bookmoth

Meme stolen from SondraK

Countdown...

10 happy thoughts:
1. snow
2. butterflies
3. books
4. getting writing published
5. scrapbook supply stores
6. making photographs
7. my love
8. awareness of self-defense
9. getting magazines in the mail
10. cheetahs

9 of your favorite things:
1. books
2. journals
3. diet Coke
4. piano
5. letters in the mail
6. photo albums
7. stained glass
8. diamonds
9. live music

8 reasons to not live in the South:
1. heat
2. difficulty inserting oneself into society
3. no snow (or very little, anyway)
4. miserable hot summers
5. you'll be stereotyped by the "North"
6. hearing again and again about the "War of Northern Aggression"
7. the slow pace
8. few international airports

7 things you would like to receive as gifts:
1. Maxfield Parish paintings, in a book
2. shopping spree at the local craft store
3. songs or poems written about me
4. a book picked 'specially for me
5. subscription to the Economist (it's so expensive!)
6. old family photographs
7. time

6 people bloggers you know who would be interesting fictional characters:
1. Kim du Toit
2. Frank J.
3. Citizen Smash
4. Terpsboy
5. Rusty Shackleford
6. Eugene Volokh

5 addictions:
1. Caffeine
2. Reading
3. Bookstores
4. Writing
5. Cute animals like lizards and mice and baby monkeys

4 dream jobs:
1. Freelance Writer
2. Secretary for my beloved
3. Scrapbooking teacher
4. Psychology researcher

3 wishes you would make if you found a magical genie in a lamp:
1. ability to stop time (without aging)
2. ability to play guitar
3. money enough to by land and build a secure homestead for me and my belovved

2 places you would like to visit:
1. Alaska
2. Falkland Islands

1 memory that comes to mind when you read this:
1. Choice. I can choose which of these to do, be, or accomplish.

So sick. But I'm at work, and working. I will force myself through this.

But I want to talk about books. I just finished Used and Rare : Travels in the Book World by Lawrence Goldstone and Nancy Goldstone. I loved it. It's non-fiction, about the couples' "descent" into the rare book world, where people easily spend thousands of dollars for a single book. They start with a simple quest for War and Peace. Then they get intrigued by first editions and reprints and marginalia and begin visiting book dealers with whom they need to make appointments to see any books. My favorite line is "Holy shit! We just spent $700 on a book!"

I'm letting myself live vicariously though them. I do not want to get into that world. I can't understand valuing the object over the content. I remember when I wanted to read Moby Dick - we had a nice, gilded, leather-bound copy in the house that scared the little 7th-grade me. I bought the cheapest paperback I could find, immediately broke its spine, and read the most famous book by the man who now is one of my favorite authors.

Besides - I went to a book fair this weekend. I spent $11 and got 10 books. I'd have no money for rent if I spent hundreds of dollars per book.

I finished the Bethesda Magazine story on gold mines in Bethesda! That felt great. I definately put in more work than I had expected, and really more work than I was paid for, but I'm proud of what I turned in, and I'll be proud to have another clip from this magazine.

On another note...

I'm definately a night person.

I'm sick. I have a cold. I've been taking cold medicine, the sleepy kind, not the awake kind. But I can't sleep when I'm sick.

I've tried. I can't sleep. It's 4:45 Monday now. I go to work soon. And tonight I see my finace's family. Tomorrow I work all day. Wednesday I go to the State Capitol to testify for a bill I want passed. Thursday I have a paper due. Friday? No idea. With luck, I will have slept at least a little by then.

I'm filling my time reading and buying books (I went to a $1 a book sale today! Woo hoo!). And I'm writing little articles for WriteForCash.com for some extra money. Seeing as I'm awake anyway.

Maybe I'll try to sleep again.

Your Senior Year of High School via Mostly Cajun

What year was it?

1998

What was your schedule?

Calculus first thing. Then history, then chamber singers, then a short break. Lunch was at about 1. English came last. Not sure when free periods and physics happened.

What were your favorite bands?

R.E.M. The Cure. Toad the Wet Spocket. Guster.

What was your favorite outfit?

Baggy cargo pants, a baby-doll T-shirt, and a long sleeve (thrift store) silk shirt ovr it, unbuttoned. Sneakers

What was up with your hair?

Short. Chin length. I didn't like it and started growing it out immediately.

Who were your best friends?

I called them the amoeba.

Did you take the bus?

I took the commuter train.

What did you do after school?

Homework. Read books.

Who did you have a crush on?

Not saying.

Did you fight with your parents?

No, which frustrated my mom. I had lots of disagreements with them, but never voiced them.

Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?

David Duchovney.

Did you smoke cigarettes?

Only cloves.

Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?

Nope. It was a small school, though, so my locker was easy to find.

Did you have a ‘clique’?

Yeah, I guess.

Did you have Chili’s? Denny’s?

I don't think so. I didn't know the area well.

Who did you want to be just like?

me, whoever that was.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Happy.

Where did you think you’d be at the age you are now?

Alive, maybe.

More fun with memes! This one from Frank J.

THE 'WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?' BLOGGER QUIZ

1. Who the hell do you think you are?
- um, existentially? Oh, seriously. I'm a 24-year-old female living in Maryland.

2. So, other than blogging, what's your job? Do you work at some fast food joint, dumbass?
- I work full-time at a small company doing contract and grant work for places like NIH. I'm also working part-time toward an MA in psychology. And I have a decent start of a freelance writing career.

3. Do you have like any experience in journalism, idiot?
- I'm a paid, published writer of things other than politics, does that count?

4. Do you even read newspapers?
- Only the WSJ, excpet when Hunter S. Thompson died, and then I read all the eulogies I could find. Most of my news comes from the web, both blogs and MSM sites.

5. Do you watch any other news than FOX News propaganda, you ignorant fool?
- I hate FOX news. I like the Simpsons, though.

6. I bet you're some moron talk radio listener too, huh?
- If I had time, I'd listen to the Liddy Show. I disagree with half of what he says, but it's refreshing how respectful he is of everyone who calls in or come is to the studio. I dolisten to NRAnews.com though.

7. So, do you get a fax from the GOP each day for what to say, you @#$% Republican parrot?
- Sorry, I'm not a Republican.

8. Why do you and your blogger friends want to silence and fire everyone who disagrees with you, fascist?
- We don't. We just want the truth. Sometimes hearing the truth makes people want to fire other people. That's too bad.

9. Are you completely ignorant of other countries, or do you actually own a passport?
- I own a passport. I've been to over 20 countries. Never lived anywhere but the US, except for a few years in Canada.

10. Have you even been to another country, you dumb hick?
- See above. Last country I went to was Grand Cayman (or Canada...my chronology's mixed up). I hope to go to Kenya again this summer. Oh, and I'll go to the Dominican Republic in May.

11. If you're so keen on the war, why haven't you signed up, chickenhawk?
- I thought about it. But I have obligations at home. I doubt I'd pass the fitness tests. But I do support the troops with care packages and by giving money to Spirit of America.

12. Do you have any idea of the horrors of war? Have you ever reached into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face?
- No.

13. Have you ever reached into any pile of goo?
- No, but my fiance wants to take me goose and deer hunting.

14. Once again, who the hell do you think you are?!"
- Just a girl in the world.