Monday MEME

Where? Who? Why?


I stole this from Nathan Bradsford who stole it from someone else.

It is all the rage in authorland to have reader giveaways of character names. Novelists offer to name characters in upcoming works after the winners of their various contests. So the question today is what book do you wish you could inhabit?

For me, this is an easy one. I have always wished I could live inside Anne McCaffery’s Pern series. Sure, it’s a rustic existence on a rather inhospitable planet in some distant future, but the upside is dragons. Riding dragons with whom you share a telepathic bond and the ability to cross time and space in the flutter of an eyelash.

I can totally envision myself with aloft, battling the vicious thread with flamethrowers astride my golden dragon and being mistress of a weyr. I can also see Rob decked in leather and charging into the fray on a sturdy bronze, Weyrleader respected by all. 

Yep, I am geek like that.

What book would you live in? And don’t be wimpy with just title and author. Tell me who you’d be and what you see yourself doing.

Where Were You Monday Meme


So, on the 20th we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and one small step and MSNBC wonders where in the world we all were that historic day.

I was 5 and I remember my mother had the little black and white that normally sat on the kitchen counter top in the bedroom so she could watch the news as she ironed. It was hot but the sky was black and rumbly with an impending storm. If there hadn’t been lightning, I’d have been outside getting wet. Playing in the rain was summertime fun. Racing little twig boats down the raging rapids of the curbs and watching them disappear into the yawning opening of the sewer. But lightning meant being kept indoors and Dr. Max, my favorite cartoon show, was being pre-empted by the moon and I was grumpy.

“Come and look at the moon,” Mom coaxed.

But there was nothing to look at but Walter Cronkite and child of television that I was – first generation Sesame Street after all – I didn’t see anything special about people on the moon. People on tv could do anything they liked. It was tv.

What’s  your story? Where were you?

30 Unusual ?’s for Monday’s Meme


Stole this one from Alicia too (thanks by the way).

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
I have not, but they did come to my high school to question me once.
2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?
I avoid all amusement park rides. It’s a puking issue.
3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?
With the daughter right before she got lice and that was the last time her little friends’ mother arranged for a playdate. Haven’t talked to her since.
4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
With
5. Do you believe in ghosts?
I believe that some souls don’t cross over or they go back and forth.
6. Do you consider yourself creative?
Yeah, okay, I do, but I envy the ease I sense in others where creative matters are concerned. You wouldn’t look at me and say “artist”.
7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
Without a doubt. I remember when the verdict came in the principal announced it during classes. I spent the rest of the day explaining the legal system and putting out arguments.
8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?
I loved Jen on Friends and feel sorry for her now with the tabloid stuff. I find Angie, odd, with all the baby collecting. Can’t say either is a “must see” where movies are concerned.
9. Can you honestly say you know ANYTHING about politics?
I wish I was more ignorant of the process and what is going on than I am.
10. Do you know how to play poker?
Not really. I am not much of a card player generally speaking. In my dad’s family it was standard practice to teach kids to play Euchre as soon as they were big enough to tell the difference between the cards. It never took with me.
11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
Maybe back in college.
12. What’s your favorite commercial?
Still not watching television.
13. Who was your first love?
Steve Merfeld. We were in kindergarten together. He still lives in our hometown and my mom sees him from time to time at the grocery where she works.
14. If you’re driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around you, do you run a red light?
I don’t although it seems silly not to.
15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
There are things I don’t share, but I wouldn’t call them secrets or say that no one else isn’t in the know.
16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
I was a Pirates fan when this kind of thing mattered to me.
17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
We skate most Sundays during the hockey season because there is a rink right across the street that has free family skate in the afternoon. I suck at it, but the wee one is improving. She is determined to skate like Rob.
18. How often do you remember your dreams?
I nearly always recall my dreams.
19. What’s the one thing on your mind?
I never have just one thing. Right now it’s writing, the house projects and my mom and aunt’s impending visit in the top ten.
20. Do you always wear your seat belt?
Yes, although I had to be coerced into it by state law in the beginning.
21. What talent do you wish you had?
I wish I could draw and play the guitar. Not at the same time though that would be a talent.
22. Do you like Sushi?
Sorta.
23. What do you wear to bed?
Nothing. I loathe pj’s. I don’t know how people sleep with clothing twisting around them all night.
24. Do you truly hate anyone?
I strongly dislike some people and some others are not worthy of my attention, but I don’t hate anyone at the moment.
25. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
There are famous men I find attractive but not enough to sleep with any one of them. I only really lust after celeb crushes when I am not in a relationship. I really don’t have crushes or attractions unless I am also available, does that make sense? Regardless, that is how it has always been with me.
26. Do you know anyone in jail?
I am sure I have a former student or two (dozen) languishing in penal institutions because that was how my students rolled in a couple of my assignments. I do know a man, the ex of an old friend, who is in prison for murdering their son. My brother, of course, has done time, but he is free and doing (for him) well at the moment.
27. What food do you find disgusting?
Anything pig.
28. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their backs?
In a vicious way? No. I do poke fun, but I hope it’s not seen as mean. Though, you have to be careful. Teasing is all fun and games until someone puts an eye out. so to speak.
29. Have you ever been punched in the face?
I got whacked across the forehead with a bat once. Does that count?
30. Do you believe in angels and demons?
Not exactly. I don’t believe in heaven or hell which is where the ideas originate. I do believe in the immortality of our souls and that some of us are shining examples and some or – not so much.
Feel free to steal this as I did. Or not.