(no subject)
Tagged by sparkfrost.
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 19 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 19 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you, or I just needed to tag more people to get to the 19 needed.
Nope, I don't know nineteen people who do memes. SORRY. Do at your leisure. Also, somewhere someone is DROWNING in these requests.
1. I cook Middle Eastern much more comfortably than I do American. I've never made a hamburger. I have, however, made chicken tagine. This is what happens when you're taught to cook by a Muslim and a Jew.
2. I still have about a hundred cassettes. I haven't listened to any of them in years. Considering that they're from the early nineties, we're talking things like Faster Pussycat and Alice Cooper and Ozzy and Iron Maiden. We're also talking the first world music I ever got into, in the form of West African djembe music. It was a presentation for English class.
3. People trust me. I still don't know why. I mean, I don't think I come off as much more than a chihuahua (nervous and prone to talking really fast, really loud) at first meeting, but the number of times I have been given things with which I could demonstrate my unresolved sense of ethics is truly astonishing. The sad part is, I can't think of a single time I've ever abused that sort of trust, unless you count that I made my own side trips when I was sent on errands at one of the places I worked.
4. I used to shoplift from Wal-Mart. I still would, too, except that now I just don't go to Wal-Mart. The last time I was there, my brother bought a television and DVD player and we took it home to watch that anti-Wal-Mart documentary. Then we returned them. It fucks their shit up. I also used to shoplift from places that were pissing me off but that I had a reason to be at that couldn't be avoided. I know it drives their prices up. I still can't make myself care. But I'm getting better about only going to places I want to be at, so I haven't lifted anything in a couple of years.
5. I love salt. Like, straight salt. I generally fall on the sweet side of the spectrum, unless it's straight salt that's under discussion. My very favourite bread is Rosemary Diamante because - wait for it - it has kosher salt on the top. I eat the edges first so that I can have the middle bit with the most salt last. I also love salt bagels and salt pretzels, though the last few times I've had salt pretzels they've had so much salt that I've been sweating like a crazy person when I eat them.
6. Almost all of my clothing comes from one store, especially since I've stopped sewing. I haven't made anything for myself in probably close to a year, though I have lots of partially-complete projects. I still look like a colourblind fifteen year old, even though my clothes come from the fat girl store. And no, it's not Torrid.
7. I make judgements of what I want to do or not do on the basis of really weird criteria. Like, lately, I think kids would be awesome. But do I really want to take on looking for shoes in size fourteen? On the other hand, if I hadn't decided I had an irrational dislike for anyone who could stress themselves stupid over a grade, I'd probably have moved to Oakland to live with srichard and...that would not have ended well. On a scale of 1 to 10, that would've been a statistical outlier somewhere around JESUSMOTHERFUCKINGCHRISTINHEAVEN.
8. I trust my intuition implicitly. I used to ignore it in the case of people, which is why I hung out with a lot of one-step-from-axe-murderer sorts. Now, my intuition speaks and I listen.
9. Cheap coffee is better than good coffee. I guess I just really like watery coffee, frankly, because there's nothing better (here) than 7-11 coffee, or possibly Chevron coffee. I KNOW it's crap, intellectually, but I can't stop myself from liking it. Which is frankly out of character, since in all other cases I have the most expensive tastes known to man. Dunkin Donuts coffee is better than anything, though. And that coffee is so good that I don't know whether it's actually good, or so crap that I THINK it's really good, or if it's even really coffee any more. It's kind of transcendent. Best all around that the closest DD is in Sacramento.
10. I miss: the Northern Lights (we used to howl at them, which is wicked fun), Mullerice, and The Tick. There is no substitute for any of these things, either.
11. Masks are one of my favourite things. I have 10, made from everything from plaster to Mt St Helens ash. I really like sculptural art, and I'm learning to trust myself that this is something I can, and indeed should, do. I have a plan to make a piece of art for a friend that will be SODDING ENORMOUS (even bigger than the Massive Clock Of Doom) and will involve smashing plates, among many other things. On the other hand, one of the classes for the Web Media course is drawing, which makes me fall the fuck over laughing, because I cannot draw, and nor can I paint.
12. Non-professional skills! With varying degrees of proficiency, I know how to: sew, crossstitch, embroider, do trapunto, do sewn beadwork, knit chain mail, design and make beaded jewelry (I should really learn metal casting someday), design and make dreamcatchers, paint non-figurally with a variety of effects and finishes, throw a pot on a wheel and build in clay without using a wheel, craft millinery, bake like a baking fiend, and, most importantly, smash it till it works. I also know how to experiment to achieve the desired effect, and I can combine techniques and elements in ways that a lot of people find pleasing. (That's leaving off a bunch of stuff I've done once or twice. I am ADDICTED to learning new crafts unless they are wildly trendy.)
I can build many fine things, sometimes without even starting with an IKEA flatpack, I can shoot well enough to hurt you (even better with a Mauser and a Springfield XD-9; those guns like me a lot), do Orissi and bellydance, and I can change a tire, an alternator, a battery, spark plugs, do an oil change and brakework, and do a whole mess of other things to cars. I really like working with my hands, and I score very highly in that arena.
Creative endeavours I'd like to bring my skill level up in include graphic design (particularly Photoshop work), woodworking, leatherworking, cooking, bhangra dance, and glassblowing. I would not be averse to doing improv again, particularly if I could find someone to do black humour improv with (somewhere, there is a video of me doing Holocaust improv for school, but I don't know WHERE.) I could probably also ride my bike with no handlebars and guide a missile by satellite.
13. Plates are the least exciting thing that have ever happened. When I took my last pottery class, we were supposed to throw plates; I thought about that for about two minutes and told the instructor I was going to keep on working with rice bowls because I don't like eating off of plates. I have two restaurants that I order the same thing at every time because it comes in a bowl.
14. Someday soon, I am going to find someone to rally race with, and we are going to go compete. I know someone who might be interested, but she's on deadline to write a book. It turns out I come by this desire honestly, as both of my parents rally raced with their first spouses. I love maps even more than I love masks, and I love cars and driving fast, too.
15. For a long time my default plan after high school was to join the French Foreign Legion. Then I found out they are an actual military outfit who expect you to follow orders and also do calisthenics and that was the end of that. Since I wanted to be that because I'd been doing too much mid-century history, it's probably for the best; Dien Bien Phu fell 22 years before I was born, and most Americans have never even heard of the Mau Mau rebellion. However, I did not entirely gain my senses, because I think that was when I decided I wanted to be a white hunter. I can't explain that other than to say that Congo made a HUGE impression on me. I studied anthropology because of Michael Crichton. There's also something marvellously romantic about the thought of sitting on the porch of the Benares Raj, sipping a Lime Rickey, or doing something wildly illegal like running guns to African rebels. At least it was ALL an improvement over when I wanted to be a nun.
Other professions I have wanted to have, with varying degrees of insanity, include paleoanthropologist, archaeologist, paleontologist, architect, spy, Mafia hitman, bookstore owner, cowboy, ballerina, and astronaut. I'm including things there that I actually was serious about, please note. I wanted to be a policeman, a fireman, and a pony, too, but at the end of the day, it's not fair to ask a six year old what they want to be. Or maybe it's very clever: if they say they want to be a CPA, you should probably lock them up preemptively.
16. I style myself a conflict anthropologist. I don't know what else to call myself when all but two of my major research subjects have been war, war, genetics of aggression, religion, war, and nationalism and war. And the two that weren't explicitly about conflict were about temple dancers, which implies moral conflict with the colonisers, and science fiction in America, which included a healthy subset of books about . . . war. One of the main reasons I avoided becoming a field anthropologist (other than that I don't go that far from a flush toilet and I'm extremely sensitive to sunlight) is because I don't really feel this amazing desire to be shot at. Or run over with a bulldozer.
17. I will see the Hindu Kush in person if I have to paddle a fucking raft across the Pacific and walk every fucking step of the way. I don't even care that it's in Pakistan and Afghanistan, I'm going. And to be honest, that's part of the appeal. Afghanistan resonates with me and has done for a very long time.
18. In the next five years, I will become a business owner, or an elected official. Or both. I mean, I'm not aiming to start the new Amazon, and I'm not aiming to be even mayor, but the Apocalypse Thriftstore or a small press with a new approach or a minor local government position are all attainable.
19. I wish I had the land and the zoning to own goats. They're awesome.
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 19 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 19 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you, or I just needed to tag more people to get to the 19 needed.
Nope, I don't know nineteen people who do memes. SORRY. Do at your leisure. Also, somewhere someone is DROWNING in these requests.
1. I cook Middle Eastern much more comfortably than I do American. I've never made a hamburger. I have, however, made chicken tagine. This is what happens when you're taught to cook by a Muslim and a Jew.
2. I still have about a hundred cassettes. I haven't listened to any of them in years. Considering that they're from the early nineties, we're talking things like Faster Pussycat and Alice Cooper and Ozzy and Iron Maiden. We're also talking the first world music I ever got into, in the form of West African djembe music. It was a presentation for English class.
3. People trust me. I still don't know why. I mean, I don't think I come off as much more than a chihuahua (nervous and prone to talking really fast, really loud) at first meeting, but the number of times I have been given things with which I could demonstrate my unresolved sense of ethics is truly astonishing. The sad part is, I can't think of a single time I've ever abused that sort of trust, unless you count that I made my own side trips when I was sent on errands at one of the places I worked.
4. I used to shoplift from Wal-Mart. I still would, too, except that now I just don't go to Wal-Mart. The last time I was there, my brother bought a television and DVD player and we took it home to watch that anti-Wal-Mart documentary. Then we returned them. It fucks their shit up. I also used to shoplift from places that were pissing me off but that I had a reason to be at that couldn't be avoided. I know it drives their prices up. I still can't make myself care. But I'm getting better about only going to places I want to be at, so I haven't lifted anything in a couple of years.
5. I love salt. Like, straight salt. I generally fall on the sweet side of the spectrum, unless it's straight salt that's under discussion. My very favourite bread is Rosemary Diamante because - wait for it - it has kosher salt on the top. I eat the edges first so that I can have the middle bit with the most salt last. I also love salt bagels and salt pretzels, though the last few times I've had salt pretzels they've had so much salt that I've been sweating like a crazy person when I eat them.
6. Almost all of my clothing comes from one store, especially since I've stopped sewing. I haven't made anything for myself in probably close to a year, though I have lots of partially-complete projects. I still look like a colourblind fifteen year old, even though my clothes come from the fat girl store. And no, it's not Torrid.
7. I make judgements of what I want to do or not do on the basis of really weird criteria. Like, lately, I think kids would be awesome. But do I really want to take on looking for shoes in size fourteen? On the other hand, if I hadn't decided I had an irrational dislike for anyone who could stress themselves stupid over a grade, I'd probably have moved to Oakland to live with srichard and...that would not have ended well. On a scale of 1 to 10, that would've been a statistical outlier somewhere around JESUSMOTHERFUCKINGCHRISTINHEAVEN.
8. I trust my intuition implicitly. I used to ignore it in the case of people, which is why I hung out with a lot of one-step-from-axe-murderer sorts. Now, my intuition speaks and I listen.
9. Cheap coffee is better than good coffee. I guess I just really like watery coffee, frankly, because there's nothing better (here) than 7-11 coffee, or possibly Chevron coffee. I KNOW it's crap, intellectually, but I can't stop myself from liking it. Which is frankly out of character, since in all other cases I have the most expensive tastes known to man. Dunkin Donuts coffee is better than anything, though. And that coffee is so good that I don't know whether it's actually good, or so crap that I THINK it's really good, or if it's even really coffee any more. It's kind of transcendent. Best all around that the closest DD is in Sacramento.
10. I miss: the Northern Lights (we used to howl at them, which is wicked fun), Mullerice, and The Tick. There is no substitute for any of these things, either.
11. Masks are one of my favourite things. I have 10, made from everything from plaster to Mt St Helens ash. I really like sculptural art, and I'm learning to trust myself that this is something I can, and indeed should, do. I have a plan to make a piece of art for a friend that will be SODDING ENORMOUS (even bigger than the Massive Clock Of Doom) and will involve smashing plates, among many other things. On the other hand, one of the classes for the Web Media course is drawing, which makes me fall the fuck over laughing, because I cannot draw, and nor can I paint.
12. Non-professional skills! With varying degrees of proficiency, I know how to: sew, crossstitch, embroider, do trapunto, do sewn beadwork, knit chain mail, design and make beaded jewelry (I should really learn metal casting someday), design and make dreamcatchers, paint non-figurally with a variety of effects and finishes, throw a pot on a wheel and build in clay without using a wheel, craft millinery, bake like a baking fiend, and, most importantly, smash it till it works. I also know how to experiment to achieve the desired effect, and I can combine techniques and elements in ways that a lot of people find pleasing. (That's leaving off a bunch of stuff I've done once or twice. I am ADDICTED to learning new crafts unless they are wildly trendy.)
I can build many fine things, sometimes without even starting with an IKEA flatpack, I can shoot well enough to hurt you (even better with a Mauser and a Springfield XD-9; those guns like me a lot), do Orissi and bellydance, and I can change a tire, an alternator, a battery, spark plugs, do an oil change and brakework, and do a whole mess of other things to cars. I really like working with my hands, and I score very highly in that arena.
Creative endeavours I'd like to bring my skill level up in include graphic design (particularly Photoshop work), woodworking, leatherworking, cooking, bhangra dance, and glassblowing. I would not be averse to doing improv again, particularly if I could find someone to do black humour improv with (somewhere, there is a video of me doing Holocaust improv for school, but I don't know WHERE.) I could probably also ride my bike with no handlebars and guide a missile by satellite.
13. Plates are the least exciting thing that have ever happened. When I took my last pottery class, we were supposed to throw plates; I thought about that for about two minutes and told the instructor I was going to keep on working with rice bowls because I don't like eating off of plates. I have two restaurants that I order the same thing at every time because it comes in a bowl.
14. Someday soon, I am going to find someone to rally race with, and we are going to go compete. I know someone who might be interested, but she's on deadline to write a book. It turns out I come by this desire honestly, as both of my parents rally raced with their first spouses. I love maps even more than I love masks, and I love cars and driving fast, too.
15. For a long time my default plan after high school was to join the French Foreign Legion. Then I found out they are an actual military outfit who expect you to follow orders and also do calisthenics and that was the end of that. Since I wanted to be that because I'd been doing too much mid-century history, it's probably for the best; Dien Bien Phu fell 22 years before I was born, and most Americans have never even heard of the Mau Mau rebellion. However, I did not entirely gain my senses, because I think that was when I decided I wanted to be a white hunter. I can't explain that other than to say that Congo made a HUGE impression on me. I studied anthropology because of Michael Crichton. There's also something marvellously romantic about the thought of sitting on the porch of the Benares Raj, sipping a Lime Rickey, or doing something wildly illegal like running guns to African rebels. At least it was ALL an improvement over when I wanted to be a nun.
Other professions I have wanted to have, with varying degrees of insanity, include paleoanthropologist, archaeologist, paleontologist, architect, spy, Mafia hitman, bookstore owner, cowboy, ballerina, and astronaut. I'm including things there that I actually was serious about, please note. I wanted to be a policeman, a fireman, and a pony, too, but at the end of the day, it's not fair to ask a six year old what they want to be. Or maybe it's very clever: if they say they want to be a CPA, you should probably lock them up preemptively.
16. I style myself a conflict anthropologist. I don't know what else to call myself when all but two of my major research subjects have been war, war, genetics of aggression, religion, war, and nationalism and war. And the two that weren't explicitly about conflict were about temple dancers, which implies moral conflict with the colonisers, and science fiction in America, which included a healthy subset of books about . . . war. One of the main reasons I avoided becoming a field anthropologist (other than that I don't go that far from a flush toilet and I'm extremely sensitive to sunlight) is because I don't really feel this amazing desire to be shot at. Or run over with a bulldozer.
17. I will see the Hindu Kush in person if I have to paddle a fucking raft across the Pacific and walk every fucking step of the way. I don't even care that it's in Pakistan and Afghanistan, I'm going. And to be honest, that's part of the appeal. Afghanistan resonates with me and has done for a very long time.
18. In the next five years, I will become a business owner, or an elected official. Or both. I mean, I'm not aiming to start the new Amazon, and I'm not aiming to be even mayor, but the Apocalypse Thriftstore or a small press with a new approach or a minor local government position are all attainable.
19. I wish I had the land and the zoning to own goats. They're awesome.