#EM-SRP

E.M.’s Sunday Ramble Prompt — Uplifting Chatter

Fandango9 Comments

It’s time once again for E.M. Kingston’s The Sunday Ramble. Her prompt is based upon a certain topic about which she asks five questions. We are invited to ramble on about that topic however we wish. Today’s topic is “uplifting chatter.”

E.M. said that with all of the negative things we are facing on the news, she wanted to give everyone a forum to uplift one another through the responses to this ramble. So let me see if I can dig deep to find some “uplifting” answers.

1. When you feel negative, what techniques do you use to bring yourself up to feeling positive?

Stop reading or watching the news and watch “Young Frankenstein” on TV.

2. What is a smell that made you smile when you woke up today?

Freshly brewed coffee.

3. An owl is known for its wisdom, what are you known for?

I’m known for not being an owl.

4. Do you know any good recipes? If so, can you share one?

Funny you should ask. This afternoon I’ll be grilling some surf and turf in our backyard. For the turf (New York strip steak), I will marinate the steak for a few hours in a mixture of barbecue sauce and teriyaki, season it with garlic powder, onion powder, and Montreal seasoning. I will then quickly sear it on both sides and then grill it for a few minutes until it’s medium rare. For the surf (lobster tail), I will be butterfly the tail, brush the meat with olive oil, and season with sea salt and black pepper. After grilling meat side down for a few minutes, I’ll flip the tails and brush a mixture of melted butter, garlic, lemon juice, smoked paprika, and cayenne over the lobster meat and continue grilling for another minute or two.

5. How do you console the people around you? (Online or in-person)

In person, there’s nothing better than a hug or a cuddle. Online, I send my thoughts and prayers.

Yeah, right. 🤣 Actually, I think the best way to console someone online is through expressing some empathy for what they are going through.

E.M.’s Sunday Ramble Prompt — Childhood Memories

Fandango6 Comments

It’s time once again for E.M. Kingston’s The Sunday Ramble. Her prompt is based upon a certain topic about which she asks five questions. We are invited to ramble on about that topic however we wish. Today’s topic is “Childhood Memories.”

I’m an old guy and my childhood memories are ancient history, but I will try as best I can to answer E.M.’s questions from my distant past.

1. What is your first good memory from your childhood?

I have this vague memory of hearing a recording my parents made of me singing “Rudolph the Red-Noses Reindeer” when I was about four years old. I remember thinking that the voice on the record didn’t sound like my voice. I also remember everyone laughing at me when they listened to the recording because, when I sang the last line, You’ll go down in history, I didn’t know what the word “history” was, so when I sang it, it came out, You’ll go down in his story.

2. Name 3 things that you loved when you were just a youngster?

  1. The Good Humor ice cream truck every afternoon in the summer.
  2. Snow days when school was canceled in the winter.
  3. Comic books year round.

3. What did you dislike, or even hate, when you were growing up?

I can’t think of too many things I truly disliked or hated. I didn’t like spinach. I didn’t like most medicines, and I didn’t like Frank Morris because he was a bully.

4. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would you tell them?

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

5. What kind of celebrations did you enjoy when you were little, and do you still like those celebrations now that you are grown?

Birthday parties. Today? Meh.

Bonus Question: What commercial did you always wait for to come on television as a child?

I used to love car commercials, especially at the annual model year changes. And, of course, toy commercials.

E.M.’s Sunday Ramble Prompt — To a T

Fandango4 Comments

It’s time once again for E.M. Kingston’s The Sunday Ramble. Her prompt is based upon a certain topic about which she asks five questions. We are invited to ramble on about that topic however we wish. Today’s topic is “The “T” in the Road.”

E.M. is switching things up a bit this week, giving us a scenario and then asking us five questions about said scenario. The scenario is:

In your dream, you are standing at a T in the road. You have to choose which way to go (backward, forward, left, and right). Behind you is something you fear. In front of you is an obvious destiny. To the left is something you really want. To the right is something you really need.

Alrighty then. Before I answer her questions, let me point out that dreams aren’t always logical and don’t always abide by natural laws. So please bear that in mind when you read my answers. Now, with that out of the way, here are her questions and my answers.

1. What is the fear behind you?

A taxman from the IRS claiming to want to take all of my retirement savings away from me, which would leave me destitute.

2. What is the obvious destiny in front of you?

Directly ahead is a tax haven that is an idyllic world of clean air and clean water that is populated by free-thinking people who worship human rights and our planet’s environment with more fervor than they worship an imaginary god and their own unenlightened self-interests. (E.M. prefaced this by saying it’s a dream, right?) To the left (what I want) is a get out of jail free card. To the right (what I need) is a good tax lawyer.

3. Would you choose to go back where you came from if the path would bring more good than bad?

Considering my responses to the first two questions, my answer to this one should be obvious.

4. If going forward had a negative consequence on your path, would you consider going forward if it was the path with the most reward than the other directions?

I don’t know what the negative consequences of going forward to an idyllic tax haven could be, so I think I’d still go forward.

5. After final consideration of all of the paths, which way did you go, and why?

Forward. Duh.

Please note that I don’t cheat on my taxes and I’ve never been audited, so my responses to this somewhat nightmarish dream scenario are totally concocted.

E.M.’s Sunday Ramble Prompt — My Blog

Fandango5 Comments

It’s time once again for E.M. Kingston’s The Sunday Ramble. Her prompt is based upon a certain topic about which she asks five questions. We are invited to ramble on about that topic however we wish. Today’s topic is “Your Blog.”

1. When did you start your blog?

My first blog was on Blogger, and I started that one in October 2005 and it lasted until I started my second blog on TypePad in January 2009. I moved to WordPress in 2013. Then I had a second, very short-lived blog on WordPress before taking a blogging hiatus in the spring of 2015. I return to blogging two-years later with this, my fifth blog. Hence: fivedotoh.com (aka This, That, and the Other).

2. Did you start with a theme, or did it come later on?

I’ve never had a theme or a niche for any of my blogs. They’ve all been rather eclectic. You know, about this, that, and the other.

3. What is my favorite post that I have ever written on my blog?

I’ve written a ton of posts, and I love them all. But if forced to choose just one, it might be this one.

4. Do you share your blog with friends and family, or do you keep your blogging world separate from them?

My immediate family knows about my blog, but I don’t think they bother reading it. Other than that, no one I know in the real world knows about my blog.

5. What is the best advice you could give someone who is new to blogging?

E.M.’s Sunday Ramble Prompt — Randomness

Fandango12 Comments

It’s time once again for E.M. Kingston’s The Sunday Ramble. Her prompt is based upon a certain topic about which she asks five questions. We are invited to ramble on about that topic however we wish. Today’s topic is “Random Questions to Trigger Imagination.”

1. If people get a purple heart for bravery, what do the other colors of hearts mean?

  • Red: wounded in battle
  • Blue: depression
  • Green: jealousy
  • Yellow: cowardice

2. If you were given $5 Million to open a small museum, what kind of museum would you create?

The Museum of Bad Investments.

3. If you could build a themed hotel, what would the theme be and what would it look like?

It would be a hotel for dogs and might look something like the picture below, which I found on Pinterest.

4. What would the adult version of an ice cream truck sell, look like, and play for its song?

Sell: cannabis
Look like: see below
Song: Brewer & Shipley “One Toke Over the Line”

5. What animal would be the cutest if it was down-sized to the size of a cat?

An elephant.