As If The Number of Strange Things About Me Could Be Winnowed Down to a Mere 44...

As per request of the lovely Anna Banana (whom I miss an appalling amount), the common meme of the moment, as filled out by me:

44 "Odd" Things About Me:

1. Do you like blue cheese? I have never met a cheese I didn't like. Because American Cheese doesn't count as cheese-- it's more like a cancer.
2. Have you ever smoked? Um. Uh. Yes. But not cigarettes I buy for myself.
3. Do you own a gun? Ha. No.
4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? .....I think I remember liking those twist-off top plastic bottle Kool Aid blasters back in the day, but I don't know what flavor.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? A little. But dentist appointments are way worse.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I don't trust them, and won't eat them unless they come from:
a) Simco's on the Bridge in Mattapan.
b) Original Hot Dogs in Oakland (Pittsburg, PA, not California)
I do, however, appreciate their use in the first episode of 30 Rock.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? The Muppet Christmas Carol.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Black tea-- lukewarm in the cold months, and iced in the hot months.
9. Can you do push ups? God, just thinking about it makes me tired. Also, this is a stupid question. I think most people *can* do at least two push ups, if pressed, so this question should be "Can you do push ups well?" or "Do you often do push-ups?" or something similar. Otherwise, it's just a roundabout way of asking if someone is an amputee, and I feel like a friend's possession of arms/lack thereof is a detail you should be aware of PRIOR to asking them is they like blue cheese.
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? It's a tie between my double strand of green plastic beads, which I wear with everything, and my vintage gold locket, which I bought in Ohio and is my most treasured piece. Both are, in their own ways, irreplaceable and perfect.
11. Favorite hobby? Reading.
12. Do you have A.D.D.?It's funny that Anna is kind of asking me this, because if anyone in the world knows the answer is HECK YES, it would be her.
13. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Complacency.
14. Middle name? A real crowd pleaser-- Hooper Shaner.
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
1. I can't wait for my mini-vacation next week.
2. I hope no one notices me filling out a blog meme at the Circulation desk instead of, you know, working.
3. I wish I could go in back and continue re-reading my Eva Ibbotson YA Romance.
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Iced Tea, Water, Beer.
17. Current worry? Trying to figure out any one of my massive crowd of worries insignificant enough to mention specifically here without sending me into a dire spiral of panic.
18. Current hate right now? It's a tie between the MBTA bus system and the people who get onto the train before everyone has gotten off.
19. Favorite place to be? Outside somewhere lovely, reading something great. Or wrapped up in my bed, reading something great-- if the weather outside is frightful, obviously.
20. How did you bring in the New Year? This is a good one-- running around Boston's Waterfront very drunk and barefoot.
21. Where would you like to go? Right now, Russia and Morocco.
22. Name three people who will complete this. Um, Adrienne? And maybe Erin?
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, but I never wear them.
24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Um, I'm wearing a dress (blue grey patterned with white) over a tank top (pale sea green) with a v-neck cardigan (black). Complemented, of course, by my signature green plastic beads.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Ick. I associate those with molesty teacher from Veronica Mars, and like my cotton jersey Bed, Bath and Beyond mabobbers just fine.
26. Can you whistle? Yes, but very tunelessly.
27. Favorite color? Green. Obviously.
28. Would you be a pirate? Um, sure. Although I think I'm not nearly badass enough.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't, because my roommate could hear me and I think it would mildly traumatize him to have any further attention called to me being female, naked, and showering.
30. Favorite Girl's Name? Eleanor!
31. Favorite boy's Name? Everyone tells me it's unspeakably cruel, but Obediah.
32. What's in your pocket right now? My dress doesn't have pockets, but I have an awful lot in my purse.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? My own joke, comparing one of my coworkers to the Joker (as performed by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.)
34. Best bed sheets as a child? As a child, I had unremarkable bed sheets. Part of being a younger sibling, I think.
35. Worst injury you've ever had? The time I had to get stitches in 7th grade from tipping over my desk in math class.
36. Do you love where you live? Gods above-- yes, fervently.
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? Just one, but it's very big.
38. Who is your loudest friend? I have a lot of loud friends, so the competition is fierce, but I think Ryan Merrill takes the loud cake.
39. How many dogs do you have? None, literally. But in my heart, thousands.
40. Does someone have a crush on you? I thought one of my grad students did, but then I found out he had a girlfriend. Which was kind of a huge relief, actually. So no, not that I know of.
41. What is your favorite book? Like I could ACTUALLY name one without my head exploding.
42. What is your favorite candy? It varies.
43. Favorite Sports Team? HA!
44. What song do you want played at your funeral? I have no idea, but I do know I want to be cremated.

And now I have to close the library.

*NEW* Weird Names List

I have a new source of deeply strange names-- Economists whose books are reviewed in The Journal of Economic Literature. As a part of my job as a part-time Circulation Monkey (formal title) at MIT's Dewey Library of Management and Social Sciences, I have become responsible for going through the aforementioned journal and marking down which reviewed books we have in the system (plain check mark) and which ones we don't (check mark with a dour little empty circle above it). This is the kind of data entry busy work that would make me go off my head *if* the lovely Anna Mickelsen had not Shown Me The Light in the summer of '05-- the Light, that is, of Funny Name list making. And thankfully Economists are just as prone to funny names as the Tenacity students of yore. To Wit, from today we've had:

1. Jurgen Backhaus (which sounds like an outhouse made by Ikea)
2. Svetlana Boyar, and her co-author Sergei Levendorski
3. And my personal favorite....


....


....


Christian. Fries.

I know that none of these are quite as funny as the best funny name of all time (Her Majesty Gilmore), but nevertheless, they do keep a thoroughly repetitive job quite sweetly engaging.