Catching up with memes

Whoops… running behind here! Got a couple memes I’ve been tagged on. And since my brain’s a little foggy this morning, what better way to warm up?

First Melissa tagged me for the 6 random details meme. I have a feeling I did something like this once before… aha! Eight random details meme. But what the heck… the last time I got tagged for this one again I just pointed to the earlier post; this time I’ll do a new one.

• Even though I have two cats, I’m very allergic. Allergy shots did part of the job (they don’t work for the majority of people; thankfully they worked for me), and I found a breed I don’t react to as strongly (Cornish Rex). When my husband has business travel the cats keep me from going stir-crazy.
• Most of our friends can’t come to our house to visit because they’re also strongly allergic to cats. This is highly disappointing as my husband and I love to cook for people, and it would be nice to reciprocate our friends’ hospitality.
• When I was 16, two of my best friends died in a car accident. A third friend was driving the car and was in the hospital for months. I didn’t realize until the other day how much of my reaction from the phone call that morning was still locked away inside of me, when I heard that the house of some friends got hit by a tornado while most of the family was home. Thankfully, this time no one was hurt, but boy did that pounding in my chest feel familiar.
• I am virtually unemployable. I have tendonitis from fingertip to shoulder in both arms that acts up if I’m not very careful (or when the weather is stormy), and although I do well in general, stress can make it hard for me to work due to mental illness. Designing shirts and writing book reviews might not make a huge amount of money, but it at least lets me feel like I contribute something to our household finances. The important thing is I do it on my own schedule, so there’s no stress. For me that makes all the difference in the world and allows me to get a lot of work done: on a good week I can review six books.
• I don’t like alcohol. It has nothing to do with morality—I don’t like the taste. I can enjoy some wines in small amounts, or the occasional fruity or chocolaty cocktail (if it’s light on the alcohol). I can also enjoy alcohol in cooking, such as an Irish Cream cheesecake. But that’s about it.
• I consider myself a cynical optimist. I hope for the best and expect the worst. I have the heart of a romantic and an idealist, but the expectations of a cynic.

I doubt that was terribly enlightening or fascinating, but there you have it. If you want to participate, consider yourself open-tagged and feel free to drop a link to your entry in the comments. 🙂

And now, for the second meme: the Meme of Fives, from MotherReader.

• The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
• Each player answers the questions about themselves.
• At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
• Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?

Living in New Hampshire, tending a vegetable garden, and trying to figure out why I was so restless and unable to work. That’s when I got my PTSD diagnosis.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)


Do a bit of gardening.
Write a book review.
Read another book.
Hopefully make a last recipe from the agave baking book so I can review it soon.
Watch an episode of ‘Wire in the Blood’.

What are five snacks you enjoy?

Hummus with just about anything to dip into it (pita bread, crackers, veggies).
Fruit (cherries, blueberries, bananas, mango, etc.).
Chocolate (the darker the better).
Crackers (like TJ’s water crackers or Passport’s ‘Everything Flatbread’, and preferably with a sharp cheese).
Cereal or meusli.

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

Move to Virginia near our friends, probably build our own house with an uber-kitchen and a huge library. Yeah, that’s the selfish one. 🙂
Make sure certain family members are set for life.
Donate to some of my favorite charities, like the Cheetah Conservation Fund (cheetahs are just awesome), Child’s Play, local food banks, etc.
Hire someone to clean the house (kinda hard to keep the house clean with tendonitis).
Invest, invest, invest! Money can vanish before you know it, no matter how much you have.

What are five of your bad habits?

I’m the queen of clutter. Give me a day and I’ll have stuff strewn everywhere.
I have the sweet tooth from hell; leave something delicious and sweet in the house and I’m a goner.
I’m also a compulsive eater. It’s a struggle not to eat constantly.
I enjoy playing World of Warcraft a bit too much. Luckily, however, I’m great at multitasking, so I read review books while playing.
I’m stunningly forgetful.

What are five places where you have lived?

Delaware, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland.

What are five jobs you have had?

In high school I had a summer job as a waitress.
In college I worked shelving books at a campus library part-time.
After I dropped out of college I worked as a receptionist, secretary, and physics paper typesetter in one MIT department, and then in another as a receptionist and secretary.
Next I did freelance writing in the tabletop roleplaying industry, primarily for White Wolf.
Now I design T-shirts and write book reviews.

What five people do you want to tag?

Morsie
Literary Feline
Tara
caribousmom
Court
(If you wanna—totally optional!)

And back to the book thing, the latest reviews are: Angela Knight’s seriously smokin’ Warrior, and Edwin Alexander’s fascinating Theft of the Master.

It’s sunny today! Woohoo!