Sunday Stealing

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Really Random Meme

Do you believe that Walt Disney is really frozen?

I do not, because it's an urban legend.

Do you believe its easy to forgive and forget?

It is definitely not easy to forgive. I don't even try to forget.

When you feel like running away from it all who do you call?

Amy. We're going bowling in Canada.

Is there anyone who knows your entire life story?

Nope. Beast probably knows the most of everyone besides me.

Have you had to have stitches at all in the last year?

Yup, I had surgery in February. Seven stitches in my neck.

Which is coming next: Christmas or your birthday?

Birthday.

Have you ever been a clown for Halloween?

Yes. I believe that's the last costume my mom ever made for me.

What time did you go to bed last night?

I was in bed by 11:15. Asleep by midnight. Awake again at 1. And 4. And 7.

When did you get up this morning?

I gotout of bedat about 7:25 when Beast was finished in the shower and headed downstairs.

When was the last time it rained?

Overnight, I think. It was damp out this morning.

Are your finger nails painted at the moment?

My fingernails are never painted but my toenails are bright orange right now.

Do you ever go hunting/fishing?

Yuck. No, thanks.

Did you have an imaginary friend as a child?

Yes I did. I wonder how B.B. has fared in the intervening 45ish years....

Which parent do you look most like?

My dad's gene pool is deep and strong. We all look[ed] like him, except perhaps my brother. Even my son looks like him! And several other grandchildren are clearly "his" as well.

Do you have any friends who are famous?

Nope. Thank you to all of you, my friends, for staying under the radar. ;-)

Do you use eBay to buy or sell?

I use eBay for photos, when I use it for anything at all, which is rarely.

Is music a daily part of your life?

Yes. I listen to music pretty much every day. I haven't tracked it but I'm fairly certain that my shittiest days tend to be music-free. I'm not sure which one leads to the other, but I suspect the two facts are interconnected.

Is your self esteem high or low?

I'd call it healthy. Not too high, not too low. Probably a little lower than optimal right now. It's been a really rough week.

Sunday Stealing

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Fifteen Meme

1. What was your first job like?

My first income was from babysitting. It was ... babysitting. My first job outside of that was at the library. It was a steep learning curve. I liked shelving, hated shelf-reading, and found the weirdo patrons completely unmanageable. My first full-time job was an even steeper learning curve seeing as how I worked for a clinical nutjob.

2. It's a typical Sunday, how are you spending it?

Now that football is over, it's NASCAR season so we're watching a race and I'm meming and dozing, and running a load of hand-wash in the machine.

3. What was the happiest day of your life?

There've been a few really good days: Sparky's high school graduation, my wedding day, the day I marched in the Tournament of Roses parade, my college graduation....

4. What was the best decision you ever made?

Having a kid.

5. Tell your go-to "pretend" game as a child (who was your alter-ego?)

I didn't have just one. People usually have only one? I had a much bigger imagination than that: I was everything from a cowboy to an Indian princess to an astronaut to an alien.

6. What email service do you use?

Gmail. And Zimbra. I'm not a fan of Zimbra, but that's what we use at work, because my previous boss thought Outlook was too expensive when "Zimbra does everything Outlook does." Except...it does NOT.

7. What fandoms would you consider yourself a part of?

I was a GIANT Star Trek: The Next Generation nerd in the early 90s. I don't think I'm much of a fangirl anymore though. I'm much more of a wide knowledge person than a deep knowledge person.

8. Do you use anything on your lips? (e.g. Chapstick, gloss, balm, lipstick)

Chapstick or other balms, including Burt's Bees products. VERY occasionally I'll throw on some gloss.

9. How many devices do you own which can access the internet?

At home, I use three. Beast has two smart phones (one personal, one for work), two laptops (one personal one for work), and his tablet.

10. Last strong smell you can remember smelling?

I have some lotion on that was in the bathroom at church. It's got ginger in it, and it's really strong. And nice, underneath all the overwhelmingness.

11. If you had to move your birthday to another date, which one would you choose and why?

I would totally move it to summer. November birthdays pretty much suck.

12. Inspiration behind your blog title?

My first blog was originally named after that Eurhythmics' song. Then I started this one, so it seemed like an obvious choice to name a memes blog with a similar title.

13. If you could spend a rainy day with anyone in the world, who would you choose and why?

I'd like to spend it with the four members of my family I can't actually apend time with anymore. Just hanging out in the living room talking and bickering would be a blast.

14. Is there a foreign culture that you love?

Not wholly. I like parts of British culture, and Scottish culture, parts of Italian and Greek, and some Russian cultures. But overall, I'm a cherry-picker: if I like it, I appropriate as much of it as I can, or wish I could.

15. Do you have a favorite soft drink?

Diet Dr. Pepper, of course.

Saturday 9

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I Will Survive

1. What in the 2011 has proved to you that you are a survivor?

The fact that I'm still alive, still married, and not hospitalized counts for something, I think.

2. Have you ever stayed online for a very long time waiting for someone?

A few times. Not recently, though. There's (almost) always tomorrow.

3. Are REALLY ready for the holidays?

Hell, no.

4. Did you have an imaginary friend as a kid?

Yes. And as I got older, I developed more.

5. What niche network do you watch the most?

Cloo? Spike? WE? I dunno, whichever one has the crime show I want to watch at any given time.

6. Have you ever seen the ocean?

Yes. Atlantic (from the east edge) and Pacific (also from the east edge.

7. Have you ever been hospitalized?

Yup. Twice.

8. What do you think of the US Republican candidates for president?

I try very hard not to. Right now it's kind of a three-ring circus as far as I'm concerned; I'll tune in next year August.

9. Could you imagine life without a computer?

Not anymore.

Saturday 9

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Turn Back the Hands of Time

1. There's a Time Genie. She can put you back in time to relive a day that you loved. If you could turn back the hands of time, what day would you relive if given this opportunity?

Probably a random summer day when I was between 8 and 10. Or, possibly, the day Sparky was born; I'd like to know if I was a tremendous wimp or if it really was that bad. I'm pretty sure I'd punch one of the nurses (a specific nurse) this time around.

2. What did you do yesterday?

Sunday School, church, lunch, work, Sparky back to college.

3. You've been given 3 parachutes, but there are 4 people who need them. Who will you not give one to: Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Kim K@rd@shi@n*, or Simon Cowell? Why?

I'm using one and taking the rest of them with me when I jump outta the plane, presuming the pilot has his/her own. Alternatively, I'll just set all of them up with a backpack full of bricks and push 'em out the door.

4. Where are you going and where have you been?

I'm about halfway, near as I can tell, along the road of my life, finally figuring out the map and laughing at all the stupid detours I've taken. Also wondering how I ended up here; tracing back I can see a couple of major decisions I made when very young without really being aware of the fact that once you get a ways along one of the paths, the others disappear. And looking ahead to lots more of the same. Kinda hoping I see grandchildren up there ahead of me.

5. They say that books read as a child make more of an impact on a person than books read at any other time in life. Are there any books that you particularly loved, that shaped the way you think when you were little?

Laura Ingalls Wilder--still read her books semi-regularly. Loved the Narnia books. Read Tom Sawyer and like it. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. ...you have to know that I probably read 1000 books as a child, so I couldn't detail everything I read. I do think what stretches your imagination as a child shapes you as an adult, but I'm not sure it has to be literary; I think movies and TV have just as much impact, and games and YouTube videos. It's all about exposing the mind to the Possible. For instance, one of the touchstones of my childhood was seeing "Paint Your Wagon" and crying with laughter with my parents at the collapsing mines. I didn't understand most of the subtext of the rest of the movie, but oh how that scene has stuck with me, and the emotional sense of the way it was portrayed. I would say it has a similar place in my imagination with Tom Sawyer being lost in the cave with Becky.

6. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?

Well, there's Christmas.... And a week later, I'll be back to working full-time for the first time since June 1994.

7. What was the last text message you received?

LOL. It's from Sparky, yesterday morning at 9:30 saying, "In the shower." It's in response to a text asking if Beast was awake yet.

8. Do you prefer to call or text?

Text, unless it's a complicated conversation. Most of the time I'd rather text or email versus talking.

9. What were you doing at 9PM last night?

I think I was getting ready for bed, possibly in the tub.

*edited 5/15 to block searches on this term --gah

W.T.F.

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A crime-fighting dog and talking cat

1) The Comic-Con International convention started Thursday in San Diego, featuring representatives from a variety of pop culture (sci-fi, horror, superhero comics, anime, etc.). Have you ever attended a convention (of any sort)? If so, what was it for?

I've been to work-related conventions several times. I've been to a couple churchy things too. Those are weird enough for me.

2) When you go to a movie theater with another person, which arm rest do you claim? The left or the right or do you need control of both of them?

I end up leaning toward the person I came with, but I don't think I hog the arm rest.

3) Recently a 10-pound chihuahua named Paco helped foil an armed store robbery in Altadena, California, (watch the surveillance video here). What breed of dog are you most scared of?

Any dog that's been docked or cocked or surgically altered is suspect. Yes, even the neutered ones. I mean, really: wouldn't you be short-tempered if people messed with your ears, dick, or tail??

4) When telemarketers call you, do they mispronounce your last name?

I don't answer the phone unless I know the number or suspect it's not a telemarketer.

5) The NBA and NFL lockout situations have been the talk of my office for weeks. Have you been following the lockout news? Are you concerned about how the negotiations will turn out?

I couldn't possibly care less about the NBA, buncha whiners all of 'em. I hope the NFL gets its poop together though. I'll miss the season if they don't play....{sniffle}

6) Sunday (July 24) is National Drive-Thru Day. What are your favorite restaurants to go through the drive-thru at? Are there any restaurants you wish had drive-thrus that don't?

I spend far too much time at McDonalds in the drive-through. Sigh. I wish Subway had a drive-thru, or Jimmy Johns.

7) In the book "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and the movie based on the book, the main character draws maps of people's brains. If a map was drawn of your brain, would would your map look like? Would it be like a city with well organized streets and big highways or would it be a rural area? Would there be rivers or mountains or parks?

There's definitely going to be big vacant spaces, like Wyoming, in my mind, but probably some organized streets and lovely parkways.

8) What would you do if a talking cat showed up at your front door?

Slam the door. I'm allergic to non-talking cats; imagine what my immune system would do with one that speaks!

9) A recent study showed that the baby boomer generation (ages 47-65) does not think that they're "old." What age do you consider "old?"

OK, if there is anyone more self-deluded than NBA players, it's baby boomers. Old is what you feel after a long day doing physical labor. Old is when you have to take more than 9 pills a day to stay alive. Old is when you have adult grandchildren. Old is when over half your high school class is in the cemetery.

10) If you could go back and change something about your teenage years, what would it be?

I wouldn't be so freakin' shy!

Imagine

You Have an Active Imagination

Your mind is churning and producing new thoughts all the time. You are definitely good at imagining. You can visualize events pretty easily, and you're not bad at thinking up new ideas. Believe it or not, you could be a bit more imaginative. All you have to do is give yourself permission. Spend a few minutes each day daydreaming. It's good for you, and who knows what might come of it?

How Active is Your Imagination?

OK then. I'm sure my boss will LOVE this advice! :-)