Memememe

I really, really want to be blogging more than just memes, but lately I've been occupied with trying to find a balance between my work-self and my usual self. It's tricky. So for the time being, here's a survey I got from Sandra Dodd.


The rules:
A) People who have been tagged must[who want to might] write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question.

B) Tag 8 people to answer the questions.

1. How many songs are on your iPod?
Something like 370 - it's a 2gig Nano and should hold 400 songs, but since I've been listening to so many 10-minute prog rock songs lately, it fills up quick.

2. What music would you want played at your funeral?
Maybe nothing... I've only been to one funeral that had music, and it ruined that song for me forever because it makes me think of that person's funeral now. If I love a song enough to want it played at my funeral I sure don't want to ruin it for my friends and family.

3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to?
I don't. But I do collect random catalogs, and I've about worn out all the ones I have now. I need to request some new ones.

4. What are your favorite scents?
Vanilla, lavender and vanilla mixed, cinnamon... anything that's relaxing and smells like baking. For some reason I also like the smell of house paint.

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?
Assuming I'm supposed to spend ALL of it and not save it or anything... I'd take half and go travel the world visiting friends and following concert tours, and take the other half and build a swanky house

6. What is your theme song?
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Just because.

7. Do you trust easily?
Not at all, but that's probably got to do with living in a small town more than anything. You trust one person, you better trust everybody in town. I'm more trusting on the internet where I'm at least semi-anonymous.

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?
I think all the time, though not always about what I'm actually doing at the time.

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Having to watch the same Wiggles video at work at least twice a week

10. Do you have a good body-image?
Decent enough

12. How do you spend your social networking (Facebook, etc.) time?
Usually doing surveys, that's about all I use it for

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Prog_lolz, an LJ community that pokes fun at prog rock musicians (who the rest of the internets take way too seriously). I love it to death.

14. Why do people still believe in the supernatural?
The same reason people study quantum physics. The universe does a lot of stuff that human brains can't really understand, and humans don't like to not understand things. So we hazard a guess.

15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
A horridly cheesy Tony Banks song somebody posted on prog_lolz

16. What’s your favorite item of clothing?
I don't think I have one favorite. Lately I've been liking my dressy clothes more, because I have to dress down for my job. I always want to wear what I can't.

17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy?
Not really. Even with a lot of sugar, they've gotta be the fastest cereal to get soggy ever.

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground?
I doubt I'd even see it, I'm zoned out all the time when I'm just walking around. If I did see it, I'd try and return it.

19. What items could you not go without during the day?
My iPod, food, toilet paper? Rubber gloves and hand sanitizer if I'm at work.

20. What should you be doing right now?
It's a five-day weekend, I can do whatever I want!

Friday Fill-In

1. Please feel free to grab soda and snacks, because I will forget to keep offering them to you.
2. When I decorate my childhood Christmas tree I can't help sniffing it occasionally. (It's an ancient artificial tree that my grandparents bought in the 70s. It still gives off some kind of artificial pine smell.)
3. My favorite thing to cook is Thanksgiving dinner.
4. Free time is something I can't get enough of.
5. That's the thing I love most about my job; my coworkers are a lot of fun.
6. Fox news always makes me think to myself, what the heck?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to chillaxin', tomorrow my plans include grocery shopping and Sunday, I want to go to Target again!

Unitarian heritage?

My dad never talked about religion much. I never saw him go to church, but he once told me it was practically a crime not to go to church on Mother's Day. That left me scratching my head a little, because I always assumed he was agnostic - or more to the point, hadn't really thought about it all that much. He was a practical, down-to-earth kind of guy. But a comment my Baptist mom made about him today caught my attention. She said "Your daddy believed that God was just a Great Spirit or something and Jesus didn't matter."

That sounds eerily close to my beliefs as a Unitarian. If I had to peg my beliefs, I'd call them panentheist with certain habits colored by my Christian upbringing (I still pray in a similar way to how I did as a child, even though I don't fully believe it's necessary, and I celebrate Christian holidays.) As for Jesus, I surely wouldn't say he "didn't matter" - he changed the world completely, that's for damn sure, and was a wonderful role model no matter your faith - but I don't think you're punished if you don't focus your life on him. A panentheist belief system kind of renders the "son of God" question irrelevant, though. If believing in that brings comfort to people, I wholeheartedly support them in that, because that's one of the main functions of religion. It's just not for me. But it sounds like whatever my dad said to my mom that made her decide he thought "Jesus doesn't matter", was probably quite similar to my own beliefs.

My dad has never been a huge part of my life, and I often wonder what sort of things I inherited from his side of the family. I think it's very interesting that despite never once having discussed religion with him, we came out with the same basic beliefs.

Holy blog neglect, Batman!

Yeah, so I haven't posted in two weeks. New job, the election (YAY OBAMA!), and NaNoWriMo (which I may not even finish) have been kicking my ass. Still too tired to blog, but in the meantime, here's a meme.

Bold the things you’ve done. And I've italicized the things I've kind of done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (I went to Animal Kingdom, which is a Disney park, but that's it.)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (if karaoke counts!)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (*See below)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run (Maybe. I can't really remember, but I think I did once, as a kid.)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (It doesn't take that much, for me.)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I tried, but they wouldn't let me that day)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (I think I have. Again, I don't really remember.)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

*In high school, I took agriscience and we had to work with a partner to plant vegetables. My partner and I were planting lettuce, and I planted most of a tray and she just planted a few in the corner. I ended up moving away and moving back (long story) and when I came back, only the ones in the corner had grown. Plants do not like me.