So all of you answer the questions. Feel free to elaborate.
#1. Who was your favorite teacher in grade school?
#2. Did you ever get a speeding (or other) ticket? While a teen.
#3. Do you have a secret that you’ll never tell?
#1. Who was your favorite teacher in grade school? Mrs. Deitte, my homeroom teacher in 7th grade. She was witty, kind, gorgeous, and encouraged me to express my creativity.
#2. Did you ever get a speeding (or other) ticket? While a teen. Not as a teen. Have gotten four of them as an adult; three of them in the first two years after buying the red Mustang.
#3. Do you have a secret that you’ll never tell? Many.
That’s easy. When I was six years old and in first grade, I wished I was in second grade because the second grade teacher was really pretty. And I actually did it! I remember sitting in the principal’s office with my Mom and being asked to do some reading and other proficiency tests, and I was moved up to the second grade. I then forever became probably the youngest kid in every class thereafter.
I never drove as a teen. I got my driver’s license at around 20 or so. At which point I started collecting speeding tickets like they were confetti at an Italian wedding.
#3. Do you have a secret that you’ll never tell?
That’s a secret!
P.S.-
I see that you and I have an affinity for gorgeous teachers. But I was into it when I was just six!
Mrs. Deitte was one of the few grade school teachers I had who was younger than middle-aged (and was not a nun). She resembled Marcia Strassman (the actress who played Julie Kotter on Welcome Back, Kotter).
This is Marcia Strassman, not Mrs. Deitte, but you get the idea.
New Questions…
#1. Meatloaf or pot roast?
#2. What was the first book you read?
#3. Do you know anyone who’s never had a pet?
New Questions…
#1. Meatloaf or pot roast?
Pot roast. My mother is a good cook, but her meatloaf was not good, and it put me off it for life.
#2. What was the first book you read?
Go, Dog. Go!, by P.D. Eastman. After making my parents read it to me dozens of times, I learned how to read it on my own by age 4. The first “adult” book I read was Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach; I read it when I was 9.
#3. Do you know anyone who’s never had a pet?
Yes; the ones that come to mind offhand are my paternal grandparents, but I’m sure I’ve known others, too. That said, the vast majority of my friends are pet owners.
Oh cool about Go Dogs Go was all my kids first book.
I bought one copy so it passed down. Crayon marks. One missing page and tape on it’s spine.
I still have it hidden cause they all want it.
I bought the Grandwreks all a copy. It’s paper back now.
I read some Scooby Doo mysteries and moved on to Nancy Drew mysteries at age 8.
Pot roast, of course! Made it many times. Have never made meatloaf. Never will, either.
Quite likely it was It Happened One Day, which is currently sitting on my coffee table. Not the original I had as a child, but identical to it. I came across it at a used book site and immediately bought it, for reasons of nostalgia. It’s apparently part of a series called “The Wonder Story Books Reading Foundation Series”.
My older brother, who in many ways is the opposite of me. I love nature, the countryside, and animals. He loves the big-city downtown urban lifestyle and has no use for pets. I remember when his kids were little and his daughter had a cat; that cat had a habit of always getting in his way. He didn’t like the cat and I had the impression the feeling was mutual.
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Pot roast - because there are so many ways to do it well, or at the very least, not screw it up to badly. Never meatloaf, because there are so many ways to do it poorly, or at the worst, screw it up beyond all possible imagination (too dry, too greasy, under seasoned, over seasoned, too packed, not packed enough…).
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar - my copy became my brother’s copy, my best friend’s younger brother’s copy, my 1/2 brothers copy (14 years younger) and, to the best of my knowledge, my niece’s copy. Although I have a sneaking suspicion it’s been replaced at least once due to how kids treat things, but it’s still in THEORY the same copy.
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Yes, I have a pretty good friend, now somewhat estranged as he lives out of state and got very political (nothing MAGA, but very LGBQT+ involved and it now informs everything they do and talk about) who is pretty much allergic to EVERYTHING under the sun. They actually liked my snakes and lizards because they’re pretty hypoallergenic, but they have issues with the salmonella risk from such pets. One day, they’re getting a bearded dragon, because how can they resist?
#1. Meatloaf or pot roast?
Yes
#2. What was the first book you read?
i can’t remember that !! - it was nearly 60 years ago !
(possibly one about a blue pirate (in a series - there was also a red one and a green one !) - that’s the earliest i can remember)
#3. Do you know anyone who’s never had a pet?
Yes, many.
#1. Meatloaf or pot roast?
Meatloaf - I eat pot roast, but something about the vegetables in it seems a little off to me.
#2. What was the first book you read?
To think I saw it on Mulberry Street. Probably read something else first, but that’s the first book I remember checking out of the library.
#3. Do you know anyone who’s never had a pet?
My grandparents, although grandma was apparently almost adopted by a cat in her 90s (grandma, not the cat). Her daughters (mom being one of them) decided that having a cat underfoot wasn’t safe for an unsteady hip/knee replacement woman, and the cat moved on.
Mom’s sister also never had a pet - they were both originally farm girls, so pets weren’t really a thing (although we had a couple of different cats (and loads of kittens - Mischief was a slut and a great momma cat) when I was growing up).
Are you kidding?
I was a sweet, “goody-two-shoes”, who did all her work and was well behaved, so I had good relationships with all my teachers. The best, though, was my 3rd grade teacher.
No, although I was stopped on a couple of occasions and given a warning to slow down.
Yes.
I really only had three teachers from 1st grade through the end of sophomore year. My first grade teacher gave me poor marks on some sort of art project because I drew the people’s skin brown, so she’s out of the running. I don’t remember much about my 4th grade teacher but I remember I didn’t like her at the time so she’s out of the running. That leaves the only other teacher, and she was great. I dedicated my MA thesis to her.
I’ve never had a speeding ticket, ever (knock on wood).
More than one.
Meatloaf. It’s easy, versatile, and I can change the flavor easily depending on what herbs / spices / sauces I ad to the meat before cooking.
Hell if I know. I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life.
I don’t think so. Everyone I can think of has had one at some point in their life, even if was the family pet when they were kids.
Favorite teacher: Mrs Riordan. Had her for 4th and 5th grade. She was stern but let us read all the time. First book I read: Probably The Cat in the Hat, but my first library book was Little House in the Big Woods. Meatloaf, cuz my mom made the best pot roast and she’s been dead for over 10 years. I make my meatloaf with jarlsberg cheese,bacon, barbeque sauce, sautéed mushrooms. It is gourmet meatloaf. I know several people who have never had pets. Never had a speeding ticket. I have no secrets. I am boring,
I knew it.
Bad, bad, bad Mr. Fish!
More …
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What life event turned your story around completely?
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Coffee or Tea?
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Favorite fruit?
1.1 Miss McGovern in 1st grade. A year from retirement, she was going to teach us reading her way, not the newfangled 1957 way. I went from struggling with Fun with Dick and Jane to reading Jules Verne that year, so it seemed to work.
1.2. Not as a teen, but I went off to college without a car not long after I got my license (which was delayed in NY) and hardly went anywhere where you could speed. Try speeding on the Long Island Expressway, you won’t get far unless you have a car like the one in Men in Black. I have gotten exactly one, at 20. Now my record is so good and I’m so old that the cops don’t even give me a ticket even if they catch me.
1.3 I’ll never tell.
2.1 Meatloaf, but I make a fine meatloaf. My wife says much better than her mother. I made a lot of them in college because it was what I could afford and could cook in a toaster oven.
2.2 From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne. See question 1.1
2.3 No one I can think of right away.
3.1 When I was waiting in line for my dorm room assignment someone came and said they wanted to swap with two people for the worst dorm on campus (where I was assigned) to the best. No one must have believed them, since no one responded. I finally did, and I got in with a great group of people I stayed with all four years . Plus being in that dorm was directly responsible for my meeting my wife, but it’s complicated.
3.2 Both, but mostly coffee
3.3 Oranges and lemons from my backyard.
- Don’t remember - it’s been too damned long! Not that I had bad teachers; I had good teachers, it’s just that bad makes for more memorable stories, so you don’t remember the good!
- Don’t think I got a speeding ticket as a teen, but I did get one for improper lane usage, screwing around with buddies in the car.
- If I told you, then the answer would be “no” because I just told it!
- Meatloaf. Really, the only way to make is suck is to NOT SEASON IT! I make mine with onions and peppers and canned spaghetti sauce (hey, it’s a meatloaf - I ain’t making fresh sauce!); might melt some cheese on top
- Don’t remember. I was reading at age 3. Both my parents were teachers, so I got a lot of learnin’ at home.
- My Grandma had 13 kids - she didn’t need a pet!
- Can’t think of any. My life just flows.
- Coffee on a daily basis; iced tea (not sweet) with dinner sometimes; hot tea when I’m sick or cold.
- Yes. I’m extremely grateful that I live in a time and place (and have the economic wherewithal) that I can have pretty much any fruit at any time of the year. The bad side of that is that almost anything I get from the store was picked green about a month ago and artificially ripened during transit. Been getting into mangos recently, and dreaming of the taste of one fresh off of the tree!