I kind of hate the #AtoZChallenge.
No, though. I mean, I love reading others’ blogs, meeting new writers. Seeing new people and people I used to know among commenters. I hate what a reader I become during the #AtoZChallenge, is what I hate.
I’m a shitty one, no bones about it.
And that’s kind of the point of blogging. The interaction. I’m grappling with those times, like tonight, at 10:06 p.m., of whether I should be writing or reading. To keep up, I choose to write, but it sure does feel shitty.
I vow to catch up and read two #AtoZChallenge blogs every day when this is over until next year.
That’ll mean reading them all. If you’re here again and I’ve been a bastard about getting back to your place, well, I’m sorry. And thank you for coming anyway. I’ll see you soon. Promise. For now, here are a few more questions my girls asked.
1. How many of the Beatles are still alive?
We’re down to two. Paul McCartney (age 75) and Ringo Starr (77) are still with us. A mentally disturbed gunman killed John Lennon in 1980. I was 9, and remember it.
Uncle Frank gave me his copy of Double Fantasy, Lennon’s final album. Starting Over is my favorite track from it.
George Harrison died of lung cancer at age 58 in 2001. He survived a stabbing during a home invasion 2 years earlier. They scattered his ashes in the rivers Ganges and Yamuna by Hindi tradition.
Starr is the oldest Beatle, and he was 23 when the arrived in America from England. He’s still on tour!
My dad was a huge Beatles fan. He told of wanting boots like the Beatles wore when he was a teenager. Their paisley-lined interior set them apart. My grandma sewed him a pair just like them.
2. Have you ever stolen anything?
I always aim for honesty here.
Yes, I’ve stolen stuff. The one thing prominent I swipe is stuff from restaurants. Cups, glasses, the like. Your mom got so mad, Hayden, that I let you swipe a glass once from a barbecue joint. She kept it hidden for years as a punishment.
Road signs are another. If I find one down, it’s mine. I’m not alone in this. That doesn’t make it right. But those few, and the cups? They feel like my collection of misfit stuff.
Sometimes I get help, like when Mitch shoved a mini iron skillet into my to-go box.
I stole a toy car from my cousin when I was little. Guilt ate at me so I tried to return it when he came over next. He told his mom on me for trying to give him a car he already had at home.
3. Can they do a green screen with blue?
In chroma key photography, anything in green (or blue) can be replaced for broadcast. That’s how Connie Coldfront stands over the Mississippi Delta to deliver her forecast.
Blue and green are the opposite of normal skin tone, so they’re ideal hues.
There must be a contrast to blue or green from the meteorologist’s clothing, though. Green is a more natural mix, but blue can work, too. More meteorologists like to wear blue than green. #science
Larry Butler first used a blue screen in the film The Thief of Baghdad in 1940. (No, I wasn’t alive then.)
The Green Goblin needed a blue screen for the green screen. So would the Hulk or Kermit the frog. Anything yellow or white would be problematic. So Big Bird or Tom Brady would be out.
Just sayin’.
-30-
#AtoZChallenge
A is for Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, Adam and Avril, and Amidala
B is for Bonnie Marie Williams, voiceover superhero, a #GirlsRock interview
C is for Conversations, Camdyn and cookies (#GratitudeAndShit)
D is for Dorsey Standish, yoga teacher and mindfulness coach, for #GirlsRock
E is for End-of-your-career awards
F is for Frank, my uncle
H is for ✊🏻 haiku (my quarantine journal)
I is for being IN progress, IMMUNE system meditations and INSIGHT (for #GratitudeAndShit)
J is for Jess Cohn, an interview with a senior acquisitions editor, for #GirlsRock
K is for Kelly Calhoun, an interview with an influencer, reporter and model, for #GirlsRock
L is for learn
M is for middle finger, mercy rules, and mating (Go Ask Daddy)
N is for Nancy Kempa, realtor and translator, for #GirlsRock
🎡 O is for observing, opportunities, and optimism (#GratitudeAndShit)
P is for purify your mindset
Q is for quarterback
R is for Rebecca Reid, global development globetrotter, for #GirlsRock
Just a dad ... 
oh, the beatles memories! i remember telling my older sisters how dumb they were to like the beatlea and the doors, said they would never be big like my favorites, the monkees.
I remember growing up to Wings and some of George’s solo stuff, Beth. You’re right though, those Liverpool lads will never ever be the Monkees! My daughters used to think One Direction would go the way of the Beatles too … I told them to check in with me in 20 years.
I feel so old now; I was a senior in high school when John died. I was also in the middle of my “quick change” from “villager” to Grandma Tzeitel for the Dream Sequence in “Fiddler on the Roof” when someone came in and told me. I managed to get through my scene, and through the next one after another quick change, but then I was falling apart all over my boyfriend (the lighting director) until I had to pull myself together and be back on stage again.
I remember trying to imagine why someone would shoot John Lennon, as a kid. What a memory for you to have had in that moment. I was just a kid beginning to learn about music when it happened, and it doesn’t make any more sense today than it did then.
See, and I was just feeling guilty about how you and some of the other AtoZers write so much and then I have trouble making time to read it it all when my posts are all very short.
Liam, the idea is to have shorter posts, I think. I do fail at that at times. I miss the visits to other places, but I’m determined to make up that ground in May. I can’t wait!
I’m feeling that AtoZ thing too- ugh, I have to write this thing now. I signed up for this. Thanks for making me smile (that goes for you too Liam!)
It’s a grind, Janice! I feel obligated to see it through. I will make up for it afterward, and promote these posts, and visit those blogs! Glad you and Liam are around.
You have amnesty from having to read all of mine, if you need it. No way do i want to put pressure on anyone to read me, not that i don’t enjoy having readers. It makes no sense to me to pressure people, is all.
How we love the Beatles here. And that’s fascinating about the blue/green screen.
Hihi, now I now that I wasn’t the only one falling behind her reading. This week I’ve seen everyone paying visits back, so, it’s actually a thing. Although seeing bloggers writing beautiful comments and pingbacks to their posts made me feel waaaaaay behind. When the morning came, I used to doubt: should I start planning my post or reading posts? Now, it’s a good time to read and with no time pressure.
I’m still trying to catch up! That’s what May should officially be, catch-up month. One favorite blogger compiled a highlights post with one from every letter of the alphabet for all month.
Next year, let’s work ahead, shall we?