A Meme, A Meme, I Do Confess 't

Liz Williams was doing it, so it's clearly our end of the alphabet's turn...

What do you think about Ouija boards? That random nerve twitches can be quite entertaining the certain types of people.

Your favorite TV shows? I only seem to watch TV these days with the kids, so probably Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is starting to grow on me, too -- maybe I have a secret fondness for animated shows with long titles?

What’s on your mouse pad? At work, I use at SFBC mouse pad, just because. At home, I'm using one from some now-defunct groceries-over-the-Internet company (name now forgotten), because it was free, and because it still works fine.

Favorite board game: Scotland Yard, though I haven't played it in ages. I like Stratego, too, which I also haven't played in forever.

Favorite magazine: I guess The New York Review of Science Fiction, unless I can choose something now-defunct, like Spy from about 1989-1993 or Movieline in the early to mid-90s.

Favorite smells: {sings} "These are a few of my many smells, won't you come and smell me..." Pass.

Worst feeling in the world: That something horrible has happened to your wife or kids. (I'm a worrier, so I get this one a lot.)

Best feeling in the world: I've never felt that good, so I wouldn't know.

Favorite soundtrack: Akira.

What is the first thing you think when you wake in the morning: What I need to get accomplished at work that day.

Roller coaster - scary or exciting? Fun. Not scary, unless something goes very wrong. But not really "exciting," either. A good roller coaster is relaxing.

How many rings before you answer the phone? If The Wife has had the phone last (meaning that it's in some very unlikely place), I won't find it before it goes to the machine. If I put it back in the cradle where it belongs, then probably two rings. But it's not for me, anyway.

Future daughter’s name: Megan Elin.

Future son’s name: The one we didn't use for Thing 2 (The Wife talked me out of it) was Graham.

Favorite foods: Yes. Basically, anything a doctor has ever said was bad to eat.

Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate chunks in vanilla.

Do you like to drive? Yes.

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Despite Thing 2's attempts, no. (His bed is piled full of them, and he occasionally gives me one at bedtime to keep me company at night.)

This is where I trot out my usual comment about the ages of people who take meme polls. What am I, a fourteen-year-old cheerleader?

Storms - cool or scary? Annoying, particularly when they drop eight inches of water on your head. They're only "scary" if you're under the age of twelve, and only "cool" if the roof over your head isn't your responsibility to fix if a tree falls on it.

What type was your first car: A deeply uncool metallic green 1998 Ford Windstar. It became "mine" about a year ago; I still drive it.

If you could meet one person dead or alive - who would it be? The live one. What do you think: I'm stupid?

Favorite alcoholic drink: Whiskey sour, these days.

What is your zodiac sign? Do not make me come over there and slap you.

Who is your favorite poet? Robert Browning

Do you eat the stems of broccoli? I try not to eat any part of broccoli, if I can avoid it. If I'm setting a good example for the boys, I'll eat the whole thing.

If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be? Something not unlike what I do now, only with much more money, power, and dancing girls. No, strike that. I'd like to be a robber baron, please.

If you could dye your hair any color, what would it be? The one that strikes people who write quizzes like this dumb.

Have you ever been in love? Yes.

What is on your walls in your room? In this room right here, four bookcases, a cork-board, various other important papers attached with tape, and a "Speed Limit: C" sign. At home, there really isn't a "my" room. I'm a grown-up.

Is the glass half empty or half full? I don't have a glass. My Snapple bottle from lunch is completely empty. Does that help?

What is your favorite Snapple? What a segue...plain.

Favorite movie(s): Love, Actually; Much Ado About Nothing; Gregory's Girl; The Dead; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Are you a lefty, righty, or ambidextrous? Right handed.

Do you type with your fingers on the proper keys? I don't even know which are the proper keys.

What’s under your bed? The floor. (The boys, through jumping on the bed, broke the frame and have done serious damage to the box spring as well.)

What is your favorite number? e. It's irrational like pi, but doesn't get the publicity.

Favorite sport to watch: Baseball, I guess, though I haven't watched a game since the kids were born.

Say one nice thing about the person who sent this to you: No one sent it to me; I grabbed it on my own. But I quite liked her novel Snake Agent.

Person you sent this to who is most likely to respond: John Klima is the one most likely to pick up memes from me, I think. I'm not officially sending it to anybody.

Person you sent this to least likely to respond: See above.

Favorite quote: "Now when I was a boy, my Daddy sat me on his knee, and he told me, he told me many things, and he said, 'Son, there's a lot of things in this world that you're gonna have no use for. And when you get blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!'" (Tom Waits, Lucky Day)