Meme

Chantel's excuse is a lack of brain-power... oh would that I had such an out! Today's blog is a meme (rhymes with "dream"), and it is being written because I'm feeling rather plageristic today.

THREE JOBS I'VE HAD:
* Being the "card chick" for American Greetings -- I spent a few high school summers working with my mother, the "card lady." We stocked the greeting cards at various Thrift Drugs. I was raking in the cash back then, earning about $5 an hour, which was WAY more then minimum wage at the time.

* Playing "gopher" at a local doctors' office summers during college. Imagine four doctors in what was once a four-bedroom house. Thanks to some creative remodeling, there was an x-ray lab in the basement, a phlebotomy lab under what was once the back porch, an accountant in the attic, and a front office that housed roughly eight women (who took care of patient reception, appointments, and insurance) and four gophers. Add 43,000 patients on file and you won't wonder why we nicknamed it the "mental group."

* Substitute teaching. Not much rivals the day that I subbed for a music teacher. Being the innocent that I was, I asked the students if they wanted to hear Beethoven or Mozart. I forgot that THE movie to see was Beethoven. Imagine, if you will, approximately thirty first grades so excited over the prospect of a movie that they swarm me, chanting "Beethoven! Beethoven!" Being unable to produce more then an old 9-inch of the dead deaf guy, I was persona non grata amongst the kids after that. We spent the class drawing pictures for their teacher.

THREE PLACES I'VE LIVED:
* Brentwood, PA. Proposed slogan: We're a three-stoplight town now!

* Greensburg, PA. Ahhh, those unforgettable college years!

* Brentwood, PA. Moved back after college... this time bringing my husband.

THREE TV SHOWS I LOVE:
* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit -- actual plots, ethical dilemmas, and too-human characters... not to mention Stabler's blue eyes. :)

* MASH reruns

* The Boondocks -- the daily comic is actually better, but this has really grown on me.

THREE SITES I VISIT DAILY:
* Yucababy blog -- a former classroom-sharing, carpooling buddy o' mine who's the inspiration behind this blog... not to mention the author of Love and Ghost Letters, a book you really ought to read. I'd lend mine out, but it's spoken for until next October.

* Sudoku -- my addiction

* For Better or for Worse -- I grew up on (with) this comic strip. It's a nice little kick-start in the morning.

THREE PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
* Scottsdale, AZ -- if I'm lucky, I'll be there this spring for an economic conference.

* Roma, Italy -- I've a pen pal over there who I miss more then anything. Haven't seen him in about twelve years, since he came to Pittsburgh with his high school. Seems my principal and his principal were friends (if I remember correctly), so the whole class visited little BHS and my AP World History classmates and I were designated tour guides for the day.

* Williamsburg, VA -- like this needs an explanation. It's Williamsburg!

THREE MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER:
* Spiderman 1 & 2

* Batman Begins

* The Mummy & The Mummy Returns

Okay, so that's technically five movies. The point is this: I'm going through a "hero" phase right now. As long as there's a good guy who saves the day, I'm happy. For depth and/or emotional cartharsis, replace the above with the following: To Kill a Mockingbird, American History X, and A Streetcar Named Desire.

THREE BOOKS I JUST READ OR AM READING:
* Blink -- It's all about "thin-slicing," or using your intuition.

* Freakonomics -- It's all about incentives and how they affect us.

* Until You -- It's all about strangers, love, and lust. (Hey, everyone needs a vice! Mine just happens to come in the form of cheap romance novels.)

THE ULTIMATE DINNER:
So long as it's NOT leafy green and rabbit-oriented, I'm pretty happy. But for the sake of argument: pizza and a cold one.

MY DREAM JOB:
Writing about topics that interest me and being paid for it. Yeah, like that's a shock, huh?

Soooo... there you go. A little verbal snapshot of moi. The meme site I linked you to is pretty interesting (thanks, Chanty!). I might just start visiting that when I need a topic. Then again, if life goes the way I'm hoping, you'll soon be reading about my finally receiving my MS in Leadership and Business Ethics and my quest for a Ph.D. program. Future topics also include: finishing Killing Julie and submitting it to a publisher, landscaping my property to remove that generic housing plan look, and getting my son to speak in complete sentences.

With that, dear reader, I prepare to leave you. But first:

THREE QUOTES THAT ARE SO TRUE THEY HURT:

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.
-Sir Winston Churchill

"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead."
-Gene Fowler

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.
-Stephen King