My annual doctor appointment is today. I only have one that is on an annual basis and I hate, hate, hate it. So, I panic. I’ve been panicking for days. It hasn’t been pretty. No yays for panic.
In an effort to calm down, I’m doing everything I can to distract myself. I’m going to go pretend I’m a walrus in a bit and sit in the tub for a few…hours…and read. After our electric was upgraded this week, they turned off all the switches to the boiler and the last time I tried marinating in the tub to relax, I hopped in to realize it was ice cold because they’d forgotten to flip everything back on. I haven’t been brave enough to take that ice plunge again. =/
Sooo, in an effort to distract, this “survey” thing popped up on my Facebook. I used to love actually filling these out when I was teenager back in the MySpace and Xanga days, so figured I might as well give ‘er a go. Yay for distractions!
Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids?! Have you ever kissed someone? Missed someone? Told someone you loved them?
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1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
We’re not “romantic” dinner people. Maybe “Hugo’s Restaurant” in the Druids Glen Hotel? I don’t know if that counts as romantic since we were just hungry in Ireland and went there to eat. It was moderately fancy and we ate alone for a change — normally when we eat at fancy places, we’re with other people. I almost saw a table full of ladies get their hair set on fire with a birthday sparkler gone wrong. I call that dinner and a show, not romantic.
3. What do you really want to be doing right now?
Anything but thinking about going to the doctor. Seriously, anything…except maybe actually -being- at the doctor. I’ll probably sew some after I try drowning my misery in the tub.
4.How many colleges did you attend?
Three. I took classes at a community college when I was in high school and sometimes during the summers for additional credits. When I graduated high school at 17 (barely, graduation was a week after I turned 17), I went to a private college in South Carolina for a year and didn’t like it, at all…so I transferred to a public university in Virginia to finish my degree.
5. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
Because it’s my nightgown shirt and I won’t bother to put on day clothes until after I splash around for a while.
6. What are your thoughts on gas prices?
I actually have no clue what they are currently. We have one car currently and L drives it almost exclusively, even though it’s technically mine….and it’s a Prius, so we fill up once a month on average unless we’re on a trip. 😛 I just looked at my financial logs and our last gas purchase was $21.47, so I guess that’s average? I mean, even when it got to be nearly $4 a tank here, it didn’t hurt that badly because our car is an older generation, it also has some weird type of fuel bladder, so we never can get the full 11.9 gallon capacity. Usually we only fill up to 9 gallons, when we’re bone dry with fuel warnings blaring. We also get a discount at the gas station from our grocery store and those can really add up…so I really have no clue what the current prices are.
7. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
I didn’t even hear the alarm. I’m sleep deprived — thanks, anxiety and people thinking it’s appropriate to send group texts all night long! — and just remember growling at L that he needed to wake up when he tried getting back into bed almost an hour after he was supposed to have woken up for work.
8. Last thought before going to sleep last night?
I need to find a longer cord for my phone charger so L doesn’t step on my phone some morning. (He didn’t.)
9. Do you miss being a child?
In some ways, sure. I certainly miss the people that I was around when I was a child and there’s no way I can ever be around them again. Do I miss school and having to be completely dependent on other people? Hell no.
10. What errand/chore do you despise?
Mopping and/or vacuuming. We have two dogs and three cats. No matter how often you mop or vacuum, it’s never done. One of the animals has deposited fur or tracked something. It is literally the chore that will never end.
11. Get up early or sleep in?
I actually prefer to get up early. Most people like sleeping in, so the world is quieter in the morning and you don’t have to deal with as much nonsense. It feels awesome getting all of your out-and-about errands done before most people roll out of bed. Sometimes it’s nice to sleep in, though, that’s impossible to deny.
12. Have you found real love?
I’m married and we put up with each other, even after ten years of being together and five years of marriage. We put up with each other’s annoying habits and generally support each other. He likes to say we’re both dysfunctional but together we make a single, functional adult. I guess that qualifies? I’m not mushy, so I’m probably not the best person to ask this question. He cries if I say something nice. =/
13. Favorite lunch meat?
Who am I kidding, we all know it’s bologna. Pickle loaf, if I can find it. Now, if I could find venison sausages or something like that around here, then we’d have a different contender.
14. What do you get every time you go to Wal-Mart?
Usually cat litter or dog food/treats. I don’t go to Wal-Mart a whole lot. It’s a chaotic madhouse and sets my teeth on edge. There are so many other stores where I live now, that I’m almost gleeful that I can avoid it. …but they generally do have better prices on pet supplies and are one of the few places that stock the stuff my critters use.
15. Beach or Lake?
Beach. I love the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean.
16. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
I guess not since I’m married. Tax break! I’m pretty sure L asked me to marry him so I’d get on his health insurance and go to a doctor. >_> I think getting married for the -sake- of getting married is outdated and dumb, though. I also think it’s nonsense to require marriage in health-care and financial decisions. Marriage isn’t required for a family, or to have children. If that’s what a person wants — go for it. …but people shouldn’t be judged because of their decisions. There’s nothing wrong with cohabitation or living a life independently.
17. What famous person(s) would you like to have dinner with?
Sirs Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, as a pair. They’re utterly adorable as friends and everything I’ve seen them in, social media, film, and on Broadway, has been delightful. I think I would actually enjoy a dinner with them. I really enjoy being around old men. >_> On that note, probably Peter S. Beagle as well. Maybe I wouldn’t fangirl if I saw him at a dinner and could actually talk to him…and if not, I’d happily just listen to him talk again. He’s fascinating.
18. Have you ever crashed your car?
Yes, but I was deemed not at fault. My front wheel sheered off and passed me on the interstate. I didn’t hit anybody but steered the car out of the morning commute traffic and into the guard rail. No damage to anything but the car.
19. Ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended use?
No, but there are a few instances that I probably should have…including L’s penchant for grease fires.
20. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
In a creek while camping? I was using water we’d purified, but I guess that would seem strange to some.
21. Somewhere you have never been and would like to go?
Iceland or New Zealand.
22. At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship?
Neither. Both sound like work. I guess I’d pick the career, though, since I technically don’t have one of those right now other than my tinkering at home quilting and crafting thing.
23. How old are you?
I’m 31.
24. Do you have a go to person?
I guess L? He’s really the only person I see day-to-day. Kind of sad, isn’t it? I do have a few people I talk to daily but they’re all far away, so it’s all online. I guess maybe some of those would count.
25. Are you where you want to be in life?
Not really. Getting there, but not quite. Drop me off in some deep, dark woods with nobody around for miles and we’d be there. I like my solitude a bit too much.
26. Growing up, what was your favorite cartoon?
I’m a pure 80’s kid. Carebears or Gummi Bears….with a dash of My Little Pony. I probably liked Carebears more at the time, but watching them now, I like Gummi Bears more.
27. What about you do you think has changed?
Since I was a kid? My height and weight for one. 😛 I think a 5’10” baby would be terrifying, especially for the mother during labor. Honestly, I don’t know if much has changed. I was shy and cynical, even as a kid. I did like being outside more as a kid, but a lot of that had to do with the location — I grew up in a rural area, without many neighbors (just grandparents as neighbors) and there wasn’t a huge tick population waiting to give you lyme disease outside. So, I’m a lot more pale and pasty now than I was as a kid, and less physically active.
28. Looking back at high school, were they the best years of your life?
Are you kidding me? Does anybody say yes to this question? If they do, I can promise they’re not the type of person I’d ever want to associate with because they’re the ones that made life for everybody else miserable. I hated high school. Sure, you get to see your friends every day — which is awesome — but you also have to deal with the people that bully you…all day, every day. …and when you’re a kid, time seems to move a lot slower, so it never seems like it’s going to end. Remember how slowly the year creeped by from start of school until Christmas as a kid? Now it’s gone in a blink. There’s a reason that teen suicide from bullying is such a problem; school is a bubble and even though we can look back on it now and breathe a sigh of relief that we escaped it, when you’re trapped in that bubble, sometimes it’s almost impossible to see that there will be a way up for air when that bubble collapses. If you don’t like your job now, you can transfer. If you hate where you live, you can move. Is it a pain? Sure. …but if you’re a kid, unless your parents take what is happening to you seriously enough and have the ability to take action, you’re stuck in your situation for 13 years. Thirteen years when kids are going through some of the most unsure times of their lives — developmentally and emotionally….because they’re kids. …and other kids are downright mean. Now that social media is so prevalent, there is no escaping it. Internet was just becoming a “thing” when I was in high school, so the bullying followed us home then too. Thankfully, it’s not as bad then as it is now. I really feel sorry for kids now. 😦 When I have nightmares, they’re almost always that I’m back in high school. Not that I’m naked or didn’t do my homework, just that I’m back in high school and having to deal with the same assholes I went to school with…
29. Are there times you still feel like a kid?
Only when I don’t want to go to the doctor. 😀 …or when somebody else is throwing a fit and telling me I need to “grow up” because I have an opinion of my own and don’t bend to their every whim and will. I was bullied enough as a kid, thank you, I don’t put up with it as an adult…but it still throws me back to childhood and dealing with that nonsense.
30. Did you have a pager?
Nope. I didn’t know anybody that did, either.
31. Where was the hang out spot when you were a teenager?
I don’t really know. I wasn’t one of those types of kids. It was a rural area, so there weren’t many areas to go. Some of the less savory pursuits happened at the fairgrounds barn and other kids went to watch sporting events if they weren’t participating. My friends and I tended to hang out at the library, when we hung out. We were usually too involved with extra-curricular activities to do other things, though, so we were almost always still at school…even in summer. Where are my nerd glasses at? That’s right, still on my face. 😀
32. Were you the type of kid you would want your children to hang out with?
Sure, I was pretty harmless. I was in almost every club my school had — Spanish, Upward Bound, Talent Search, Beta, 4-H and 4-H All-Stars, an Academic Competition Conference (on the science team), Band (marching and concert), Forensics (the speech/debate kind, not the let’s find the killer kind), and attended Governor’s School for Mathematics, Science, and Technology — and I participated in a few sports (youth basketball, plus tennis and cheerleading throughout high school). I generally didn’t get into trouble unless somebody else tried stirring it up for me, so it was never anything serious. Usually I would get fussed at for reading too much or playing in the rain. Real wild child, here. 😛
33. Was there a teacher or authority figure that stood out to you?
Several, and not all for good reasons. If we’re looking for a positive teacher, I’d go with my first grade teacher. I was generally the teacher’s pet because I was quiet and a high performer, but that wasn’t the case with Mrs. Miller. Throughout all of elementary school, I didn’t get my name on the “bad board” except twice that I remember (I had lots of good check-marks removed for shenanigans, especially in Kindergarten, though…)…and both of those were in first grade. Once, I turned off the water while we were washing hands before lunch and the second time I stayed in the coat closet talking to a boy too long. Horrible of me on both accounts, right? 😛 The teacher had been out for the entire beginning of the year with an illness and she came in like a battering ram. She was older and stern and very strict with high expectations. I loved her class because she was tough as nails and expected everybody to perform well, regardless of who they were — she had no favorites, even if I did usually end up as Queen of the Castle every week. ;P I still send her a Christmas card every year and our families even went on vacation with each other about a decade ago. 🙂
34. Do you tell stories that start with “when I was your age…”?
Not yet, but only because I don’t interact with many kids. I’d like to tell those stories though and make it sound like it was the dark ages. Because when I was your age, we had stand in the kitchen, where everybody could see us and hear us, then pick up the phone and call our friends, hoping that they’d answer their house phone and not their annoying siblings or parents…or when I was your age, our annoying sibling would pick up the phone while we were online just to kill our internet connection JUST as we were finishing downloading that song that had taken us three weeks to download. Truly, it was the dark ages.
35. Were you in love as a teenager?
Teenagers are young and dumb, so yah, I fancied me a boy or two. I don’t think I was ever emotionally dependent on anybody or obsessed like most teenage girls get, but I did enjoy the company of certain males and vice versa (so they said) once I was introduced to a world of men that weren’t related or bumpkins from my hometown.