Fun Facts List

Me with my grand niece Kandace Bradford - 1987
Kandace is now the mother of three, two girls and a boy

Today I take a departure from my usual updating of my living situation here in the now smoke covered southern coastal Delaware paradise. Instead I am posting a "Fun Facts List" which was inspired by my favorite blogger Ur-Spo of Spo-Relections.

The best advice I was ever given:

 From my Mother when I was ten years old. She told me "You're getting a job!" when I asked for a weekly allowance. She was referring to the paperboy job she got me. I had that job from third grade to ninth grade, five years. While at that time she told me, I didn't want a job I wanted an allowance, 25 cents a week like many of my classmates received. At this time of my life I know now that was the best advice I could have ever received. Because I had the responsibility of a paper route and earning my own money, I was taught responsibility at the beginning of my life which I have used ever since. In the ensuing seventy-one years of my life I have received plenty of advice, some bad some good but none as life affirmative as that paper boy job at ten years old.

The hobby I would never give up:

Photography. This comes close to writing but I have to say I've always wanted to take photos to record memories and history. Maybe I should have taken up photography as a career but at the time I received my first camera (12 years old) I had very low self esteem and very little money. My paperboy money was the only way I could afford film and processing. That is after what I spend on comic books and candy. I earned about $5.00 a week on my paper route.

My biggest role model:

Like Spo, I don't have one particular role model but several. I've always respected people who are honest and kind and never give up. Honest and kindness are my top qualifications for a role model. I've been fortunate in my lifetime in that I've had some of those people in my life both as friends and co-workers and bosses. I've always considered myself very fortunate to have those people in my life.

What I'm watching:

This is an easy one. I'm watching the walls close in on that lifetime criminal Donald J. Trump. There are too many people in this world who get away with a lifetime of crime, and it seemed at one time that the greatest con man in the history of our country was going to get away with his crimes but I do believe accountability for this vile human being is finally coming with indictments for stealing classified documents from the U. S. government and obstructing the investigation, attempting to influence (cheat) the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia and the greatest crime of all, attempting to overthrow the legitimate presidential election of 2020 by instigating a coup attempt to over throw our government on January 6th, 2021. This criminal should be locked up for the rest of his miserable life. 

What I'm reading:

"The Star Machine" by Jeanine Basinger. This is a book by one of our most distinguished film scholars about the gold age of movies and how the studios worked to manufacture stars. This is perhaps the best book I've ever read about the Golden Age of Hollywood.  Deeply engrossing, full of energy and wisdom, entertaining and informative, this is what a good book is all about for me. 

What I'm listening to:

Deep House Music.Music For Shops.Deep House Remix by DColor Music:

This music is a series of "Music For Shops" remixes that I first heard played in a clothing store at The Grove in West Hollywood during one of my visits there with Pat. I was mesmerized and so relaxed by DColor remixes that I searched for it when I came home and found a series of the remixes on You Tube. I play different remixes when I am sitting at my computer composing this blog or doing other activity on my computer. I find this "Music For Shops" so relaxing and ultimately full filling for me as no other music can. I used to like disco music (and still do) but these remixes are far beyond disco and "trance" type club music. I am transported by this music.

What I'm Eating:

Homemade potato salad and beef burritos. I have discovered the secret to the best homemade potato salad and beef burritos (and how to even roll the burrito). I may be in a rut now because this is basically all I eat but I'm enjoying my food a lot more with a minimal of preparation and I'm losing weight as a result. What more can I ask?

What I would love to learn how to:

Play the piano. I envied my classmates who were required to take piano lessons when they were  young. Oh how I would have loved to had those piano lessons but it was not to be. Mother forced me to take two years of typing which I hated at that time but not now. She wanted me to have a skill that I could use in a job when I grew up and viola! I have used typing ever since. Even now. Thank you Mom!

If I won the lottery:

I would instantly buy a five hundred plus acres in Montana and build a large rustic wood paneled house on a mountain and move there, away from all my "new" relatives and friends who have heard about my lottery win. Then from my mountain perch I will play a real life "John Beresford Tipton" from the Fifties television show "The Millionaire", dispensing my new found riches to deserving people and institutions. My first charitable contribution will be to the Furball Farm Cat Sanctuary in Minnesota. Those people who help feral cats deserve all the help they can get and I intend to give it to them.

If I had any super power it would be:

To travel back in time to visit my father and his father and his father all the way back thousands of years. I have always been fascinated by human history and would love to see who my direct paternal ancestor was and what their personality was like and what their life was like. A hundred years, two hundred years, five hundred year and yes two thousand years. Even longer. To answer the question "where did I come from?"

I first traveled solo:

I never traveled until I was an adult. My first trip solo was to Provincetown, Massachusetts was in 1975. Thereafter, with one exception, I traveled solo until ten years ago when I met Pat. Pat was the first person who would travel with me. Hopefully we can travel again together sometime in the future when I am no long the full-time caregiver for Bill, my partner and husband of fifty-nine years.

My proudest moment as a parent:

I have nieces and a nephew, grand nieces and grand nephews and great-grand nieces and a nephew; 24 in total at last count) but alas, I was never a parent. Do I miss being  parent? I've thought about it at times but no, I don't miss it. I've never regretted being gay. I've always known I was destined for the gay life and have had and continue to have a wonderful time.