Monday, January 6, 2014

Sunday Stealling

Well, I spent thirteen hours at Downton Abbey today, catching a local PBS station marathon of Season 3, so that when Season 4 started, I was already immersed into that world again.  Of course, that meant that I did nothing today, but sit on my rather larger butt and pretend I was an anorexic 1920s socialite.   As Episode 1 of Season 4 was ending I wondered what in the world I was going to write tonight, but then I remembered it was SUNDAY.  Saved by Sunday Stealing yet again, though I have the feeling I may have done this one, or one very similar to it, before.
The Generic Meme

From Remember the Stars

1. What did you want to be when you were little?
When I was very little I wanted to be a mother, then in grammar school, I wanted to be a nurse (until I realized that it came with smells and icky stuff), then I wanted to be a nun (and very nearly became one), then my father told me I wanted to be a teacher because it was a cushy job--high pay, you only work until 3 and you have 3 months off.   (All you teachers feel free to laugh now).  But I knew I didn't want to teach, so solved that problem by flunking out of UC Berkeley.  All I really wanted to do, for pay, from some point, was to be a secretary, and I was that in various forms for most of my working life.  But I was also a mother, my very first "want" and that is the job that made me the happiest.

2. Would you prefer to have a large group of friends, or a small group of friends? Why?

Small group of friends, because I'm shy and don't do well in large groups.   

3. What is your fashion “style”? Or what type of clothes do you wear on a daily basis?

I usually wear sweat pants and a t-shirt. I wouldn't know "fashion style" if it bit me on the nose.  I was looking at Ralph Lauren commercials between Downton episodes today and thought--yeah, it's easy to design beautiful clothes if you have beautiful models with perfect figures.  I wonder what ol' Ralph could do for women like ME.

4. If you could live anywhere where would you live?

I'm happy living here.  Relatively close to two of the kids and the grandkids.   If I had to live somewhere else, and there were no kids to consider, I could happily live in London, where I feel comfortable.  I also feel like I've come "home" whenever I get to Ireland.

5. What is your biggest hope for the next year?

Assuming this is for 2014.  I hope Lady Mary finds happiness again and saves Downton from financial ruin, I hope Anna and Bates live happily ever after, and I hope that evil Barrow gets what's coming to him.  Oh.  ME?  Well, we are working on a possible cruise to France and I hope we can book it for when is a good time for all of us.  I'll know more tomorrow.

6. When you pass by reflective surfaces do you check yourself out?

Heavens, no.

7. Favorite genre of movie as well as TV show?

Drama, crime drama, and, based on today, whatever genre Downton Abbey is!

8. Top favorite books? (limit of 5)

* The Mother Tongue (by Bill Bryson)
* Prince of Tides (by Pat Conroy)
* East of Eden (by John Steinbeck)
* Journal of a Novel (letters written by Steinbeck while writing East of Eden)
* Marjorie Morningstar (by Herman Wouk)...at least that was my favorite book for many, many years.

9. Have you ever taken a cooking class?

In addition to cake decorating classes, I took two series of classes in Chinese cooking given by Martin Yan before he became the famous TV chef.  He gave classes at the University for big bucks, but taught the same class at the community night school. At one time I was a pretty good Chinese cook and still have the big cleaver that I bought from him.

10. What three words would you use to describe yourself?

Fat, funny, sensitive

11. Favorite animal?

Wild animal - the elephant
Tame animal - (no surprise), the dog

12. What is your dream job?

The one I have now:  retired.  Doesn't pay much, but the hours are great.

13. If you could go back in history to any moment that you did not live, what would it be and why?

I thought about this when we were in Ukraine recently.  I want to be with whoever invented cyrillic script and find out why they thought a new language based on alphabets from several different languages was a good idea!! This was 9th century "Esperanto" which, unlike Esperanto itself, actually caught on.

14. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?

I want to, like Superman, zip across the globe in seconds and I want to be invisible so I could spy on anybody I wanted to.

15. What is your favorite movie?

All together now, regular readers of Funny the World ... "A Star is Born," the Judy Garland version

16. What is your best childhood memory?

Any time I spent in libraries. Also the hours I spent sitting in a big tree with my cousin Peach, eating green apples and talking about the world.

17. What is your favorite part about blogging?

I love the discipline of creating an entry a day.  I love having now 13 years of my history to look back on.  I love the people I have met through writing my journal and reading theirs.  I can't think of anything about blogging (or journaling) that I don't like (especially when there is Sunday Stealing to write on days when I have nothing to talk about!)

18. What is your favorite quote?

I have several, but here's a short one:  Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts warm when we are lonely. ~Becky Aligada

19. What song do you feel like describes your life the best? Why?
Oh lord...so many songs, so little space.  My current favorite, which describes my relationship with several people, is "For Good" from Wicked.

20. Would you describe yourself as shy or outgoing?

Definitely shy.  People find that difficult to believe, reading all the things I write on line, but those are written sitting in a tiny office in front of a computer screen.  Get me out in a large group and watch me hide behind the potted palm (right, Ron?)

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