Meme from Microbie
Today was the first day of the 2019-2020 school year, with students. It went well -- there's always a honeymoon period. I swear, weirdly, that the coming of the school year is the one thing that has fixed my sleep schedule. I've gotten good sleep (and I've eaten more regularly) every day since last Saturday. If I could add the habit of making a lunch the night before, I'd be... glad. Healthier. Hasn't happened yet, though. Random news: my older niece moved onto campus, into her dorm, at Cal Berkeley yesterday. It's still kind of a shock to all of our systems, even though she's local, thank fuck. My sister and I both went to the university where my dad was the Archivist, Northwestern, so we were local, too. In fact, after one year in a dorm, I took my roommate back home to my mom's and we lived there, "off campus" but not away from family. We made bedrooms in the semi-finished attic (last used for housing during World War II, apparently). R. says she was really homesick and lonely last night for a half hour... then she called her dad and said she'd forgotten some stuff, and my sister and he (who were suffering too) took it to her and took her out to dinner at Saul's Deli. My younger niece is going to miss her terribly, terribly -- they're really close friends. They do a lot of ironic watching of shows together. I bet they'll make clockwork sister dates, actually.
And now, a meme:
1. Are you named after someone? That depends on whether fictional characters count: I am named after the younger main female character in Steinbeck's East of Eden... alternatively, I am named after a granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller who went to public school for a hot minute when my dad was in second grade or something, in the early '50s in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. And SHE may have been named after the Steinbeck character.
2. When was the last time you cried? Crying a little bit comes and goes still, about my mom.
3. Do you like your handwriting? I DO like my handwriting, and am flattered when other people (my students, for example) like it. It's changed a lot since I was in middle school, when I did hate it.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Honestly, tuna salad. Otherwise, if it has to be meat, rosemary ham.
5. Do you have any kids? nope
6. If you were another person would you be friends with yourself? I think I would be friends with me, though I might be exasperated sometimes.
7. Do you use sarcasm? I am not a great user of sarcasm, but I appreciate it as wit in others.
8. Do you still have your tonsils? yes, but not my wisdom teeth
9. Would you bungee jump? I would have said yes to this at a younger, lighter age. Also parachute jumping. Now, hell no.
10. What is your favorite cereal? Muesli I make myself from bulk grains etc, see my last entry. I have eaten that stuff every morning since I made it this past weekend, and I am not tired of it, and can't imagine being tired of it.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I am such a savage (hat tip to @microbie) that I don't own any shoes that tie. I own one pair of shoes -- black Crocs. I hate shoes.
12. Do you think you're strong? Hmm.
13. What is your favorite ice cream? I like a scoop of really good lemon sorbet in a bowl with very rich, dense (but not bitter) chocolate.
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? their faces
15. Red or pink? This is the only easy question about colors, because pink is almost always gross. Red.
16. What is the thing you like least about yourself? probably my laziness
17. What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? blue and gray pajama pants and no shoes
18. What was the last thing you ate? Vegan curried lentil soup from the Berkeley Bowl and also a microwavable non-frozen Indian dinner with cauliflower and peas, rice, and I think makhani dal?
19. What are you listening to right now? "California Love" 2Pac and Dr. Dre
20. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? parma violet or limepeel green (these are actually Prismacolor colored pencil colors)
21. Favorite smell? lavender is always nice, as @microbie says, and also rosemary
22. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? I talked to my stepmother this morning when I was in the Starbucks drive-thru, on my first day of the school year. She and my dad are on their way home from a driving vacation to Toronto, Montreal, and the East Coast. Tomorrow's my dad's 77th birthday, and Mary made sure to remind me. I wouldn't forget it!
23. Favorite sport to watch? "football, because I am a terrible person" Yeah, I'm guilty, but I enjoy it so much. I will say that women's soccer this summer was a lot of fun to watch, and I totally have a crush on Megan Rapinoe. I want a poster of her for my classroom.
24. Hair color real? yes, brown and grey. When it's fresh-washed it's getting to be silvery grey and brown, which is nice.
25. Eye color? hazel
26. Do you wear contacts? no; I wear glasses, but I cannot wear contacts (I found out in high school) because I will get neovascularization of the retina and iris
27. Favorite food? Too hard to choose, although if we are talking a whole cuisine, then Indian
28. Scary movies or happy endings? happy endings
29. Last movie you watched? An actual movie... new to me? I rewatched some stuff this summer, I think. The last new new movie might have been Black Panther.
30. What color shirt are you wearing? white
31. Summer or winter? Summer, though I like the rainy season out here and I used to like the ridiculousness of a snowy winter in Evanston (border of Chicago and Lake Michigan)
32. Hugs or kisses? More hugs than kisses
33. Favorite dessert? Bread pudding with whiskey sauce
34. What book are you reading right now? The Mortal Blow, a late Georgian mystery, by... who is the author? Elizabeth Bailey. It's the fifth one. I am enjoying this series. It takes place in England during the French Revolution, so it's pre-Regency. It is starting to make me want to re-read The Scarlet Pimpernel, a book that should certainly have been on my list of guilty pleasure reading, for political reasons.
35. What is on your mouse pad? I don't have a mouse pad
36. What did you watch on t.v. last night? An episode of the current season of Master Chef, which I may also do after finishing this post.
37. Favorite sound? If music... upbringing apparently still holds sway: folk music; if not music... a hard rain, or at least a long lasting rain that you can hear while falling asleep.
38. Rolling stones or beatles? @microbie said "Do I look like a middle-aged white guy?" and I feel her. The Beatles are okay. I liked their stuff when I was a preteen. And I think I've owned one Rolling Stones record. But it's not a question of importance to me.
39. What is the farthest you have been from home? I guess the farthest East I got from home was Italy?
40. Do you have a special talent? I have lots, or at least they're special to me.
And now, a meme:
1. Are you named after someone? That depends on whether fictional characters count: I am named after the younger main female character in Steinbeck's East of Eden... alternatively, I am named after a granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller who went to public school for a hot minute when my dad was in second grade or something, in the early '50s in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. And SHE may have been named after the Steinbeck character.
2. When was the last time you cried? Crying a little bit comes and goes still, about my mom.
3. Do you like your handwriting? I DO like my handwriting, and am flattered when other people (my students, for example) like it. It's changed a lot since I was in middle school, when I did hate it.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Honestly, tuna salad. Otherwise, if it has to be meat, rosemary ham.
5. Do you have any kids? nope
6. If you were another person would you be friends with yourself? I think I would be friends with me, though I might be exasperated sometimes.
7. Do you use sarcasm? I am not a great user of sarcasm, but I appreciate it as wit in others.
8. Do you still have your tonsils? yes, but not my wisdom teeth
9. Would you bungee jump? I would have said yes to this at a younger, lighter age. Also parachute jumping. Now, hell no.
10. What is your favorite cereal? Muesli I make myself from bulk grains etc, see my last entry. I have eaten that stuff every morning since I made it this past weekend, and I am not tired of it, and can't imagine being tired of it.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I am such a savage (hat tip to @microbie) that I don't own any shoes that tie. I own one pair of shoes -- black Crocs. I hate shoes.
12. Do you think you're strong? Hmm.
13. What is your favorite ice cream? I like a scoop of really good lemon sorbet in a bowl with very rich, dense (but not bitter) chocolate.
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? their faces
15. Red or pink? This is the only easy question about colors, because pink is almost always gross. Red.
16. What is the thing you like least about yourself? probably my laziness
17. What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? blue and gray pajama pants and no shoes
18. What was the last thing you ate? Vegan curried lentil soup from the Berkeley Bowl and also a microwavable non-frozen Indian dinner with cauliflower and peas, rice, and I think makhani dal?
19. What are you listening to right now? "California Love" 2Pac and Dr. Dre
20. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? parma violet or limepeel green (these are actually Prismacolor colored pencil colors)
21. Favorite smell? lavender is always nice, as @microbie says, and also rosemary
22. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? I talked to my stepmother this morning when I was in the Starbucks drive-thru, on my first day of the school year. She and my dad are on their way home from a driving vacation to Toronto, Montreal, and the East Coast. Tomorrow's my dad's 77th birthday, and Mary made sure to remind me. I wouldn't forget it!
23. Favorite sport to watch? "football, because I am a terrible person" Yeah, I'm guilty, but I enjoy it so much. I will say that women's soccer this summer was a lot of fun to watch, and I totally have a crush on Megan Rapinoe. I want a poster of her for my classroom.
24. Hair color real? yes, brown and grey. When it's fresh-washed it's getting to be silvery grey and brown, which is nice.
25. Eye color? hazel
26. Do you wear contacts? no; I wear glasses, but I cannot wear contacts (I found out in high school) because I will get neovascularization of the retina and iris
27. Favorite food? Too hard to choose, although if we are talking a whole cuisine, then Indian
28. Scary movies or happy endings? happy endings
29. Last movie you watched? An actual movie... new to me? I rewatched some stuff this summer, I think. The last new new movie might have been Black Panther.
30. What color shirt are you wearing? white
31. Summer or winter? Summer, though I like the rainy season out here and I used to like the ridiculousness of a snowy winter in Evanston (border of Chicago and Lake Michigan)
32. Hugs or kisses? More hugs than kisses
33. Favorite dessert? Bread pudding with whiskey sauce
34. What book are you reading right now? The Mortal Blow, a late Georgian mystery, by... who is the author? Elizabeth Bailey. It's the fifth one. I am enjoying this series. It takes place in England during the French Revolution, so it's pre-Regency. It is starting to make me want to re-read The Scarlet Pimpernel, a book that should certainly have been on my list of guilty pleasure reading, for political reasons.
35. What is on your mouse pad? I don't have a mouse pad
36. What did you watch on t.v. last night? An episode of the current season of Master Chef, which I may also do after finishing this post.
37. Favorite sound? If music... upbringing apparently still holds sway: folk music; if not music... a hard rain, or at least a long lasting rain that you can hear while falling asleep.
38. Rolling stones or beatles? @microbie said "Do I look like a middle-aged white guy?" and I feel her. The Beatles are okay. I liked their stuff when I was a preteen. And I think I've owned one Rolling Stones record. But it's not a question of importance to me.
39. What is the farthest you have been from home? I guess the farthest East I got from home was Italy?
40. Do you have a special talent? I have lots, or at least they're special to me.