In the process of packing up my apartment to move back into a house—after giving the old one away as a result of a divorce—I stumbled upon a dusty box of old LPs (remember those initials?!). I still own a turntable and continue to enjoy the archaic pastime of dropping the needle on spinning plastic, so I continue to lug my old vinyl with me as I go through life. Anyway, in the box I found my collection of Bay City Rollers records. Laugh if you will, but the Rollers remain my favorite pop band of all time. I pulled their classic It's a Game out of the box and gave it a fresh listen after having not heard it in a few years. The years have done nothing to diminish the beauty of that record. I'll take 1977 over 2006 any day.

I'm super into playing Boggle online against strangers. I found a free site where you can play games against other people who are equally interested in the gratification of game playing without social entanglements. I have convinced myself it's good for me because you have to work at seeing. This has taken the place of my lofty goal of learning to read Hebrew and Japanese to improve my overall sight lines. Whatever. Three minutes a game in English? That's what I'm talking about! Despite how much I play, I blow at it. I don't care that I suck, but I am amazed that others seem to devote their lives to it—some can spell "quadruplet" or "Neanderthal" in a game where I've been lucky to get "eat" or "rat." Or maybe I'm just really bad.

In recent years one of my favorite weekly public radio shows has been Studio 360 (aired locally on 91 FM). This arts and culture "radio magazine," hosted by Kurt Andersen (pictured), covers a wide range of topics in visual and performing arts, design, film, literature and pop culture. It's fascinating to hear what combination of stories and interviews they come up with each week from art forgeries, the Lincoln Memorial, Pixelvision cameras and Django Reinhardt. Unfortunately WHYY has it on Saturdays at 7 a.m., so if you usually sleep in weekends, try listening online at www.studio360.org.

I'm vegetarian, but in my spare time, I fantasize about veganism. Eating primarily soy products is unhealthy, so I look to fruits and vegetables for certain textures, flavors and scents. Recently, I picked up my first bag of parsnips. I'd seen these quaint favorites of bygone days on the Food Network, where they appeared as calm little side dishes. Well! Since that fateful day, I've eaten parsnips cooked and spiced, as dessert (mash, chill, add oat milk), mixed with greens, warm and drenched with sauces, and raw. Pick up a bag of these sweet ivory carrot look-alikes today! You won't regret it!