Meme Time

Follow That Dog tagged me for a meme. I think I'm supposed to give you six random facts about me. Since I struggled so much to write that 100 Things post, I'm not sure I've got six more in me, but we'll see. What with barely leaving my house these days and barely ever talking to anyone, there's not much to say.

1. There is a pool at the apartment complex where I live. Very early this morning I heard little kids screaming at the pool and it made me smile. Until I heard little feet running on the concrete, when I thought "I bet that little fucker is wearing Crocs."

2. Thanks to some excellent advice, I changed my AOL plan and now it's free. Yes, I use AOL. No, I'm not impressed that you've never used it. No, I didn't know before this that they offered a free plan. I also canceled my Netflix account, which makes me sad. I love movies, and was not seeing nearly all the ones I wanted to, assuring myself I could see them on Netflix. The Netflix lady was really nice, which made me comfortable enough to ask if there was, by any chance, some way to save my precious queue. Happily, she said the queue will stay for two years and if at any point during that time I'm ready to rejoin, I can.

3. Everyone from high school is married. Literally every single person. Even the people who were really, really mean to me. Once, when my brother had gone to Florida, I went with my parents to the airport to pick him up. I was in middle school at the time, and at the airport I saw a boy in my grade coming up the gate, so I smiled at him. He sneered at me. That Monday in school I rounded a corner to hear him telling a bunch of other kids, "And when I got off the plane, the very first thing I saw? Green fucking YOGURT!" Even he is married now.

4. Last week when I was walking down the hill towards the MUNI station I found a dollar bill. I stopped picking up pennies years ago, thinking I should leave them for little kids who are still young enough to get excited over finding pennies, but I definitely picked up that dollar.

5. I have been trying to reach my grandpa for about three weeks now, to no avail. He has been in the hospital since last week. I am very sad and scared. Not that he'll die, really. He's 90, and dying is what old people do. I understand that. But I'm sad because I feel like he's stressed and confused and going to die because he's giving up, rather than dying because he's tired and feels like he's had a good run. That's just not the way I want him to go out, and not what I think he wants for himself.

6. The last four times a temp agency has called to check my availability saying they may have a law firm that needs me, ultimately they've called back to say they don't need me after all - whoever was about to go on vacation has canceled it and a temp won't be necessary. So late last week when they called to see if I'm available this week and next I said yes, but I won't believe it until I'm actually walking past security.

Meme Time

Your favorite nurse and mine, Nurse Jack, has tagged me for a meme. Yes, Nurse.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was 21, living at my parent's house, working for a 26 year-old lawyer as her very first secretary, at my first job as a secretary. Oh, and going to school at night. Oh, and working at a tennis club at night and on the weekends. I was a bit busy. I had no friends. I had no life.

2. What are the five things at the top of your "to-do" list:
A. Get job stability.
A and a half. Get health insurance.
B. Eat healthily.
C. Go to yoga.
D. Write often, and write well.
E. Once I have health insurance, really use it, and go to doctors. Take care of the medical issues I do not deal with.

3. What are five snacks you enjoy?
A. Plums/pluots
B. Chandler bing cherries
C. Raw almonds
D. Slightly frozen banana slices
E. Ice pops

4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionnaire. (I am assuming this means I have more than just one million dollars.)
BANK THE MONEY!!!!
Pay off my debt.
Go to Florida for my grandpa's 90th birthday.
Hire someone to teach me how to buy and cook certain foods that I'd eat if only I knew those things.
Buy a place to live after my lease ends.
Pay off Golden Boy's debt.
Open a private school.

5. Name some places you have lived.
Upstate New York, my brother's black leather couch, a hotel on Long Island, a senior citizen condo (that's right, I illegally lived at my grandpa's place for a while).

6. Name some bad habits you have.
Clenching my jaw, cracking my knuckles, trying to copy other people's writing styles that I like instead of trying to develop my own, not being open to salads that do not include lettuce.

7. Name some jobs you have had.
-Supermarket cashier (who remembers Foodtown, and the cashiers yelling out, 'I need a price!'?)
-During high school, an outlet shoestore (no, I did not have to touch feet).
- Worked at a men's clothing store in the mall. I can look at any man and know their jeans size now, even though I got fired from that job.
- Camp counselor at a free camp run by the town I grew up in.

Everyone who knows they need to update their blog but can't think of anything to write, consider yourselves tagged. And these two New York bitches should consider themselves tagged too.

Let's Share With the Group!

Abby tagged me. What's funny about this is that it comes through Nicole, who I interviewed a few weeks ago during her interview series. If you want me to interview you, let me know. It's exactly as much fun as I thought it would be.

What prompted you to start blogging? I wanted to start blogging back when I moved to Florida, except that I didn't know blogging existed. Despite that, I was pretty much writing blog posts in my head a few times a week, and kept thinking "I should write this shit down!" but never did. After moving to San Francisco, I stumbled upon a blog, read for a few months, and knew I should be doing that. So I e-mailed that blogger, asked a few questions and got up and running.

Have you ever been the victim of a crime? Not one anybody has been charged with, but yes. I got in two fights in ninth grade. Maybe they weren't charged because there was no blood and no bones were broken, I don't know. Oh yeah, and I was attacked by a crazy homeless guy shortly after moving here. Also no charges, and this time I know why - because I didn't call the police. If you're wondering why, it's because I wasn't badly hurt, and also more importantly (possibly only because I wasn't badly hurt) dude was crazy. I was looking into his eyes and could see that he was not seeing me. As soon as he realized what he was doing, he backed off.

Have you ever witnessed someone else being the victim of a crime? Shortly after moving to New York (understand that I was three and a half, so my memory is from the viewpoint of a child) my parents, brother, grandparents and I were at a diner (that has since burned down) when guys with guns crashed through the glass doors and chased each other through the restaurant. No shots fired. The crimes I've witnessed have mostly been of the stealing variety - seeing people steal from stores.

What is your favorite color? Why? Green, kelly green. Because I said so.

What talent or skill would you most like to have, that you feel you do not have? God bless it, this is such a hard question. I'd like to have me, but without the learning disabilities. Can we consider not being learning disabled a skill? Because I bump into several of them each time I go to try something. I'd love to feel like I could sing (even though a singer told me I can sing), I'd love to be able to pick up other languages easily, read music, navigate, understand when people say things... I could go on and on.

If you could go back and do one thing over in your life, what would it be? Would you make a change, or do everything exactly the same? I think I'd try to panic less. When you're panicking you can't focus on anything else - it's basically a huge time-suck. A lot of times people don't have the patience, interest or time to wait for you to get over your issues, and you miss whatever they said.

Oh, and you know what else I'd do over? Years ago, I was working in midtown Manhattan, and rushing to get to Penn Station at the end of the day. I had to cut through Grand Central Station to get to Penn, and I pushed *really* hard on a revolving door to make it move fast. There was an old lady in front of me, and as I exited the revolving door, she turned to me and said, "I almost fell." I am so ashamed of what I did next. I shrugged and rushed off. I've never told anybody about this. Any time this memory from nine years ago pops into my head, a wave of shame rushes through me, and I want to (cry and) find her and apologize profusely. If I could, I'd slow down and not have made that old lady scared she was going to fall down, and I'd certainly have at the very least, apologized for scaring someone.

What do you consider your most physically attractive asset? (Hair, legs, smile, etc.) I'm supposed to say my eyes, because they're blue, but ... eh. I have great calf muscles, and a great smile. If I give you a shit-eating grin, you will not be able to resist smiling back at me.

When do you feel the most vulnerable? Umm... any time I'm not in my bed? Yeah, any time I'm in public really. Any time concentrated attention is on me. I really hate when a slew of people are looking at me. Any time I'm supposed to be learning something.

If you were a rap star, what would your stage name be? I don't know, but you know who would? Golden Boy, in an instant.

What is your favorite curse word? It's not exactly a curse word, but Cowboy and Nice Partner used to say, "God bless it!" really vehemently, and I totally dug it. It comes from Nice Partner's late father, and I should use it more. Fuck is so played out.

Use it in a sentence and tag five other bloggers you'd like to answer the same questions. God fucking bless it, I never know who to pick for these things! I want to pick people who'll actually partake in the festive meal, not just show up for the matzah balls, you know? No? That's okay, me either. Michael, Wide Lawns, Mama Nabi, Dan of [redacted], and TC of I Have Things, please consider yourselves tagged and blog accordingly. Thank you.

*I don't know why it's all in italics - I can't seem to turn it off.

I've Been Memed (I May Sue)

Mamikaze tagged me for a Flickr meme. Here are my rules:

- Go to Flickr.

- Type your answer into the "search" box.

- Pick an image from the first page.

- Copy and paste answer into blog.

- Tag five bloggers.

My (Hebrew) name is: (Adina)

My relationship status is: (all by myself)

My favorite color is: (kelly green)


My celebrity crush: (Chris Meloni)



I am listening to: (the sound of my hairdryer as 9am uses it to clean the fan in his computer)

My favorite Disney princess: (does not exist)

My favorite adult beverage: (means nothing to me)

My dream vacation: (suggest somewhere)


When I grow up I want to be: (content)
Okay, to be honest, I am stopping before this meme is over because it's taking so long and I am tired and so many of these question just don't apply to me. You can see the rest of the questions at Mamikaze's blog.

But if I were forced, here are the people I'd tag to do this:

Meeks
Nicole
Silliyak
Bueno Scotty
Student Nurse Jack

The Day I Went Crazy (and Volunteered For a Meme)

I don't know what came over me. Boredom at work? Or perhaps, boredom at work? Whatever the reason, here we are. (Hi!) So before I dash out for my two hour lunch to meet a friend from high school that I've only seen once since we parted ways in 1994, back when we both rocked plaid flannel shirts like nobody's business, let's see if I can bang out these questions Kristy gave me.

1. Uh oh! Unexpected company's coming. If you only have time to do ONE thing (including hiding something unsightly), what's it gonna be?

The options are overwhelming. Clorox Wipe every horizontal surface? Windex the mirrors? Empty the garbages? But no. I'll go with the all-inclusive Hide All Messes. Messes are compiled of mail, magazines, books and dirty clothes for the most part, with some ATM receipts thrown in for good luck.

2. Is there an episode of a television show, or a scene in a movie that, no matter how many times you've seen it, makes you cry? If so, which? If not...how come?

Cry with laughter, yes. Think Will & Grace. Okay, now think hard and tell me if you ever saw their blooper reel that they did once. There's a scene where Grace has to give blood, and the person taking the blood looks very young. Grace says something to the doctor like, "Are you sure she's old enough to be a nurse? She barely looks old enough to ride a Big Wheel!"

And the nurse chimes in, complete with a lisp (ask me to do this in person, I do it really well, you'll laugh) by replying, "Oh, I don't drive. I keep taking the teths over and over again, but then I'm all, 'Thith ith hard!" (Sorry, I'm not sure how to write lisps. And we won't even discuss the cruely of the word 'lisp' having an 'S' in it.)

Debra Messing kept cracking up after the nurse delivered those lines. So did I.

The other scene that brings tears to my eyes is from your favorite show and mine, My So-Called Life. It's early morning, and Angela is getting ready for school. She had music on, and the song was Blister In the Sun. Angela danced around her room to the music, happy as can be, before leaving her room wearing plaid boxer shorts over leggings with a navy blue shirt that had orange on it (I seem to have a photographic memory for images). She arrived at the kitchen table for breakfast, sullen and all wrapped in Angry Teenager. That was exactly how I felt then.

3. What's your favorite pasta dish?

Hands down, baked ziti. I cook it well. Come on over.

4. I say I'm a morning person, because I feel like that's when I'm most alert and productive. It doesn't mean it's my favorite time of day, though. (Often it is, but I think that's coincidental.) What time of day person are you, and what does it mean to you to say that?

I seem to be substituting "productive" with "creative" which the part of me that psychoanalyzes myself prompts me to wonder if perhaps I only feel productive when I'm being creative. But no, that's not true, there are lots of other ways I'm productive.

I used to be a night person. Being a night person made me an anti-morning person. But, being a depressed person, I realized in order to fight the depression, I had to get up in the mornings.
Then I started having trouble sleeping and became a morning person for a while. Now I've evened out a bit, and am kind of a middle of the day person. Maybe I'm simply a situational person - I'll get up early to hit the Farmer's Market on a Saturday just as easily as I'll stay up past midnight if I'm on a roll writing something.

5. I remember reading that you're more likely to gravitate toward dog people than cat people (I'm probably paraphrasing). Do you think that goes for all dogs, though? I mean, what about someone who has HUGE dogs, or someone who has a couple tiny, hairless yappy things? Does that change it up for you? :)

In a word, yes. People who own dogs score a point for that, it's just that simple. I'm probably more wary of the tiny, hairless yappers than I am of big dogs. I equate yappers with biters, for no good reason (I've never been bitten by a dog). To my readers who are cat people, please don't think I don't like you, because I do. I've met some great cat people (and cats).

Okay, so that was fun. If you want to have fun too, tell me that in the comments and I'll come up with five questions specifically for YOU. (Yes, I know, not exactly following the rules, but ... yeah I've got no good excuses, I'm just not.)