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alexiscartwheelTagged for this get to know the f-list meme by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stubefied_by_gd. She shortened the rules, but I think I can make them even shorter.
The Super-Official Meme Rules: When tagged… write your answers on your blog, if you feel so inclined. Don’t like a question? Invent a new one! When you’re done, tag 8 more people.
I could elaborate, but you’re smart people. I think you get the gist of it.
1. How has LJ changed your life?
Well, I initially got my LJ account when I moved to Montreal. I didn’t know anyone yet, so it was a good outlet. LJ is a good way to communicate with some of my friends from real life, and it’s also helped me stay in touch with friends from the Sugar Quill. I’ve also met new friends through mutual friends or communities, who’re all very different and interesting people. Since I don’t know very many people in Kansas City, it’s great to have folks with some similar interests to chat with. :D Also, posting on LJ has gotten me writing daily, which is great. I’m feeling sort of inspired to do some proper writing as well. If anything comes of that, maybe I’ll post some.
2. What do you do before bedtime?
Read. Sometimes novels, sometimes fanfic. Reading assignments from school once resulted in me dropping my laptop on the floor when I fell asleep mid-page, but that’s not a problem at the moment. I’m generally much more interested in reading than going to sleep, so at some point I have to force myself to go to bed.
3. Do you have a dream wedding planned in your head?
Hahahaha. I’m glad Stu changed this question to not assume I have my wedding planned already. Maybe it makes me abnormal, but planning my imaginary wedding has never really interested me. Well, frankly, marriage doesn’t interest me all that much either. If I get married, it certainly won’t be for years, and I don’t think I would want a big “dream wedding.” Maybe I’d elope to Scotland. That’s what they always do in novels.
4. What is the location of your dreams and why?
Ideally I’d like to live in a large-ish city, not necessarily huge but large enough to have an extensive public transit system, because I don’t really want to have to drive. I like living in a place where I can easily walk, bike, bus, etc to anywhere I need to go, whether it’s work, the store, or a nice park. (My city has nice parks.) I’m not really particular about which city at this point. I think it would be awesome to live in London, but there are plenty of cool places in North America too. Maybe Toronto? San Francisco? I might love D.C. so much I’ll want to stay there. In general, I don’t like suburbs, because everything is spread out and there aren’t enough sidewalks, so everyone stays in their cars all the time. I’d love to be close to my family, but although I’ll probably always have a connection to Columbus, I don’t think I want to live there forever, so it’ll be difficult to reconcile that with my other wishes.
5. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
I’m naturally an introvert.d4ni would probably insist that can’t be true because I never shut up, but she doesn’t count since I’ve known her for nine years. I’m always reticent with new people, which I suspect sometimes comes off as unfriendliness, but I can be much, much more outgoing once I get to know someone. I’d rather have a few close friends than try to know everybody, and I value my alone time. I hate mingling at parties, and I’ve been known to purposely stay home on Saturday nights to read.
6. What, in your opinion, is the greatest board game ever?
Clue! (Or Cluedo, for you folks not in North America.) When I was a kid, we used to play board games as a family pretty often, and one of my favorites was Clue. Like any board game, there’s some chance involved, but there’s also plenty of logic and strategy. (I was a dorky child who loved logic puzzles.) Clue was especially fun on holidays with my mom’s extended family, who would all try to cheat. It’s just a great game… murder mystery, mansion with lots of cool rooms (a billiard room? this was amazing to me that people had rooms devoted to billiards), randomly accusing your opponents of murder… what’s not to love? And what other board game has it’s own movie version? (Okay, I know there are movies about Scrabble, but those are about playing Scrabble. That’s not the same.)
7. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
A family friend who I’ve known since I was pretty young passed away last week. She was very sick and had been suffering a lot, but it was still very sad.
8. Is being tagged fun?
Yes. But I don’t like tagging people. I might be a rebel and not do it. (OMG breaking the meme rulez!)
9. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay. I kind of have phases with Coldplay. Sometimes I like them, and sometimes I don’t. (Maybe cause I think I’m not supposed to like them cause they’re so passé or whatever, but then I come around and think that’s just pretentious. If I like the music, I like the music and it doesn’t really matter what anybody else thinks.) Right now I really like them, and I think I might buy their newest album.
10. What is your best quality?
I feel like this is going to sound horribly conceited, but the question is inviting me to talk myself up, so… I’m smart, particularly in areas where words are concerned. I scored 800 on the verbal portion of the SAT and regularly use words that make my mom laugh at me for, well, using unusual words. I like learning new things, and I do so quickly. My head is full of lots of random facts I’ve read, though they usually serve little or no practical purpose. I don’t like the anti-intellectualism so common in the US today. I feel it’s kind of not okay to brag about being smart like it would be to brag about being good at soccer or something, so much that I’m tempted to change my answer to this question.
11. "If [you] had a million dollars"—what would you do?
Well, first I’d do the obvious things like paying for grad school and paying off my credit card bill. I’d probably help my siblings pay for college, which is also boring, but I know they’d really appreciate. Also, I’m a saver, so I’d very likely invest a large chunk of that so I can buy some sort of dwelling at the place in question 4. And I’d keep a little bit for myself and pick out some new outfits, and maybe even treat myself to the CD in question 9 and the appliances in 15. I’m such a wild child.
Oh, yeah. I’d also go to Italy and put those four years of college Italian to good use. (Si, parlo l’italiano. Parlo come un bambino, ma va bene.) I’ve wanted too forever. I want to see the big cities, but I also want to go to Vastogirardi, which is the tiny town in Molise where my great-grandfather grew up. And then I’d just eat my way through Emilia-Romagna.
12. Is it better to give or to receive?
This question is a catch-22. If I answer “to receive” then I am selfish, but if I answer “to give” then I am self-righteous. (No, I do not overanalyze, nor am I cynical. Catch-22 incidentally, is a good book.)
13. What were your parents going to name you if you'd been born the opposite gender?
My mom says she decided I was going to be a girl, so she didn’t even pick a boy’s name. And she didn’t consider any other girl’s names other than the one I got.
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
I think Stu is a person with much more patience with small children than I do. I tend to think they are cute in small amounts of time, but in general they are loud and sticky. Also, mad props to her for being a teacher, because teachers are awesome. I also think Stu is friendly and a fun person to talk to, which is kind of why she’s on my f-list. :D
15. What’s your favorite household appliance?
Waffle iron. Except I don’t have one, but if I did I could make myself some chocolate chip waffles for breakfast tomorrow. I also don’t have a stand mixer, which would be fab. (Hand mixers and I don’t mix well together. [geddit?] I end up making a big[ger than usual] mess.)
16. What websites do you visit daily?
This is hardy scientific, but I’d say a check these daily or almost daily: LiveJournal, weather.com, NY Times, Washington Post, Google (does that even count? It seems so obvious), Wikipedia, the BBC, Language Log, last.fm, library homepage (it’s the default at work). I used to visit the Sugar Quill and Facebook daily, but I check those less frequently lately.
I have lots of web surfing time at work. Probably too much.
17. What color are Charlie Weasley’s eyes?
I, uh, haven’t really thought about it all that much. Brown sounds good to me. No, I take it back, they’re VIOLET. (“Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet!” No I am not crazy. Stop looking at me like that.)
18. Name a fictional character you identified with strongly.
Hermione Granger. She’s not me, but she’s a lot like me. She’s smart and loves to study, and even though her friends pick on her for it, they also have great respect for her intelligence. You know in Deathly Hallows, when she wants to bring an entire library on the Horcrux hunt? That’s exactly like me packing for a trip. And also like me, she’s a bit of a bleeding heart. (S.P.E.W.!!)
19. What do you like for breakfast?
My favorite breakfast food is French toast, but usually I have cereal. I love all kinds of breakfast food, but I’m not on the ball enough in the morning to cook. Cereal is quicker. This morning it was Honey Nut Cheerios.
20. How many questions did you change? Come on ‘fess up.
I made up something completely random for 6 cause I thought the trust question was too boring and personality test-y. I changed the wording of 12 because Stu commented on the grammaticality. I was going to change it entirely, but decided to share my cynicism with you all. Lucky you! I changed 18 because I honestly couldn’t think of an answer, and I don’t really want to think that hard for a meme.
I tag... EVERYBODY. So, f-list, if you're feeling memey, or maybe just bored or looking for something to do on a Saturday without Doctor Who, knock yourselves out! :D
stubefied_by_gd. She shortened the rules, but I think I can make them even shorter. The Super-Official Meme Rules: When tagged… write your answers on your blog, if you feel so inclined. Don’t like a question? Invent a new one! When you’re done, tag 8 more people.
I could elaborate, but you’re smart people. I think you get the gist of it.
1. How has LJ changed your life?
Well, I initially got my LJ account when I moved to Montreal. I didn’t know anyone yet, so it was a good outlet. LJ is a good way to communicate with some of my friends from real life, and it’s also helped me stay in touch with friends from the Sugar Quill. I’ve also met new friends through mutual friends or communities, who’re all very different and interesting people. Since I don’t know very many people in Kansas City, it’s great to have folks with some similar interests to chat with. :D Also, posting on LJ has gotten me writing daily, which is great. I’m feeling sort of inspired to do some proper writing as well. If anything comes of that, maybe I’ll post some.
2. What do you do before bedtime?
Read. Sometimes novels, sometimes fanfic. Reading assignments from school once resulted in me dropping my laptop on the floor when I fell asleep mid-page, but that’s not a problem at the moment. I’m generally much more interested in reading than going to sleep, so at some point I have to force myself to go to bed.
3. Do you have a dream wedding planned in your head?
Hahahaha. I’m glad Stu changed this question to not assume I have my wedding planned already. Maybe it makes me abnormal, but planning my imaginary wedding has never really interested me. Well, frankly, marriage doesn’t interest me all that much either. If I get married, it certainly won’t be for years, and I don’t think I would want a big “dream wedding.” Maybe I’d elope to Scotland. That’s what they always do in novels.
4. What is the location of your dreams and why?
Ideally I’d like to live in a large-ish city, not necessarily huge but large enough to have an extensive public transit system, because I don’t really want to have to drive. I like living in a place where I can easily walk, bike, bus, etc to anywhere I need to go, whether it’s work, the store, or a nice park. (My city has nice parks.) I’m not really particular about which city at this point. I think it would be awesome to live in London, but there are plenty of cool places in North America too. Maybe Toronto? San Francisco? I might love D.C. so much I’ll want to stay there. In general, I don’t like suburbs, because everything is spread out and there aren’t enough sidewalks, so everyone stays in their cars all the time. I’d love to be close to my family, but although I’ll probably always have a connection to Columbus, I don’t think I want to live there forever, so it’ll be difficult to reconcile that with my other wishes.
5. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
I’m naturally an introvert.
d4ni would probably insist that can’t be true because I never shut up, but she doesn’t count since I’ve known her for nine years. I’m always reticent with new people, which I suspect sometimes comes off as unfriendliness, but I can be much, much more outgoing once I get to know someone. I’d rather have a few close friends than try to know everybody, and I value my alone time. I hate mingling at parties, and I’ve been known to purposely stay home on Saturday nights to read. 6. What, in your opinion, is the greatest board game ever?
Clue! (Or Cluedo, for you folks not in North America.) When I was a kid, we used to play board games as a family pretty often, and one of my favorites was Clue. Like any board game, there’s some chance involved, but there’s also plenty of logic and strategy. (I was a dorky child who loved logic puzzles.) Clue was especially fun on holidays with my mom’s extended family, who would all try to cheat. It’s just a great game… murder mystery, mansion with lots of cool rooms (a billiard room? this was amazing to me that people had rooms devoted to billiards), randomly accusing your opponents of murder… what’s not to love? And what other board game has it’s own movie version? (Okay, I know there are movies about Scrabble, but those are about playing Scrabble. That’s not the same.)
7. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
A family friend who I’ve known since I was pretty young passed away last week. She was very sick and had been suffering a lot, but it was still very sad.
8. Is being tagged fun?
Yes. But I don’t like tagging people. I might be a rebel and not do it. (OMG breaking the meme rulez!)
9. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay. I kind of have phases with Coldplay. Sometimes I like them, and sometimes I don’t. (Maybe cause I think I’m not supposed to like them cause they’re so passé or whatever, but then I come around and think that’s just pretentious. If I like the music, I like the music and it doesn’t really matter what anybody else thinks.) Right now I really like them, and I think I might buy their newest album.
10. What is your best quality?
I feel like this is going to sound horribly conceited, but the question is inviting me to talk myself up, so… I’m smart, particularly in areas where words are concerned. I scored 800 on the verbal portion of the SAT and regularly use words that make my mom laugh at me for, well, using unusual words. I like learning new things, and I do so quickly. My head is full of lots of random facts I’ve read, though they usually serve little or no practical purpose. I don’t like the anti-intellectualism so common in the US today. I feel it’s kind of not okay to brag about being smart like it would be to brag about being good at soccer or something, so much that I’m tempted to change my answer to this question.
11. "If [you] had a million dollars"—what would you do?
Well, first I’d do the obvious things like paying for grad school and paying off my credit card bill. I’d probably help my siblings pay for college, which is also boring, but I know they’d really appreciate. Also, I’m a saver, so I’d very likely invest a large chunk of that so I can buy some sort of dwelling at the place in question 4. And I’d keep a little bit for myself and pick out some new outfits, and maybe even treat myself to the CD in question 9 and the appliances in 15. I’m such a wild child.
Oh, yeah. I’d also go to Italy and put those four years of college Italian to good use. (Si, parlo l’italiano. Parlo come un bambino, ma va bene.) I’ve wanted too forever. I want to see the big cities, but I also want to go to Vastogirardi, which is the tiny town in Molise where my great-grandfather grew up. And then I’d just eat my way through Emilia-Romagna.
12. Is it better to give or to receive?
This question is a catch-22. If I answer “to receive” then I am selfish, but if I answer “to give” then I am self-righteous. (No, I do not overanalyze, nor am I cynical. Catch-22 incidentally, is a good book.)
13. What were your parents going to name you if you'd been born the opposite gender?
My mom says she decided I was going to be a girl, so she didn’t even pick a boy’s name. And she didn’t consider any other girl’s names other than the one I got.
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
I think Stu is a person with much more patience with small children than I do. I tend to think they are cute in small amounts of time, but in general they are loud and sticky. Also, mad props to her for being a teacher, because teachers are awesome. I also think Stu is friendly and a fun person to talk to, which is kind of why she’s on my f-list. :D
15. What’s your favorite household appliance?
Waffle iron. Except I don’t have one, but if I did I could make myself some chocolate chip waffles for breakfast tomorrow. I also don’t have a stand mixer, which would be fab. (Hand mixers and I don’t mix well together. [geddit?] I end up making a big[ger than usual] mess.)
16. What websites do you visit daily?
This is hardy scientific, but I’d say a check these daily or almost daily: LiveJournal, weather.com, NY Times, Washington Post, Google (does that even count? It seems so obvious), Wikipedia, the BBC, Language Log, last.fm, library homepage (it’s the default at work). I used to visit the Sugar Quill and Facebook daily, but I check those less frequently lately.
I have lots of web surfing time at work. Probably too much.
17. What color are Charlie Weasley’s eyes?
I, uh, haven’t really thought about it all that much. Brown sounds good to me. No, I take it back, they’re VIOLET. (“Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet!” No I am not crazy. Stop looking at me like that.)
18. Name a fictional character you identified with strongly.
Hermione Granger. She’s not me, but she’s a lot like me. She’s smart and loves to study, and even though her friends pick on her for it, they also have great respect for her intelligence. You know in Deathly Hallows, when she wants to bring an entire library on the Horcrux hunt? That’s exactly like me packing for a trip. And also like me, she’s a bit of a bleeding heart. (S.P.E.W.!!)
19. What do you like for breakfast?
My favorite breakfast food is French toast, but usually I have cereal. I love all kinds of breakfast food, but I’m not on the ball enough in the morning to cook. Cereal is quicker. This morning it was Honey Nut Cheerios.
20. How many questions did you change? Come on ‘fess up.
I made up something completely random for 6 cause I thought the trust question was too boring and personality test-y. I changed the wording of 12 because Stu commented on the grammaticality. I was going to change it entirely, but decided to share my cynicism with you all. Lucky you! I changed 18 because I honestly couldn’t think of an answer, and I don’t really want to think that hard for a meme.
I tag... EVERYBODY. So, f-list, if you're feeling memey, or maybe just bored or looking for something to do on a Saturday without Doctor Who, knock yourselves out! :D
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-13 04:11 pm (UTC)I have the same problem. It's chronic. I actually have to restrain myself from reading anything too engrossing or compelling or I'd never get any sleep.
I know what you mean about Coldplay -- it's funny to see it written out, though. I like them, too, and don't care if that makes me too mainstream. It's funny how things (like music taste or more accurately, music snobbery) can be relative... In the grocery store the other day the cashier asked me what was so great about Starbucks coffee, which I was buying because I wanted some decent coffee but because the store didn't have the more expensive, more exotic kind that I actually wanted. I had to explain that people have different degrees of coffee snobbery -- a lot of people turn up their noses at Starbucks coffee, while others think it's a huge waste of money and coffee should be simple. So, all relative.
/sorry for this coffee outburst on your journal!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-13 07:04 pm (UTC)Heh... I don't mind the coffee tangent, cause I know exactly what you mean! As dissimilar as music and coffee are (though you can buy both at Starbucks) the snobbery is so similar for both. I remember awhile back I was listening to an interview on Colin Murray's show on Radio 1, and he said they were never going to use the term "guilty pleasure" to describe a song on the show again, because you shouldn't be ashamed of liking a certain artist. If it's something you enjoy, then, at least to you, it's good music. This was, incidentally, several weeks after David Tennant selected Avril Lavigne as his guilty pleasure artist. :D
no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 12:56 am (UTC)sl;kdfjsl;dkfjdls;kjf That is SO CUTE that David Tennant listens to Avril Lavigne! I'm sure all his teenybopper fangirls died and went to heaven when they heard that.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 02:04 am (UTC)