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Beginning with why I hate the 4th of July: Some idiot down the street just set off a firecracker. Again I say, I get the bright, pretty ones, the playing with fire stuff, but noise? What the hell is the point of that? Smart people turn their car alarms off over this weekend is all I'm sayin'.
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I actually made up one of these quizzes for people who are too old to take the "What grade are you in? Who do you have a crush on?" things, but that was years ago. This is a good one, too, so I'm doing it:
Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids?! 'Have you ever kissed someone? Missed someone? Told someone you loved them? Drank alcohol?' 38 questions for the people who are a little older... Comment when you finish. I'd love to see your answers.
1. What bill do you hate paying the most? -- Used to be my health insurance premium but since I'm no longer insured that's a moot point. I'd say, credit card bills. It's unfriendly of them to let us take stuff and then expect us to pay for it a month later.
2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner? -- Romantic? I don't do romantic. But I had a really lovely dinner with good friends last Saturday at Bistro Campagne.
3. What do you really want to be doing right now? -- To be honest, sleeping. I've slept badly for two nights, for various reasons, and I'm tired. Also, the house is quiet, the breeze coming in the windows is cool but not cold, and I spent the morning out working in the yard, which looks a lot better for all the pruning I did and the weeding Dawn did. So yeah, sleeping. In my comfy chair. With some silly, pointless movie on in the background.
4. How many colleges did you attend? -- Five, I think. A teacher's college which I left when I realized that the idea of spending X hours a day in a room filled with kids was right up there with going to Woodfield mall the day after Thanksgiving. Circles of Hell stuff. Then I got my BA at UICC because I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself. I did some post-grad work at NEIU, and some computer work at Wright College, but the best was my time at the School of the Art Institute. I'd go back in a heartbeat, but that means putting together A) a portfolio and B) A lot of money.
5. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now? -- It's orange and it looked so amazing with the teal pants and lavender Crocs.
6. What are your thoughts on gas prices? -- I don't own a car so it's not an issue most of the time. I think it's past time we did something about our dependence on fossil fuels, though, and I hope high gas prices convince people that the nearly free ride is over.
7. First thought when the alarm went off this morning? -- My alarm is my cat, and I thought "Oh phew, your breath is awful."
8. Last thought before going to sleep last night? -- Which time? No seriously that's funny because at 10 p.m. I was so tired I couldn't hold my head up. I went to the bedroom, kicked off my shoes and went face first into the pillows. I didn't undress, feed the cat or even turn off the lights. I don't think I had any thoughts at that point beyond the "Fire bad, tree pretty" sort (Thank you, Buffy.) An hour later I woke up and was wide awake, and then ended up staying up until three, and not falling asleep right away when I did get back to bed. I suspect my last thought was something about being happy to have Caddy all smushed up against my face.
9. Do you miss being a child? -- In some ways, sure. In other ways, not at all.
10. What errand/chore do you despise? -- Most of them, really. But the worst is washing the floor.
11. Get up early or sleep in? -- Well it depends on the definition. If sleeping in is defined as sleeping past the time when most people get up, then I sleep in. If it's defined as sleeping more than eight hours, then I sleep in sometimes. I don't get up early unless you define that as getting less than eight hours in which case again, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I generally get about eight hours, but they're not the same eight hours each night.
12. Have you found real love yet? -- Being "in love" with anyone? I don't think so. I doubt I ever will. But it doesn't bother me any more. Used to. But then the idea of dying used to bother me, too.
13. Favorite lunch meat? -- I don't generally like lunch meat, per se, but when I do eat it, it's usually some form of turkey. Turkey pastrami is one I'm quite fond of.
14. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart? -- I don't go to Wal-Mart or Sam's Club or any store owned by that company because they suck.
15. Beach or lake? -- Lake. No contest.
16. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual? -- The actual act of getting married? Not if you like the idea. The fact of being married? Nice enough, I guess.
17. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives? -- Neither, but I'm more a Sopranos type.
18.What famous person would you like to have dinner with? -- Can I make a list? It might include: Eddie Izzard, The President, Guillermo del Toro, Rachel Maddow...
19. Have you ever crashed your vehicle? -- I've been in car accidents but never one when I was driving, so I guess not.
20. Ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose? -- No, thank goodness.
21. Ring tone? -- Bad to the Bone, George Thoroughgood.
22. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth? -- I don't generally whip out my toothbrush when I'm on a roller coaster or anything. Probably the kitchen.
23. Somewhere in California you've never been and would like to go? -- I wouldn't mind actually seeing Mt. Shasta. I went past it on the train but was asleep. Everyone else said it was gorgeous by moonlight.
23. Do you go to church? -- Not recently.
24. At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship? -- Since I like the career path I'm on, I suppose relationship.
25. How old are you? -- 57
26. Do you have a go to person? -- For some things, yeah.
27. Are you where you want to be in life? -- I'm where I am. At my age, I don't know that asking for more than that is wise.
28. Growing up, what were your favorite cartoons? -- Oh, Mighty Mouse! I had a ferocious crush on him as a toddler.
29. What about you do you think has changed the most? -- The anxiety levels have dropped dramatically. I spent several years being nuts and afraid of everything, and then I got heavily medicated which ended all that chemically. But I found that once I stopped taking the drugs, it never came back. It's as if taking just a small break was enough to end the cycle.
30. Looking back at high school were they the best years of your life? -- Just the opposite. I came closer to having a nervous breakdown in my senior year than at any other time of my life. I HATED high school.
32. Did you ever own troll dolls? -- Yes, but this was when they were new back in the early sixties, I think it was.
33. Did you have a pager? -- Never.
34. Where was the hang out spot when you were a teenager? -- I suspect that in my neighborhood the most popular place was The Buffalo, a soda shop
35. Were you the type of kid you would want your children to hang out with? -- Hard to say. I was a stupid child, but well-behaved.
36.Who do you think impacted your life the most? -- My folks. I've tried to become a person they'd be proud of.
37. Was there a teacher or authority figure that stood out for you? -- Oh yeah. In college there was Nancy Cirillo, Tom Hoberg, Bill Brincka and Merrilee Cutts. Nancy and Tom taught English, Merri and Bill taught Art. Those four people probably had more impact on what I do than all my other teachers combined.
38. Do you tell stories that start with “when I was your age..."? -- No, thank god, and I hope I never do. When I find myself waxing nostalgic in front of youngsters I always try to find a place in my ramblings where I assure them that I walked 20 miles uphill in the snow every day just to go to school in an unheated, one-room schoolhouse. Just to remind myself not to be too pompous.
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The Dr. Bronner Barometer: I bought a pump bottle of Dr. Bronner's lavender soap a while ago, and I've noticed that sometimes it leaks. Actually pulls soap up the pump and leaks out on its own. Just the other day I realized that it happens when the weather gets bad. I guess it's like one of those little glass swans filled with colored water that rises up into the head when the weather turns to shit. How odd. Has that happened to anyone else with any other sort of pump bottle?
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Dawn is up at the Renn Faire at a memorial service for our friend, Marc Lupescu. Dawn used to live with him and has taken it kind of hard. I knew him a little and liked him a lot, but I passed on the service because I didn't want to go up there and present myself as a mourner, you know? I didn't feel right trying to claim a share of the grief.
We spent the morning working in the yard. I pruned the magnolia, cutting back two of the five trunks so that it's more shaped and less sloppy-looking, and it looks pretty good now. We're trying to encourage it to grow up instead of out. Ditto the big evergreen near the house. I got under it (my head still itches even after a shower and shampoo!) and cut off all the deadwood, and then thinned the growth so it doesn't so much spread out as grow upward. I also pruned off all the suckers on the Japanese maple, and it looks nice and clean, especially after I took off one low branch that just detracted from the general shape. Tomorrow I want to get to that damn lilac. It's messy and needs a lot of attention. I may have to ask Carlos if I can come into his yard to do some of the work. One of the most interesting moments was when we discovered that the wood of the magnolia smells like cardamom. It's really quite lovely.
Dawn worked like a horse weeding and cutting the grass, but I have to tell you, she's turned into a real gardener. She works hard, does an excellent job and learns very fast. And she likes it. That's a critical thing for any gardener. You have to like the work. The back still looks kind of shitty, but next year we're redoing the patio and putting in raised beds, and doing a lot of general clean-up, so it should improve. And we're going to do a portrait of our cats to hang on the garage wall, and then mosaic a lot of the rest of the garage.
The flowers along our fence with John are starting to climb and bloom. Nasturtiums and clematis are in bloom, morning glories are threatening to take over the world. Moonflowers? Not so much yet, but I am confident they'll come along. Our pumpkin vines are ginormous as as the cukes, and most of the other veggies and fruit are doing quite well, even if everything is behind because of the weather. Our new roses are starting to bloom as are the blackberries. I love watching these things happen, it's like a miracle every day!
On the non-miraculous side, someone stole one of our big terracotta planters. My curse on them.
Charles stopped by and gave me a book about remodeling Kitchens. He spent an hour trying to discourage me from remodeling and I said "Don't you want the business?" He said "Anyone else and I'd be saying "Yeah, sure, let's do it!"" But he never explained why he doesn't feel that way about my kitchen. I promised him a cake next week anyway. Funny man.
Since Dawn is out and Taylor is staying home tonight, there's no girls' night festivities planned so I'm going to read and eat watermelon. Someone planted a flag on our lawn, but I want to hang ours out when I finish typing this post. I'd hoped to finish the novella I've been working on but I got distracted and lazy. Probably tomorrow morning or on Sunday. Jim is coming over tomorrow, so it's less likely to happen since there's still some yard work to do, and I have a stack of horror films that we might end up watching. And 1776 is on tomorrow night! Wheeee.
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You have to see the tiles at this place! I gave the URL to Namaste Nancy, but the more I thought about it the more I thought I should share it with the rest of you.
