I haven't done a meme in so long! This was shamelessly lifted from LA, originally, whose take on it you should certainly read, but I got the rest of it from Mary.Your Autobiography
Part 1: The Birth of You
--Were you a planned baby?:Oh, yes, I certainly was. My sister is four and a half years older than I am, and my mother very much wanted her babies three years apart. Not only wanted, worked for.
--Were you the first?: See above reference to the sister. Also, my mother had a stillborn the year before my sister was born.
--Were your parents married when you were born?: Indeed. For about 9 years, the first two or three of which my father was in the Army in Europe.
--What is your birthdate? January something or other, 1953.
Part 2: The Family
--How would you describe your family?: Quirky.
--Are your parents married? They're both gone now, but they were married for 58 years when my mother died four years ago.
--Siblings or an only child?: Again ... look back a few questions.
--What are your siblings names?: Her name is The Sibs, of course. She has one of the most commonly given girls' name in the late 1940s.
--Which parent do you get along with best?: Essentially, I got along with both of them. Neither of them was difficult by nature, but they were both peculiar in their ways. My father mellowed tremendously with age and being with him was always a joy. My mother became very hard to deal with in the last seven or eight years, when she was ill. Her OCD came to the fore, and since she was somewhat physically incapacitated, she made everyone else do her compulsive things for her.
--What do you fight about?: In her last years, I fought with my mother about whether or not I had filled her water glass to the specific inch measurement she had requested, and things like that.
--Do you have step parents?: Heavens, no. They were married to each other for 58 years. When would they have had the time?
Part 3: The Friends
--Do you have more than one best friend?: In fact, and to my great surprise, I do.
--What do you like to do when you are together? Each "best" friend is different, and my relationship with each one is different. I don't actually "do" anything with any of them, really.
--Do you share the same interests?: Yes and no on that one.
--Which friend can you tell anything to?: I tell different "anything" to different ones of them.
Part 4: Your Personality
--How high/low is your self esteem?: Generally, both at the same time.
--Do you get depressed about things easily?: Why yes, yes I do.
--Are you an extrovert or an introvert?: Generally, both at the same time. Ooh, deja vu, man.
--Are you happy?: Okay.
--Do you live life to the fullest?: Not by anyone else's definition. Probably not by my own, either, but I'm all right.
Part 5: Appearance
--Are you comfortable with the way you look?: I look in the mirror every morning before I leave the house -- the only time each day I do that, btw -- and I still go, so on some level, yes, I'm comfortable with it.
--Would you change anything about ur apperance if you could? I sure would. Would you like to see the list?
--Do you have any piercings besides your ears?: Just ears, one hole on the right, two holes on the left. And two tattoos, of course.
--Describe your hair? That is a command, actually, not a question. But here goes. My hair is brown with gray at the temples, and more scattered here and there, but not enough to be called pepper and salt. My hair is short, moreso since last week's haircut.
Part 6: The Past
--Were you a strange child?: I sure thought I was, and everybody around me seemed to think so, too. At the funeral I went to last month, I talked to someone I hadn't seen in many years but who knew me from about the time I was three, and he was still in awe of what he said was my "incredible vocabulary" then. I guess if you remember that about a child 50 years later, it must have been a strange child.
--What did you use to love that you no longer do? I used to love playing outside, just hanging out, making up games, trying to climb trees and build forts. I would play football, when the boys would let me. (Okay, I don't miss the football.) But "playing outside" ... what a concept.
--Do you have the same friends? From childhood, you mean. I didn't keep up with my school friends, even the ones I was very tight with, although I may attempt to contact them soon. My first best friend was Patti, we speak when one of us loses a parent. (Swell, huh? One more to go.) Next was Lori, with whom I'm re-establishing more, since her dad's recent funeral. My third was Lisa, aka OldFriend, whose been my buddy since we were 8. We rarely see each other in person, but talk in the phone every week or so.
--Was there anything in your past that was traumatizing?: A bunch of things, but not of them anything like the true trauma that so many people suffered as children. I remember when the giant spider fell down on me while I sat under a tree and my hero -- friend Patti's big brother Phil -- ran to my rescue. I remember once being knocked down repeatedly in the surf and thinking I was going to drown, but daddy pulled me out. I remember going on a class trip to the Bronx Zoo in kindergarten and seeing the big snakes all coiled and piled up in their glass boxes, and the nightmares started that night. I know for sure that snakes didn't bother me before I saw them in the zoo that day, but I've been an insane snake-phobic since that day.
Part 7: The Future
--What is your dream? To retire and have enough money to live on, and to be in relatively decent health for as long as I live.
--Are you scared of growing old? I'm not scared of being old. I'm scared of being ill or incapacitated, and especially of being unable to communicate.
--Do you want to get married? Done that.
Part 8: The Outdoors
--Do you prefer indoors or outdoors? Indoors. Easy question.
--What is your favorite season? Summer. I like not having to go work, and how green and lush everything looks (out my window, of course.) If it's too hot, I stay in the air conditioning.
--Favorite weather? Sunny, very light breeze, no humidity. Maybe 77 - 78 degrees.
--Do you like walking in the rain? Oddly enough, I do, if I'm dressed for it.
Part 9: Food
--Are you a vegetarian? I don't especially like meat, but I was a very poor vegetarian when I tried it.
--What is your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese.
--What food makes you want to gag? Peaches. Fuzz ... ick.
--What is your favorite restaurant? Depends on my mood.
Part 10: Experiences
--What was one of your greatest experiences? The birth of each of my children.
--Have you ever done drugs? Lots and lots of marijuana during my freshman year of college. Nothing else, and virtually none of that since. Literally, none of that since about 1980.
--Have you ever thought you were going to die? I certainly feared that I might die when I went for the surgery to remove my brain tumor.
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The Cans
Can you blow a bubble? I could before the brain tumor removal and resultant paralysis on the right side of my face.
Can you dance? Not ever, not even at all.
Can you do a cart wheel? I'm lucky I can walk.
Can you touch your tongue to your nose? No.
Can you touch your toes? Certainly, if my knees are bent. Actually, although I was athletic and limber as a child, I could never bend over and touch my toes.
Can you whistle? When I was a kid, I had a gap between my two front teeth and I could let out a hell of a whistle.
Can you wiggle your ears? No. My father could. It was very cute.
The Dids
Did you ever get into a fight in school? A fist-fight? No.
Did you ever eat a pie? I love pie. I may have eaten a whole one at some time.
Did you ever run away from home? Not seriously.
Did you ever want to be a doctor? Never.
Did you ever want to be a fire fighter? No. I only wanted the toy firetruck to ride around in that kids had when I was little.
Did you have a party for your last birthday? Nope.
The Dos
Do you know how to drive? Yes.
Do you like Roller coasters? I have never been on a real, grown-up size roller coaster, a record I hope to maintain as long as I live.
Do you own a bike? I finally gave away my bike about two years ago.
Do you think you could handle the stuff they eat on those reality TV shows? Not for a million dollars.
Do you tie your shoes every day? I have totally given up wearing shoes with laces that have to be tied, except for the boots I wear in the snow.
The Does
Does hair loss run in your family at all? My father got pretty bald on the top of his head by the end, but no one else is susceptible, being all women on that side. My mother's father had a great head of hair, but her brother lost his. My husband went gray/white very young, but he and his father have thick, full heads of hair.
Does your car get good gas mileage? Yes, pretty good.
Does your family have family picnics? Not so much, really.
The Has
Has anyone ever given you flowers? Yes, here and there over the years. The Hubs does not give me flowers because he knows I'm allergic, but other people sometimes do.
The Haves
Have you even been on a plane? I have.
Have you ever been asked out? About a million years ago.
Have you ever asked someone out? I don't think so.
Have you ever been to the Ocean? I spent a lot of time on Cape Cod as a kid, and from time to time at the Jersey Shore.
Have you ever gone fishing? The Hubs used to be quite the fisherman, and I joined him a few times, on Squam Lake in New Hampshire.
Have you ever painted your nails? I keep my nails done -- I can't do them myself -- but it's not so much paint. It looks like a french manicure; I never get color on them.
The Hows
How many different places have you lived? I have lived in ... 6 different homes, not counting the two dorms I lived in away at school. Again, not counting dorms, all 6 homes I've lived in were within 20 miles of where I now sit. I was born in the Bronx, New York, and have otherwise lived in Bergen County, New Jersey -- right outside of New York City -- all of my life.
How tall are you? 5' 2".
Last
Last song you listened to? They were playing a lot of Moody Blues on the radio before.
QUICK NOW!
Quick how much money do you have on you right now? About $60 in my wallet, I think.
The Whats
What did you wear to bed last night? I sleep in gray yoga pants and a cotton tank top. If I'm cold when I go to sleep, I wear a hooded sweatshirt, which comes off when the hot flashes start.
What do you fear? Snakes, of course.
What Radio Station do you listen to? :( My favorite radio station -- oldies, WCBS-FM -- went out of business a while back. When I listen, it's mostly the lite music station, or the classic rock.
What was the last book you read? I'm reading Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides.
What was the last restaurant you ate at? IHOP. (That's the International House of Pancakes.)
What was the last thing you bought? I don't know. Gas for the car?
What was the last thing you had to drink? Decaf green iced tea.
The Whos
What friend have you known the longest? My sister, I suppose.
Who was that last person you IMed? Probably K when she was living in Germany last year.
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Also my sister, I suppose.
