This is my xmas pressie to myself

About fifteen hours, a tng marathon, two xmas specials, a movie, and hours of doctor who, and i have my own scarf! It's not nearly so dense as if it was knitted, but the loom is way faster and softer. I do love it so!

link: Real Life Twist for Sonic Screwdriver

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/08/5612100-real-life-twist-for-sonic-screwdriver

Scientists at Bristol University are trying to create a working Sonic Screwdriver, and seem to be pretty far along with the basics. Which makes me stupidly happy. I want one so bad. More than I want a tricorder, although if I could have both, I could do anything.

memolane

Memolane has finally notified me of being open for testers, and I've set up my lifestream over there-- it's pretty awesome. I can apparently add anything that has a feed (which means TVGA and NYJB are out at the moment, but still), and it's got a really nice interface. See what you think.

men

Is it weird that I want to be able to wear clothes like a man? Sometimes, anyway. I don't want to be a man, I like being a woman and dating men, but I wish I could wear a coat like a man does, long and lean and tall, especially tall. It's not even that I wish I was taller-- I gave up on that wish when it was obvious I wasn't ever going to be taller than my 13 year old self-- but just... I wish I could be taller when I wear coats. I wish I could look like Sherlock and Peter Bishop when I have peacoats on.

I have aesthetics problems, obviously. It's why I keep getting pierced and tattooed. But there isn't anything that can make me look like that in the winter only, and only when I'm wearing my new coats. I'll have to make due with simply losing more weight so I can get the leaner part of the equation, at least!

I feel dreamy and mutable today, and it's aggravating that I can't be physically so changable.

Winter

You know, I actually like the cold. According to Paddle (my iPad), it's 32 degrees right now and it feels like 19 with the wind chill. And I'm okay with that. I get to use several blankets. I wear my hoodie to bed. I had an excuse to buy an all new wardrobe including three really awesome coats* and some fabulously long socks and seven pairs of Converse**. And it reminds me of most of the places I grew up that I remember. I think I'm genetically predisposed toward cold climates-- I definitely take after the Irish and welsh side more than the Cuban one!

All of this doesn't keep me from complaining or taking twice as long to get going in the morning, but I also spend the whole cold season not missing the heat, and not feeling like I'm fighting reality for my living preferences. It's much better and easier to layer on than it is to take clothes off when it's hot out.

Maybe I'll wear my greatcoat tomorrow.



*a peacoat with green lining, a long almost-peacoat with red stitching, and a fantastic vintage 70s greatcoat that looks like something the Doctor would wear and goes almost to my ankles.
**I hadn't intended to get so many, but I kept getting sniped, so I bid on a bunch, and I won a bunch (not the red ones, though, so I'll have to get them later). My brother is going to custom design a pair or two for me since I have some to spare.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

silly texting

Jesse: Hope you do well, oh luscious one.
Me: Hee!
Jesse: *How goes your day?
Me: Work is all school groups today, but not bad. Except kids don't tip.
Jesse: *Curses, no tips! But at least you're taller than them?
Me: About half the time!
Jesse: *Well, that evens your odds if you have to take them out.
Me: I know! And then I can kick them out!
Jesse: *I think perhaps you need a weapon, like a bat.
Me: A big bat! With lazers!
Jesse: And LEDs! And a plasma torch!
Me: And a flamethrower, and pretty ribbon streamers!
Jesse: Well, with all that, we had better get a robot to wield it.
Me: And a dinosaur to carry him!
Jesse: And a jet pack!
Me: In a spaceship!
Jesse: A spaceship with a mothership!
Me: A spaceship with a mothership and a squadron of fighters!
Jesse: A whole fleet of supercarriers!
Me: And a deathstar!
Jesse: And a Narn planet-killer!
Me: And a star-eater!
Jesse: You know, I'm thinking that all of this won't fit in your shop.
Me: Well, we need to reorganize the place anyway...
Jesse:Reorganize it with lazers!
Me: And a flamethrower!
Jesse: Heh, would that do it?
Me: If it doesn't, it's not much of a flamethrower.



*Reconstructed from my foggy memory because I was a doof and cleared my texts before copying half of these.

tv time with sami: castle, "murder of the fourth kind"

(or something)

I would just like to state that I loved this ep, and mostly for things that had little to do with the story itself: 1) it was self-awarely acting like an episode of X-Files, 2) there was that cute moment when they woke up in the car and then after, when they were insisting that it wasn't hickies and the boys didn't believe, 3) They used the term 'Cigarette Smoking Man', and best of all, 4) Castle speaks Cantonese because of 'a show I used to love' which, with Nathan Fillion speaking it, can only be Firefly!

Sometimes, this is my favorite show ever.

lifestreaming

I want so badly to be able to plug all my rss into one place and have a nice, pretty, easy-to-view lifestream. My whole freaking life is online. I want to be able to link to it all in one place.

I currently have an account at Profilactic, which has a horrible name, and it's functional enough, but it doesn't look all that great-- it's just a list of things, no pictures, no icons, and it doesn't load some of my feeds all that well (or a few of them at all). MemoLane looks gorgeous but isn't available yet.

So I ask you, Interwebs: where should I go that has what I want (details to follow), that's free or very very nearly so, that doesn't require a lot of HTML or other coding, and that is reliable?

Here's what I'm looking for:
- Pretty to look at, with pictures displayed as well as titles-- or at least an icon of some sort indicating what sort of media it is or where it comes from (like Soup.io, but better)
- Reliable-- updates quickly and consistently, from all the feeds I put in, all the time.
- Easy to navigate
- Not a lot of coding work
- Not limited to the top ten social media sites or anything like that-- the more sites the better

Bonus points for:
- Auto-filtering of duplicate posts
- Extreme flexibility to add new feeds
- A really good interface or design

more ideas for an ideal life

My ideal life will include:

- A cast iron tea set, a yixing red clay tea set, and the ability to afford each without having to scrimp and save forever.
- The feeling of time, even if I'm really very busy: Time to spend an hour making and drinking tea on the front porch, time to plant my spring garden and tend it through the rough months until summer can take care of itself, time to grow roses, time to visit friends and go on vacations and attend local events and eat at food festivals.

I'm feeling like I need to make changes.

video: fat cat in a vase

wookie!

Picture from here: http://cuteoverload.com/2010/11/08/theres-a-wookie-in-our-front-seat/

I don't know what kind of dog this is, but I MUST own at least one. Preferably more. And they will all be named obscure Wookie names (because most of them are probably named Chewbacca). And instead of collars, I'll train them all to wear shoulder sashes and belts.

but where would they make their home?

Picture from here, c/o Geninne: http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com/2010/11/fish-bird.html

I adore the idea of a fish and a bird being in love. One of my stories that's been backburnered but still floats to the surface (how's that for a mixed metaphor) is about just exactly how and where they'd build their house. I think it's linked to my annoyance at fairytale endings where the monster has to become a prince and then they can live happily ever after. I mean, why? They fell in love the way they were. Why can't they stay in love the way they are? I'm determined to show that it's possible. Probably over and over again throughout my career. In the meantime, I'll love pretty art like this that shows that they really can be in love and that it's just fine if they are.

::love::

link: a world of tweets

http://aworldoftweets.frogdesign.com/

This is kind of beautiful-- a dot for every tweet. As of the time of this writing, the hot spots were NY, London, Paris and Indonesia, and I saw someone tweet from the Azores and the middle of Siberia. It's so great! It's like looking at the world from space, only all you see is people connected to the internet.

I wish there was a way to embed it in realtime so everyone can see it...

California, Japan and Brazil have come onto the scene. And someone just tweeted from Africa! I'm sucky at identifying African countries (all the maps have changed since Geography), but it looked like Cameroon-ish. No, I was wrong-- Nigeria. Man, I need to learn me some maps.

lists, lists, lists

I am a compulsive list-maker. Have been as long as I can remember. And because of that tendency, I've recently (since about 2008, near the end) started organizing my life with lots of lists. What I have to do this week. What I have to do today, tonight, right now. What I have done. Books I've read. Movies I've seen. How much I worked each day. What I've spent and how much money I have. What I eat each day. How much exercize I do, and now much weight I've lost and what my goals are for both. All my appointments, my addresses, my penpals. All this week's ideas and everything I should look up. On and on an on.

And I love it.

There's a book I saw at the bookstore about making lists, and I lust after it like it's pornogrpahy or something.

And you know what? It's working. I don't always list everything every day. Sometimes I go entire weeks without anything of the sort. But mostly I print up all the sheets I've downloaded and made for myself every Sunday or Monday, and I use my lists, and I miss very few deadlines now unless something unforseeable comes up. I almost never go under in my bank account. I get a dozen articles written each week, usually. Sometimes I even have time to goof off or go looking for more work or whatever. And it's freeing. My lists let me not have to worry about it all, so my brain can be occupied with getting stuff done. All the organizing websites said that's what it would do, but I didn't really believe them until now. But it's true.

So viva la lists.

musings: the life i want

I have been very busy of late, probably over-busy based on how hard it is to stay asleep and how much difficulty I'm having just sitting down to read the books I need to read. But I'm starting to figure out more of what I want out of life.

For one, first and foremost, I've discovered that I don't care if I have to have arm surgery later on: writing is definitely all I want to do. I mean, I want to eke out time to craft and make and redecorate, I want to have the money to travel and see new things and not get left behind when friends invite me places because I just can't afford them, but I want it all to be because I'm writing. I made a list the other day of all the books I have lined up in my head, waiting to be written. There were twelve just off the top of my head, and that's not even counting sequels and half-thought-out probably-novels, or Wolfe and Raven which informed me that now it wants to be a webseries (10 x 6 minute episodes, probably four seasons).

I want a house somewhere with weather I like and enough land to plant several gardens where roses will grow. And cannas. And lillies. And lilacs. And a big ol' victorian-style greenhouse where I can grow oranges and lemons and let them out into the sun in the summer like they do in Italian Villas. I want a house I can stay in, where I can plant my poor sickly pine tree in the ground and know that I'll still be living there so he can thrive. Where I can have / get kids and plant a tree for each of them, too, and start a forest dedicated to my family.

I want to decorate from Ikea and Urban Outfitters, yes, but I also want to find beautiful antiques that people don't know the value of-- a velvet fainting couch, a canopied bed (especially if it's a Chinese wedding bed!), an old wash-basin stand. I want to gather trinkets and art pieces from everywhere I've been and display them properly. I want a house full of color and eclectic wonderfulness. My sister once described my bedroom as a treasure-box, said there was always something more to look at; I want a whole house like that.

I'm not terribly picky about who lives in the house with me. I don't necessarily need a husband, and even if I get one, he would have to be very special for me to want to live with him. I'm getting far too indipendent and unusual in my advancing age.

I think I want a writing cottage. I want my books and my desk and my working computer to be somewhere separated from the house, a little beautiful thing that's only for me, where I can hole up when deadlines are tight and I need the separation from distractions.

I think I want to dance. And I want space to dance in. I might even want an audience. I definitely want classes.

I want to never have to learn how to drive. Which means I want a big-girl bike that can get my longer distances with a lot less trouble and uncertainty. I love my baby-bike, but it's just too slow and too rickety for the long haul.

I want to carry my babies on my back and plant my own food and live somewhere where the cats can go in and out as they please without having to worry about cars and dogs and diseases. I want to make my own furniture and do it well and love doing it. I want to publish more than one book a year, every year, until I die or I go mad, and even then still have seven or ten or twenty books written and waiting, started, planned out, that others can finish and publish. I want my house to always be surrounded by nature and full of people I love, talented, opinionated, beautiful, glamourous, wonderful people who laugh and cook and drink wine and home-made ales. I want to raise kids in that atmosphere. I want to change the world just a little bit. I want to be famous enough to never have to be poor again. I want to give back to the community with a scholarship and maybe some community funding, like a garden project or something. I want to start a school and save a publisher and edit anthologies. I want to visit friends who live far away, and maybe sometimes live far away myself, but always have this one beautiful house to come home to.

And you know what? Sometimes, I feel like I'm getting there.

dreamjournal

I dreamed I met the Doctor and he took me with him. We ran everywhere and laughed more than I've ever laughed and everything was an adventure, so we went everywhere. Someone was filming it for a documentary. We were free, and my whole life was there. We were in love. And then I started getting older. All that running made me tired and I couldn't keep up. I kept falling, getting left behind, getting stuck or captured. And he was further and further ahead. And then one day he came back for me and it got him killed, and let some evil out that we couldn't catch, and all I had left was one little token and the documentary that got it all wrong, and someone else walked away with his memories and didn't love me any more. I was still mourning when someone came back in his form and was so mean. He tried to make it all mean, tried to ruin my memories-- and it was so aweful that it woke me up.

Man. This is pretty much the plot of every companion, but it felt so real that I woke up almost bereft that it was all over. It was my story. And then I had to wake up and realize it wasn't reall at all. I hate those dreams.

letters to the aether

Dear Dirty Street Emos,

I'm glad that making shallow comments about strangers as they walk by entertains you. Good for you, deflecting your anger over the fact that you had an entirely ordinary middle class upbringing onto something that makes you happy. I hope you find it fulfilling.

But know this: You don't know a damn thing about any of the people walking by. You don't know anything about anything, really, and one day, in two years or five or ten, you'll realize what a douche you are, and you'll be so embarassed you'll have to change your whole look and become someone else, because right now, you're stupid and shallow and mean, and so are all your so-called friends. As soon as you wake up, they'll turn on you. Don't deny it; you know that truth somewhere deep inside you.

So go take a damn shower and shut your mouth. Suck it up and do something useful. Or at least leave this place alone.

Love and spikes,
Me

video: puppy is confused by escalator

This had to be shared. It had to.

x-prize is back on my radar

I've been following the X-Prize for years, but last night I watched a show about Virgin Galactic, and now I'm all enthused about the whole New Space Race all over again. VG got Space Ship Two to fly, and there's still lots of other teams out there trying to do the same thing. I want to be a part of it. I need to figure out how to get a job with one of them, painting the machines or sticking carbon fiber or something. They've got to need someone for basic grunt work, and then I can work my way up to wiring or something.

I wonder how ones goes about starting to build a space ship in their own back yard?

More info:
X-Prize on YouTube
X-Prize homepage
Virgin Galactic homepage
VG booking -- only 200K$

wow! long time, no post!

I feel like I've been haunting my own blog, wandering through the back rooms, looking at comments, playing with tags, but not writing any new posts. So here's a rundown that will probably not be quick, but will hopefully be at least informative.

TMI alert: I started out last week with some improbable combination of a UTI, a yeast infection, my period and a head / chest cold. Things were pretty horribly uncomfortable for a while there, and I need to have a word with my immune system about allowing everything to blow out at once. Maybe it was a biological form of global pole shift or something. My immune system harmonics are all reversed now, but they're working again. I beat them into submission by drinking a whole bottle of cranberry juice and half a bottle of orange juice every day for the last week... and now I'm addicted to cranberry juice the way I was addicted to grapefruit-ade at the start of the summer.

Work is... stupidly tense. The schedule can't be perfect and now we're not allowed to switch shifts, which puts me probably missing a required chat at school tomorrow night unless they'll let me leave early, and boss-lady is getting ever more uptight about tattoos. It's not like any of us can take them off when we come into work. Or that any of us will forever not get new tatts because we work there (it's not like it's an office or a cube farm, and she doesn't pay us enough to start dictating our lives and aesthetic choices like that). I just sort of don't want to have to bother with it anymore. When I'm there, it's fine, so long as no one bothers me directly, but dealing with the public and their low-blood-sugar is getting harder and harder, especially when I'm sick, and I'm finding myself railing more and more against the basic operation of the place. But there is no way I'm going to get another job or a new job unless it's something professional and in my field. This is going to be my last day job.

I'll be going to school again soon. The first term is almost over, and in the next two weeks, I need to turn in my last 25 pages, a self-evaluation, a book report, registration paperwork, and book my tickets. Crazy! But I'll be traveling much lighter this time, since last time was crazy with the heaviness, and this time I don't have to bring things like towels and an alarm clock. I got the lovely lady who made my purse for me to scale up the design and she's going to make me a bag to travel with so I don't have to check my luggage, and can save about 50$. Sweet, no?

I am in love with this site: Fuck Yeah Tattoos. I want more. And work being stupid about them just makes me want them more.

And that's about it for me. Cold, work, school. My life is small now.

neat gren things: environmental graffiti

I'm trying out for a position posting for Envintonmental Graffiti, and here's my first / sample post! It came out a little long, and perhaps a bit formal, but i'm pretty proud of it.

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/energy/news-5-ways-algae-will-save-world

The website is pretty awesome, and I really hope they like my post-- I can think of several more weird and wonderful topics I can post on.

fat girl goes slim: i joined a gym

World Gym is having a tenth anniversary thing where they're only charging 10$ a month, and that's a steal. There's one not far from here, so J and I joined up.

We've been twice-- we're due to go back again, but I'm Girl Timeing, so I might hold off a few more days, or just go and stroll on the treadmill or something.

But already, I feel stronger. My muscles are sore, but not debilitating, and I've already lost another pound. And my hips are an inch smaller than the last time I measured them, but I don't think that's from working out. It was ages ago when I measured them last. It's not nice to see what 43" looks like when you unloop the measuring tape!

According to the Spark People App on my iPad, if I lose a pound a week consistently through the holidays, I can reach my goal weight somewhere around the end of January, which means I'll be almost there when I go to school at the beginning. If I can lose just a little more a week, I'll make it by New Years which would be awesome-- it'll be the first year I DON'T have to resolve to lose weight!

I've been trying to pay more attention to what I'm eating, trying to make better choices. According to the scale in my room, which is the one I can read easier, I hit 140 this week! It's amazing. That's officially half way there, 20llbs less than when I started, back down almost where I was when I graduated college, on my way to where I was when I started college.

So I'm hopeful again.

random thoughts: chairs

I love sitting in chairs. It makes me feel like human history has led to something tangible-- we no longer have to sit in the dirt or on a bare floor: we have chairs. I'm a cross-legger. Usually, no matter what seat I'm sitting in, I'll pull my legs up Indian-style and stay that way until my feet fall asleep. I used to be the sort to cross my legs one over the other-- in high school I could cross them at the knee and then loop my foot back around and cross at the ankle, too, and it was comfy. I'm too chubby for that now, but sometimes I still try.

I like deep chairs with a lot of space for my legs and somewhere to prop my feet. I like soft chairs that I can sleep in when I get nap-tired and need a little downtime. Which is pretty often when I don't have anything else to do, since I'm basically a cat on my own schedule. I like chairs with good back support and good arm-rests.

I like curling up with a book and settling in. I could live in a chair if it was comfy enough.

inspiration: piercings

I'm also craving piercings, specifically surface piercings:

I love facial-dots-- if I ever get my eyes lasered or suddenly don't need glasses or something, I'm getting something by my eye, and probably a nose piercing.

Shiny boobs!

When I have collarbones again (and if I stay on track with my plan, I should reach my goal weight by the end of december or beginning of january, if Holiday Eating doesn't do me in), I want these-- or maybe three under the left collarbone. Something. Haven't decided yet.

inspiration: tattoos 2

More pictures from all over the web that strike me as something I'd like to have permanently ingrained in my skin-- or make me think in the direction of something that I would... I think I want the previsouly mentioned tatt to have a paisley sort of thing going up over my collarbone, to match a spiral on the left shoulder. This is, of course, still all just conjecture. I need new stars and my wings first.

inspirations: tattoos

I'm contemplating something on my shoulder that would incorporate things representing all four elements: kelp for water, feathers for air, ferns for earth... and I don't know what for fire, other than fire, which doesn't seem right for me. Fireworks? Something.

Anyway, here's inspiration for that, borrowed gratefully from all over the webs:

And also, there's these:

penpals

In better news, I have new penpals! A girl in Brooklyn and a lady in Chicago, one from 16 Sparrows and one from SendSomething.net! It's just lovely. I get to hear all over the place about what's going on in the world and in the lives of these people I've never met. And there's such a niceness to it-- people who sign up with the purpose of sending letters really like to do it, and send nice letters on nice paper.

And two personal letters on a bad day-- that's just wonderful.

continuing drama: lost wallet

I talked to my friend who lost his wallet recently, and we decided that I should hold off slipping out and calling the whole world for a day or so. According to the scary things online, I've got two days before I'm liable for whatever losses anyone gives me, and since there's a weekend here, that gives me till monday-- since weekends don't count as business days. If I'm reading those articles right.

So I'm going to wait and see if it appears magically over the weekend while I'm doing other stuff, and then... well, if it doesn't, I'm going batshit crazy on all those calls.

new drama: lost wallet

Somewhere between signing up for a gym membership around 2 yesterday and going back around 6 to actually use my membership, I lost or someone stole my wallet. There was definitely enough stuff in there for someone to go all identity fraud on me, so now I have to call all the banks and get new cards, call the credit agecies and put a new-credit hold on all my scoresheets, maybe sign up for an identity theft watchdog service so if someone tries later, I'm protected, report it to the cops so there's a flag in the system, get a new ID card, get a new SS card (which I didn't carry for, like, 10 years and then put in there because I needed it for school, and then forgot to take out again), and on and on and on. It's such a hassle. I had my purse stolen once when I was in High School, but I didn't have a bank account or any credit cards at that point, and now it's both harder and more expensive to deal with this crap.

So that's my drama right now.

I'll make a clearer post about it all when I know how it all goes.

This is the sort of weekend we've had.

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robin mckinley reminds me of more life requirements

I want to live somewhere...

close enough to it's natural and pastoral heritage to have decent agricultural fairs, preferably of something I like, like corn or strawberries or bread. Or all of the above.

where I can have a huge garden to build my little writing cottage in, and where roses will grow without me having to constatly worry about them.

where the cats can go outside without having to worry about fleas too much, and where they won't be squashed by cars, in-rabied by squirrels, or attacked by dogs.

with a proximity to something not-writing-related where I can dive in and really get into it-- beekeeping, silversmithing, jam-making coops, a tea plantastion, an old library of rare finds that needs a curator and archivist, something. Something I want to do and can't do here for whatver reason, so I can love it as much as she loves bells.

link: Sonora, Twain Harte, Mother Lode, Lake Tulloch Area Homes for Sale, Real Estate Company serving the Mother Lode of California

Sonora, Twain Harte, Mother Lode, Lake Tulloch Area Homes for Sale, Real Estate Company serving the Mother Lode of California

"A Balanced Approach to Time Management:

1. Show up.

2. Be all there.

3. Have a plan. (Write it down.)

4. Stick to your plan.

5. Do the hard stuff first. (Don't put off.)

6. Factor in interruptions.

7. Keep your cool.

8. Schedule in free time.

9. Take pleasure in a good day's work.

10. Ask another person to point out blind spots in your approach."

relationships and issues

I've recently been navigating the daunting minefield of my own relationship issues, and aside from coming to the conclusion that no one can ever be exactly what I want, and will therefore annoy me more than anything should be able to, I've also come to the conclusion that probably I'll never have what I want, and therefore I want someone I can care about but who will leave me alone when I need it.

Maybe I'm just feeling pessimistic because I woke up to an overcast day, or maybe it's hormones or stress talking, but... yeah. Not so much with the happy today.

And I've found the following links today that have all turned up on my various f'lists of their own accord:

How to Make a Woman Happy (this is my favorite of the quotes):
"If your woman has had a hard day at the office, run her a hot bath and hand her a glass of chilled wine whilst you put the kids to bed and prepare dinner. Don’t ruin it by expecting sexual favors in return. In a recent survey, when women were asked what would make them happy, one of the most common answers was to be kissed without being groped!"

Ten Things Every Man Should Know About A Woman's Brain:
"She is easily turned off

"A women's sex drive is much more easily upset than a guy's," Brizendine said.

For women to get in the mood, and especially to have an orgasm, certain areas of her brain have to shut off. And any number of things can turn them back on."

"For guys, foreplay is everything that happens three minutes before insertion. For women, it is everything that happens 24 hours beforehand,"

"The female brain is not only more responsive to small amounts of stress but is less able to habituate to high levels of stress, said Debra Bangasser of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, describing her recent research"

"She hates conflict (but lack of response even more)"

"She changes every day based on her cycle

Affecting up to 80 percent of women, PMS is a familiar scapegoat. But women are affected by their cycles every day of the month. Hormone levels are constantly changing in a woman's brain and body, changing her outlook, energy and sensitivity along with them."

How to Make a Woman Happy:
"SECURITY. Beyond the basic needs of food, water, etc., security is one of the most important requirements for a woman to be happy. Security of health, employment, family, and partner."


"women need peace. They are happiest when they can be in the same room with their partner and have a peaceful feeling."


"PERSONAL SPACE. Women need personal space too! They need to breathe, to think, to plan, to grow. Be secure in your relationship with your partner, and give her space of her own."

test run for life

My day job is going to spend most of the rest of September renovating the other store, which means that this store has to give partial hours to two stores' worth of employees, which means I'll probably get less than half time at least twice and as many as four times over the next six to eight weeks. I was bummed, since money is already tight with H in China, but I've decided not to worry about the money just now.

I've decided that I'm going to use this time as a test-run for the sort of life I want to have in the future, when I don't need a day job to get me through the bills.

I know I don't have enough other income to make up for it, and I know I'm not nearly organized or disciplined (no matter that people keep saying I'm so laser-like in my focus) enough-- but what other skills do I need to work on? How will I pattern long strings of days when nothing is required of me but self-determination?
- Will I write more story, more articles, more proposals?
- Will I look for other work and follow up on it?
- Will I have time to craft, to photograph it and to get it up on Etsy? Will having that time even actually matter to my sales and my income?
- Will I be able to effectively budget and keep myself out of the hole?
- Will I keep ahead at school and maybe get more involved?
- Will I have time and spending money to get the jam business off the ground, and will I be able to convince anyone that it's as tasty as I say? Will anyone want to buy it?
- Is there anything in the community that I'd like the Garden, the Historical Society, the Archaeological Society?
- Will I have time to cook and clean and keep house the way I want it?
- Will I get back on track with eating correctly and lose the rest of my weight to my goal?
- Will I be able to keep up on paperwork and filing and all the rest?
- Will my social life pick up when I'm not working an endless string of mids and nights?

These are a lot of questions, and I know that a week off won't tackle all of them, but I can at least test the waters, as it were, and see about getting it done, you know? See if I really want a life without a day job (which I'm pretty sure I do) or whether what I want is a different day job with more flexible hours or something like that.

Wish me luck!

the vedda

I'm watching Les Stroud's new show and he's hanging out with the Vedda in Sri Lanka-- and guys? They settled the island 10,000 years before Ancient Egypt. They were still in the stone age when the Portuguese arrived. They were still living in caves and mostly stone-age until 1986.

Let me say that again.

Nineteen Eighty Six. When I was old enough to remember things and know about the world because I was old enough to read National Geographic. When Les Stroud was, like, a teenager. When the people who are teaching him how to make slingshots and how to hunt were grown men.

Stone-age. Cave men.

I'm so blown away. How did I manage to get a degree in Anthropology (well, a minor) and not know about these people?

i'm BACK in the saddle AGAINNNNN

Heh. AC/DC.

Last week was kind of a life-plan fail, but it was better than the week before, so I'm taking that to mean that I can get back on track properly this week. I managed to wake up before noon and got my daily writing in, so I think I'm already off to a good start. I didn't get my articles done this morning, though, so maybe I'll have to do that tonight, after my second crit.

I've also fallen behind on organizing my weekly paperwork. And the printer's down, so that hasn't been happening, though I have been hand-drawing daily dockets and stuff, which are much more flexible than something like an hourly schedule.

I've been looking at places to find writing jobs. So far, no real luck on one I can do from home without previous publishing experience, but I'll keep looking. The dayjob is sort of killing me. I'm not exactly in a hurry, but when H gets back from China, he'll be looking for work as a translator, and I'd like to be able to have a new in-the-field-i-paid-so-much-for job, too, around that time. I'm about half way through my five-years-to-a-new-life plan, and I want to get moving. School was a big step. A good editing or writing job will be another... although, if I have to move to New York or Chicago to find one, it'll have to wait another year or so for H to finish his degree-- and then we might be moving somewhere else anyway.

The house is a mess, since there's been so much moving in and out lately. I haven't been able to set up a work station, and there are once again boxes everywhere. ::sigh:: I feel like we're never going to get past this part of our lives. If I have to be a permanent Gypsy, I want to at least get to live in a caravan! Since I see no vardo for me in the front yard, I'm working under the assumption I get to settle down.*

I feel less cagey about the idea of a boy. I don't know why I got so scared about the whole situation, or why I still am, but the idea is more comfortable now. I'm seeing him again tomorrow.

Personal anxiety has been better. I dosed myself with all the herbs and vitamins I had on hand, and I'm planning an order to the herbshop I like online, so I can make the anti-freak-out tea in bulk. I'm low on various other herbs anyway.

I want to get back to crafting, which means I need to make more time in the day, which means I need to figure out why I'm sleeping so much and fix that-- I usually sleep about six or seven hours a night; lately I've been sleeping ten or eleven, and it's eating up the little bits of free time I have in the mornings.

But I'm getting back on track. And I'm still under 145bs.



*If not a vardo, then one of those Golden Age of Trains luxury cars. I wonder if they can be retrofitted to work on roads? Or if a bus of some sort could be designed to look like on inside?

Online Degrees & Certificates in Intelligence at American Military University

Online Degrees & Certificates in Intelligence at American Military University

I wonder a) if this is any good and if it would help me get a decent job anywhere, b) if this is really how our intelligence personnel are trained, and c) if that's as scary as it seems, if this is how they're trained. Do I really want CIA reps who did all their education through online courses? On the other hand, that's totally how I'm getting my MFA, so who am I to talk? On the other other hand, I'm writing books, while they're (at least ostensibly) handling national security.

Hmm.

Why am I still awake?

I should have been in bed two and a half hours ago, but I have this horrible pain in my face. I can't decide whether it's a sinus infection or a headcold, but I know it's hurty and it's not fun. And now I'm not sleeping when I should be.

But at least I'm getting reading done.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Moederfiets or Motherbike : TreeHugger

The Moederfiets or Motherbike : TreeHugger: "Couldn’t resist this very endearing photo by Bala Nallama. Particularly as last night, when walking through a shopping centre carpark I spied a pair of LCD screens light up in the back of a hulking great 4WD. The Motherbike is a brightly shining beacon in the gloom of such parent-child ‘disconnect’. Okay, it’ll work best in European cities, like those found in the Netherlands, from where it originates. But that’s the whole point - designing cities for people to live in, rather than pandering to the needs of lumbering machines. Rant over, back to the bike: The ‘Filiduo’ model seen here is crafted to transport two kids (9 months to 5 years) on the back, and the groceries on the front. It sports three gears, hub brakes and a chain guard. Euro 1,145. Via the fun bike blog of cleverchimp."

I can't get over how awesome this is. I need to move to a bike-friendly city before my (still unborn) kids are big enough for their own bikes so I can get this bike-- one for me and one for whoever fills the role of hubby or hubby-like.

Thank God global warming is a hoax

Thank God global warming is a hoax: "Here is your big lesson: Do not listen to people who actually know things. Only listen to people who react, negatively and whiningly, to people who actually know things. It's the American way."

link: Interactive Infographic of the World's Best Countries - Newsweek

Interactive Infographic of the World's Best Countries - Newsweek

The US isn't in the top ten of the best places to live, but all of Scandinavia is; maybe we should ask them to come over and tell us how to make a better country? We've got this whole 'place where everyone goes for a better life' thing going on, and we can't break the top ten?

the best things i found today: tuesday, august 3 2010

The Indie Fixx has a new Google Group for the PenPal Project to get everyone in one place at one time, and it's lovely.

The Letter Writer's Alliance is a brilliant group that offers a gorgeous shop, free stationary downloads, and exclusive funness for only three dollars, plus you get a badge and a card. It's snailmail fabulousness right from the start: your member ID is on the back of the card, and they don't tell you what it is-- you have to wait and see!

There's this UK art project where graduating students make lovely advice posters to be given to the incoming students. It would be brilliant if my school did this, too!

Everyday Minerals has a new pink lippie and a wonderful purple eyecolor that gives money to an art fund.

PostCrossing - a postcard-writing project for people all over the world!

shonagonisms: facts about me

I have very small wrists and feet. Even when I gained 30 lbs after college, my wrist is only about 5.5 inches around, and at best I wear about a size five shoe. Two in Converse and three in Doc Martins.

I've only had short hair three times in my life, and one of them was before my hair grew in the first time.

My favorite parts of myself are my left eyebrow and my tattoos; my favorite parts of other people are usually little patches of the softest skin they have.

I think I could survive the collapse of society.

I think I would make a stellar Companion for the Doctor.

My favorite time of the day is that moment right after you realize you're awake, but you're still totally relaxed, and the sun is coming through the windows, and your bed is soft, and everything is still fresh and good.

I pretty much only know how to cook enough for five or more people; when I cook for myself, there's always leftovers for days.

I believe cats are agents of Chaos in a totally sweet and muzzy sort of way.

The best way to get me to read a book is to give it a nice cover, and there's a bonus if it contains things I like to read about.

At some point or another, I have a crush on every friend that becomes a close friend; it's part of the bonding process.

I've seen Rocky Horror live four times in four different places.

I have very specific tastes in boys, and never seem to date anyone who falls in that category.

I'm a romantic... but I tend to not like all the things we're told to do for valentines: I like my roses to be alive and in my garden, I like my chocolate to be in things other than heart-shaped boxes, I don't care much for diamonds and really don't like those things the jewelry stores push like the journey diamonds and that weird heart thing from Jane Seymour.

I tend to believe that people who like things that I like can't be all bad.

I try really hard not to be a screaming liberal, but I am pretty much there, most of the time. I just keep it to myself.

I'm convinced there are few things better than a really good book that changes your life.

I don't know how to take short showers.

You'll know when I've been cleaning because I'll be wearing all the random hair things and jewelry and accessories I found along the way.

I love fresh new office supplies to an unseemly degree.

Puns amuse me more than long jokes, especially if they have something to do with the subjects I love most: language, grammar, cats, pirates, tea, scifi, fantasy, books, cats, etc.

organizing

I've been slowly organizing my life since I got back from Res (which in my head sounds like The Res, as in Reservation, but whatever).

I've always been sort of a whim-based person. I grew up not liking schedules and hating to-so lists because they restrict the options: I can't do whatever I want because I have to be here at this one specific time* and I have to do this one specific thing, followed by all the other things that need to get done today. I blame it on being an air sign: you try to keep the wind from blowing where it will and see how angry it gets! I never did anything I didn't want to do until it became unavoidable. Even now, I tend to not plan things and to put off the things I don't like, like housework and homework and suchike.

But as I've gotten older, though, everything is becoming more unavoidable, and I've come to rely on lists to keep my brain from flying apart in a million different directions (the air-sign in me again: all the molecules want to be equally as far apart from all the others as they can!). I have official to-do lists for the week, and long lists that are part additional to-do, part things I want to know, things I need to follow up on or remember to check out, things I need to get or find, things I want out of life, ideas I need to remember... pretty much anything that needs to be recalled goes on the secondary lists throughout the week. And I love my schedule because somewhere along the line, I had a perceptual flip: they don't limit what I can do, they define what I have to do so I can actually physically see all the time I have to do what I want!

I cleaned out my Book (where all this junk is supposed to stay) yesterday, and realized I've been keeping the lists and collecting worksheets to track all my projects for almost two whole years now, and the folders for each month have gotten fatter, but my life has gotten freer and calmer and better: I hardly ever overdraw my bank account anymore, paperwork gets done on time, bills get paid when they're due. I found DIY Planner and The Organized Writer and they've done miracles in my dysfunctionally-right-brained world.

But it wasn't enough when I had to start being a full-time writer and a full-time student again, too. So I've rearranged. First thing in the morning, I write, and at least one day out of the week is devoted to reading, as well as a minimum of a chapter from something required before bed. And I've been physically cleaning up. J, a new friend from the Res, pointed me in the direction of FlyLady.com, and I'm not anywhere near the devotion I need for that, yet, but I've been doing little things she suggests along the way, and it's starting to work in just little ways that make me feel like I'm getting somewhere. I keep getting amazed at all the time I have between these two systems.

And it's getting better. I think I can do this. Eventually (and I think this will be a sooner sort of eventual, since I'll be all alone in the house for most of a year soon), I'll have everything in it's place, physically and mentally, and my life will make sense. Which is all for the best, since I'm finally devoted to getting it somewhere good and getting on with it.

link: Cisco helps build prototype for instant cities - San Jose Mercury News

Cisco helps build prototype for instant cities - San Jose Mercury News

link: Are we in the middle of a mass extinction?

Are we in the middle of a mass extinction?: "The definition [of mass extinction] I like is where you have numerous phylogenetically distant organisms involved in losses at the same time. For example, 65 million years ago there was a mass extinction. Dinosaurs were lost, but what made it a mass extinction was that all kinds of other species went down at the same time - all large marine reptiles and primitive types of birds, as well as many groups of plankton and other one-celled creatures. It was a large scale extinction that affected apparently all ecologies on the planet, from moderately deep marine to high altitude terrestrial ones. These were dramatic losses. By contrast, the End Pleistocene [about 12,000 years ago] doesn't stack up as a mass extinction. There were losses of large mammals [like woolly mammoths and mastodons], and some small. There were bird losses in the scavenger/raptor category. But then the loss picture drops off to nothing. There's no evidence for large extinctions among reptiles or fishes. Nor for plants."

It's nice that an expert in the field doesn't think we're about to suffer massive collapse, but I just keep thinking, 'what if it's as bad as they say?' and 'what if this is what it's like at the beginning?'. I mean, we have the tools now to notice the dying-off, but in the past, it would have just been, I don't know, that bird never came back one spring, and that kind of frog isn't here in the pond anymore, and our grandkids don't know what that particular tasty animal even looks like, and then one day, there's a creature walking around in a landscape devoid of anyone like him, with no ecology to speak of, and when he dies, 75% or 90% of the world has become fossils. Along the way, probably no one thought about it, or if they did, they didn't think everything would be gone. If there was even anyone to think about it.

We're just in this position where we have these big brains that make us speculate and allow us to speed up the process and notice when it happens... and deny that it might be. And do something about it.

Say this is the start of one of these massive events. Maybe everything will just collapse in the next decade and people alive now will notice that things have changed, but maybe it will take three thousand years, which is very VERY slow for people, but hardly anything for stones and the fossil record. Would we even understand in three thousand years that all the things that sound like really old myths were once real animals and that the ecosystems were once rich and diverse, or were so in very different ways than they are then? I mean, if this is the middle, and not the beginning, we only started to notice recently when big things like buffalo and dodos started going missing. How many more things died off that we didn't notice at all?

Maybe we should act like there's something we can do about it and try to avoid the big hit: maybe it's going to happen anyway, but maybe we can preserve genetic lines and captive-breed and genetically engineer, and build arc ships and colonize other worlds and spread out beyond the system of this one planet and maybe we can save it: expand the idea of a local population from a single woodland to a whole planet, and maybe things can keep living and diversifying elsewhere and survive.

Even then, though, things will change. Nothing stays the same. If we choose the strongest lines and preserve them, we've just sped up evolution in whatever direction we define as strongest, and maybe those wolves on other planets will be gigantic; or maybe they'll be small, domestic puppies that only look like wolves. Maybe the buffalo will be affected by new ecosystems and become something not at all like a buffalo. Maybe the panthers will go feral in the domes on the moon and get smaller, longer-legged, arboreal in the light Gs. Who knows? We would only have saved this moment in their evolution; in the future, we can't guarantee that anything we save will still be that thing, even if we only stay on this one planet.

Conservation seems to have this idea that we can stop time, and that's not the point. The point is to not kill everything so the ecosystem can stay solid; the individual animals are less important than the whole, because while wolves and buffalo and panthers are impressive, if they were all entirely gone, other things would step up to fill the roles of hunters and herbivores, and the ecosystem would eventually balance out again and be fine.

geeeks unite!: comic con, june 2010

I'm firmly behind the idea of ironic protest. Everything else has gone ironic, right? And protesting is such a hot-button topic all the damn time while simultaneously being mostly ignored, that I think this is exactly what the whole thing needs: people using the format to comment on other people using it unironically.

There are great pictures of the geekery here.

The mood of the states based on Twitter. Also, look how relatively happy Florida is... which leads directly to the question 'why is everyone so mean to me, then?'. Also, look how many twitterers are from California, and how no one's particularly cheerful in Maine.

link: Routines for Starting Your Day

Routines for Starting Your Day

Eat a healthy breakfast. (Don't forget to feed the kids too.)

Watch or listen to the news or read the newspaper (from your doorstep or online).

Get dressed and cleaned up.

Check your messages.

Get out your daily planner.

Do your morning chores.

link: The Laws of Saving Time

The Laws of Saving Time:

"Have a place for everything, and keep everything in it's place for quick retrieval.

Your New Motto: I don't have to do everything; I just have to do something.

Do as much as you can ahead of time.

Automate as much as possible.

Multitask whenever it is possible and safe.

Clean as you go.

Don't be afraid to say "no" when somebody asks you to do something you just don't have time for (or don't want to do).

Delegate tasks

If you get somewhere early or finish a project before expected, do productive things to fill your time.

Whenever you go on an errand, try to do other errands along the way.

Limit interruptions.

If you have kids, learn to break down projects into very small steps that only take 5 minutes or so."

letters to the aether

Dear Universe,
It would be nice if the drama would back off for more than just a few days. I have enough on my plate right now, and I don't need more of this crap. Also, it's alarming how many ambulances have been coming downtown this past week. If this is the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, I'm so not pleased.
Spikes,
Me

ps: it would be nice if I had a nice boy to hide away with while I waited for all this mess to blow over.

coming to computer screens near you: professional fangirl!

This is what I said on Facebook:

Also! Calling all Geeks! I've decided to start an incredibly low-budget online TV show called Professional Fangirl, and I need content! Anything geeky counts: reenact your favorite parts of shows and movies, have a puppet show, react to things of a geeky nature, make a fan vid of an episode you think is missing, interview people you know, film up to three minutes of discussions or board games or whatever!

Send me tips, topics, things you'd like to see, clips of people saying the word Geek, quick soundbites on why geeks are awesome, reaction vids on the geekiest things you've seen this week, how-tos of anything in teh realm of geekery, links to things I need to see, ANYTHING! The best and the brightest and the funniest will (eventually) become segments in a sort of skit show. In the meantime, I'm saving up for a flip video, and then anything is fair game. I'm aiming for distinct seasons, with an Alpha Season of uploaded clips and a Beta Season of little mini episodes, and then Season 1.0 with maybe ten or thirteen episodes of 15 minutes each. Let the info-gathering begin!

 So you've been warned. I have no idea how to edit video, I'm not a very good actress, I'm damn near broke, and I have very limited time, but I want to do this, so it'll eventually get done, a little at a time, and then I'll be a STAR, and I'll sell the show to Comedy Central or SciFi (sorry, SyFy) or something, and I'll be moderately famous in an incredibly self-referential and fan-referential way. It will be awesome. As soon as I figure out how to not look like an ugly monster on a low-budge video.

It'll all happen on my YouTube Channel.

Check it

Guys--I am totally posting this from my new iPad. Sweet, no?

neat green things: Will Obama's New Walking and Biking Initiatives Entice Americans Out of Their Cars? - Planet Green

Will Obama's New Walking and Biking Initiatives Entice Americans Out of Their Cars? - Planet Green

More money spent on alternative means of transport can only be for the best. I don't know if it's the intention, but this is one of those policies that are multi-directional: the main point is to get us less dependent on oil so that things like the energy crisis don't damage our framework as much, but the result is things like the fact that people who walk and bike are healthier and tend to have stronger ties to their city because they have to engage with it, which creates stronger communities and more pride in how the city works, which creates stronger cities. And that leads to a stronger country, doesn't it? Being safer also means less stress, less fear and more willingness to try the new bike trails. More foot traffic means areas that couldn't support walk-in business now can.

Even if only a portion of people go along, that frees up a lot of resources, and maybe the people who don't walk or bike will be more open to other sorts of alt transport, because the main reason they didn't switch to the trails is because they live too far away or something. Then, well-run city buses are an option, or streetcars which can be run off batteries, or maglev trains, or any number of sleek and modern, energy-efficient, emissions-free, people-movers. Done correctly, they, too can foster a sense of community, of coming together when the usual society is more about individuality to the point of not even relating to anyone else and not caring about the place where you live because you don't even know your neighbors.

I think community is what will save us in the end: if everyone pulls together, the government can do anything, because WE are the source of it's power, ultimately. And it's about time we started doing something about that.

gradschool: and it begins

One more day of work, then tomorrow it's all packing and calling for shuttle reservations and trying to remember everything I need to do before I leave and gathering addresses for postcards and so on. Maybe a jaunt to the post office for a book of stamps (since they're closed today). It's only a week, but I'm pretending it's a whole semester since I'll be staying in the dorms and I have to bring pillows and blankets and stuff. Trying to remember what dorm life was like, and I figure I'll whittle it down next time when I have the chance-- and next time will be in a hotel, anyway, since kids will still be living in the dorms over winter break...

I keep running into more things I didn't know I had to have-- like the name of a craft-of-writing book that I'll have to read and write a paper on this semester on top of everything else. I'm hoping that it just seems overwhelming because I don't know what to expect, not because it really will be-- I'm overwhelmed enough by my normal life!

Tuesday early is my flight out, and I'll be journalling along the way since the airports should have wifi and the school definitely will.

video: laughing baby

And there's this one. This is the sort of thing that makes me want to have kids!

This is exactly how I would want to have my father-daughter dance... if I wasn't, you know, spastically uncoordinated...

ThinkGeek :: ThinkGeek's Ultimate GeekDad Giveaway

ThinkGeek :: ThinkGeek's Ultimate GeekDad Giveaway

This is the most super-awesome grand prize I ever geeked.

neat green things: A Himalayan Village Builds Artificial Glaciers to Survive Global Warming [Slide Show]: Scientific American Slideshows

A Himalayan Village Builds Artificial Glaciers to Survive Global Warming [Slide Show]: Scientific American Slideshows

This is a brilliant use of local resources to solve a debilitating problem: a retired engineer uses local stones, which mountains have in abundance, to build walls which catch runoff from the shrinking glaciers, trapping the water so it can re-freeze into temporary glaciers that save the villages that are dependent on them! Like freezing reservoirs that keep the water from trickling away and helping no one. And it's incredibly low-tech. Amazing. Maybe he can show other people all over the world how to do this, and then some of the poorest people who are being hit first by glacial melt-off can be helped until something bigger-scale and be built.

shonagonisms: topics that matter to me

Human rights / Gay rights / Equal rights -- Everyone should have the same rights
Literacy
Environmentalism and Greening your life
Space exploration to save ourselves and keep moving forward
Education -- the more that's mandatory and diversified, the better
Non-coporate-ness / Small business / Handmade and Local
Food Supply and control
Archaeological Conservation Protection and Preservation
Religious tolerance and middle-of-the-roading as a defense against fundamentalism from all sides
Social reform -- the kind that verges on socialism because I think our governing bodies should take care of us
Tattoos as art and the acceptance there of
Scotland and Scots
Support of redheads and perpetration of the gene
Exogamy
Gardening for food and beauty
Geekery as a valid academic practice and subject, and even a way of life
Diversification of knowledge / Interdisciplinary studies and such
Seeking balance in all things
Travel as a way to save the world
Clean energy and the pointed need to turn over to it
Beauty
The preservation of old ways by learning and teaching them
Linguistics
The need to understand history and prehistory so we can keep moving forward
The obligation for better developed places to help those that aren't-- and the right of those that aren't to take the offer on their own terms
The creative solving of problems-- and finding better ways to re-solve old ones
Progress as the embrace of technology that improves lives
The slowing of life so that we can appreciate it and incorporate more of the good things into it
Food of the best sort

meme: all about me

Bold the ones that are true:

YOUR BOY SIDE—- 

You love hoodies. 
You love jeans. 
Dogs are better than cats. 
It’s hilarious when people get hurt. 
Shopping is torture.
Sad movies suck.
You own a car racing game.
You played with Hot Wheels cars as a kid. 
At some point in time you wanted to be a firefighter. 
You used to be obsessed with Power Rangers. 
You have watched sports on TV. 
Gory movies are cool.
You go to your dad for advice. 
You own like a trillion baseball caps.
You used to collect hockey cards.
Baggy sweats are cool to wear. 
It’s kinda weird to have sleepovers with a bunch of people.
Green, black, red, blue, or silver are one of your favorite colors or all. 
You love to go crazy and not care what people think. 
Sports are fun. 
You talk with food in your mouth. 
You sleep with your socks on at night. 
You have fished at least once. 

—-YOUR GIRL SIDE—-

You love to shop. 
You wear eyeliner. 
You wear the color pink. 
You go to your mom to talk. 
You consider cheerleading a sport.
You hate wearing the color black.
You like going to the mall.
You like getting manicures and/or pedicures.
You like wearing jewelry.
You cried watching The Notebook. 
Skirts are a big part of your wardrobe.
Shopping is one of your favorite hobbies.
You don’t like the movie Star Wars. 
You are/were in gymnastics.
It takes you at least one hour to shower, get dressed, and make-up. 
You smile a lot more than you should. 
You have more than 10 pairs of shoes.
You care about what you look like. 
You like wearing dresses when you can. 
You like wearing high heel shoes. 
You used to play with dolls as a little kid. 
You like putting make-up on others. 
You like being the star of everything.
Pink is one of your favorite colors. 

Appearance •

I am shorter than 5’2
I have many scars. 
I tan/burn easily. 
I wish my hair was a different colour. 
I have friends who have never seen my natural hair colour.
I have a tattoo. 
I am self-conscious about my appearance.
I’ve had/have braces. 

I’ve been told I’m attractive by a complete stranger. 
I have more than two piercings.
I have / had piercings in places besides my ears.

• Embarrassment •

I’ve slipped out a “lol” in a spoken conversation. 
Disney movies still make me cry. 
I’ve laughed so hard I’ve cried. 
I’ve glued my hand to something. 
I’ve laughed ’til some kind of beverage came out of my nose.
I’ve had my pants rip in public.

• Health •

I’ve gotten stitches. 
Broken/fractured a bone. 
I’ve had my tonsils removed.
I’ve sat in a doctor’s office with a friend. 
I’ve had my wisdom teeth removed.
I’ve had serious surgery.
I’ve had chicken pox. 

• Traveling •

I’ve driven/ riden over 200 miles in one day. 
I’ve been on a plane. 
I’ve been to Canada.
I’ve been to Cuba.
I’ve been to Niagara Falls. 
I’ve been to Ottawa.
I’ve gone to Sudbury.
I’ve been to the Caribbean.
I’ve been to Europe.
I’ve been to Florida. 

• Experiences •

I’ve gotten lost in my city.
I’ve seen a shooting star. 
I’ve wished on a shooting star. 
I’ve seen a meteor shower. I’ve gone out in public in my pajamas. 
I’ve pushed all the buttons on an elevator. 
I’ve kicked a guy where it hurts.
I’ve been to a casino.
I’ve been skydiving.
I’ve gone skinny-dipping.
I’ve drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour.
I’ve crashed/rolled a car.
I’ve been skiing.
I’ve been in a musical. 
I’ve caught a snowflake or snow on my tongue. 
I’ve seen the Northern Lights.
I’ve sat on a rooftop at night. 
I’ve played a prank on someone. 
I’ve ridden in a taxi. 
I’ve seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
I’ve eaten Sushi. 
I’ve been snowboarding.

• Relationships •

I’m single. 
I’m in a relationship. 
I’m engaged.
I’m married.
I miss someone right now. 
I’ve gotten divorced.
I’ve told someone I loved them when I didn’t.
I’ve told someone I didn’t love them when I did. 

• Honesty / Crime •

I’ve done something I promised someone else I wouldn’t. 
I’ve done something I promised myself I wouldn’t. 
I’ve snuck out
I’ve lied to my parents about where I am. 
I’ve cheated while playing a game. 
I’ve ran a red light
I’ve witnessed a crime. 
I’ve been in a fist fight.
I’ve been arrested.

• Death and Suicide •

I’m afraid of dying. 
I hate funerals. 
I’ve seen someone/ something dying. 
Someone close to me has attempted/ committed suicide. 
You have planned your own suicide. 
I’ve written a eulogy for myself.

• Materialism •

I own over 5 rap CD’s.
I have an unhealthy obsession with anime/ manga.
I own designer purses, costing over $100 a piece.
I own something from Pac Sun.
I own something from The Gap.
I own something I got on E-Bay.
I own something from Abercrombie.

• Random •

I can sing well. 
Stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant. 
Open up to others easily.
I watch the news. 
I don’t kill bugs.
I sing in the shower. 
I am a morning person.
I paid for my cell phone ring tone.
I am a sports fanatic.
I twirl my hair.
I care about grammar. 
I have “?”’s in my screen name.
I love spam.
I’ve copied more than 30 CD’s in a day.
I bake well. 
My favorite color is either white, yellow, pink, red, blue, black, purple, or orange
I would wear pajamas to school.
I like Martha Stewart.
I know how to shoot a gun.
I am guilty of tYpInG lIkE tHiS. 
I laugh at my own jokes.
I eat fast food weekly. 
I’ve not turned anything in and still got an A in a certain class. 
I can’t sleep if there is a spider in the room.
I am really ticklish. 
I like white chocolate. 
I bite my nails. 
I’m good at remembering faces. 
I’m good at remembering names.
I’m good at remembering dates.
I honestly have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life. 

All my answers were totally honest.