Sunday O'Meme

Greetings, earthlings.

It has come to my attention that I haven't afflicted all of you with a "life-y" post lately. Since we are leafing through my life here, it seems only right that I should talk some about, well, me. I was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend complete with book sale and excessive laziness and maybe even a nice wrap up post for last week's Weekly Geeks, since I actually achieved the goal set forth therein, but alas, it was not to be. On Thursday, my best friend broke up with her dirtbag (opinion subject to change based on when/if she decides she can't go on without him) boyfriend, and being the good friend that I like to think that I am, I said, "you should drive down and hang out with me this weekend because I can't do anything for you from here." So instead of moping around all weekend and taking him back in a weak moment, she came down and uh...crashed my nice, easy, relaxing weekend. And I had good time - a great time even (and I didn't even miss the book sale!) - but I'd hardly term this weekend relaxing. Oh, we went to the movies (may I recommend not seeing You Don't Mess With the Zohan?), we wandered aimlessly about town, we made terrible jokes at each other's expense, we went to the local amusement park in the 90 degree heat to ride the roller coasters and that big huge ginormous log flume that soaks you so much that you leave a trail of water around the park and people that ride the roller coaster after you get an unpleasant surprise, we ate breakfast, we took pictures of ourselves (on roller coasters!), we played cards and ate fatty food. It was delightful. And not relaxing. I fear that it will be some time before I achieve any measure of relaxing during any time of the week.

Not that I need any help to talk about me, but Rose City Reader did tag me for that Six Random Things About You meme that seems to be always floating around. Since I don't seem to have the mental fortitude for much else (I need more relaxation, darnit!) Much to my surprise, I did manage to come up with six exceedingly random things to share today, so here it goes.

- I loathe eggs and milk. Yes, these two staple foods I simply cannot stand. According to my mother, I loved eggs for the first 5 or so years of my life. Now just the smell of them is enough to make me gag. I love dairy products - cheese, yogurt, ice cream - you name it, I want it. But milk? I can't remember ever liking milk. I begrudgingly put it on my cereal, but only in miniscule amounts. But I wouldn't dream of drinking the stuff!
- I love to dance in random situations. I am not a good dancer. I do not look good dancing. But I uh..."break into" dance at random intervals. I amuse my coworkers by grooving to the oldies at work. I dance to music on commercials with only my arms from the comfort of the recliner. I "dance" alone in my car (and with people in my car) proving to any passing motorists that I am, in fact, insane.
- I love riding rides at the amusement park. Okay, this isn't that random. But I used to be terrified of the rides with big drops or that went upside down. Now I love them and can barely handle rides that spin - which I used to love.
- I'm a science-phobe who works in a lab. All of my best friends are biology majors. Yet, despite testing into high school honors' science, science has always frightened me. I managed to dodge ever having to do a science lab in my college years despite the fact that I was probably required to do one. I slipped through a loophole. Now I practice amateur chemistry, file human tissue embedded in paraffin wax into tiny little drawers, and carry around coolers containing things like amputated legs and placentas that need to have parts prepped for microscopic examination. And I kind of like my job, and I'm rarely terrified by it's science-y implications. It's true that wonders never cease.
- I drove cross-country to Montana. Lots of people dream of taking a road trip across the United States. Most of them don't do it in January. Because that's stupid. I was going to take a job out there, then I didn't. So my dad and I drove all the way out. After two hours at the destination, we turned around and came back. The icy cold January wind nearly blew my debit card away twice while I was fueling up the car, my driver's side view mirror was nearly taken off by that same wind, and the gas cap was nearly swept away in similar fashion. It was 7 days of driving non-stop from before sunrise to after sunset (some days as many as 800 miles), except for our "tourist" day when we saw Mt. Rushmore and Wall Drug and drove a mere 280 miles. My dear old car, Buddy the Subaru, got us there and back. Amazingly. He's since been laid to rest. I still miss driving him.
- I moved to the city then moved back to the country and the thing I miss most is the public transportation (and my job at the bookstore! That was cool, too!) It used to be that I could travel back and forth to work (and pretty much anywhere else I felt like going) for a paltry $15 a week and read while traveling. Now I spend around $40 or $50 a week just to drive back and forth to work, and I lost all that reading time. And no, you're not going to sell me on listening to audio books. It's just not the same. Besides, I have to listen to the radio - and dance. ;-)


All right. That's six. And since I'm still at this meme thing, Mariel over at Where Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops tagged me for that one with the three sentences from page 123 one.

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

It happens that I've got a stacks of recent acquisitions piled all around me (more on those later - the month o' book sales has surely arrived), so I had some options. I kind of enjoyed the one from I Know You're Out There by Michael Beaumier the most, so that's what you're getting.

When he would visit my parents, he'd arrive with a goat in the back of his truck, which he would roast to perfection, or bags of beautiful organic tomatoes that he'd serve to them with mozzarella newly flown in from Italy, or gorgeous fillets of salmon caught wild in Alaska, or dry-aged steaks from Argentina, everything fresh, everything the best. Dad would shake his head and criticize Colin for spending his money on such frivolous, indulgent things - but mom would sit in the corner of her kitchen, watching, proudly amazed, not quite believing a son of hers could so confidently know his way around a kitchen.

My taste buds are far more welcoming of protein shakes and microwave popcorn, meals that are thoughtlessly easy to make and hardly require the annoyance of "savoring" or appreciating their "subtle delicacy" - so when Colin pontificates about food, I know to keep my mouth shut.


I'm not tagging for either, since I seem to see them around everywhere already, but if you want to do them, I'd be happy to read them!

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