I Love Tags For The Same Reason I Love Line-Dancing.

...because you are guided to do a certain thing, but you can totally make it your own. And I don't have enough confidence in my own creativity to be sure I'm keeping this entertaining, so I have little rules, like "Write an entry on every book you finish"..."Every time you do something exciting or for the first time [keeping it relatively clean, people], record it here"...etc. And while part of me fears that responding to 'tags' is a cop-out, a too-easy way to write an entry, I still think it's more entertaining than "Hi guys. So...this weekend. I went to Emily's (fun!), Dad's on Sunday (fun with Olympics and pizza!), and woke up to a sad Monday. [insert Google images photo of someone looking glum.]"

Unfortunately, I have no occasion to line-dance anymore. Oh, sure, I bust out the Slides, both Electric and Cha-Cha, when I have the opportunity, and there have been times not so long ago when my friends and I would frequent a local dance area that threw the occasional group line-dance into the mix and I'd learn something I hadn't before.

Okay, anyway....


Six things I did in the last 24 hours

1. Read 92 pages of a manuscript for Harlequin (they slept together the second night after they met...sluts!)
2. Drank ~80 ounces of water
3. Cut and/or trimmed about a billion pieces of cardstock
4. Did not use my phone even one time!
5. Watched the pilot episode of 'Greek.' Liked it.
6. Took an afternoon nap and went to bed before midnight (unheard of!)


Six random things about me that you may not know

1. I'm fairly obsessive about keeping all my hairbrushes clear of hairs. This may not be a surprise to anyone, though.
2. I can't chew gum for very long before my jaw starts to get tired. 10 minutes or so is the max, but generally it's much less than that.
3. I am a very poor observer in terms of measurement. For example, if someone has gained or lost weight, or gotten a haircut, I can't tell. If a kid has grown several inches, I wouldn't know. If someone asks me how many miles I have to drive to go to work, I have no clue. If I have to gauge the distance from where I'm sitting to somewhere across the room, I wouldn't be comfortable guessing.
4. I am very frightened of mirrors at night, ever since 5th grade (Thanks, Betty Ren Wright and Ghosts Beneath My Feet. Thanks a lot).
5. I almost never eat breakfast, but I do not necessarily have an aversion to breakfast food. I really like the word "breakfast," too.
6. I had a crush on Darius McCrary, the oldest brother on "Family Matters," from the very first episode on.


Six favorite websites

1. Google Reader (that's cheating, isn't it?)
2. Television Without Pity
3. Rex Parker Does the New York Times Crossword Puzzle
4. Paperback Swap
5. Remember The Milk
6. Facebook's WordTwist game site


Six favorite things to drink
(oops...I did seven.)

1. Freshly squeezed limeade from that one place in Mexico
2. Minute Maid lemonade, with pulp
3. Simply Orange pulp-free OJ
4. Mint chocolate chip milkshakes
5. Wild Cherry Pepsi
6. Sunkist Sparkling Lemonade
7. Apple Slice (or other sparkling apple soda, like Appletise, since Apple Slice has gone the way of the DoDo Bird)


Six foods I could eat every day

1. Jan Moore's birthday cake
2. Penne pasta with Vodka Sauce and extra buffalo mozz, from Mac Grill
3. Baked Lays (or Baked Ruffles) with Central Dairy chip dip
4. Sophia's Caesar Salad
5. Freschetta Brick Oven Pizza (Pepperoni)
6. Big juicy hot dogs from Sam's, with Heinz mustard


Six favorite books
(it's funny to me, such an ardent re-reader, that for some of these, I've only been able to read them once. I think this might be so because they affected me so much upon a first read, and I didn't want to try and replicate that feeling in case it was lessened.)

1. Ramona and her Mother (Beverly Cleary)
2. Jumping (Barbara Trapido)
3. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
4. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
5. Tiger Eyes (Judy Blume)
6. Holes (Louis Sachar)


Six books that were a waste of my time

1. Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping (Sounds fun, right? No. It's more about economics--borrrrring--and the author being on an environmentally-conscious high horse.)
2. Valley of the Dolls (threw it across the room when I was done)
3. A Tale of Two Cities (Sorry, Mrs. Dobbs...)
4. Any Shakespeare history play (except Richard III)
5. Democracy in America (suck it, de Tocqueville)
6. Pay it Forward (I hate endings like this one.)


Six movies I love

1. Juno
2. Brokeback Mountain
3. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
4. When Harry Met Sally
5. Meet Me in St. Louis (zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings...)
6. Waiting for Guffman (thank you, Bill Miller!)


Six TV shows I favor

1. Gilmore Girls (no surprise)
2. Golden Girls (see #1)
3. The Office (American...sorry, Ricky)
4. Coupling (The British one)
5. As Time Goes By
6. Tied: Phenom/The Powers That Be (Early-90s sitcoms that were so, so, so funny...albeit short-lived)


Six movies I really didn't like

1. Speed Zone (I never knew much about the Smothers Brothers; after this joke of a movie, I don't care to)
2. Citizen Kane (I wish I had the ability to fall asleep sitting up)
3. Up Close and Personal (Never believed their chemistry...and horrible ending)
4. Blue Velvet (never again, Lynch.)
5. Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh. An awesome final 20 minutes does not a good movie make.)
6. Phenomenon (see also "Michael." What was with you in 1996, Travolta?)


Six hobbies I've had

1. Collections (pencils, TGIF flair, Oz items, Meanie Beanies, celebrity touches/sightings)
2. Kakuro (AKA Cross Sums)
3. Scrapbooking organization (with some actual scrapbooking thrown in)
4. Short stints in sports: soccer, softball, swimming, volleyball
5. Pottery
6. Community theatre


Six favorite games (not computer)

1. Trivial Pursuit (especially Book Lover's)
2. Celebrity
3. Password
4. Cranium (Regular & Pop 5)
5. Encore!
6. Hungry Hungry Hippos (we could never play it because it was too loud. But man...those were good times.)


Six moments that made my heart soar
(I'm limiting this to one answer per person)

1. When Neil said we'd have to find me a ring sometime
2. When Emily told us Noah was born
3. When Dad and I went to Mom's room in the middle of one night
4. When Steve sang "Anthem" for us
5. When I saw "West Side Story" for the first time
6. When Lily offered to pay for our reception



I'm hitting "Publish Post" now, before I come up with a dozen more lists. Boy, do I love lists!