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Questions I've returned to the Wordgoddess webring - I was a member awhile ago, and happily was welcomed back recently. This month's collab is a question swap between members; my questions come from Sherry. I've had them for almost two weeks and it took me awhile to answer them - they're very good, and very detailed, and of course, I'm very long-winded. 1. So you decided to try out WW. What do you love and what do you hate about it most? I love that they make it so easy online, with the Points calculator and the journal and the recipe search and the weight tracker. It’s so easy to keep track during the day. I am definitely not a meetings type of girl – all that public affirmation gives me the squicks – so I am glad that I can do it at home on my own. (I also love the ten pounds gone that allows me to fit back into last year’s winter clothes, thus saving my bank balance!) I hate that it’s hard to eat a variety of things when I have a busy life, which is most of the time. I have eaten the same thing for breakfast and lunch on weekdays since June (peanut butter on WW wheat bread for breakfast, a Smart Ones frozen meal for lunch) and I could write an entire opera based around how tired of this food I am. Dinner is easier when I have the time to cook something, but more often than not I am eating low fat hot dogs. I believe I may soon turn into a low fat hot dog. In the interest of full disclosure, I do want to say that my subscription to WW Online lapsed yesterday and I did not renew it. I hate Flex Points and I have lost 11 of the 15 pounds I set out to lose. I am still following the original program in my head and feel that I can now do it without the Flex Points-driven online tools. 2. What was your absolute favorite thing about Ireland? I have been thinking about this question for a week. It’s so hard to pick one thing because everything was so beautiful. I think my favorite thing was being able to walk right up and touch ruins. Everything was so accessible. We went right into this passage tomb. On a beautiful sunny day we opened a gate and crossed a field to stand in the middle of this circle of standing stones. We walked in and out of buildings and wandered around graves at Glendalough. Driving down winding country roads, we would just pass a random castle wall sitting in the middle of some farmer’s field. Coming from the US where everything is not very old and very, very protected, there was something magical and freeing about being able to wander throughout well-protected ancient history. 3. In June you took a hiatus because you wanted some "me time". What would be some things you'd do on a day that was full of me time? No chores or anything work related, it's all about you. I would sleep in. Oh, how I would sleep in. Instead of showering I would take a long bath with a book that had nothing to do with my graduate program. I’d take myself out to lunch (with that same book), and if it were nice out I would eat outside and have a glass of wine. I would do a little shopping, maybe, or get a manicure, which I haven’t had time to do in months. I’d have a long phone conversation with a girlfriend. I’d probably finish up the day with some takeaway sushi and a long session on the couch clearing guilty pleasure TV shows off of the TiVo. 4. You mentioned Buffy more than once. What are your feelings towards the series finale? Are you as outraged as I am that the show is truly over? Will you miss all the shirtless Spike scenes as much as I will? Share the Buffy love. I am definitely in mourning over the loss of Buffy from the fall TV schedule. I have missed shows before – Freaks and Geeks, My So-Called Life, The Wonder Years– but never, never have I been this sad when a show ended. I ultimately liked the series finale but still feel some lingering bitterness about the last season. The overuse of the Slayerettes pissed me off in a major way. I think that the plot involving them was a good way to end but they just sucked up too much screen time that should have been devoted to the core Scoobies. The fact that Kennedy even existed made me angry, and her relationship with Willow made me even angrier. I thought the actress was pretty terrible, and there were episodes where she had more lines than Xander. Or Anya. Or Dawn. Or Giles. That’s not cool. But I was so glad to see Faith again. I loved Principal Wood. I came to not hate Andrew, but I felt about him like I felt about Kennedy – way too many lines given to him, not enough given to the characters I loved. I will not miss shirtless Spike although I did come to like the Spike character. I am an Anthony Stewart Head gal all the way (see here). You can still see shirtless Spike on Angel, I am assuming. I remain skeptical about the addition of Spike to Angel but am reserving judgement. 5. Congratulations on your graduation by the way. Thirteen years is a long time to work towards a goal. Are you relieved it's over or do you miss it? Thanks! It did take me a really long time. There was a long period of time when I despaired of ever finishing. I am glad to have the degree, but my last year of undergraduate study was a fabulous experience. If I could do that last year over again I probably would. I’m in grad school now, but it’s not the same. I’m not feeling the same energy that I felt in my undergraduate program. I’m hoping that changes soon. I would definitely miss school if I weren’t going. I plan to go until I’m tired of it. If that means just a Master’s then so be it, but it may mean a Ph.D. When it isn’t fun anymore, I’ll stop. 6. If you studied that long and hard, you're probably pretty happy with your field. However, if you had to go back in time and choose a totally different field of study, in which field would you get your degree? I would get a Master’s in Library Science. I still may, someday. I have always wanted to be a children’s librarian. The problem is that you have to go to an ALA-accredited institution and the only one in my area doesn’t offer a single course with the word “book” in the title. It’s all technology based (no, thanks!). The program that I really wanted to attend is at Rutgers New Brunswick, but unfortunately that campus is hours away by train. There are distance learning opportunities at some universities and I am not ruling them out for the future. 7. So. What's your favorite color? Purple. Or dark blue. Or green! But if I have to pick just one, then purple. 8. You sound like you and the husband are pretty darn happy together. One day my fiancé and I will get off our arses and get married already. As a person who has been through the process already, what one piece of advice would you give me for the big day? For the love of everything, don’t listen to other people. Do it exactly the way you want it. This is the hardest thing about getting married – being true to what you want for your day. Greg and I had both been married before and had already had the big hoopla type of wedding. We knew we didn’t want that again. We wanted small and intimate, but as we started planning we almost got sucked back over the line again. The line between “you and the people you love best” and “you and the people you love best and every single person each of you has ever met and your parents’ friends and your coworkers and your mailman and his dog” is a very fine one. Luckily we were able to stop ourselves in time. We were able to remember that at its very purest, a wedding is about you two and your journey together. Start with that remembrance and let it grow from there. Maybe it will grow huge and that will be what makes you happiest. Maybe it won’t. Whatever it is, it should be a size that lets you get to the end of the day saying “That was a wonderful day, and it was exactly what I wanted.” I have been to a lot of weddings and can honestly say that I think ours was the nicest. It wasn’t the most expensive, or the longest, or the most impressive. But it had us, and our families and the friends who are family to us, and I had a pretty dress and we had a great lunch and lovely music and wonderful pictures and the sun shone and everyone was smiling. Give yourselves a day that will make people smile – really, really smile, not those fake photo smiles. I guess that’s ultimately my one piece of advice. 9. A fairy godmother has appeared and will turn you into the animal of your choice for one day before returning you to your original self. What will you be? Why? I am not really an animal person, but giraffes fascinate me – long and lean with a grace I will never have. They are silent and majestic and I love them madly. 10. I happen to have a ticket for two, all expenses paid, for a vacation for two weeks, anywhere in the world. The caveat is that you can't go somewhere that you've already been. Where are you going? Can I reveal my ultimate geekdom? I am going to New Zealand. Because it’s supposed to be amazingly beautiful, yes. My reasons for going have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that The Lord of the Rings was filmed there. Oh no. Not a bit. Nope. |
