My bra size.

Geez.

Seriously, there isn't much I'd leave the same.  For starters, how about I get to sit at a console with a nice engraved sign that reads "FLIGHT"?

It's meme time again, kiddies.  What a way to come back to LJ.  This is forty things about you.  Enjoy.

1. What is your name as it appears on your birth certificate?
Edward Zavartkay, Jr.
Yeah, come on, find my folks and tell them all about me.  It will give them an excuse to disown me.


2. Does anyone ever misspell your name?
Which one?  My legal name?  Hell yeah.  I used to collect mangled versions, the way some people collect coins or stamps.  And would you believe that people don't know how to spell "Clarion"?  Especially around here?  Clarion County is just north of here; you see it in the news every other day, for the love of St. Gulik.

3. Has anyone ever made fun of your last name?
Kids used to hammer on my legal name.  "Sa-FART-ski" (accent on the second syllable) was a favorite.

4. Relationship status?
Single

5. How old are you?
Six weeks older than Sputnik, and proud of every minute of it.  You do the math.

6. What city were you born in?
East Cleveland OH

7. How did you celebrate your last birthday?
With a shot of The Glenfiddich and the audio from the Apollo XI mission.

8. Name the last 5 cities you have lived in:
Homestead PA, Clairton PA, Carnegie PA, Cleveland OH, Marietta OH

9. What is your heritage?
My dad's side is Slovak; my mom's side is Polish, by way of PA coal country.

10. What does your voice sound like?
It's a better boy voice than a girl voice, let me tell you.

11. What is your style?
I prefer a look reminiscent of going to the office.  Dresses, skirts/blouses, flats, the occasional pair of heels.  I'm not trying to be elitist here, it's just a matter of what helps me feel good.  As good as I can manage, anyway.

12. What do you spend most of your money on?
Shelter and cat food.

13. Describe your...
HAIR: Greying.  Rapidly.
EYES: I think they call it "hazel".
BODY SHAPE: A lot smaller than I used to be.  I had to buy an entirely new wardrobe because my clothes were literally falling off of me and onto the floor.
FINGERNAILS: Kept under Revlon's Cherries in the Snow

14. What shampoo and conditioner do you use?
That stuff you get for a buck a bottle.

15. Do you enjoy bubble baths?
Absitively.

16. What shower gel or soap do you use?
Ivory Soap.  It works and it's cheap.

17. What kind of shoes do you wear?
You know that old joke about how you can spot a lesbian by her shoes?

18. What do you sleep in?
Naked in summer, Hello Kitty jammies in winter.

19. What is your favorite cosmetic brand?
I'm working on it.

20. Describe your weirdest hobby:
Plotting translunar trajectories.

21. What are your favorite TV shows?
Baseball games, NASA-TV

22. What was the last album you listened to?
"Unvergessene Melodien"  It's an album of Strauss waltzes.

23. What was the last DVD you watched?
Aquateen Hunger Force, Volume One

24. What are you reading at the moment?
Nothing.  I think that I want to pick up Doug Hofstadter's "The Mind's I".

25. Where do you work?
I'm on disability.

26. What do you want to do as a career?
Be a neurophysiologist or a pron star.  I'm not sure which.

27. Do you listen to a wide range of music or one particular kind?
Depends on what you mean by "wide range".  Baroque, classical, early romantic, the occasional Russian, and jazz.

28. What CD do you listen to most?
Herbert von Karajan's 1962 Beethoven cycle.

29. What is your favorite film?
Das Boot

30. Have you ever stolen a street sign?
No.

31. Have you ever peed in the woods?
Hell yeah.

32. What is your favorite food?
My very own chicken paprikasz.

33. Were you ever a boy/girl scout?
They didn't want me.  Story upon request.

34. Would you ever pose nude in a magazine?
How much would you pay me?

35. Can you change the oil in a car?
Surely.

36. Where would you like to get married?
N/A

37. Ever fired a gun?
It's not a "gun", it's a "weapon".  And yes, I have.  I prefer longarms.

38. Do you think musicals are cheesy?
Maybe.

39. What age do you plan to have children?
Never had 'em, never will.

40. If you could go anywhere...
The Sea of Tranquility.

As many of you know, my world got turned on its head over the last year or so.  I've since been trying to settle into my new life, trying to do the things I've been needing to do over the previous fifty years.  I'll even try to put up progress reports, and even look at my Friends Page occasionally.

First thing to do today: Visit the post office.

I had wanted to hear Alfred Brendel when he was in Pittsburgh last year.  Unfortunately, he fell ill and had to cancel, and he has since retired from touring.  So, my next choice would be der Berliner Philharmoniker.  I might even consider steamship and train to Berlin, had I the spare cash.

Since Ariel's departure in June, Winston had been tending to mope more than a bit.  It was looking like he was just a bit lonely.  Hoping to cheer him a bit, I had had a mind to finding him a friend.  As it happened, a young man in Shadyside was having trouble mixing business and cat.  Crossing my fingers, I took the tom in.  Not quite a week later, it is looking as if the new boy in town is finding a place in the looney bin I call home.

His previous human called him "Danger", a reference to his rescue-kitty roots.  This sort of expended to "Danger Cat", and contracted again to "D.C."

Wednesday's breakfast: Bread from my own oven (a light honey rye), grape jelly, and 10W-50 coffee.  There may be better, but if there is, I haven't found it yet.

While perusing YouTube, I came across some performances of the Radetzky March, which happens to be one of my favorite pieces.  There was the standard stuff, such as von Karajan conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker:


But then, I chanced upon what was termed a "Chinese version".  Intrigued, I gave it a listen:


All I can say is "Bravo!"

:o)

No matter how hard I may try to work on my speech, there are the occasional times that my words betray my roots.  Just a few minutes ago, I was heard to utter a distinctly Great Lakes

Wuddn't that something?

in the stead of the more proper "WASN'T that something?"

I guess that you can take the girl out of Cleveland, but there's no way in Hell that you're ever going to pry Cleveland out of the girl.

I just received the CD I won from WCLV.  I found a promotional video from Virgin Classics, and this looks like it's going to make my year.

While getting ready to go up the hill in the mornings, I bring up WCLV online for a little background music.  They have movie quizzes in the 9:00 hour; a play part of a soundtrack, guess the film sort of thing.  I immediately recognized the opening theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, grabbed the phone, punched them up, and lo and behold...

I WON!!!!!

The prize is a CD by a young French pianist I'd never heard of before, so not only do I have the excitement of winning something, I get to discover something new.

Yay me!