Friday 5: Scattergories, part 15

Happy Friday! Today is National Merry-Go-Round Day (love them!), National Thread the Needle Day (not a fan of needlecrafts, though I keep trying) and most importantly, a Summer Friday. Not some random Summer Friday, but one that heralds almost a full week off from work, as I don’t return until 1pm on Thursday. That is a weird time to go back to work, but we’re operating under Hot Caretaker Summer rules this year.

It’s perfect weather today for me to go to the beach, but honestly? I don’t feel like driving the almost-hour, finding parking, and then driving the almost-hour back. Kim of five years ago would be incredulous, but hey girl, your 52-year-old version is tired this summer. Let me be tired.

Instead, my plans for today are to kick around the house and channel those summer vacation days from my youth when the days were long and hot and I could do whatever I wanted. I have a few blog posts to finish and then maybe I’ll work on my concept for the August card club.

Time for the Friday 5. And it’s SCATTERGORIES TIMMMMMMMMMMME! (cue hype music) I’ll use a random letter generator and if one of the previous years’ letters comes up I’m rerolling. This year’s letter is:

E

(eee!) Let’s go!

1. What’s a great summer food?
   Not my first choice (which is an ice cream cone where you have to keep licking circles around the top of the waffle cone to keep the ice cream from melting down your hand), but in the spirit of the letter E, let’s go with egg salad. Egg salad, but keep it refrigerated, okay? It’s hot out. I suppose I could have gone with Edy’s ice cream but I’m more of a Ben & Jerry’s person.
   
2. What item not usually bequeathed in a will, would you like to pass along to someone when you die?
   I’m starting to think that E isn’t a smoking-hot letter to have been stuck with. I don’t even know. I really don’t! I don’t own Embroidery. Earrings are usually left to people in the ‘jewelry’ category. You can’t leave a trait like empathy or exuberance to somebody. Maybe some money to be used only as an emergency fund?
   
   (I could really go for some ice cream.)
   
3. What’s an admirable quality in a book but not in a person?
   Edginess. In a book, it’s fun to have an edgy character to offset a more earnest (another E!) one but in real life it’s not great. Okay, Captain Edgelord. I love your stick-it-to-the-man attitude but can you speed it up at the self-service checkout and stop sneering at the cameras?
   
4. What’s a good food to add to other foods?
   An extract. Specifically vanilla extract. More specifically, pure vanilla extract. Yes, it tastes the same as artificial at a higher price, but we don’t get many “pure” foods anymore, so if you can spring for it, go for it.
   
   I also like adding almond extract in place of vanilla in cookies & cakes, but only if there are no nut allergies among the people eating them.
   
   (Make that cherry-vanilla ice cream!)
   
5. What could make your day better right now?
   I can’t find a word beginning with E that means “household staff” but how about more effort toward economic equality? Like free healthcare for all or UBI? Yes, my slow march leftward continues onward. The US spends so much money on programs that benefit a few and harm many. Why not reallocate that money toward a program that would benefit all?
   
   What would you do with a guaranteed $750/month?
   
   Catch up your retirement account?
   Take a lower-paying job you enjoy more?
   Earn a new certification?
   Buy fresher groceries?
   Eat more ice cream?
   

Have a fantastic weekend friends. Looks like I’ll be stalking the Mister Softee truck later on.

Previous Scattergories entries: L, O, U, C