EIGHT TO THE EIGHT TO THE EIGHT

Hello, my peeps, happy Tuesday. Did you notice that peeps has crept back into my vocabulary? I hope it is still in with the in crowd and I am not just throwing around a bit of slang that has already come and gone. The thing is that I have come to like it. That means that the likelihood is that it no longer is a "happening" word with the popular in crowd. Whatever. I am keeping it until it bores me.

Mitzi, over at Southern Style, tagged me at the end of last week with eight questions. It was actually on the same day that Yenta Mary hit me with her eight questions. I just read Mary's post first. There was no way I was doing all sixteen questions at once, so I spread it out. I also found this 30 day blog challenge on Miss Angie's blog that I am going to post tomorrow. The cool thing about that is that it gives you blogging material for 30 days. Naturally, I will take breaks for all of my regularly scheduled events. However, I invite anyone who feels so inclined to participate in this action. And, since I am not participating in it to the letter, I think you can twist it to suit you. That is pretty much how I roll on my blog. Who would have thought that the only place I would really break out and become a rebel was on my blog? And, even then it would really just be minor infractions. Yeah, pretty much everyone thought that. If you polled my high school, even the people who barely knew me would have pegged me for the "play by the rules" type. What are you gonna do?

Okay, well here are the questions that Mitzi passed on to me. Turns out that they were really hard. And I hope I don't tick anyone off with my answers. Just remember opinions are like a$$holes. Everyone's got them. That should make you feel somewhat better.

The rules are the same on this. I have to think of another eight questions. Ugh. And another eight people to answer them. I hope you have fun with the questions... whomever I choose.


1. If you were allowed to only read one book for the rest of your life – what would you choose?

The idea of having only one book for the rest of my life is sheer torture. Normally I prefer fiction, but I think any fictional story read over and over would eventually lose its flavor. Therefore, I suppose I would choose ASK AND IT IS GIVEN by Esther and Jerry Hicks. It might keep me sane.


2. Imagine you are on death row, and it’s time to pick your last meal – what would it be?

I am thinking that whatever I ate really wouldn't sit that well. I get an anxious stomach when I am nervous, and can barely eat anything. Plus, when I am stressed I get a migraine and am nauseated. I can't think of much of anything being more stressful than knowing I am about to eat my last meal. So... I suppose I would want my nausea medication, and the food wouldn't really matter, because I probably wouldn't be able to keep it down. However, I know that you are looking for my favorite meal. All of those I am highly allergic to, and I wouldn't want to go out that way, so I would probably go for Arby's chicken salad sandwich. It's healthy and very good for you. After spending a lot time in prison, I would be missing that. Oh, and a coke. I would want that to help settle my stomach and I like a coke. No pepsi. Bring me a coke. (I know that was sad, but it is what it is.)


3. If you had to do it again (or do it for the first time) – what type of wedding would you have?

I would do it either VERY small or I would elope. It is crazy spending so much money on a wedding when you should be spending it on your LIFE. Or your honeymoon. I am really in favor of the eloping or the justice of the peace thing. I've done the dress, cake, reception thing. That whole childhood wedding fantasy has been done. Now, all I would really like is the great guy and a shared life experience.


4. If you could live anywhere in the world – where would you choose and what type of dwelling would you live in?

This is a tough question. Harder than it sounds actually. Unless you are a well travelled person, you are just guessing at this one. At what you think a place is like. You never know what a place is actually like until you have spent some time there. For instance, I loved my Europe trip. I really did. Would I love to live there? I don't know. I wasn't there long enough. My body liked the time zone. That was odd. For the first time ever, my body felt like it was in the right time zone. However, living in the US, we are accustomed to so many "luxuries" that we don't even know are luxuries. Transitioning to actually living in Europe would be tough, I think. And then there is the language thing. I don't like cold weather at all, so I would have to take that into consideration. I guess the idea of picking up sick (like I am now) and moving somewhere by myself is just totally inconceivable. I'd have no way to support myself, so it is crazy. I suppose when it comes down to brass tacks, I like living in the US. I see myself living in the US. And I like living in the south. If things keep going the way that they are, when I get better, and financially independent, I can see moving my family to Texas. One story ranch style house. My mom doesn't do stairs well.


5. What are your thoughts on organized religion?

This is like opening a can of worms. I think it works for some people. Actually, it works for a lot of people based on the number of people who attend churches all over. I wrote a blog about the beginnings of my disenchantment with the church beginning while I was still in high school. I have since gone back to church occasionally. My feeling about it is this when I do go: I take what works for me from the sermon and I leave the rest. That works for me because The Bible is always open to interpretation, and what I am listening to is one person's interpretation of what they are reading. And what they are reading is someone else's interpretation of another language converted into English. It is documented fact that they didn't get every last word right. Sometimes the words were unclear. It was a Hebrew word that had several meanings and it was unclear how to translate it into English. So, they picked one and that choice may have completely altered the message from what it was intended to be in the first place. So... I feel okay with taking what works for me and leaving behind what doesn't. What do I think about organized religion? I think that it gives many people a platform to step up on and use to hold themselves above and separate from everyone else. Organized religion is responsible for more war and death than just about anything else. Just ask the Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Or have a conversation with Israelis and Palestinians about the Holy Land. Or do a bit of Bible reading to see how long people have been killing each other in God's name. Or talk to any of the people who have a thought in their head about 9/11. Those terrorist groups kill in the name of Allah. That is their name for God. One God. The same God. It is their organized religion. We call them terrorists. They call it organized religion. And they are going to celebrate it by building a mosque not too far from the site of their organized victory. Along with a community center. Just like they have done with every other victory. Each time they have an organized victory, they celebrate it by building a mosque or some other memorial to show that they have been there. They don't want people to forget. It is their signature. I guess I have a lot of thoughts on organized religion.

*Adding a thought here b/c I know this mosque business has everyone facing off. It is being presented as a peace offering and I don't buy that based on my points made above. Setting those aside, I can't buy that given our current political climate. If you wanted to make a peace offering, that would be the last way to do it. It would only take about two minutes of thinking that one through to know that Americans would divide and argue and tear each other up on this issue. In other words, the last thing it would bring is peace. So, I have a really hard time buying that this is a peace offering. Anything that you can see will divide a nation (before you do it) is not going to bring peace. Nuff said on that. I also want to note that I have no problems with Muslims who are not terrorists. Nuff said on that, too.


6. Describe your most embarrassing moment!

I have covered these already. If I remember I will come back and link to some of the really horrible stuff. This is ho hum in comparison. My sophomore year of high school, Jennifer and I had English together. Our teacher was on the boring side. She was also older and her bottom lip stuck out. Yeah, I nitpicked and I made fun of her quite a bit after class when we were leaving. I would impersonate her... that kind of thing. I really was such a biotch. Anyway, this day was no different, except unbeknownst to me, she was walking directly behind us the whole way. She got a good three minutes of listening to me mock her before I realized she was right behind me. I felt so SMALL. I think that was the last time I did it, too. To her or anyone. Nothing makes you realize how mean that is until you get caught doing it. She never said a word about it and I didn't get penalized in class by her picking on me in any way, which shows she had way more class than I did. So, not only was it embarrassing, but there was a lesson learned in there, too!


7. What are you most proud of?

That I care about people and they can feel that. It was what made me a good salesperson and a good friend. Even before I got sick, I think that my compassion level was higher than most people's because I worked on developing the skill of listening. I was really good at talking; all sales people are really good at talking. I spent a lot of time working on really listening and not just hearing what people had to say. So, I sort of became this salesperson/bartender to my customers. Anyway, if you will remember in that song TOP OF THE WORLD that I posted not too long ago, there is a lyric that goes, "Everyone's singing we just want to be heard." And that is so true. Everyone just wants to be heard and most people don't feel like they are heard. They talk, but people don't get it, because they aren't on the same wavelength, or they aren't listening, because they are thinking about what they are going to say. If you want to care more, listen more.


8. Finally… who would be your arch nemesis and why??

I think that the only person who can really hurt us is ourselves. And then it is certain aspects of our personalities that do us in. If I find myself disliking someone else, more than likely the thing I don't like about them is the thing I don't like about me. Of course, that may not always be the case, but oftentimes it is. The smart thing to do is simply stay away from people who suck your energy. That is another good reason for not wanting to be around someone. They are just negative and suck all of your positive energy. However, I wouldn't consider those people to an "arch nemesis" by any means. For me, the worst thing about me is me psyching myself out of my ability to do something or have something that I want. I can cheerlead like you wouldn't believe for other people because I can see all of their amazingness. And I don't understand why they can't see it. I just have a hard time seeing my amazingness. It's not that I don't see my good qualities. I do. For example, I can see my project that I talked about yesterday very clearly. And I know that when I get better I am capable of doing that. It is the between the now and the getting better that I stumble along. So, it is me. My arch nemesis is me. The only person who can keep my dreams from coming true is me.


Okay, here are my questions...

1. What career would you choose for your own if you had all of the gifts (i.e. creativity, genius, dexterity, etc.) that went along with said profession?

2. If you could travel back in time to observe what life was like in a specific time period in a specific place, when and where would you go?

3) What is your biggest vice?

4) Do you find yourself getting in trouble from speaking your mind too often or not enough?

5) Do you like your name? As an aside, do you know what it means? If so, just curious...

6) What do you like most about yourself?

7) What is your favorite record? That would be a record as a whole and it cannot be a greatest hits album. It's not your favorite song, but the collection as a whole on a record.

8) What song, book, movie, tv show, short story, etc. comes closest to hitting you where you live? You heard it, read it, watched it and thought it could be describing my life. It is like it was written for me. If you don't know what I mean, maybe this will help. Don't forget to turn off my music player at the bottom of the page.





Okay, now let's move on to the eight lucky people who get to answer these eight questions, make up eight of their own, and pass them on to eight of their friends. It's eight to the eight to the eight.

Nicole at Destination Unknown

Leiah at A Southern Belle Trying Not to Rust

Yenta Mary the Food Floozie

Misery at LEFTOVERS from ILLUMINATION

Liza at Middle Passages

Java at Never Growing Old

Kel at Between the Lines

Kimber at Under Re-construction