The Livening
What are the books you bought most recently? Read most recently?
For Rob's birthday, I bought him a book entitled "Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs: Frontier Medicine in America" by Wayne Bethard. My most recent read was "Jewels of the Sun" which is my favorite Nora Roberts girly romance novel. It made me truly fall in love with Ireland. I re-read it a few weeks ago having just been in December to Ardmore (the town where it was set) to see how much changed in my perspective of the read. It was somewhat disconcerting, trying to meld the images I experienced from those I created in my mind...very similar to how I felt after having seen the Harry Potter films and re-reading the books. But despite that, I did get a great surge of excitement whenever the text mentioned monuments I stood next to and vocabulary that now meant something real.
Monkey or moose?
Monkeys are more intelligent, so I understand. Thus, they are likely more complicated creatures. And more similar to people. People are pretty annoying. And moose are cuter and more exotic. Show me the moose!*
*Bullwinkle need not apply.
What's the strangest thing you've ever seen while driving or walking down the street?
During parking duty once (wherein I had to walk up and down the street in front of the lot), I saw a duck threesome. Two mallards, one female. She didn't look very pleased about it. It was disturbing to think it may have been a rape. But at the time, I was more concerned about whether I should try to prompt them out of the road to avoid oncoming traffic. This was not exactly the "Make Way for Ducklings" scenario I had always envisioned.
What's the most recent toy you bought for yourself?
My Sigmund Freud action figure. My clients always thought he was KFC's Colonel Sanders. I'd like to find a tiny couch for him.
In what order do you do things when you're getting ready to go out?
I have no particular order...that's probably half of my organization problem. I mean, other than the obvious "shower, dress, hunt down keys, get into car" order. Any other order would get my clothes or my car unnecessarily wet.
Caffeine or alcohol, but not both. Which would you choose?
Ooh, this is the most challenging one yet. Is this the rest of my life, or just Friday night? Damn, I'll miss my Irish coffee. Okay, here's the ideal scenario:
I'll take the alcohol, because I like the social lubricant it provides me when I am in stressful group situations. However, if I give up caffeine, I can't know about it. The placebo effect I would get from caffeine-free coffee and tea would likely suffice for energy purposes.
Wait, does this mean I have to give up chocolate? RE-EVALUATE! If that's the case, I'd probably take the caffeine. It does serve a life-saving purpose if I am on the road and really, really need to keep driving and stay awake. Besides, when I'm old and my 27 medications can't be mixed with alcohol, I'm going to need some kind of comfort snack.
What colors do you find soothing? What colors do you surround yourself with? What colors do you wear?
Answers to all questions are usually a blue/green/purple kind of mixture. Not blindingly-bright, but bright enough that they're not considered earthtones. The combination of ocean-at-sunset colors, I suppose. Very soothing. And the blues/purples I tend to wear more because they bring out my eyes.
What scent do you find most comforting? Most breathtaking? What's your favorite?
Comforting? Amoxicillin.
Breathtaking? Salt Air. At Cape May, specifically. It also has comforting qualities.
I don't think I have an absolute favorite scent. Different scents are appropriate for different contexts. Seasons, holidays, whether or not I'm hungry. I think I'm partial to those that cannot be waxed by Yankee Candle Co. The intangible...like the smell of fall air and Christmas snow and the Orlando Airport's traces of Disney World.
I also have a particular penchant for Old Spice :)
What was your most recent dream about?
The most recent one I remember is that Rob and I went to the Caribbean. I think Justin was also a passenger on the flight. It was sort of a disappointing dream because it was one of those where you knew you were in a certain place, but it didn't look like that place at all. But said dream led to a wonderful guided imagery session by us in which we met Kenny Chesney and luau'd until the wee hours by the sea.