Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Speed Dating Meme

1. What's your favorite Dr. Seuss book? Green Eggs & Ham

2. If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be? Ann Marie's NY apartment from That Girl. Built in bookshelves, exposed brick, a huge bathroom and a very tiny kitchen.

3. What's the longest you've gone without sleep? 23 hours.

4. What's your favorite Barry Manilow song? Even Now. That's the insidious thing about break-ups -- they actually have you relating to Barry fucking Manilow songs.

5. Who's your favorite Muppet? Elmo's sister Zoe.

6. What's the habit you're proudest of breaking? Drinking Coke or (worse) Monster all day long at work.

7. What's your favorite website? IMDB.com.

8. What's your favorite school supply? ERASERS! Massive, free-standing erasers, not those little ones on the end of pencils.

9. Who's your favorite TV attorney? Jack McCoy (L&O)

10. What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles? Colonial Williamsburg last month. It's already been a month! Damn. I was so happy during that trip.

11. What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or junk shop? Does this count? I got an autographed copy of Jessica Savitch's biography for 50¢ at the annual library booksale.

12. Where were you on September 11, 2001? Since our agency shared space with the Israeli consulate, I was evacuated by the Chicago police. I will never forget this. Ever.

13. What's your favorite tree? Redbud. My mom has been nurturing a most delicate one in her front yard for more than 40 years and whenever I see one I think of her. (My Mother's Day reference)

14. What's the most interesting biography you've read? Unwise Passions, the biography of Anne Randolph, the woman at the center of one of America's first sex scandals.

15. What do you order when you eat Chinese food? Shrimp.

16. What's the best costume you've ever worn? I enjoyed dressing as Minnie Mouse. I think the black nose and whiskers suited me.

17. What's your least favorite word? The c word.

18. If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be? Georgia, so I could listen to Ray Charles singing about me.

19. Who's your favorite bear? Yogi

20. Describe something that's happened to you for which you have no explanation. I was born with bright green eyes, yet everyone in my family -- both sides -- is/was brown-eyed.

21. If you could travel anywhere in Africa, where would it be? I'm sorry, but I have no desire whatsoever to go to Africa.

22. What did you have for lunch yesterday? A baked potato

23. Where do you go for advice? Friends. I've got quite a diverse group to draw from.

24. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus? Thesaurus

25. Have you ever been snorkeling? Scuba diving? No and no

How did I do at the speed dating thing?
Are we going to hook up?

Vicodin & Betty White -- that's my Saturday night

Went to the dentist today for the second of three (or is it four) appointments to fill a particularly deep and troublesome cavity that appeared under a crown. There was almost nothing to the first appointment, and while I'm sure the dentist explained that today's appointment would be intense, I probably wasn't listening. Which is why I was surprised by all the drilling and scraping noises in my head during my nearly two hours in the chair this afternoon. I overheard words like "scalpel," "bone," and "suture."

I didn't feel any of it as it was going on. My dentist is terrific about really the numbing process. Ditzier than usual, certainly. Sleepy, you betcha. I wasted all afternoon and evening on the sofa.

But now, here I am about 9 hours later, and the dentist was right -- I am swollen and in pain. Thank goodness she had the foresight to prescribe the Vicodin.

And thank God for Betty White on SNL. The Golden Girl (born in my hometown, btw!) is living up to the hype.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Hey Jealousy

1. When was the last time that you got jealous? Thursday. Finally met a coworker from another department whom I'd previously only dealt with via email. She was gorgeous. Not yet 30, flawless skin, and so thin her entire body weighs less than one of my thighs. Blonde, of course. Oh, and she was highly competent, very good at her job. I know it's not very highly evolved of me, but I was so depressed when I left her office!

2. At what point do you finally decide it's time to move forward with your life (like, major changes)? How do you know? What do you do? Usually in the spring, after I go off on vacation, slipping away by myself for a few days of pampering and alone time. The change in surroundings lends a change in perspective. I have made several big decisions when I've been away -- to buy my own place, to work my down the corporate ladder … How to take the next step in my "real life" somehow seems clearer when I'm away from it for a few days.

3. When is it time to just let it ('it' can be whatever you choose) go? How do you know? What do you do? When "it" no longer works anymore, I make a change.

4. How many times must someone push your buttons before you've just had enough? Why? Depends on the buttons and depends on the someone. There are some areas that are more sensitive, and some people who are more gifted at the button console.

5. If I S/O were to cheat on you, could you ever see yourself giving them a second chance? Or a third? I did, and I learned a valuable lesson. It's not really about the sex, it's about the boundaries. Once I allowed him to hurt me like that, he seemed to think it was acceptable to hurt me in other ways, as well.

6. What was the last thing that someone did that you were very grateful for? Also Thursday. While at the florist, picking up some poms for my desk, I grabbed a spray rose stem and one of the free "Happy Mother's Day" cards for a pregnant coworker. I put it in a second-hand bud vase that I had tucked away on my office window sill and presented it to her. She literally lit up. She hugged me. Later in the day, she emailed me a photo she had taken with her phone, telling me that this was going into her baby book as her first-ever Mother's Day gift. Such a small, offhand gesture meant so much to her, and she was so open in sharing her joy. She touched my heart and this will stay with me for quite some time.

7. How much time do you spend online in a given weekday? What about the weekends? Too much. I haven't timed it.

8. How many online journals/blogs do you read regularly? What are some of your favorites and why? I like different blogs for different reasons ...
• Kwizgiver lives in another part of the country and yet her life feels very familiar to me
• Snarky Pants is a fan girl like me, and once a fan girl, always a fan girl
• Book Mama and Snowbird very generously share their extended family with us
• The Bumbles are baseball and movie fans, two passions that the best people share
• Vivian has a wise heart
• Mimi is enormously talented

9. What was the last major purchase that you made? I booked my New Year's trip to Key West.