Vanity Fair Meme - Part 1

 Got the idea for this post from Ur-spo of "Spo-Relfections" blog.

It's been a long time (years actually) since I posted one of these personality revealing question and answer blog posts. Here goes:

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Good health, comfortable home, no debt and living out my life with someone I love and who loves me.

2. What is your greatest fear?

Losing our democracy to the far right wing white racists supremacists MAGA mob.

3. What is the trait you find most deplore in yourself?

Inability to forgive when I'm wronged by somebody.

4. What is the trait you find most deplorable in others?

The ease at which many can be brainwashed into believing the Trump/Republican lies.

5. Which living person do you most admire?

Dr. Anthony Fauci.

6. What is your greatest extravagance?

Shirts. I am to shirts what Imelda Marcos was to shoes.

7. What is your current state of mind?

Fearful, apprehensive, depressed.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Religiosity, the so called "Christian values" which are all too often just a synonym for hypocrisy which so many so called Christian Evangelicals prove over and over again. 

9. On what occasion do you lie?

I don't lie. I can only remember twice in my life that I lied. One time was when I joined the Army and I checked "NO" on the application form that asked if I had "Homosexual tendencies." The other time I'm not telling. 

10.  What do you most dislike about your appearance?

My posture. I used to think my lack of a straight back was my laziness in standing up straight. Many years later I realized I have a very common condition called curvature of the spine. I couldn't stand ramrod straight if I tried.

11. Which living person do you most despise?

Putin (used to be Trump). Putin is the personification of evil. He has a lot of competition. Mitch McConnell and forty-nine Republican senators also in the running. 

New Meme

Bhudda in my new River Birch Tree flower island in my backyard

Time for another meme.  I love memes don't you?  This is the latest one I filled out last Tuesday night during my 3 to 11 pm shifter at work during a slow period.

1. What colour are your socks? 

Tan.  I'm at work and the tan socks go with my tan dockers and brown loafers.  Otherwise I always wear white socks with my Rebook sneakers. 


2. What are you listening to right now?

"Hidden Oasis (Yoga Mix) by David and Steve Gordon on the "Perfect Balance - Musical Healing Volume 2 CD - I'm at work and this is the music that is playing in the hotel.


3. What was the last thing you ate? 

My homemade potato salad - this was my dinner tonight at work.


4. Can you drive a stick shift?

I learned to drive a stick shift in Driver's Ed in high school.  I haven't driven stick shift since. 


5. Last person you spoke to on the phone? 

A lady asking about availability of rooms for this weekend.  I'm at work.  I'm a hotel front desk clerk. 


6. Do you like the person who sent this to you? 

I stole this from Cubby's blog after reading his meme.  Do I like Cubby?  I guess so.  I never met him in person but he always says nice things to me.



7. How old are you today? 

I’m 69 years old.  I know, I know.  I'M OLD. I am out of the main stream of almost all of the bloggers who are in their 40's and early 60's.  Hey, it is what it is.  I don't think old. 



8. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? 

Lawrence O'Donnel take on a mealy mouth, hypocritical tea-bagger on his TV show "The Last Word." 




9. What is your favorite drink?

Turkey Hill Diet Orange Iced Tea.  I'm not on a diet but their diet orange iced tea has the best flavor ever.  I dilute it half of it with ice water before I drink it.


10. Have you ever dyed your hair? 

About thirty years ago I put in a solution that the sun would cause my normally dark brown hair to bleach in blonde streaks (what was I thinking?)  It was a disaster.  I ended up with orange hair. 


11. Favorite food?

Eggplant Parmesan done properly.  There are as many versions of Eggplant Parmesan as their are cooks.  Crisp on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside with the the slightest taste eggplant bitterness topped with a fresh, chunky tomato sauce.  Ah, heaven.


12. What is the last movie you watched? 

"Inception"  What was that all about?  I couldn't get through but ten minutes of it before I ejected it from my DVD player and shipped it back to Netflix. 


13. Favorite day of the year? 


Summer Solstice (which was yesterday!)


14. How do you vent? 

Very well thank you.  I never hold anything in.  Just ask anyone who knows me.  "There goes Ron again!"


15. What was your favorite toy as a child? 

Paper dolls.  Hey, I'm gay.  



16. What is your favorite season? 

Summer



17. Cherries or Blueberries? 

Cherry pie, the best. I like blueberries too but they stain my teeth and they don't have the "bite" of a good cherry pie.


18. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?

I don't care.  Some do, some don't.  I've given up on the tit for tat e-mails years ago.  My friends have their own lives and I don't hold them to matching my e-mails one for one.


19. Who is the most likely to respond? 

My friend Larry.  He is the only friend (and longest - we've known each other sixty years) who truly knows me and appreciates my friendship enough not to take me for granted.



20. Who is least likely to respond?

Just about everyone else I know.  Why piss someone off?  They'll just send me an e-mail justifying why they don't respond.  As I said before, I don't care.  I have more important things to worry about.


21. Living situation?

Living in domestic harmony for the past 47 years with my spouse Bill.  We planned to end our life of living in sin by getting married this January at the Georgetown courthouse when the Delaware domestic partner law become effective. 


22. When was the last time you cried? 

Two days ago when I watch the memorial DVD I made for my Mother's funeral. 


23. What is on the floor of your closet right now? 

All of my old jeans that I plan to sell on Ebay someday.  I have never thrown out a pair of jeans in my life.  Those jeans are going to get a whole new life when I sell them.


24. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? 

Larry of Claymont, DE.  We've been friends since 3rd grade, sixty years ago.


25. What did you do last night? 

Scanned my photos that I had taken with my friend Larry celebrating his 70th birthday (we posed as two old time western gunslingers) earlier in the day at the Olde Time Photo place in Rehoboth Beach.



26. What are you most afraid of?

Republicans. I am scared to death of the Republicans because their ONLY goal is to eliminate all the social safety net programs from the New Deal to today. I am more afraid of them than I am of the terrorists.  If the Republicans are successful with their agenda of elmininating all government programs then this country is screwed. Life will end as we know it.  Only the very rich will survive.  The rest of us will live in chicken coops.


27. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?

Spicy with cheese, please. (I am the same as Cubby!)



28. Favorite dog breed? 

Pomeranian (I've had five in my lifetime)

Hamburger and Sparky - 1971

Babydoll, "T" and Horace - 1985

29. Favorite day of the week?

Monday.


30. How many states have you lived in?

Four - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Delaware



31. Diamonds or pearls?

Diamonds (absolutely - I'm gay.  Remember?)


32. What is your favorite flower?

Lily of the Valley.


33. What is your current favorite song? 

"Our Day Will Come" by Ruby and the Romantics


34. Read any good books lately? 

"Ava Gardner - Love is Nothing"

Four Questions Meme

Me on vacation at the Carriage House restaurant in Townsend, Tennessee a few weeks ago

Still busy with the job folks.  But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I just hope that's not a train coming towards me.  In the meantime, to let my faithful blog readers know I'm still alive, here are my "Four Questions Meme."  
Lots of thought went into this folks. Another week and I may be able to get back to my regular blog posting routine. 




Things I need to spend more time on in my life

1. Researching my family genealogy
2. Catching up on my e-mails
3. Getting rid of material things I don't need at this time of my life
4. Gardening

Things I need to spend less time on in my life

1. Working full-time 
2. Trying to please everybody
3. Arguing religion with my conservative friends
4. Arguing politics with my conservative friends

Things I wish I could spend more time on in my life

1. Cleaning house
2. Organizing my photos and videos
3. Downsizing
4. Staying in touch with faraway friends and relatives

Things I love about myself

1. My sense of humor
2. My love of animals
3. My work ethic
4. My honesty

Things I hate about myself

1. My reluctance to say no
2. My (sometimes) low-self confidence 
3. My fear of driving at night and on crowded highways
4. My naiveté 

Things I used to hate but love now

1. Liberals (Progressives or Democrats)
2. Meeting new people
3. Yardwork
4. Salads

Things I used to love but hate now

1. Barbra Striesand
2. Conservatives (Republicans)
3. Cooking a big meal for company
4. Working and living in a big city

Things towards which I look forward

1. Dining at restaurants with friends
2. Walking the boardwalk in the summer
3. Working in my backyard and watching my garden grow
4. Writing my blog postings

Things I dread

1. Tax preparation
2. Colonoscopy preparation
3. Driving at night 
4. Calling Help lines

Things I used to believe in but no longer do

1. Religion 
2. Authority figures
3. That evil does not succeed
4. That good is recognized and rewarded

Things I love to do despite being bad at it

1. Dancing
2. Paint pictures
3. Teach (I have very little patience)
4. Cook

Things I hate to do but I do anyway (and quite well)

1. Run a household
2. Call a Help line
3. Clean out drawers and closets
4. Work full-time at my job

Things I did of which I am ashamed

1. Did not return a call of a longtime friend shortly before she committed suicide
2. Stood up a date to her Senior Prom (I couldn't get my dad's car)
3. Stood up a former boss for lunch (what was I thinking?)
4. Lost my temper with a former boss (he subsequently had me fired)

Things I did for which I am proud

1. Stood up and challenged a homophobe at my local congressman's town hall meeting - I was physically attacked for identifying myself as being gay
2. Voluntarily joined the Army for three years right out of high school.  I was scared to death but I knew I had to fulfill this obligation
3. Gave jobs and provided leads for jobs for several of my unemployed friends
4. Coming out when I was 21 years old (in 1963 when it was not fashionable and definitely dangerous to one's health and job prospects)

Things I didn't do which I regret

1. Have children 
2. Learn how to play the piano
3. Learn a foreign language
4. Floss my teeth regularly when I was younger

Things I want to do before I die

1. Get a cat (or cats)
2. Get a Pomeranian dog (or dogs)
3. Write my autobiography
4. Sell all my valuable collectibles on eBay

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged with a meme by Mike of Mike's Musings, an unusual blogger in that he doesn't hide his identity. Meme is a new term to me but I think I understand it.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I will follow all the rules except rule number 3 because there are only three I want to know more about at this time.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was working two jobs, one as a trust administrative assistant at a small town bank and as a front desk clerk at night and weekends and holidays at the Hampton Inn in Exton, Pennsylvania.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

1. Get a haircut
2. Buy replacement ink cartridges at Staples
3. Recycle and deliver old USA Today and Cape Gazette newspapers to a friend
4. Trim grass against fence in backyard lawn
5. Prepare and bake 5 pounds of oven roasted potatoes for next week's meals

3) Snacks I enjoy:

I don't do snacks during the day. Just three meals a day, nothing in between. However, right before bedtime I'll have a dessert. Something sweet, usually a brownie with walnuts or a light fluffy Cool Whip concoction.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire (in this order):

1. Set up 10 million dollar irrevocable trust funds for my Mother, two brothers and their families, and my partner so they would never have to worry about money again.

2. Take trips to England, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, China, South America, Iceland, Russia, and every state in America.

3. Buy a summer home in Provincetown, Massachusetts

4. Set up a trust fund for a million dollars for the Sussex County no kill animal shelter

5. Once a year give a million dollars anonymously to a stranger thus replicating the old TV show "The Millionaire" John Beresford Tipton (Tipton is my last name)

6. Set up a 5 million dollar trust fund for the Tipton-Haynes Historical Association in Johnson City, Tennessee.

7. Buy a home in the hills of western North Carolina.

8. Buy a plane for my partner, a former Air Force serviceman.

9. Buy one of those vacant homes on Rehoboth Bay on Marshall Road.

10. Buy one of those new homes in The Woods (behind my current development) for my partner, who misses living in the woods.

11. Buy back my old home in East Brandywine township, Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

5.) Three of my bad habits:

1. Boring my friends with tales of my family genealogical research.

2. Accumulating and hording things I don't need.

3. The inability not to get rid of things I have accumulated over my lifetime.

6) 5 places I have lived (in order):

1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2. Pennsauken, New Jersey
3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. Downingtown, Pennsylvania
5. Milton, Delaware

7) 5 jobs I have had (in order):

1. Hotel night auditor
2. Scrap steel yard office accounts payable clerk
3. Bank trust department operations clerk, supervisor, and manager
4. Bank trust department operations consultant
5. Hotel front desk clerk

8) 3 bloggers I want to know more about

1. Carolina Cajun - laid off baseball dad
2. Diane, who is Happy In Nevada
3. Mike's Musings, Lewes to Dover commuter