Random oddities and stupid moments along the way.
I've been swamped as of late. Hence, no blogging and few if any personal emails have gone out. Well, while clearing my head tonight I filled out a crazy survey of sorts. I'm posting here . . . Hopefully in a week or so, I'll be up to posting more. Maybe.
1. While I have never been arrested (knock on wood), I have had more than my share of altercations with the police. My personal favorite was flirting with a cop, who developed a crush on me (over a period of two years), so that my friends could hide the keg. The "owner" of the keg graduated college two weeks later, and a week after that he signed up with the sheriff's office. He he he. There was another incident where I may or may not have been drunk and climbing a local bridge. The cops arrived and I told them I was allergic to the ground. How I didn't end up in jail, dead, or with a citation I do not know. I was lucky.
2. I am 5 foot 3 inches, and I did not reach that height until I turned 21. Seriously, I had puberty twice. At least the second time I was intoxicated for the college years.
3. I have a semi-permanent gig at a four year research institution, but I do not have health insurance. Furthermore, I have started my third academic book, and I am without a tenure-track line or health insurance. The current path of my life is very strange . . .
4. I only run for the high. Seriously. I find the act of running tiresome, painful, and (often) boring. But I find the function and purpose of running to be exhilarating. Hence, I force myself to run at least three times a week. I am looking to start running more, but I have learned from experience that I should gradually increase my body's mileage. There is nothing more stimulating for my workday than to pathetically job/walk between three and five miles then come home and write four or five pages. These pages usually get written while I still stink of sweat and pant from my post-run finish.
5. I once won a pig chasing contest. I was 24.
6. When I travel alone, outside the United States, I tell people I am from Canada. I do this because I get tired of trying to explain that I am not a rich American. Also, it's just funny. Actually, while in Montreal I told folks I was from Toronto. I pointed to my mother, across the room and whispered that she was an American (I did so in French). The clerk and I chatted, she listened to me converse with my mother, she gave me a discount for being "Canadian," and she never did put two and two together.
7. I have always had a love affair with the ocean, and being inland for the past few months has reaffirmed this fact. I am saved by the fact that I smell the salty air of the Atlantic everyday as I drive into Norfolk. If you have a nose adapted for the salty aroma, you can spot it over the oil, soot, and carbon emissions of the Naval base and Norfolk plants.
8. As a small child I was terrified of the skybirds. I thought they would come and take me away. My father and brother used to tell me that, and to this day I do not know what skybirds are. Yet, if my brother were still alive, you could bet he would yell out "skybirds" and I would look up. I was 26 the last time we did that.
9. I can tell you when I have been the saddest, loneliest, poorest, and sickest. But, I can not tell you when I have been my happiest. I like to think that this comes from always hoping things will get better.
10. Even though I write about Wonder Woman, and so many of her manifestations, as a child I NEVER read comic books. Oddly, my brother and I used to play superhero games (which consisted of us jumping off the garage roof onto freshly graded soil for the soon to be garden below), but I was never Wonder Woman. I, in all seriousness here, played Batman and he played Wonder Woman. Also, I never read a Wonder Woman comic until I was 26 and starting research on my dissertation. Now I can tell you far, far too much about Wonder Woman, her counterparts, and the make-up of comic books. I can even peg friends as comic book junkies, but I won't point their secret out to the world if they don't want it out there.
11. I have been a bridesmaid, or served in such capacity, at several weddings but I have NEVER had to wear the dress. He he he. There is only one of these friends that I am still really close to, Jen and Nelson, and perhaps that is the reason that Jen had me as more than what would be called a bridesmaid. Hey, it was a Vegas wedding . . . labels don't apply.
12.I protested the First Gulf War. I have a letter from the first Bush attesting such. I was 13.
13. I have lived in nine states, and I only desire to live on one more--Massachusetts. Boston, MA to be exact. Unfortunately, it looks like I will have to travel to a few more destinations before I get there.
14. I used to joke that when I finished my dissertation catastrophe would occur. I defended in December 2007 and the US entered a recession. I formally submitted it to the graduate school in April, and nightmares happened with banking. I no longer joke about these things.
15. I have two dream locations to live in. See number 13 and the other is Istanbul. Neither should be a surprise if you know me, and you should also know that I am working beyond belief to make these things come true. Sadly, the economy is not cooperating.
16.I have been single more than I have been in a relationship, I generally don't tell people until it has hit the crapper, and my friends no longer put "and guest" on wedding invites. They already know that I will be coming solo. I even have to admit that is a little bit sad.
17. Of all the places I have lived, I can not say that there is not one that I truly miss. Sometimes I will miss smells, sounds, the sky in the early morning (i.e. New Mexico), or a moment of a season. In all reality, I can not see myself ever calling a place home for an indefinite amount of time. I like to have the freedom/mobility to move when I get bored or fed up with a locale. Generally, that is a good thing about my profession . . . but (as before) this economy is not making job seeking easy/feasible. I can honestly say that I I really do miss New England.
18. When I was a child I only wanted siblings to share my secrets with and laugh over spilled jacks. In my adulthood I know that idealistic visions rarely come true.
19. I often use "History by Hollywood" methods to teach key points in my class. That means we will reference popular movies, and debunk them for what really did or did not happen. Though, I dread getting to the Revolutionary War section. My students already know the movie game, and they always ask me about that damned Mel Gibson movie (_The Patriot_). Perhaps I wouldn't hate it so much if J-Mo and I hadn't shared a shit box apartment one year, and she didn't watch that movie every. single. day. from Memorial Day to Labor Day. She broke from Labor Day until Halloween for Hocus Pocus. Seriously. I attempted to sleep, in a steep summer heat, to the sounds of guns and canon explosions. Oh yea . . . she's a seasonal movie watcher, and I hid her copies behind the cleaning supplies. She never cleaned. Good call on my part. He he he
20. I own more books than I do clothing. I take great pride in this fact. You should also know, that I am girly girl, at times, so my having more books than clothing or shoes really says something.
21. I think the chain store is the death of culture and soul, and I believe that we should make a constitutional amendment to bring back the local boutique. I hate it that I am reduced to shopping at Banana Republic, The Gap, and The Limited to only walk into my class and see several students wearing the same thing.
22. To continue with 21 I get disturbed when students start dressing like me. I realize that we live in a cookie cutter culture, but the stores and clothes I buy and shop at are not targeted at 18 to 25 year olds. Emulation is not always the highest form of flattery. I also know that I should take these gestures as signs of atonement and honor. I try to, the best I can.
23. I only write with cross ink pens and a Waterman fountain. One cross pen was my grandfather's, one was a defense present, and the Waterman was a gift I bought myself. Matt will be happy to know that I don't write with neon purple ink these days. I do have purple ink for the fountain, but it is deep purple.
24.The Waterman I bought myself with the money from the first anthology series I wrote for (back in 2006). If I see any royalties from this first book I plan on buying a Coach briefcase or an iPhone. Yet, we should all remember it is an academic book. You don't write those for the money . . . only the glory. ;) I will be lucky if these royalties buy me a cup of coffee.
25. Sometimes I still pull out old vinyl albums and listen to them. I find the pops, cracks, and white noise comforting in an age where everything is so over the top right here, right now.
1. While I have never been arrested (knock on wood), I have had more than my share of altercations with the police. My personal favorite was flirting with a cop, who developed a crush on me (over a period of two years), so that my friends could hide the keg. The "owner" of the keg graduated college two weeks later, and a week after that he signed up with the sheriff's office. He he he. There was another incident where I may or may not have been drunk and climbing a local bridge. The cops arrived and I told them I was allergic to the ground. How I didn't end up in jail, dead, or with a citation I do not know. I was lucky.
2. I am 5 foot 3 inches, and I did not reach that height until I turned 21. Seriously, I had puberty twice. At least the second time I was intoxicated for the college years.
3. I have a semi-permanent gig at a four year research institution, but I do not have health insurance. Furthermore, I have started my third academic book, and I am without a tenure-track line or health insurance. The current path of my life is very strange . . .
4. I only run for the high. Seriously. I find the act of running tiresome, painful, and (often) boring. But I find the function and purpose of running to be exhilarating. Hence, I force myself to run at least three times a week. I am looking to start running more, but I have learned from experience that I should gradually increase my body's mileage. There is nothing more stimulating for my workday than to pathetically job/walk between three and five miles then come home and write four or five pages. These pages usually get written while I still stink of sweat and pant from my post-run finish.
5. I once won a pig chasing contest. I was 24.
6. When I travel alone, outside the United States, I tell people I am from Canada. I do this because I get tired of trying to explain that I am not a rich American. Also, it's just funny. Actually, while in Montreal I told folks I was from Toronto. I pointed to my mother, across the room and whispered that she was an American (I did so in French). The clerk and I chatted, she listened to me converse with my mother, she gave me a discount for being "Canadian," and she never did put two and two together.
7. I have always had a love affair with the ocean, and being inland for the past few months has reaffirmed this fact. I am saved by the fact that I smell the salty air of the Atlantic everyday as I drive into Norfolk. If you have a nose adapted for the salty aroma, you can spot it over the oil, soot, and carbon emissions of the Naval base and Norfolk plants.
8. As a small child I was terrified of the skybirds. I thought they would come and take me away. My father and brother used to tell me that, and to this day I do not know what skybirds are. Yet, if my brother were still alive, you could bet he would yell out "skybirds" and I would look up. I was 26 the last time we did that.
9. I can tell you when I have been the saddest, loneliest, poorest, and sickest. But, I can not tell you when I have been my happiest. I like to think that this comes from always hoping things will get better.
10. Even though I write about Wonder Woman, and so many of her manifestations, as a child I NEVER read comic books. Oddly, my brother and I used to play superhero games (which consisted of us jumping off the garage roof onto freshly graded soil for the soon to be garden below), but I was never Wonder Woman. I, in all seriousness here, played Batman and he played Wonder Woman. Also, I never read a Wonder Woman comic until I was 26 and starting research on my dissertation. Now I can tell you far, far too much about Wonder Woman, her counterparts, and the make-up of comic books. I can even peg friends as comic book junkies, but I won't point their secret out to the world if they don't want it out there.
11. I have been a bridesmaid, or served in such capacity, at several weddings but I have NEVER had to wear the dress. He he he. There is only one of these friends that I am still really close to, Jen and Nelson, and perhaps that is the reason that Jen had me as more than what would be called a bridesmaid. Hey, it was a Vegas wedding . . . labels don't apply.
12.I protested the First Gulf War. I have a letter from the first Bush attesting such. I was 13.
13. I have lived in nine states, and I only desire to live on one more--Massachusetts. Boston, MA to be exact. Unfortunately, it looks like I will have to travel to a few more destinations before I get there.
14. I used to joke that when I finished my dissertation catastrophe would occur. I defended in December 2007 and the US entered a recession. I formally submitted it to the graduate school in April, and nightmares happened with banking. I no longer joke about these things.
15. I have two dream locations to live in. See number 13 and the other is Istanbul. Neither should be a surprise if you know me, and you should also know that I am working beyond belief to make these things come true. Sadly, the economy is not cooperating.
16.I have been single more than I have been in a relationship, I generally don't tell people until it has hit the crapper, and my friends no longer put "and guest" on wedding invites. They already know that I will be coming solo. I even have to admit that is a little bit sad.
17. Of all the places I have lived, I can not say that there is not one that I truly miss. Sometimes I will miss smells, sounds, the sky in the early morning (i.e. New Mexico), or a moment of a season. In all reality, I can not see myself ever calling a place home for an indefinite amount of time. I like to have the freedom/mobility to move when I get bored or fed up with a locale. Generally, that is a good thing about my profession . . . but (as before) this economy is not making job seeking easy/feasible. I can honestly say that I I really do miss New England.
18. When I was a child I only wanted siblings to share my secrets with and laugh over spilled jacks. In my adulthood I know that idealistic visions rarely come true.
19. I often use "History by Hollywood" methods to teach key points in my class. That means we will reference popular movies, and debunk them for what really did or did not happen. Though, I dread getting to the Revolutionary War section. My students already know the movie game, and they always ask me about that damned Mel Gibson movie (_The Patriot_). Perhaps I wouldn't hate it so much if J-Mo and I hadn't shared a shit box apartment one year, and she didn't watch that movie every. single. day. from Memorial Day to Labor Day. She broke from Labor Day until Halloween for Hocus Pocus. Seriously. I attempted to sleep, in a steep summer heat, to the sounds of guns and canon explosions. Oh yea . . . she's a seasonal movie watcher, and I hid her copies behind the cleaning supplies. She never cleaned. Good call on my part. He he he
20. I own more books than I do clothing. I take great pride in this fact. You should also know, that I am girly girl, at times, so my having more books than clothing or shoes really says something.
21. I think the chain store is the death of culture and soul, and I believe that we should make a constitutional amendment to bring back the local boutique. I hate it that I am reduced to shopping at Banana Republic, The Gap, and The Limited to only walk into my class and see several students wearing the same thing.
22. To continue with 21 I get disturbed when students start dressing like me. I realize that we live in a cookie cutter culture, but the stores and clothes I buy and shop at are not targeted at 18 to 25 year olds. Emulation is not always the highest form of flattery. I also know that I should take these gestures as signs of atonement and honor. I try to, the best I can.
23. I only write with cross ink pens and a Waterman fountain. One cross pen was my grandfather's, one was a defense present, and the Waterman was a gift I bought myself. Matt will be happy to know that I don't write with neon purple ink these days. I do have purple ink for the fountain, but it is deep purple.
24.The Waterman I bought myself with the money from the first anthology series I wrote for (back in 2006). If I see any royalties from this first book I plan on buying a Coach briefcase or an iPhone. Yet, we should all remember it is an academic book. You don't write those for the money . . . only the glory. ;) I will be lucky if these royalties buy me a cup of coffee.
25. Sometimes I still pull out old vinyl albums and listen to them. I find the pops, cracks, and white noise comforting in an age where everything is so over the top right here, right now.
Comments
You're putting it in the player now, aren't you?
Pfft.
PIG CHASING?!
I like #9
Can I read some of your stuff on wonder woman?
#20... ditto
#22... so I don't think I dressed like you, but... well you know the rest. HAHAHAHAHA.
I want a nice pen!!