yet another random question thingie

1. How old do you look? Old enough for the pimply teenager at the grocery store to give me a senior discount. I’m 48. I don’t mind rounding up to 50. I’m not a fan of being taken for 60. On the other hand, maybe I’ll start telling people I’m 60. Then, I’ll hang around long enough to overhear them say, “She looks damn good for 60!”

2. Where do you live? In a house, on a hill, beside a lake, beneath the trees.

3. Are you waiting for something? Always. I’m just not sure of what it is until it surprises me.

4. What’s one pet peeve of yours that is not common? Not common? I’m afraid I’m rather common — I hate traffic. I’m not a fan of taxes. Oh, well, there you have it. Taxes.

5. Do you want/have kids? Yes.

6. Have you ever thought about converting your religion? Converting my religion? It’s fine the way it is. It already has the fullness of Truth 🙂

7. Last shocking news you heard? I suppose it’s the whole Bin Laden thing. Or how much I paid for gas this morning.

8. What was the last thing you drank? Water. I know. I should have lied. I bought a bottle of Gewurztraminer tonight. I used to drink it all the time in spring and summer when I lived in Germany.

9. Who do you most look like in your family? I think I look an awful lot like my paternal grandmother. No doubt some family member will stumble upon this and disagree.

10. If you could have something right now, anything, what would it be? A massage. And that bottle of Gewurztraminer.

11. Where does most of your family live? A little south of here.

12. Where did you grow up? Here and there.

13. Where do you want to go on vacation? The moon. Or Rome.

14. Have you ever had a panic attack? Oh. Yes.

15. What can’t you wait for? Indeed, what can’t I wait for?

16. When’s the last time you told someone you loved him or her and meant it? About an hour ago. This morning. Yesterday afternoon. Some ungodly hour on Tuesday. All day Sunday. September 7, 1985.

17. Have your parents ever smoked pot? Holy smokes. Ha. Um. No?

18. Want someone back in your life? No. People have come in and out of my life when they were supposed to…why change things when they are going so swimmingly well.

19. What do you order at the bar? Yes. I mean, margaritas? Beer? Gin and tonic? Dirty martinis?

20. When was the last time you cried really, really hard? A couple of weeks ago.

21. Ever licked someone’s cheek? Yes. But there’s an explanation. There’s always an explanation.

22. What is your favorite thing to eat with peanut butter? Jelly. Duh.

23. Where were you on July 4th, 2008? At home.

24. What are your nicknames? You know them. And if you don’t, I’m not telling.

25. If you could go back in time, how far back would you go? About 2000 years.

haunted by the ghost of a homework assignment

About a hundred years ago when I was in the fifth grade, I had to do this project that drove me absolutely mad. I was assigned a historical figure and had to present an “autobiographical” oral report. Now that I’m grown I recognize how cool the project was, and the impact it has had on my life, but at the time I was bitter. Super bitter. My classmates had some really cool people, and I was assigned this old lady:

The problem was that I would have to dress up like her and give an account of my life and there was nothing sexy or exciting about dressing up like Aunt Bea, you know? My friends who had Susan B. Anthony or Pocahontas got to wear costumes; I got to dress up like my grandmother.

Now as an adult, I recognize that Eleanor Roosevelt’s politics don’t line up with mine, and that her personal life was a bit scandalous depending on what you read and who wrote it. Still, she did some amazing things that I admire. I find a kindred spirit in her work for human dignity through civil rights activism and her work with the poor. Her writing, too, inspires, if not always because of the content, certainly in the scope.

In the end, though, what I appreciate about good ole Eleanor is the inspiration I find in the multitude of quotations that pop up on the internet. Nothing says posterity like Bartlett’s Quotes on-line, whether or not context matters. Context or not, she says some good stuff.

As I face some new challenges, both professionally and personally, I find myself inspired by this interesting woman.

You must do the things you think you cannot do.
~Eleanor Roosevelt

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