Meme time

In the interest of blogging more often, I gakked this meme (I sound sooooo techno) from Dr. Write:

Answer these questions with only one word. (Anyone who knows me is no doubt doubled over laughing at the idea of me being able to keep myself to one word...)

Where is your cell phone? desk
Where is your significant other? work
Your hair color? fabulous
Your mother? missed
Your father? growing
Your favorite thing? water
Your dream last night? hazy
Your dream/goal? innovation
The room you’re in? office
Your hobby? fabulousness
Your fear? abandonment
Where do you want to be in 6 years? cohabiting
Where were you last night? tub
What you’re not? focused
One of your wish-list items? boots
Where you grew up? seattle
The last thing you did? chatted
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? functional
Your pet? nope
Your computer? Macbook
Your mood? tentative
Missing someone? sweetie
Your car? functional
Something you’re not wearing? necklace
Favorite store? Loft
Your summer? amazing
Love someone? passionately
Your favorite color? purple
When is the last time you laughed? morning
Last time you cried? unsure

Meme-o-rama

By way of academom (who was tagged by her mom)...

Five things in each of the following categories:

10 years ago, I was:

1. 35
2. Taking the GREs so's I could get in the MA in English at WWU
3. Working full-time at the library and getting mighty tired of it
4. Living with SO No. 2 (aka "Ms J")
5. Spokesmodel for my local chapter of Hands Off Washington, an lgbt rights group

Today’s to do list:

1. Grade grade grade (some done, lots more to do)
2. Go to Fleet Feet (highly recommended by academom herself) to get trail-appropriate sneaks (done--will post pix when I can)
3. Call about possible apartment for impending move
4. Email student re outline of final project
5. Make other appointments that have been on my to-do list for WEEKS

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Cheese
2. Cheese & pretzels
3. Cheese & meat
4. Chips & salsa
5. Pickles

If I was a billionaire, I would:

1. Pay off my (actually quite reasonable) debts, as well as my sisters', and my friends'
2. Create a trust fund for my nephews' education (formal and otherwise)
3. Buy one of the Thousand Islands (and create a trust to pay for the outrageous taxes)
4. Create a trust for myself so I could have a bit of extra travel money every year
5. Give the rest away

My bad habits:

1. I judge myself and others much too harshly (that was academom's & I ditto that)
2. I pick & bite my nails
3. I engage in way too much negative self-talk
4. I squirrel time away reading crap on the internet (again, ditto academom)
5. I drive places I could so easily walk or ride my bike to

Pet peeves:

1. Tailgaters (ditto academom)
2. Colleagues who make disparaging remarks about students (whom they often call "kids")
3. The words "always," "never," and "just"
4. Bigotry, particularly from people who ought to (or think that they) know better
5. Uninformed pseudodebate (a la talk radio and cable news)

Places I’ve lived:

1. Shoreline, WA
2. Cottage Grove, OR
3. Bellingham, WA
4. Jersey City, NJ
5. Syracuse/Binghamton, NY

Jobs I’ve had:

1. Marionette troupe apprentice
2. Typesetter & graphic arts go-fer
3. Library clerk
4. Customer service representative
5. Teacher (aka "Doctor of Words")

Three Things I Love

This is a good meme to be tagged with just now. So, because Dr. Write says I should, here are three things I love (other than family, friends, and beverages):

1. Water. It just feels like home. My only time snorkeling, I felt like I could stay there all day. My earliest memory is of the gray foam at Kalaloch, on the Washington coast. When I saw Lake Ontario last fall, I felt that same sense of peace that the oceans give me. I even love staying in the shower far too long in the morning. The theme for my 45th birthday (mark your calendars people: March 1, 3pm, my house) is going to be Under the Sea. Or Tropical Paradise. Or something.

2. Reading. I come from a family of readers--"no reading at the table" was an actual rule for dinner, and of course we read everything in sight, from milk cartons to cereal boxes. I got lost in the Oz books, in trashy bodice rippers, in muckraking books about the counterculture. Now, I want to read magazines and blogs and websites, and chick lit and speculative fiction and Serious Literature. And the comics. And the back of the milk carton.

3. Animals. This is a family thing, too. Animals remind me to stay in the moment. I don't mean to romanticize the lives of these creatures, but I am amazed at how much they are both like and not like us, how the behaviors can be so similar, yet totally un-self-conscious. I want to get to know every cat in the neighborhood on a first-name basis, like Belle who lives around the corner, who comes running to greet me on warm evenings, rolling on the sidewalk and looking for scritchers. And the birds--twitching their heads this way and that, wiping their beaks on branches. I'm endlessly fascinated.

Much Better Thanks, and Seven Facts

I'm feeling much better, but did no work for two days. And now I have to face the students again. Argh. So, with my little bit of energy (drawn from that two ounces of juice, one bite of jello, half a cup of oatmeal, slice of toast with honey, and bowl of ramen--a veritable feast today!) I take on this meme, for which I have been tagged by Dr. Write:

The Rules
1. List the link to your tagger and also post these following rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird, etc.
3. Tag 7 people at the the end of your blog also leaving the links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are "TAGGED" by leaving a comment on their blog

Seven facts about me:
1. I think I should appreciate opera, but I've never gotten around to it.

2. "Should" plays far too large a role in my vocabulary, as in "should have finished that PhD two years ago," "should do sit ups every day," "should be a more compassionate person." (Note how if I actually applied that last one, I wouldn't should myself so much.)

3. Even now, when I pass by places accepting job applications, I sometimes think "I should apply there." Like, Starbucks. I hear they have excellent benefits.

4. I'm in therapy. Here are some recent revelations: a) I have to ask for what I want; b) which means I have to figure out what I want; c) sometimes you have to ask for what you want more than once; d) I sometimes still behave as if I'm in my last relationship, even though my GF is very very different; e) childhood bullying had a huge impact on me, which really sucks.

5. I think my photographs are really fabulous, and wonder why others don't see what I see in all those closeups of trees.

6. I still believe that I'll make Christmas presents.

7. I hate tagging people. It feels like a popularity contest, because, quite frankly, I don't have that many friends in Blog-O-World (oh, like "blogosphere" is so much better). So, on this meme, they've probably all been tagged already