it, and a very odd sense of humor that almost no one understands except this same tiny group of people that I don't see much any more.

Basically, I walk around presenting the most boring, vanilla version of myself in order to be allowed out in public. It's tiring.

[lantairvlea]

What television show are you watching (if you are watching one)? We're binge watching Parks and Recreation. It's hysterical and I thoroughly enjoy the government satire.


What song has been popping up in your head a lot lately?
It's all Schilling all the time right now. It's a toss-up between Willkommen in der Zukunft and Mechanik meines Herzens, both of which I posted about recently.


What is something you are really hoping others will appreciate about you (since it isn't easy to toot your own horn, so to speak)?
That's a hard one, though I think I hope people appreciate me being a decent person. I try to do right by people.


What outfit are you dying to wear somewhere, but don't have an occasion yet?
I don't typically have this feeling about clothing.


What do you love about spring in your neck of the woods?
That it isn't summer yet.


Do you have a good joke?
When does a bad joke become a dad joke? When it becomes a parent.

I love a good (terrible) pun.


What famous painting would you love to have hanging in your house?
Anything by Maurice Quentin de la Tour (look him up, he's amazing).


What is something that you changed your mind about, that is kind of surprising to you? What made you change your mind?
I've become a bit apathetic about our state Draft Horse and Mule Association, which makes me a bit sad, but it does get tiring being one of like two people trying to carry the organization.