A Hodgepodge of Ups and Downs

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  When does time pass slowly for you? When does time pass quickly for you?

 

Usually it feels like time goes slowly when I'm looking forward to an upcoming trip and it seems like the day will never get here! And at the same time, in the last couple days before a vacation or big event, I feel like I don't have enough time to finish all the preparations I want to do! I also find that time goes by much quicker than I think when I am doing "just one more thing" before I move on to the next task. For instance, I have a bit of time built into my morning schedule to check email and make my daily to-do list, but when my 'time to leave' alarm goes off I almost always take what I think will be five minutes to just finish up something at my desk or find an address I need or whatever . . . but it's always ten minutes. Same thing when I lie down for a short nap or sit down to read for a few minutes. Those few minutes go by much too quickly so I keep going a couple minutes more and then a couple more after that.  

 

2. Do you have a favorite beach? What's your favorite 'beach' activity? Tell us what we'd find in your beach bag.

 I'm not really a beach person so I don't really have a favorite beach. We lived right across from the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, so that's the beach I've spent the most time on, though not during the summer season! My favorite activity would just be walking on the beach or boardwalk, provided it's not crowded. My beach bag, assuming I have one at all, would probably have a good book in it, a bottle of water, and a towel or beach blanket. At least those would be the basics. I'd be wearing my sunglasses and a beach umbrella and beach chair wouldn't fit in the bag. 

 

 3. Your favorite book or movie with a beach setting?

 I'm kind of drawing a blank here. I guess there's often beaches in pirate themed books and movies, right? I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean. Wow, I don't do beach reads apparently. Haha.

4. What's a food you love, but find it's a pain to eat? Is it worth it?

 Fried chicken or barbecue ribs. Both are so so good, but it is a pain to get all the meat off the bones and I always feel like I wind up greasy or sticky in the process. Worth it? Almost always - yes. 

5.  Do you like roller coasters? What's the best (or worst) roller coaster you've been on?

 

 I love roller coasters! It's been a minute since I've been at a theme park to ride them though. I think the last time was at Disney World in late 2018! My favorites at Disney World are: Expedition Everest (at Animal Kingdom); Rock 'n Roller Coaster (at Hollywood Studios); Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain (at Magic Kingdom); and Test Track (at EPCOT). I know they've added rides since I've been there too! It's been even longer since we were at Cedar Point but I loved the Raptor and Valravn. There are great coasters at Kings Dominion, Six Flags, Darien Lakes, and HersheyPark too, but I don't remember all the names of them. I love all the big coasters and thrill rides! I don't know if there's a "worst" roller coaster for me, as the rides I don't like are not coasters. Wooden roller coasters are so much fun, but they usually give a very rough and bumpy ride, and the seat backs tend to be low so those are the ones that leave me feeling like I've been knocked around and roughed up. Not a "worst" experience, but I know there's a price to pay for riding!

Rock 'n Roller Coaster

Expedition Everest

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm so late linking up again this week. It's been ups and downs here lately. On Saturday, we'd hoped to go to an airshow type event, and my husband had even talked me into going up in a hot air balloon (tethered) which would have taken me well out of my comfort zone. I'll gladly go on almost any thrill ride so long as I'm strapped in tight, but something open-feeling like a Ferris wheel or hot air balloon is terrifying to me. Unfortunately, bad weather cancelled the event and I had mixed feelings about it. We spent the afternoon with friends on Sunday so I was out almost all day. On Monday our chorus rehearsals resumed, and I went straight to chorus - well, to dinner with some chorus members, and then to the rehearsal - from work, so it was a looooooong day. I should have had lots of time on Tuesday evening to catch up some housework and prep my WQ and Hodgepodge posts, but I needed a breather and didn't get as much done as I'd hoped (see my answer to #1 above!). So I'm finally posting and linking up late at night, and I'm sure I will have to pay my visits to the other Hodgepodgers over the next day or two. 

Speaking of roller coasters and adventures . . . the current Wednesday Quotes link-up theme is "Being Adventurous" and you can find it here: WQ - Choosing Adventure

What kind of ups and downs and adventures have you experienced lately? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

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