oh no you di’nt
Oh yes she did.
Shannon called me out as the person most likely to respond to this meme.
Dammit I’m such a people-pleaser.
1. What is your occupation? Writer, teacher, translator.
2. What color are your socks right now? Black (both pair). My feet would always be cold in the winter if I didn’t layer. The under pair are just anklets like I’d wear in the summer with sneakers, and the outer pair is the more traditional, mid-calf-ending sock. And yes, my feet are toasty.
3. What are you listening to right now? Sweet silence interrupted by thunder. We’re in the middle of a storm, so I have everything unplugged, including this laptop, which is on the battery. I have another hour for either the storm or the battery to surrender. I’ll have to wait until the storm is over to post this, too, since I’m afraid to plug in the phone.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Pears and gorgonzola.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Not yet, but there’s been talk around here of my attempting to conquer the whole Italian driver’s license thing. In case you aren’t aware, most cars around here aren’t automatic.
6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Probably white since I’m so freaking pale. Although I wear a lot of black to balance that. Maybe grey then.
7. The last person you spoke to on the phone? My dad.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? The founder of What’s Cooking Wednesday? She’s fantabulous!
9. How old are you today? 3o. Incidentally, I know several people who celebrate their birthday today, February 13th, so Happy Birthday/Auguri!.
10. Favorite drink? Cappuccino.
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? I’ll go with college basketball even though I haven’t watched any in years. *sigh*
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? I’ve highlighted, and I’ll do it again. I’m sure I’ll be actually dying (my hair) soon though as I’m noticing far too many (unwanted) white visitors.
13. Pets? Luna Balloona! The chickens and whatnot don’t count as, you know, we eat them and all.
14. Favorite food? I go in kicks with food. Right now I’m really into the pears and gorgonzola (see #4). But this too shall pass. I don’t know what will be next.
15. What was the last movie you watched? The Terminal with Tom Hanks. I hadn’t even heard of it but I really enjoyed it. Especially the second time when I watched it in English–Tom Hanks with a Russianesque accent is too cute!
16. What do you do to vent anger? Stew, breathe, and call my mom.
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hmm…probably crayons and coloring books–I seem to recall two that I actually finished–Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.
18. What is your favorite season? Fall, but more so in the States than here. We don’t have all those pretty colored leaves all over the place, unfortunately.
19. Hugs or kisses? Yes please!
20. Cherries or Blueberries? Depends on my mood, and my continent. We don’t get blueberries around here, you know.
21. Do you want your friends to email you back? My friends, acquaintances, faithful and casual readers, yes; German spammers no (don’t know what’s up with that).
22. Who is most likely to respond? Vanessa even though she doesn’t have a blog. At least I hope she responds.
23. Who is least likely to respond? Everyone else I know who blogs (I’ve got that one covered, eh?).
24. Living arrangements? Yes, I have them. Oh, you mean like with P and Luna in a centuries-old stone house? See #2.
25. When was the last time you cried? While reading an email this morning from an old friend; it’s not the first time it’s happened.
26. What is on the floor of your closet? Uh, what *isn’t* on the floor of my closet?
27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Since this is going out into the blogosphere, it’s hard to tell. But probably that one from #25 since it’s hard to know me longer than he has and not be related to me.
28. What did you do last night? Ate dinner, watched the end of Mission Impossible 2, read a few pages in a Sue Grafton book, and went to sleep.
29. Favorite smells? Lavender, vanilla, jasmine, Nivea body wash.
30. What are you afraid of? See #5.
31. Favorite dog breed? Luna Balloona, whatever she is. You tryin’ to start trouble in this house?
33. Number of keys on your key ring? 3. My house, P’s house, and P’s parents’ house.
34. Favorite day of the week? Tuesday. I’m not sure why, but I’ve just always liked it.
35. How many Provinces have you lived in? Ooh, interesting, since we don’t have these in the U.S. But let’s go with different places in which I’ve been registered to vote–counties (3) and this province in Italy, so 4 all together.
36. Favorite holiday? Thanksgiving. A whole day dedicated to overeating!
37. Ever driven a motorcycle or heavy machinery? No, and I have no desire to do so. I’ve been on a motorcycle, but no heavy machinery is coming to mind. As an aside, driving a motorino is a distinct possibility in the future.
38. Ever left the country? I’ve left more than one country.
39. Favorite kind of music? Anything that doesn’t give me a headache from a repetitive dance beat. I tend to like folky, acoustic stuff with just a guitar and a singer. Some other instruments allowed so long as they don’t give me a headache.
40. Last book you read? I’m finishing a Sue Grafton (G is for Gumshoe) I started a long time ago. I forgot about it in a bag. In case you’re wondering, I haven’t decided whether to finish Charlotte Simmons. It’s rough going there.
41. What career do you wish you had pursued? I wish I had pursued writing from an earlier age, but I’m catching up methinks.
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[tags]memes[/tags]
2000 bloggers–unite!
I first heard about the 2000 bloggers project about a week ago and have watched the whole drama unfold with great interest–not with quite the same level of interest I have in what the hell will happen with Anna Nicole Smith’s estate, but then again, I’m still a law dog at heart, so you can’t blame me for that.
The 2000 blogger project started when a creative chap named Tino Buntic thought it would be cool to throw together bloggers from all walks of life into a photo/blog montage; he set the limit at 2000 and had only two requirements: (1) The blog must’ve existed prior to Januray 1, 2007; and (2) There must be a photo of the blogger somewhere on the blog.
Everything went along smoothly until Technorati got involved once it noticed that linked bloggers’ rankings were being skewed by their participate in the project. So Technorati got a little angry, and fixed the system so that these links wouldn’t count in the tallies.
Yes, I realize that many people live and die (although hopefully not die) with their rankings, but for me personally, I thought the 2000 blogger project would be a unique way to become part of a blogging network that wasn’t just focused on one thing–expats, women, knitting, etc. All of those are great, too, but I kind of liked the randomness of it all.
And the photo collage is just too cool for school.
Tino is still on the project as a site editor, but the whole thing has been picked up by an extremely dedicated (and perhaps slightly crazy in a good way) Elaine Vigneault. There’s now a website with introductions of the members and a nice little community of bloggers in the works. No one knows at this point what 2000 bloggers could become, but at the very least, it’s a place where you can go and find something new to read for a long, long time coming.
Point? I joined. As I write this, I was the last one added so my mug is rather obvious on the montage, but that will change; there are still spaces left if anyone else would like to be part of the 2000.
Won’t you be my neighbor?
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[tags]2000 bloggers[/tags]
sunday scribblings: behold the power of yum
Prompt #46: Yummy/Yum
“Yummmm…” Laura hummed as she swirled a yellow bear with a penchant for honey through the air, swooping down to pick up newspapers with its paws.
She was using every available weapon in the war to get her tea party-playing 3-year-old daughter to help get the house in order.
Lila was probably getting too old to be fooled by the Yum farce, but Laura’s date would be arriving in less than 15 minutes, the babysitter was a half hour late, her six-year-old son was running around in only his underwear brandishing a glowing green sword, and she was pretty sure her hair was streaked with mashed potatoes.
And now even Yum was failing her.
Yum was Lila’s favorite toy, and for a long six months about a year back, was the only authority that Lila would obey. Whether or not a new boss had taken his place was debatable.
“Come on sweetie. You know Mommy’s new friend is coming over soon. Even Yummmm wants a clean living room.” Laura nuzzled Yum’s face into Lila’s neck. “See how he helps Mommy?” Laura carried Yum and the newspapers to the recycle bin in the kitchen and returned to find Lila serving more tea to a rather busty plastic doll.
Yeah, like she’d waste calories on that, Laura thought, blowing her too-long bangs off her forehead. Why didn’t I get my haircut?
Hands on hips, Laura surveyed the rest of the mess and caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of the glass protecting last year’s Christmas portrait. The first one without Steven.
Doorbell. Oh God, please let it be the sitter.
“Sorry I’m late,” said Tracy, the bubbly blonde, green-eyed daughter of one of Laura’s dearest friends. “My brother came home. . . .”
“I’m just glad you’re here,” Laura said turning away from the door and grabbing some stray books with Yum’s paws. As she walked to the bookshelf, she looked over at Lila, who was wiping off her play table. Laura flung Yum on the couch next to her nearly naked son and his sword. At least he’s not running around.
“I don’ t mean to be short, and I know this isn’t really part of your job, but could you please tidy this place up, get some clothes on Lyle, and keep Lila occupied all in the next seven minutes? Chris will be here any minute, and well . . .” Laura circled her face with a finger and then flung her hands downward indicating the rest of her.
“Oh! Your big first date. Get in there and get pretty!” Tracy said, turning Laura around and pushing her lightly. “ER! Pretti-ER!” Tracy said while scooping up Yum and a bunch of markers from the coffee table.
“Yum!” Lila cried, finally noticing that her favorite bear was in the room. “I help Yummmm and Tracy!” Lila squeezed both of them to her.
Once in the safety of her own spotless bathroom, Laura ran a brush through her hair (no mashed potatoes!) and flipped it up into a ponytail. It’s only a coffee date, she reasoned. Ponytails are entirely appropriate for cappuccino.
As she flicked on some mascara, the doorbell rang again and scared the wand out of her hand. Luckily she was on the upswing, or things could’ve gotten ugly. As it was, the big black streak on the mirror was the only damage, quickly repaired by a wipe with a damp tissue.
While studying her laughlines in the mirror, she realized that she just sent a smoking hot 22-year-old to the door to meet her first date since the divorce. At least this wasn’t a blind date–Chris already knew what he was getting into from all the impromptu run-ins at the drugstore.
“Your date’s here!” Tracy yelled from the door. Laura swiped on lipstick–or was that gloss–and flipped off the light. Next stop: hopefully a clean living room.
And it was. And her children were clothed and seated on the couch, Yum between them, flipping through an L.L. Bean catalog.
Twenty spot for Tracy.
“Hi,” Laura said, leaning into kiss Chris on the cheek. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No problem,” Chris said with the smirk that hooked her. “You look great.”
Laura smoothed out her sweater before answering. “Thanks. Have you met my children?”
“Yes, Mommy,” Lila said looking up from a page of chinos. “And I even told him we were talking about him before.”
“Oh yeah?” Laura scanned her memory for what they could’ve possibly said about Chris but came up with nothing. “And what did we say?” she asked with narrowed eyes.
“Yummmmmmmmmm!”
And there was that smirk again.
Yum indeed.
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[tags]sunday scribblings, yum, yummy, writing fiction, fiction, flash fiction, short stories[/tags]
Getting To Know Me: Me, Not Me
Here’s a little glimpse into me (or not me) inspired by Karla at Tales of a Texpatriate.
That means I stole the idea.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
So, so me. Purr.
Pretty, but just not me.
Me.
Not me. Not by a long chalk.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
Me.
Not me.
And last but certainly not least, me.
Absolutely, most definitely not me
(and Luna thanks me every day).
feeding, dreaming, and teaching (not at the same time)
Well, I finally have put in the RSS feed link in my right column (thanks Paola!). I had done the FeedBurner thing a while ago, and when I saw the little icon pop up in the address bar, I figured that was enough. But maybe only people with Firefox could see that? Not really sure, but now it should be much easier for anyone who would like to keep current with all the exciting things that happen around here.
Hey, sooner or later, something exciting is bound to happen.
No pressure, um, but, subscribe, would you? It’ll give me a warm fuzzy and all. And a warm and fuzzy blogger is a good blogger.
Or, ain’t nobody happy if the blogger ain’t happy. So do oblige. Please?
In other news, to balance my crazy bomber dream, I recently dreamed that two white doves flew into my house (male and female). I picked one up and stroked its head, but then when I put it down, it couldn’t stand. I thought I had injured it, but no, she was giving birth, thus the trouble remaining upright. Understandable, especially because she was birthing an entire bird.
Yes, I’m well aware that birds lay eggs, but in my subconscious, birds give birth to little birds, fully formed. Maybe this is because I’m so freaking tired of seeing all these eggs around my house. Not that I don’t love them, too. Yes, I’m also well aware that I’m all over the place.
Anyway, the male was nearby helping her along, and, in case you’re wondering, all of this is supposed to signify a happy family life for P and me. I’ll spare you the corresponding lottery numbers, but if you really want to know, send me an email.
Honestly, the best part of the dream was that I was neither a killer nor the target of a killer. A good night by anyone’s standards, I would think.
On the teaching front, all continues to go well. I’ve even gained a student by word of mouth spreading, so I must’ve made a good impression during my first week. Of course, I’ve also been scolded for giving too much homework, i.e., exactly what the book provided by the school tells me to assign.
Apparently some of the kids are having difficulty working in time to do a page of exercises after each lesson. This despite the fact that I’ve told them just to give it to me when they’re done and most certainly don’t browbeat them if they haven’t finished by the next class. I don’t grade them or anything, so if they don’t feel like doing it, hey, it’s their parents’ money, right?
I know. I’m a big meanie. I’ll try to cut back.
But on the lighter side, yesterday, in the more advanced class, we did an exercise in which we were stressing the use of relative clauses to describe something when you don’t know the actual word. For example, if you don’t know the word “waiter,” you would say something like “It’s somebody who works in a restaurant and brings your food to the table.”
From my Italian experiences, I know that your phrasing can get rather creative (buying superglue the first time was awesome!), so I figured this would be good for some laughs.
Ooh boy; I had no idea.
When we got to the last word, one of my students really took it to another level. I’m paraphrasing, but the exchange went something like this:
Student A: OK, this can be a verb or a noun. I *think* that everyone here has done this with another person that you like very much….
*raised eyebrows*
Student A: You know, when you are happy, and you want to express how you feel, that you enjoy being with that person, or maybe they’ve done something nice to (she meant “for”) you….
*snicker snicker, eyebrows raising off foreheads*
Student A: I mean, you can also do this with people you don’t know at all, but….
*raucous laughter*
Student A: No! It’s something nice…and…oh! We do this when we meet someone, on each cheek!
(Finally) Student B: KISS!!
Me: See you next week! (replacing eyebrows to usual position)
Mwaaaaaaaaaaah!
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[tags]dreams, doves, birds, ESL teaching, teaching[/tags]
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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