Playing Tag

RULES - Post rules before giving the facts - Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves - People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules - At the end of your post you need to tag six people and list their names - Leave them a comment on their blog, telling them they have been tagged and not to forget to read yours.

Eight Random Facts About Me

1. My grandparents didn't have electricity, telephone, indoor plumbing, and the only heat they had was from the woodstove. We used an outhouse until my grandfather built a little bathroom onto the shack and installed a toilet and shower stall. I think that happened in the mid-eighties, but there still wasn't any running water. We had to carry buckets of water to flush the toilet and to take a shower, one had to take a bucket of hot water and one of cold into the shower stall and basically take a sponge bath. I think they got a phone in the late eighties or maybe even 1990. Electricity came about the same time as phone and later there was running water. The house was a shack with a tiny kitchen/dining area, a very small living room, and a sturdy, steep flight of stairs that led to the one room upstairs. I lived there for a while with my family when I was very small, and was there on many weekends and most holidays until the property was sold in 2001. Very sad day indeed.

2. I love photography. Those who have read my past posts know this. I still haven't made the switch from 35mm to digital and I doubt I ever will completely switch. I love 35mm. Currently I don't even have a digital camera although I would like to have a simple one just for the instant gratification. I would love to have one of the really nice ones but the one I want is about $2000 and I can't afford that. A while back my husband offered to buy me a nice digital ($5-600) if it would help cut back on film and developing costs. What I didn't know is that he meant I had to give up my 35mm all together. I declined. :)

Here are some newer photos I'm proud of:

Here is my wonderful hubby and dog silhouetted by a glorious August sunset on Birch Bay. As I learned from Niki, you can click on the pic and see it full-screen. Go ahead, you know you want to!


This is also an August Birch Bay sunset, taken about 3 days later.



This is the Inkwell Rhythm Makers playing at Seattle Folklife Festival. May 2007.

I took this pic at the restaurant that I work at. This guy's name is Brian, he works in the kitchen and had just gotten off work and came in for a beer. The light was hitting the bar just right so I asked him to just look at the beer and look sad like all he wants in the world is to drink that beer. I think it turned out perfect.

3. I love tending bar. For some twisted reason, I get a lot of gratification from someone telling me that I make the best Bloody Mary they've ever had. I also like the social aspect of it. You can learn a lot about a person just by serving them drinks.

4. I have a small skull collection. The current inventory includes two deer, a beaver, and a heron. I love that I'm able to name and locate certain bony prominances and specific features such as the zygomatic arch, post-orbital constriction, and the styloid process. My husband found the two deer skulls (and some vertebrae) when he was out working at a couple of different wetlands; a friend and I found the beaver on the Seattle Midwifery School campus; and my daughter found the heron during the wedding reception I posted about, which took place at our friend's 15 acre estate on the Nooksack River.

5. I'm a novel junkie. I absolutely love to read novels and I go through them very quickly. I have a list that I've read several times but I'm always looking for something new. A few titles I've read more than once:

The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk

The Mists of Avalon, Lady of Avalon, and The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Clan of the Cave Bear, Valley of Horses, and Plains of Passage by Jean Auel

Roots by Alex Haley

My three new favorites that I read this summer are Moon Women by Pamela Duncan; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini; Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.

6. I used to have road rage really bad. So bad that some of my closest friends wouldn't ride in my car. That has ebbed almost completely unless I'm in a bit of a hurry then I get frustrated by people who don't pay attention to traffic. I used to flip people off all the time and sometimes even yell out the window. The last time I had any kind of altercation in traffic was about two years ago and I wasn't the one who was the instigator. I was at a red light at an intersection where two lanes turn left. I was in the outer lane and this lady was in the inner. As we were both making a left turn, the other woman merged into my lane, almost causing an accident so I beep-beeped at her and waved. I was completely not aggressive at all, just a friendly wave to let her know I was there. She then sped up to about 40 mph in a 25 zone and flipped me off. As I approached the next red light, she was again in the inner lane and I looked over at her. She had her passenger side window down and was obviously very irate. I had a choice to make--I could ignore her and just go when the light turned green or I could roll down my window and see what she had to say. As my window came down, I was attacked by a stream of profanity that would rival my sailor grandfather. I tried to explain to her that there are two lanes that turn left and we have to be careful at that intersection and she just kept yelling at me. I kind of lost my temper and said something (I can't remember what) that really pissed her off and she said, "Don't make me get out of this car," like she was my mom and ready to pull the car over to give me a spanking. I kind of chuckled and said, "Oh please, you little bitch." Well, that did it and she jerked her e-brake and jumped out of her car. 15-20 years ago I would have jumped out of my car and scrapped her, but I had a choice to make. My husband was in the passenger seat and my 6 year old son was in the back. I could engage in this stupid fight or I could press ever so lightly on the gas and go. The light turned green and I went. All of this happened over about two minutes at a red light. Pretty bad, eh?

7. I'm a slob. No, really. You should see my house. It's perpetually messy and it's not because I have children. It's because I'm lazy. The floor hasn't been vacuumed in two weeks, the bathroom walls are gross, the toilet needs to be cleaned. Am I taking care of it? NO! I'm blogging!

8. Yo hablo un poquito espanol. I took three Spanish classes in community college and would love to become fluent. If I was immersed into a Spanish-speaking community I think I would become fluent very quickly.

Who shall I tag?

I tag:

Shark-fu

Addie

Tombi

Clara

I think that's all I can tag. Everyone else in my linx have been tagged!

I apologize for everything being squished together. For some reason, blogger will not allow me to put spaces between paragraphs.