20 Question Meme

Okay so Ms. Woo Woo Teacup tagged me with this 20 quesiton Meme, she’s changed some of the question and I may change a few more just because most questions relate to a significant other and I haven’t had one in over a decade. We’ll see how it goes I guess.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family? (Original question:  If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?) Yes, we have 3 pets…used to be four but the fish died. We have a Yorkshire Terrier named Jack, a cat I refer to as trouble-maker and a pet Chinchilla that I call Hat. Not really the Chin’s name is Mousy. Collectively they make up the food chain.

The pets are pets…sorry.

2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be? Writing the Great American Novel.

3. What is the one thing most hated by you? I think the significance of truth is vastly underestimated. So my answer is the many shade of dishonesty.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars? I’d give my mom and my kids each a million,  I’d buy an Aston Martin Vanquish or a Vantage or both. Then I’d tuck myself away somewhere very remote with a breathtaking view…today I’ll pick the Highlands of Scotland and I’d write and write and write and write.

5. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood? (Original question: Will you fall in love with your best friend?) Music

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone? Both

7. What is your bedtime routine? (Original question: How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love?) Wash up, P.J.’s, tea, reading, writing or an audiobook…usually the audiobook.

8. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner? (Original question:  If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?) Not in a relationship. I don’t.

9. If you could watch an creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be? (Original question:  If you like to act with someone, who will it be? Your gf/bf or an actress/actor?) Sooo many, Vincent Van Gogh,  Leonardo Da Vinci, Jane Austen …maybe Edgar Allen Poe for a strange twist.

10. What kinds of books do you buy? (Original question:  What do you expect of your loved one?) It would be faster if I listed the kinds of books I don’t buy…textbooks.

11. How would you see yourself in ten years time? Through stronger bifocals.

12. What’s your fear? Heights and spiders

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? A very good friend.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married, but poor? I’d rather be content on any terms.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? Open my eyes and make coffee… okay sometimes I make coffee without opening my eyes.

16. Would you give all in a relationship? Only if it was never expected of me.

17.  If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?  First name is fine, but if you’re feeling imaginative, you can do the whole thing. (Original question:  If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?) Eden Winter

18. What’s your favorite magazine? (Original question:  Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?) Policy Review

19. When it comes to patterns, what sort of patterns do you prefer? (Original question:  What are your three most important expectations in love?) Houndstooth or plaid

20. List people to tag: nobody

4 Meme

My good friend Ms. Woo Woo has tagged me for a list of 4.

4 Jobs I’ve Had: Executive Director, Administrator, T.V. Producer, Lobbyist

4 Movies I’ve Watched More Than Once: Pride and Prejudice, Silence of the Lambs, Almost Famous, Office Space

4 Places I’ve Lived: Coon Rapids, North East Minneapolis, Blaine, Little Falls

4 T.V. Show I’ve Watched: America’s Next Top Model, What Not To Wear, Trading Spaces, Bret Michael’s Rock of Love.

4 Places I’ve Been: London, England, Tampa, Florida, New York, New York, Reno, Nevada

4 Places I’d Like to Visit: Ireland, Italy, Spain, China

4 People Who Email Me Regularly: Ms. Woo Woo, Karen, Dee, Mary S.

4 of My Favorite Foods: Alaskan king crab, tri tip steak, roasted potatoes, asparagus

4 Things I’m Looking Forward to This Year: Earning more money, replacing my sofa, using the patio at our new house, taking a vacation.

4 People I’m tagging: I don’t know 4 people with a blog….

The Great American Novel

Recently, my soul-sister Ms. Woo Woo posted a blog on the Great American Novel after she and I discussed what kind of American literature would fall into the category of the Great American Novel.  I struggled to articulate the types of novels that I’d lump into that category and then she asked me if I ever felt as though I was writing the Great American Novel and I said, yes.

My reply was based on the fact that the book I am writing has the right elements similar to that of the Grapes of Wrath, I hadn’t intended for that to be the case it just seems to be turning out that way. But I wasn’t indicating that I lump my work in with John Steinbeck, to my chagrin Ms. Woowoo blogged about our conversation the next day.

Today, I decided to link my blog to hers. My reason is that this will probably be the only time in my life that my work is lumped under the headline Great American Fiction, I thought I should bask at the rare opportunity:)

Bliss

In the past month, I haven’t had a single opportunity to read or to write anything. We moved into a new house, a project that was all consuming since I have a library of about 3,000 books. Moving a library is like moving twice, first you move your family along with all the household stuff then you move a second time and bring your books. My new library is sort of settled and so is my office. My old library had to be housed in an ugly unfinished basement whereas my new library has finished walls and a ceramic tile floor. My old house left me with very little personal space and my new house offers spacious rooms and an office with windows that look out to a wooded field. I am happy I moved and stunned at how much more house an extra $100.00 a month bought me. But, now that the time siege is over I feel literally stopped up. So even though my life has resumed a more natural course I may not surface again for another 30 days… just so I can catch up on all the items that went unwritten and all the books that went unopened and all the stories that went unheard.

As discussed in a previous blog, I opened an Audible account because I just couldn’t cram enough books into an ordinary day so I experimented with other delivery options. Among the things I tried was listening to books on my MP3 player  which I loved.  The only shortfall was the limitations of my cheap MP3 player.

In my search for the least expensive material I tried  Simply Audio an audio account service that functions similar to Netflix. You could check out as many audio-books as you wanted in a month for a flat fee. I thought this was a winning concept expect out of 20 titles on my wish list not one was available. For weeks I waited and most of the titles I requested were not even new or highly sought after titles. The wait meant that I got very few audio-books, which made the flat fee paid not worth price. I cancelled my account after a single month. Then tried buying CD on the internet, copying them to iTunes and exporting them to my son’s iPod. That strategy worked fine as long as his player wasn’t left of “shuffle” mode although I have to admit that converting all the files was slightly time consuming.

Of all methods my Audible account is the most expensive option but the quality and fuss free listening has kept me coming back month after month. I usually download one audio-book a month except this month. After downloading Alice Sebold’s new book The Almost Moon, I noticed a special offer on an audio-book by Neil Gaimon.I’ve been curious about Gaimon’s writing because my good friend Mary, mother of the Woo Woo Teacup Journal, spoke very highly of his work. Since Mary’s endorsements caused me to purchase the Sixth Extinction and Amy Tan’s Saving Fish from Drowning, I couldn’t resist the purchase. I downloaded Coraline…after that I downloaded the Neil Gaimon Audio Collection. I haven’t imported the files yet but I found myself drawn by the excerpts posted on the Audible website.

There’s just so much to write, so much to read and so much to listen to, I can’t wait to dive in.  My children are leaving me alone for the whole weekend. I may ignore the phone, the door, dressing and even the shower.

Soloist