Saturday 9: Don't Talk to Strangers (1982)
Want to play along? Go HERE It's fun!Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) When did you recently have a conversation with a complete stranger? What did you two discuss? The roofing contractor came to chat, and all we talked about the roof. Now, I'm anxiously watching the weather.
2) In the video for this song, a woman is having a "hot" conversation on a corded, rotary dial phone in her bedroom. Do you have a landline? If so, do you have an extension in your bedroom?
We have a land line and probably always will. We found it came in handy when there was an 18 hour power outage one of the nights the supernova was in the Northwestern sky. Did you see it? I did. Thrilling! Of course this has NOTHING to do with a landline, but I'm telling my stories when I can.
3) This week's artist, Rick Springfield, says he wrote this song when he was worried that his girlfriend (now his wife) would cheat on him when he was touring. Would you describe yourself as suspicious or trusting?
I'm now trusting but not foolishly so. I've written off some people as untrustworthy whom I once trusted. Betray the trust I have in you once, shame on you. Betray that twice, shame on me!
4) He became a daytime heartthrob as Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital. Do you think it would be cool to have a really attractive doctor? Or would it make you uncomfortable?
I've had them, and they are fine with me if they also were good doctors. That they were good doctors mattered, immensely, more. I tend to see people in a different way, as no one can help their looks, handsome or ugly.
5) He's discussed how sad he was when, as a boy, he had to leave his dog Elvis behind when the family left Australia. While you were growing up, did your family often move?
I have to say yes, but for a bad reason. My drunken, Narcissistic Paternal Unit could not hold a job. Sadly, every time we moved it was because we were evicted or lost the property. And my mother lost even more of her *Joie de Vivre.
So, sometimes our housing situation lasted longer than others. It broke my mother's heart to leave the farm she created. out of nothing. She adored her expansive, beautiful gardens, with Rose of Sharon trees, and all sorts of bulbs. as well as her fruit orchards of cherry trees, three kinds of peaches, two plums, and also a small English walnut tree. Then there was a huge vegetable garden. We had a black walnut tree that was 40 feet tall! With the little river curving around the gardens, it was like an Eden.
6) In 1982, when this song was popular, Italy won the World Cup. Do you ever watch soccer?
Yes, we went to see the World Cup finals when some were played here in San Diego. It was fun. I love Soccer and Basketball because the action is so fast!
7) "Smiley," the first emoticon, was introduced in 1982. Do you use emoticons in your communication? Or do you avoid them?
Oh, I love Emoji! And I like exclamation points! They're the most exuberance my tired old soul can muster right now. *goes to try to take a nap*
8) The Vietnam Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, in 1982. Do you know any veterans of that conflict? If so, tell us about him or her.
I misread this question. I didn't know anyone besides my classmates who were in line to get run over by this outrageous abuse of military power. They were like sitting ducks. Plenty of bodies! But I've met plenty of veterans since. We have lost whole segments of our young men to saber rattlers who run these scams to make money on Modern Warfare.
9) Random Question: Your friends are throwing a birthday "roast" in your honor. Which one quality of yours are you sure will be singled out for laughs? My deadly serious, laser-like, focus on Human and (other)Animal Rights. I'm sure they could parody that one. The rest of me wouldn't "roast" very well, I fear. haha Very Dull!
*joyfulness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, lightheartedness, happiness, joy, gaiety, high spirits, elan, jollity, joviality, exuberance, ebullience, liveliness, vivacity, verve, effervescence, buoyancy, zest, zestfulness;
Yep, that describes my mother before that time.
Thanks Sam! Happy Weekend!
It makes me sad to think of your family having to move so often.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bev. It was always one upheaval after the other. My dad was already in a seasonal trade, carpentry, and he finally had to go into business for himself as a subcontractor, to be able to work. He was eventually unable to find work anywhere. He was one screwed up dude and never should have woo'ed any woman.
DeleteThe farm sounds so much like my grandmother's home (minus the river though there was a creek and a swamp!). I can imagine how much it hurt your mama to lose it. Sometimes people don't understand how living with someone struggling with something like alcohol, drugs, or mental illness is a sucking black hole for the ones tied to them. I know when my husband went through a serious depression years ago it certainly sucked all the life out of me. Thank goodness he was able to recover.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather's farm had a beautiful little seasonal stream where wild onions and celery grew. My two young Aunties would take the little kids back into the woods where it was, and we would play Indians. My two youngest Aunts were only 6 and 7 years older than I was. And in California, we call many things rivers that would only be creeks in other parts of the country. But this actually was a little river, with water in it all year - the South fork of the San Gabriel. My dad wasn't depressed, so my remarks to follow pertain only to him. Yes, it is hard to live with a family member who is completely amoral. He inherited it from his father, I reckon, having heard many tales from my aunts and uncles. He was never suited to be a father. I wish he's stayed in Europe with his girl friend. And yes, his depravity did suck the life out of my mother. He was depraved. She was a wonderful person, something that my sibs are beginning to realize. I'm glad your hubby, who is not included in that other rant back there in any way, has recovered and that you've gotten your lives back on track. Good news indeed.
DeleteYour childhood farm sounds idyllic but I know from personal experience that beautiful surroundings do not always mean a beautiful family dwells therein. I am sorry it destroyed your mom, though. It seems like a memory and rumination that is very much in the forefront of your mind.
ReplyDeleteIt was wonderful to live there, as you were always surrounded by beauty. There was a willow stand at the bend in the little river, and a sand bar. It was a great place to sit on hot afternoons, in the shade, and with toes dangling in the water.
DeleteI know you had to live through similar things, and I rejoice that you found your life long love, as I have. And, yes, when I got older, which is always the time of reflection, these memories just flood in and take over until you work something out within your mind and lay them to rest. I'm about half way through that very human process.
It's so sad that your mother had to leave her garden!
ReplyDeleteVietnam is a wound that left its scar, isn't it? I don't think those of us old enough to understand and remember will ever completely get over it. BTW, Donald Trump had four deferments for being in college and one because he had -- wait for it -- heel spurs. I wonder if there's a name on The Wall of a young man who went in his place. Same with Dick Cheney (also five deferments). Chickenhawks! My favorite uncle was drafted and exposed to Agent Orange in the jungle. It exacerbated the Parkinson's Disease which disabled and eventually killed him while somehow Donald Trump (same age) flourished. And lived to mock a reporter whose hand movements mirrored my striken uncle's. Makes me either furious or weepy whenever I think of it. <<<< You're not the only one with a rant bubbling insider her. :)
Thank you Gal. Mom was one of those quiet little women who just took too much for the sake of her children, thinking they'd be better off with a father than not. Sometimes, for all our sakes, I wish she'd have stayed in Ohio.
DeleteVietnam.....You're right! I'm so angry that nothing's changed and our children are betrayed into thinking they are fighting for anything other than to line the pockets of some over privileged jerks. We'll carry this war to our graves. A poet wrote something about us all eating, living and breathing this particular war, until we die. Of course, that was before this latest run up of profiteering in the Middle East began.
Trump and all his ilk are all abominations. I'm sad and sorry that your Uncle came home so disabled that it lead to Parkinson's, and sent him to an early grave. See, they don't give a darn about us. They think it's A-OK and that the American G.I. is a renewable resource, something I remember saying to some workmen in 1978, and they assented!
The farm sounds beautiful, it is sad that you had to leave it. The same for our cottage, my brother needed to sell it and I missed it this summer.
ReplyDeleteThank you Diana. It really was a little bit of heaven. So many good memories of helping in the gardens, and picking and preserving, even though that happened in the summer and all the heat. Whew! I was sad about your cottage when it had to be sold, sad for you. I hope you find a place that is as serene, and connected to nature as it was.
DeleteI thought he had 6 deferments (Gal). That ticks me off because I have a son who is under 30.
ReplyDeleteNow I forgot what I was going to comment. Oh well.
Say "HI" to your turtles for me :)
LOL! It's ok Harriet. *inserts chuckling smilie here* I will tell the torts hello from you.
DeleteAnd yes, that would tick anyone off! Bush had enough deferments, too. Maybe not as many. Maybe even Obama but I doubt we had anything after the draft first was eliminated. That they have instituted it again is an a sign to me, that they fully intend to keep building more battleships and the like! Damn their eyes! How Americans can all be so blind to this is beyond me.
I love emojis! And exclamation points!!
ReplyDelete#3 = YES!
YAY! Thank you Kwizgiver!
ReplyDelete