Five

So, the Motel Manager has tagged me with a meme, which I'm only too happy to do.  You know, because it does the thinking for me, and anyway, who can resist a list?  Or making a rhyme at the end of a sentence?  Evidently not me.  So, called upon to list five things about me you may not already know, I offer the following.

1. I rode horses competitively until I was twenty-two.  I started with hunter-jumpers and moved on to Three-Day Eventing, also known as Combined Training, which has you doing dressage, cross-country jumping, and show jumping within one competition.  I had a pony of my own for a while, but mostly I scammed rides on other people's horses, or leased horses for a season.  I was never very good, but oh, how I loved it.  I still do.  My definition of perfect happiness will always involve galloping through the woods on a good horse and jumping everything in sight.

2. I have a tattoo on my right shoulder.  I know, I know.  But cut me some slack: I got it before every Chi Omega had one.  Also, I'd just gotten divorced and was in that cut-off-all-your-hair, buy-a-new-wardrobe, change-your-look stage of self-reinvention (in my case, I morphed from long-haired, big-earringed, tie-dyed, barefoot hippie to indefinable creature with cropped hair, J. Crew basics, and too-dark lipstick, a mix I wouldn't, even now, try to dignify with a name).  Also, I was living in South Dakota, on a reservation in the Badlands.  So, you know, Sturgis, bikers, tattoo parlors, the whole vibe was there.  I went with it.  Don't regret it, either: I still like my tat.  I was careful to get it in a place which won't sag or wrinkle or stretch out with childbearing, and it only shows when I want it to.  Or when I go swimming.  Which I did when I first met TTD's family, whereupon my dairy-farmer FIL very sweetly and politely asked, "When did you get your, um, brand?"

3.  Today I let Rabbit and Urp eat mini-marshmellows for breakfast.  Just because they asked.

4.  I play the guitar and piano very badly, but with great enthusiasm.  For the last few years the boys have done a little music class at Rabbit's preschool, and for every session they get a CD of the music and a book with guitar chords and the music for each song.  When I'm feeling really Maria Von Trapp, I'll pull out the guitar--or sometimes they instigate the whole thing by dragging the guitar disastrously through several rooms to me--and go through all the books, singing loudly and badly and playing even worse.  We all have a very good time, until Urp gets one foot trapped in the guitar or Bunny sits on it or the cat decides he needs to be in my lap and to hell with this large, silly musical instrument which is in his way.  I don't have a tuner right now, so I just keep tuning the whole thing to what used to be the E string and is now probably a B or something.  I think I'm playing everything in E Flat Minor 7 these days.

5.  I run for exercise, but I wish I had time to swim instead, because I am moderately decent at swimming but a total disaster in running shoes, despite having finished two marathons back in the day.  I run like a mallard flies: flapflapflapflapflap, with a maximum of graceless effort and a minimum of forward momentum.  Amusing to watch, though.  If you ever want a good laugh to get you going in the morning, perch beside the IMU bridge over the Iowa River on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday morning, around 7 a.m. and watch for the waddling middle-aged woman.

Now, since you know all about me but I don't know about you, I am tagging TLB of Illiterati , The Deadbeat , and Elswhere of Travels in Booland.  And actually, you know what?  I'm tagging the rest of you too.  If you're reading this, would you please put something about you in the comments?  I'm serious.  I'd like to get to know you better, my friends inside the computer.  Also, after three funerals in two weeks and a rash of child-abuse cases at work, I am feeling the need for a little companionship.  And y'all frequently have such good and wise and funny comments.  Please, tell me more.

Comments

[Sarah Sometimes]

Hmmm . . . what can I tell you that will be amusing and cheering? Oh, here's something. I love hotels. As a friend once said a long time ago, when this came up in conversation, "Oh, you like the ice bucket, huh?" I like all those things: the ice bucket, the minibar, the TV that slides forward out of the wall unit, the heavy drapes that you can use to close the world out or leave open to get the comforting glare of the lights of the parking lot or the office tower or whatever it is. I especially love the outdoor pool, if there is one, and I always pack a bathing suit when I go to a conference, just in case. I love the clean towels and the little soaps and shampoo bottles and when the housekeeping service leaves the radio on for you when you come in at night. In fact, just tonight, I was surveying the permanent clutter of my apartment and thinking with some anticipation, well, at the end of December I get to go to a conference and be in a hotel for five days....

[terri c]

Lessee. No tats. Used to run, far less efficiently than you. Not a good swimmer. Love laughing. Love making people laugh. Looking for someone to act the fool in front of an audience? I'm there. Best act? Doing "Sweet Caroline" in the style of William Shatner for church anniversary party.

I know. I'm boring.

[ktjrdn]

I read, but don't comment often. Hi.

You don't know much about me anyway, so I can be pretty sure you don't know this. I hate long weddings. I wrote my own vows for my wedding. I took the standard ceremony and cut it to pieces. The wedding took 5 minutes tops. My photographer was kinda pissed at me, because he didn't even get a chance to take more than a couple pictures.

[alice]

Emerging from lurkerdom to take part:
- I used to be a competetive synchronized swimmer. Since I lived in Delaware, this wasn't nearly as big of a deal as it is in other states - when I moved to California, I quickly abandoned ideas of returning to the sport, since the 'just for fun' college group had folks who had recently tried out for the Olympic team, whereas I had recently taken up smoking.
- I'm an internet minister, and I recently married my friends. Writing and performing their marriage was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
- I adore the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, in all its fluffy glory.
-I really like body piercings, but have passed into a stage of life where I feel like they're more aesthetically jarring than fun. I'm not funky enough to pull it off, although I know many people my age (and older) who are.
-I keep getting called wholesome, despite being a rabidly pro-choice queer pagan socialist. This happened even when I had purple hair, and with various facial piercings (see above). I have no idea what part of me screams 'corn-fed,' but it's apparently pretty loud.

[Jenn]

Hi! I also am a lurker on your blog...
1. I actually like living in Nebraska... even if I do complain at least once a day that it's either too cold or too hot. I love it that some people still ask if we have indoor plumbing (or cows, or corn).
2. I am an aspiring nurse, but until I am able to not work 9-5:30 I have a hard time taking classes. I'm settling for explaining hospital bills and insurance billing. I'm a glutton for punishment, I know.
3. I sing the same silly songs my Mom did when I was a child. I thought I would look in the mirror one day and see my Mom, I never though I would hear me turning into her first.
4. I like cheese more than chocolate- Please don't ever tell my Husband. He'll get me a block of cheddar for Valentines Day instead of Chocolate.
5. I love kareoke... Singing is my passion. I'm okay at it but it's sooo fun!
I love your blog, btw. :)

[Megan]

Like KT, I read often but rarely comment. So hello to Iowa from southern California!

1. Like you, I am aiming for a move back to the east coast, where my family is. 2. I destroyed my knees when I was a ballet-obsessed teenager, so I can't run at all, even gracelessly. 3. I'm wildly in love with my two nephews, ages 2 1/2 years, and 6 weeks. 4. I'd like to learn to speak Welsh and Irish. 5. I can't wait for the day after Thanksgiving to come, so I can start playing Christmas music.

[kimberly/Tippy Toes]

Hi from Northern California! 1. I have a deviated septum - recently diagnosed as I finally realized I can't breathe much through my nose. 2. I love making lists and crossing things off as I accomplish them. 3. I miss watching baseball in the offseason. 4. I went to Jesuit school and used to be a Republican. 5. I do aqua aerobics with a class of old ladies.

[Amanda]

Checking in from SW Pennsylvania...I love your blog and have read for a while.

Something about me...we adopted our daughter from Chongqing, China in 2005. The transition to motherhood was so different than I expected. I attended nine different elementary schools (Navy brat). I have a tattoo, on my left shoulder. My favorite snack is an uncooked veggie hot dog with mustard (it freaks my husband out every time I eat it! LOL).

Take care.

[emilie]

Hello from Nairobi, Kenya where the 2 yr old has bronchitis and the baby has conjunctivitis and I wish I had a martini-itis.

1. The last time I cried was our latest US departure to Kenya in May, saying goodbye to my parents who suddenly looked elderly. 2. I could live on coffee and mangoes if it were allowed. 3. I have a secret desire to be Posh or Madonna and yesterday I actually wondered what Cameron Diaz was doing the very moment I was giving the girl her bath. 4. Used to live and die for yoga, now I have a tum that's sort of a shelf where the baby sits. 5. My first babe was born 10.4 pounds; my second was 11 pounds (7 days early). I believe there should be a parade held in my honour, but so far no one is on board with the idea.

[aka Marina]

Bihari darling,
I think you know 'most everything about me (it's that "friend outside the computer" piece of our lives cropping up) and I was pleased to hear about the marshmallows for breakfast. My mother once gave us icecream for breakfast just because we asked for it and it is *still* one of my fondest memories (and life highpoints) lo these 35 years later (!).

Oh, and I want to meet Alice and Emilie from your comments. You girls are too cool for school (cornfed or not, Ms. Alice!)

xo
WV Mama

[juliloquy]

I'm glad you're not above doing a meme; good writers can make anything interesting. The comments are great, too!

I won't write much here about me because I neglect my own blog enough as it is. But I wanted to be sure to say hi.

[elswhere]

Omigosh, I'm tagged! thank you! Just as I was casting about desperately for something to write, too.

Now all I have to do is think of 5 things that I haven't already blabbed to the entire Interverse.

[Annie]

I too often read without responding! So here goes:

1) I'm a theater director, but I really like to watch movies better than theater. Shocking!

2) I live in NYC in a 450 (or less) sq. ft. studio with my husband, my pug and a long kitty. We live 20 feet away from Central Park.

3) When I moved to the New York area to go to acting school, I lived on a small boat, without heat, that listed to one side, in the Liberty State Park harbor outside of Jersey City.

4) I love macaroni and cheese and am lactose intolerant. This is sad.

5) I saw the movie "Captain Blood" this summer, with Errol Flynn, and it is one of the silliest movies I have ever seen. Errol Flynn actually winks at the camera, I swear.

[Megan]

A quick commenter-to-commenter comment: hello, Annie! I'm a theater artist too, working on the opposite coast.

[BitterSugarPixie]

I have totally tuned all my guitars to themselves for too long, throwing actual tuning to the wind! The other day I dug out the tuner and EGADS THE "E" WAS A "C" I kid you not.

[Wacky Mommy]

I had no idea.

[Beth]

Hmm. I once participated in the Landmark Forum, which is a three-day, all-day workshop based on Est. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmark_Education. Why did I do it? Because my son's dad-the-New-Age-shrink wanted me to and I thought he'd leave if I said no. He left anyway, and I still cringe when I think about succumbing to the hard-sell tactics of the Forum folks...and perpetrating them on my family. Gah. Nightmares.

[polli]

Hello, Iowa!

I was born there... not quite as far northwestern as I suspect you go - The SC, yo! Now I'm 5 hours south, but still trek back a few times a year to see the fam.

I am an aspiring nurse and midwife (but I direct a national service program instead, since I need to feed my three offspring), I used to run, badly, and want to again (knee injury).