Sunday Stealing: The Imaginary Meme

This is Part VI of a longer meme, but since I haven't blogged forever (other than my random iPhone contemplation on roadkill, where I learned that IOS doesn't give a rat's derriere about paragraphs...), I figured this was a good way to ease back in.  Check out Sunday Stealing, if you get a chance ... always an interesting read :-)

101. Name 4 things you always have with you.

iPhone (it's a combination extra appendage and crack), coffee, keys, and ... hmmm, underwear???? 

102. How many SERIOUS exes do you have?

Serious exes ... hmm, sounds a touch oxymoronic ;-)  Probably four.

103. What causes you to you admire people?

Honesty, humor, and ... well, a willingness to do interesting things.

104. Do you like sports?

I do.  I like to watch baseball and football on TV, and I enjoy playing random "non-sports" like badminton, ladder golf, beach volleyball, and such.  And I'm a swimming maniac.

105. Would you have sex after marriage? Why or why not?

Nah, marriage takes all the fun out of it ;-)

106. What is your favorite male name?

Roran

107. Do animals go to Heaven?

They'd better, because many animals I've known are more deserving than most people.

108. Last time you had a great time with your dad?

Some Christmas Eve event at his house.  It's usually a good time, with lots of music and beer and reminiscing.  

109. What is your favorite hair style?

I am very low-maintenance.  My hair just is.  The idea of all the work that goes into it keeps me from really enjoying any other hair styles.

110. Do you like your name?

Sure.  I mean, it's a little over-common, but it's much better than Prunella or Apple or whatever.

111. When was the last time that you quit your job?

2008.  Geez, time flies ...

112. When you wake up, what is the first thing you think?

"Put the dogs out", since I usually wake up to a black lab climbing all over me and a golden retriever relentlessly licking my face.

113. Have you ever pulled an all-niter?

In my wayward youth, many times.  It's been awhile ...

114. What is the perfect day for you?

Any day where I get to spend extensive time with my daughters.  And cheeseburgers.

115. Last time you cleaned the bathroom?

Hmmm, when you can't answer that question off the top of your head, I guess you know it's time to clean the bathroom.  Guess I know what I'm doing when I finish this ...

116. Have you ever failed a grade? Why?

I never failed a grade, but I did fail Algebra I.  Twice.  

My parents got divorced when I was in sixth grade, so suffice it to say that I didn't care a whole lot about school at that time (it was a pretty bad scene).  As a result, I ended up tracked in low classes when I went into junior high.  My eighth grade English teacher wanted me to take the placement test for Honors English when we were doing course selections for high school, and they decided to take me, for some reason.  

The problem was, the school would not allow me to take Honors English and Pre-Algebra (back then, if you were exceptionally smart in one area, you could theoretically be exceptionally smart in all areas).  I had to make a choice.  Well, my mother had to make a choice.

Long story short, I walked into Algebra I thinking that "X" meant multiply.  It went downhill from there ...

117. Have you met anyone online?

Haha, yup.

118. Have you ever smoked?

Yup...dirty, filthy, disgusting habit :-(

119. Do you like celebrities?

I do, in fact, have a minor obsession with celebrities.  When I was in high school, I kept scrapbooks of different celebrities that were always in the news, and even now I can tell you random celebrity gossip facts that are completely pointless.  I own the celebrity category of Trivial Pursuit ;-)

120. Do you like traveling?

Actually, I love traveling.  Unfortunately, I have a deathly fear of airplanes, so my options are a bit limited.  I do the best I can with what I have :-)

My Morning On Twitter (Or "Tweeting the Day Away")

Fact: I am horrible at resting.

It's been quite a week trying to recover from Saturday's "I got a concussion falling in the shower" incident.  I have a constant headache which sometimes rages into high gear, I can't concentrate enough to read a book (I know, I can't believe it either), I pretty much hate television, and it was a huge disaster when I attempted to go back to work yesterday (I threw up, my headache exploded, and I got sent home and told to rest until I was well).

Just to reiterate, I'm horrible at resting.

So I figured I'd spend the morning on Twitter, since it's a social networking experience that I haven't used as much as Facebook.  I mean, I tweet sometimes (usually links to blog posts or retweets of cool things other people far wittier than I say), but I never really got immersed.

It's been an interesting (and yes, restful) morning.

First, if you're interested, you can find me here on Twitter (I suspect after this morning's experiment, I'll be spending more time there).  As long as you're not a crazy porn kind of thing, I'll follow you back.

So here are my specific observations, interactions, and such following a very eventful few hours ...  I'm setting it up as kind of a bulleted summary since, as mentioned before, I'm struggling with concentration.  I'm going to start at the beginning of my morning and just sort of share what happened.

* I started out by posting a link to my post yesterday, asking the provocative question, "Should Stephen King have shelved Rage?"   There were no retweets, although I think it's a very cool piece, arguably one of the best things I've written in recent months.  I was informed, however, that the post made it onto The Stephen King Daily.

* As I have an obsession with celebrities, I tend to follow a lot of them, just because it's interesting.  I keep hoping I'll get a personal response from a bona fide celeb one of these days, but no dice so far.  I added Jenna von Oy after reading about her new venture into blogging on People, leaving a comment: "So exciting! Blogging definitely opens a whole new world with tons of connections, help, and places to vent angst ;-) Welcome!"  


* I also attempted to interact with Alec Baldwin, his daughter Ireland, Sarah Silverman, Dara Torres, and Rose McGowan.  I figured it was worth a shot, although I definitely recognize that celebrities have more exciting things to do than Tweet with a high school English teacher from New Hampshire ;-)

* I had a really interesting exchange with DogWalkBlog beginning with his comment, "Time to figure out how to make a living without the Internet. Dependence on all this tech is stressing me the hell out."  I told him about my recent positive experience with the internet, and we had some cool banter about tech highs and lows and how pathetic it is to have "I fell in the shower" be an explanation for how one gets a concussion.  Oh, and the double entendres popping up all over Romeo and Juliet ;-)

* Some people are really cheerful in the morning, notably Melissa Foster, Sandi Krakowski, and Annie.

* Henry responded to my standard angry insomniatic rant something like, "The pain meds didn't help you call asleep?" (he's since deleted it, so I don't remember the exact quote). I, of course, responded, "Well, I could call, "Asleep! Asleep! Asleep!", but it didn't help me FALL asleep :-( Love your "just woke up" texts <3"


* I had a little back and forth with the very cool Simon Jadis about my "Cullenesque tendencies" since I'm hating sunlight these days.  He could relate ;-)


* Poor Conservative linked to an article talking about how Guantanomo detainees have a tendency to return to lives of terrorism when released.  I noted, "Kind of like American prisoners returning to the proverbial "life of crime"?"  I have an innate urge to antagonize political extremists, but I didn't get any sort of response.  I was kind of hoping for a debate on that one since my point is extremely valid ... c'est la vie.


*  I got some great random useless information from UberFacts, including
   - "If you type 'illuminati' backwards, followed by '.com' in your address bar, you end up at the U.S.    
     government's national security page."
   - "A whale's penis is called a "dork."”
   - "There are at least 100 chemical reactions taking place in our brains every second."
   - "There are 12 calories in a tablespoon of semen. Same as eating 4 Tic-Tacs."


* I complimented Frank Marcopolos on the title of his book, shared mine, and was informed by him that Unbreakable is the title of a Bruce Willis movie.  Dammit, back to the drawing board ...


* I figured I'd continue the theme of pieces I write that no one comments on by referencing my recent ZL piece on the Komen Foundation/Planned Parenthood debacle.  No response.  Still no comments, either ;-)


* Vive le Nerd and I had a fun exchange about the craziness of CAPTCHA.  I mean, type in "penus" or "foxsexppo" to prove you're not a robot?  Come on ...


* dLittle Prince gave out props to educators on Twitter, one of which was yours truly.  Very cool :-)


* I posted a link to a post I wrote some time ago asking for assistance with the novel I'm working on.  No response.  Clearly, people either ignore my links or I really suck ;-)


* I had some great political dialogue with Marshall Talk, mostly about the dichotomy between big businesses claiming the need for tax cuts and those of us regular folk just scraping by.  Really interesting conversation, actually ...


* Aspiring country musician Doug Briney was talking up his debut CD.  I Tweeted him that I'd try to check it out, and he sent me a Tweet back thanking me.  He was very polite and legitimate, so if you're a fan of country, definitely give him a listen :-)


* Dan Krokos tweeted, "My mom just sent me her first FW: email ever. It was a nice one about puppies but this is a slippery slope."  I replied that it reminded me of the first text message my mother ever sent: "howdoispace" (Dan tweeted me an LOL in response).

So I've talked kale with rightingteacher, toilet paper rolls with Selah, the double-edged sword nature of the internet with Ray Banks, and cameltoe with Jade Harley.  There were other small conversations, too, but I'm losing concentration here ;-)

I guess the bottom line is, Twitter is a lot of fun.  I find that, with Facebook, a lot of people know me in real life, so I tend to hold back saying things sometimes.  Interacting with complete strangers on Twitter was much freer.

So final conclusion after a few hours on Twitter?  Not a bad way to spend a morning.  

And I rested lots while in the midst of this fascinating experiment and study ... win/win :-)