Countdown Meme - Day 4
I suppose I really should do the next one of these too. The pattern seems to be that I pump one offering out about once a week - and it's Monday...
So...
Without further ado...
Day 1 - Ten random facts about yourself
Day 2 - Nine things you do everyday
Day 3 - Eight things that annoy you
Day 4 - Seven fears/phobias
Day 5 - Six songs that you’re addicted to
Day 6 - Five things you can’t live without
Day 7 - Four memories you won’t forget
Day 8 - Three words you can’t go a day without
Day 9 - Two things you wish you could do
Day 10 - One person you can trust
1. Heights. I really don't like to walk up to the edge of precipices. I live in an area that has cliffs that drop about thirty feet to a beach and tide-pool at the edge of the ocean, and I just get sweaty palms thinking of walking up to the edge and peering over. It also doesn't help that, in my lifetime, I've seen the grassland leading up to the cliffs slowly fall into the ocean through erosion. Mind, the reason there are tidepools speaks to the timelessness of the erosion process, but still... Once there was a nice grassy field with many picnic tables. Now, fifty years later, that grass is diminished by over two thirds, and only three tables remain. And I still don't like to walk up to the edge.
2. Vertical climbs. This, I suppose is related to the previous mentioned acrophobia in a way, but it makes it hard to even go up a ladder. When I was a small child, and being mischievous at school, my friends and I decided to climb a vertical ladder in a storage closet up to where extra/broken desks were stored. I got two thirds of the way up the ladder and couldn't go further. When the bell rang, my friends climbed down past me to get to class - and left me hanging, unable to go up or down. My teacher and the principle found me, and I suppose the only reason my folks weren't called was because I was semi-hysterical by the time I was found. Same thing happened again about six years later, during a hike, when the path lead almost vertically up a rock face and I got "stuck" halfway up, unable to move up or down. Again, I had to be rescued. Needless to say, I don't do ladders or vertical paths anymore.
3. Falling. I have degenerative arthritis in both knees and both shoulders. Pushing myself to my knees to get back up again after a fall is enough to make my palms sweat at the thought, not to mention that my shoulders are bad enough that getting someone to help pull me up would be agony. So when I walk across my back yard, with all the gopher holes etc, I don't walk fast and keep my eyes on where I'm stepping.
4. Not being able to do my music anymore. My dear friend and former piano/organ duet co-conspirator has had to step back from playing anymore because of nerve damage and other problems that make her ability to play anymore very "iffy". I've seen her struggle with it, because like me, she's played all her life and music is a necessary function for us. When my old upright piano "died" (broke something that was irreplaceable and made it unplayable) I was almost frantic until I got another working instrument. What I would do if I couldn't play anymore, I've no idea - and I really don't want to think about it!
5. Not having Internet. So much of my life is lived on-line nowadays, so many of my friends and fellow writers I know on-line rather than face-to-face, that the loss of the Internet would be like ending up in solitary. I suppose the answer to this is to get everybody's phone number and mailing address and becoming an obsessive pen-pal and/or calling folks all the time.
6. The US becoming a theocracy. I'm a non-Christian, and there are some elements here in the States that are really starting to push to make Christianity the State Religion. Scares me to death. I've seen what "Christians" did to my kids - and all of them are pretty vehemently non-Christians as a result. I have a transgendered child, and I know what the Conservative Christians tend to think of folks with gender/sex issues. Bloody scary thought, theocracy. I think that would be enough to make me seriously consider leaving.
7. Today's fear: my disabled son is going to be riding public transportation - making a transfer in the middle - to visit and have lunch with his girlfriend in a town 20 miles away. He'll be taking his bike and riding down a very busy road after getting off the bus. I've had a bad feeling about it, but he really wants to do it on his own. I usually don't fret all that much when he hops the busses to go up to that town, but he doesn't normally have to travel all that far after to get where he's going. I told him to call me from all the transition points along the way, and I'll worry him from one point to the other until he's back home. Thing is, he's 31, and technically an adult. I could force him to let me drive him this time, but I'd be behaving like a pushy, over-protective, smothering mom. So I let him go, and I'll be sending out thoughts to the Universe that he comes home safely. Being a parent sucks sometimes.
And that's that done. I was wondering what I was gonna put down when I sat down to write these. It was easier than I thought.
So...
Without further ado...
Day 1 - Ten random facts about yourself
Day 2 - Nine things you do everyday
Day 3 - Eight things that annoy you
Day 4 - Seven fears/phobias
Day 5 - Six songs that you’re addicted to
Day 6 - Five things you can’t live without
Day 7 - Four memories you won’t forget
Day 8 - Three words you can’t go a day without
Day 9 - Two things you wish you could do
Day 10 - One person you can trust
1. Heights. I really don't like to walk up to the edge of precipices. I live in an area that has cliffs that drop about thirty feet to a beach and tide-pool at the edge of the ocean, and I just get sweaty palms thinking of walking up to the edge and peering over. It also doesn't help that, in my lifetime, I've seen the grassland leading up to the cliffs slowly fall into the ocean through erosion. Mind, the reason there are tidepools speaks to the timelessness of the erosion process, but still... Once there was a nice grassy field with many picnic tables. Now, fifty years later, that grass is diminished by over two thirds, and only three tables remain. And I still don't like to walk up to the edge.
2. Vertical climbs. This, I suppose is related to the previous mentioned acrophobia in a way, but it makes it hard to even go up a ladder. When I was a small child, and being mischievous at school, my friends and I decided to climb a vertical ladder in a storage closet up to where extra/broken desks were stored. I got two thirds of the way up the ladder and couldn't go further. When the bell rang, my friends climbed down past me to get to class - and left me hanging, unable to go up or down. My teacher and the principle found me, and I suppose the only reason my folks weren't called was because I was semi-hysterical by the time I was found. Same thing happened again about six years later, during a hike, when the path lead almost vertically up a rock face and I got "stuck" halfway up, unable to move up or down. Again, I had to be rescued. Needless to say, I don't do ladders or vertical paths anymore.
3. Falling. I have degenerative arthritis in both knees and both shoulders. Pushing myself to my knees to get back up again after a fall is enough to make my palms sweat at the thought, not to mention that my shoulders are bad enough that getting someone to help pull me up would be agony. So when I walk across my back yard, with all the gopher holes etc, I don't walk fast and keep my eyes on where I'm stepping.
4. Not being able to do my music anymore. My dear friend and former piano/organ duet co-conspirator has had to step back from playing anymore because of nerve damage and other problems that make her ability to play anymore very "iffy". I've seen her struggle with it, because like me, she's played all her life and music is a necessary function for us. When my old upright piano "died" (broke something that was irreplaceable and made it unplayable) I was almost frantic until I got another working instrument. What I would do if I couldn't play anymore, I've no idea - and I really don't want to think about it!
5. Not having Internet. So much of my life is lived on-line nowadays, so many of my friends and fellow writers I know on-line rather than face-to-face, that the loss of the Internet would be like ending up in solitary. I suppose the answer to this is to get everybody's phone number and mailing address and becoming an obsessive pen-pal and/or calling folks all the time.
6. The US becoming a theocracy. I'm a non-Christian, and there are some elements here in the States that are really starting to push to make Christianity the State Religion. Scares me to death. I've seen what "Christians" did to my kids - and all of them are pretty vehemently non-Christians as a result. I have a transgendered child, and I know what the Conservative Christians tend to think of folks with gender/sex issues. Bloody scary thought, theocracy. I think that would be enough to make me seriously consider leaving.
7. Today's fear: my disabled son is going to be riding public transportation - making a transfer in the middle - to visit and have lunch with his girlfriend in a town 20 miles away. He'll be taking his bike and riding down a very busy road after getting off the bus. I've had a bad feeling about it, but he really wants to do it on his own. I usually don't fret all that much when he hops the busses to go up to that town, but he doesn't normally have to travel all that far after to get where he's going. I told him to call me from all the transition points along the way, and I'll worry him from one point to the other until he's back home. Thing is, he's 31, and technically an adult. I could force him to let me drive him this time, but I'd be behaving like a pushy, over-protective, smothering mom. So I let him go, and I'll be sending out thoughts to the Universe that he comes home safely. Being a parent sucks sometimes.
And that's that done. I was wondering what I was gonna put down when I sat down to write these. It was easier than I thought.