Quirky

Today I knocked off work early so I could run into Wenatchee and buy stuff to put in my care package for AnySoldier.com (I've written about this wonderful organization here). While shopping at Target for magazines and snacks, I was reminded that when you do good things, good things come back to you.

Because, OMG... HELLO KITTY GUMMIES!!

They taste totally awesome, even though I didn't get a pink My Melody Bunny in my bag (I would have preferred Kuromi anyway), and all my blue Kitty Bows were a nasty vomit-green color. The good news though? They go great with Little Debbie Chocolate Chip Snack Cakes, and would no doubt perfectly compliment Hello Kitty Pop-Tarts...

Awww, isn't that sweet?!?

UPDATE: Boy was I wrong... Hello Kitty Gummies, as manufactured by Kelloggs, contains DISGUSTING GELATIN as an ingredient. Why the hell they feel the need to put such unnecessary shit in their product is a mystery to me when alternatives like citrus pectin are available. Shame! SHAME ON KELLOGGS! And shame on me for trusting them and not reading the ingredients.

A meme bopping through the internets anew is the SIX QUIRKY THINGS ABOUT YOU meme. You're supposed to post rules and tag everybody and stuff, but I never really play by the rules and loathe tagging people. So I'm just going to post my quirks and be done with it...

1. I don't drink coffee. Given my proximity to Seattle, many people think this is the quirkiest thing about me.
2. I hate train whistles to the point of insanity. I live in a small town that has a train running right through the middle. Since there are two road crossings, one at each end of town, there is no place in the city that you can't hear the f#@%ing train whistle every time they blow through town. I have to listen to train whistles all day at work and all night at home and it drives me nuts. Even when I am riding a train, every time the whistle blows I want to beat something with a hammer.
3. I'll go anywhere on earth at a moment's notice if the mood strikes me. As an example, I once flew to Denmark just to attend a friend's 30th birthday party. Two full days of travel for just 9 hours in Copenhagen that I booked the day before I left. This seems perfectly natural to me, but I can see how people might think this kind of thing is "quirky" behavior.
4. I watch The View. Well, to be more accurate, I fast-forward through The View each night. It all started when Bill O'Reilly was on while Rosie O'Donnell was still hosting and I was compelled to watch. It's been stuck on my TiVo ever since. But the reason I still watch it is because these bitches are crazy. Barbara Walters and Sheri Shepherd are particularly bat-ass insane, which has high entertainment value. Whoopi is always smart entertainment whenever she plays herself. Joy Behar represents the Liberal end of the spectrum with insightful commentary that communicates her opinions with humor and wit. Unfortunately her counterpart, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, woefully under-represents The Right by doing nothing more than regurgitating popular Conservative propaganda which she passes off as "opinion." If only they would fire her ass and hire a smart Conservative (that leaves Ann Coulter out) with actual opinions, The View might be a good forum for political debate. As it is, however, the show is just a train wreck I can't seem to give up.
5. I am afraid of clowns. People always think that I'm joking when I say this, but it's no exaggeration... clowns positively terrify me. If I'm taken by surprise by a clown, I will freak out. It would be cool if I could tie my coulrophobia to something interesting, like a Stephen King novel, but I hated clowns from long before I learned how to read. If I had the power to eradicate Ronald McDonald from the face of the earth for the benefit of all humanity, I would do it in a heartbeat.
6. I'm obsessed with Hello Kitty, for heavens sake. That pretty much says it all.

Eh, that's not so quirky. We'll have to save that for later.

Bastard

Kill me. Kill me now.

I am dealing with a raging migraine headache just now, and that's no fun to blog about. Instead I think I'll just steal The Stupid Evil Bastard Meme I just saw over at Erik's blog.

Prepare yourself...

• What time did you get up this morning? 5:15am.
• How do you like your steak? Absent. As a vegetarian, I don't eat steak.
• What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Black Swan... I was not impressed.
• What is your favorite TV show? Raising Hope... I haven't liked a show this much since Veronica Mars and Wonderfalls, which is saying quite a lot.
• If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Edinburgh, Scotland.
• What did you have for breakfast? Two slices of sourdough toast with seedless strawberry jam. Like this.
• What is your favorite cuisine? Italian. And call me a snobby, elitist bastard, but I mean real Italian... from Italy... and not the typical Americanized Italian we usually get over here.
• What foods do you dislike? Other than meat, which I don't eat, I'm allergic to mushrooms in anything but small quantities and don't care much for broccoli or cauliflower.
• Favorite place to Eat? Ristorante Alfredo alla Scrofa in Rome, Italy. I have traveled to Rome just so I can eat there.
• Favorite salad dressing? Italian if I'm eating Italian, Thousand Island if I'm eating Mexican, Ranch if it's a good Ranch, otherwise French.
• What kind of vehicle do you drive? A 1999 Saturn SC-2. I bought it because I wanted to support the American auto industry after my previous car was totaled by the railroad. It was purchased sight-unseen over the internet and have hated it since the day I took ownership. I would have gladly returned the piece of shit during the 30-day no-penalty return period, but I was too busy traveling at the time, and lived three hours away from the dealership. It turns wider than a semi truck. It has a gap between sun visors. The mirror adjusters are STUPID. It's uncomfortable for both drivers and passengers. No Saturn dealership could ever fix it properly either in or out of warranty. I could go on and on and on.
• What are your favorite clothes? Jeans and a Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt.
• Where would you visit if you had the chance? In order... India. Australia. Peru. Cambodia. Antarctica.
• Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1966-1982: half-full. 1983-1987: half-empty. 1988-2011: half-full. Though, to be honest, it has been very, very hard to be a "half-full" guy over the past decade or so given the horrible political climate in this fucked-up country I live in.
• Where would you want to retire? Right now? Maui.
• Favorite time of day? Sunset.
• Where were you born? Doctor's Hospital in San Diego, California. And no, that's not a set on a soap opera.
• What is your favorite sport to watch? Hockey. Specifically, Chicago Blackhawks or Milwaukee Admirals hockey.
• Who do you think will never call you again? Anybody with the patience to suffer through this meme.
• Person you expect to call you next? My sister.
• Who are you most curious about their responses to stealing? Stealing what? Actually, Bad Robert is who I am most curious about their response to anything. The guy is insane. I mean really insane.
• Bird watcher? Not really. Though I have seen some really cool birds in various zoos I've visited around the world.
• Are you a morning person or a night person? Absolutely a night person.
• Do you have any pets? No. I'd like to have a pet but, given how much I travel, that would be pretty irresponsible.
• Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Yes. Unfortunately, I can't share it right now.
• What did you want to be when you were little? At one time or another during childhood I wanted to be a fireman, airline pilot, doctor, and a chef. I ended up being a graphic designer, so I guess none of my career dreams came true. Now I want to be an astronaut when I grow up.
• What is your best childhood memory? I had a pretty idyllic childhood, so it would be difficult to pick just one. Probably a Christmas morning or a dinner at my grandparents house or something like that.
• Are you a cat or dog person? I like both, actually. I would love to have either if I was around long enough to care for one.
• Are you married? Nope. I came very, very close once. Given the kind of person she ended up, I am thankful every single day it never happened.
• Always wear your seat belt? Yes. It's the law, and I don't want to pay a $101 fine.
• Been in a car accident? Yes. I was stopped at a stoplight, so obviously it wasn't my fault.
• Any pet peeves? People who clip their fingernails in public and people who smack their gum. My greatest nightmare is to be eating at a restaurant and have somebody at a neighboring table smacking gum while clipping their fingernails as I try to eat. =shudder=
• Favorite Pizza Toppings? Cheese!
• Favorite Flower? California Poppy or Crocuses.
• Favorite ice cream? Chocolate-Almond. Though I'd rather have Straciatella gelato more than any ice cream on earth.
• Favorite fast food restaurant? Johnny Rockets.
• How many times did you fail your driver's test? Once.
• Who did you get your last email from? A friend from Wisconsin.
• Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Orbitz. Online stores count, don't they?
• Do anything spontaneous lately? An upcoming trip to Vegas for my sister's birthday was pretty spontaneous. We knew we wanted to do something, but Vegas kind of came out of nowhere.
• Like your job? Yes. Though there are things around my job that I don't particularly care for.
• Broccoli? Not really.
• What was your favorite vacation? I have been to so many amazing places that it's almost impossible to choose. My standard answer for this is usually "The last one I took." In this case, it would be a cruise around the Mediterranean that started in Barcelona, Spain.
• Last person you went out to dinner with? Ummm... Christmas dinner at grandma's, perhaps? I don't go out to eat much when I'm home.
• What are you listening to right now? I have no idea. The television is on for background noise... it looks like a movie with Dick Van Dyke.
• What is your favorite color? Periwinkle Blue.
• How many tattoos do you have? Zero. That will hopefully change one day.
• How many times have you tagged someone to do a meme? I'd like to say ZERO, but I'm sure I tagged one or two people in my early blogging days... before I realized it's pure evil to do so.
• What time did you finish this meme? 9:00pm on the dot.
• Coffee Drinker? GACK! No. I have tried many time to try and drink coffee. I just can't do it. I like the smell of it, but can't stand the taste.

Oddly enough, this "Stupid Evil Bastard Meme" seems to have evolved from another meme that I did six years ago. Some of the questions are the same. Many are different. I guess over the years people just changed a question here or there that they didn't like, and this is where we are now. I wonder what it will look like six years from now when it makes the rounds again?

OneHundredOne

Bleh.

It's at times like this when I have absolutely nothing to write about that I regret having a blog. Guess it must be time for a meme...

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? I have a scar on my left thumb. I got frostbite as a kid, so my hands don't register pain properly all the time. One day I was using a hack-saw and noticed the blade was turning red... turns out I was sawing into my thumb and didn't know it.
2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR BEDROOM? Posters for Strange Days and Pulp Fiction.
3. WHAT DOES YOUR MOBILE PHONE LOOK LIKE? An iPhone 4.
4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? Mostly 80's pop, but there's a bunch of new stuff I like too.
5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? Not off-hand, no.
6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? To be somewhere else.
7. WHO DO YOU MISS? I just got done watching Dr. Who, so I miss my best friend Howard, who was a Dr. Who fanatic.
8. IS ANYONE IN LOVE WITH YOU OR HAS A CRUSH ON YOU? Probably. Poor soul.
9. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU KISSED? An old friend.
10. WHAT'S YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Lewis
11. THE BEST TV SHOW EVER CREATED? Jeremy Piven's Cupid
12. THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO? My mom.
13. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK? No.
14. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY? Ooh... I don't cry very often. If I had to guess, I'd say two people I don't even know.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOGNE / PERFUME? I don't wear the stuff, but there is a scent that the ladies wear that drives me crazy... I'm just not sure what it's called. It's kind of powdery and fresh with a light floral edge to it. When worn in "barely there" moderation, it's killer.
16. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOUR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? Dark hair and dark eyes.
17. WOULD YOU RATHER BE SMART OR FUNNY? Smart.
18. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS? Neither. Though I do like Jäger Bombs, which are dropped in Red Bull, so I guess energy drinks?
19. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PIZZA TOPPING? Cheese.
20. IF YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Puka Dog!
21. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON WHO MADE YOU MAD? Sean Hannity. What a hypocritical piece of shit.
22. DO YOU SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE? Not any more.
23. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU? Probably a stuffed animal when I was a baby. I had a lot of them.
24. DO YOU LIKE SOMEONE? More than I could ever say.
25. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED? No.
26. FAVOURITE CLOTHING BRAND? Donna Karan New York. I'm not into clothes even a little bit... but if I could afford it, everything I own would be Donna Karan.
27. WHAT'S YOUR DREAM CAR? One that flies.
28. WHAT COLOUR IS IT? Silver.
29. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE KIND OF EXERCISE? Walking.
30. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING? Been there. Done that.
31. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU? I wouldn't know.
32. WRITE A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED? 24.
33. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES? Either.
34. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN? Work.
35. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? Ignorance.
36. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY? WHERE DID YOU GO? WHAT PLACE DID YOU LIKE BEST? Yes. Lots of places. Edinburgh, Scotland.
37. YOUR WEAKNESSES? Apple products.
38. FRIES/CHIPS, RICE, OR BEANS? Fries (PATATJES MET!).
39. FIRST JOB? Picking fruit in an orchard.
40. EVER PRANK CALLED SOMEONE? Yes.
41. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS? Catching up on television with my DVR.
42. IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY WHAT WOULD IT BE? Uhhh... I dunno. Might be nice to get my broken nose straightened out?
43. WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS MEME? I had nothing better to blog about.
44. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST? My work.
45. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME ILLEGAL? Take frequent vacations to where it was legal.
46. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? My birthday is a year away... so I guess surviving long enough to reach it would be good.
47. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT? Now? Probably none.
48. WHERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My father.
49. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? No.
50. WHICH FINGER[S] IS YOUR FAVOURITE? Index finger. It's just so bloody useful.
51. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A vegetarian tamale with rice.
52. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It's okay. But most everyting is typed into a computer, so I don't really care.
53. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? Not a great question for a vegetarian.
54. ANY BAD HABITS? Yes.
55. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF? I don't have CDs anymore, they've all been ripped into iTunes. I'm not really embarrassed by any of it.
56. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Sure. I'm awesome!
57. HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL? Not that I can think of.
58. DO LOOKS MATTER? Not as much to me as they seem to matter to most people.
59. HOW DO YOU RELEASE YOUR ANGER? Rant on my blog.
60. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME? My sister's house. I love being there.
61. DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY? No.
62. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TOY AS A CHILD? Unquestionably LEGO.
63. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR MOBILE PHONE? 412.
64. DO YOU USE SARCASM? No. Not at all. (sarcasm)
65. DO YOU KNOW ANYONE FAMOUS? Yes.
66. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT? Yes. But that was a while ago.
67. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A PLACE TO LIVE? Proximity to Maui.
68. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Dave2, Blogography, Duke.
69. HOW MANY HATS DO YOU OWN? WHAT'S YOUR HAT SIZE? Dozens of baseball caps, a cowboy hat, a fedora, and a crown. I think they're all "one-size-fits-all" kind of things.
70. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
71. WERE YOU UPSET ABOUT STEVE IRWIN DYING? Upset for his family.
72. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate.
73. ARE YOU LAZY? When working? No. In my free time? Yes.
74. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SONGS AT THE MOMENT? I start most every day with Matt & Kim's Block After Block, but there's lots of other songs I'm loving too.
75. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BAND? Depeche Mode.
76. HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE? Zero. They were all yanked when I got my braces.
77. DO YOU WANT TO GO ANYWHERE SPECIAL THIS YEAR? Yes. But I want to go someplace special every year.
78. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Mackintosh Braun. If you don't know who they are, you are seriously missing out.
79. LAST THING YOU ATE? A vegetarian tamale with rice.
80. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A good friend.
81. WHATS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT YOURSELF IN THE MORNING? In the mirror? That would be how messed up my hair is.
82. FAVOURITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG? Mercy In You by Depeche Mode.
83. FAVOURITE TWO THINGS TO HATE? FOX News and Microsoft Windows.
84. FAVOURITE DRINK? Coke with Lime. But since they don't make it anymore, I guess Pineapple-Orange-Guava Juice (POG).
85. FAVOURITE ZODIAC SIGN? Aries.
86. SPORTS YOU LIKE TO WATCH? Hockey. Baseball.
87. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOUR? Black with gray moving in.
88. EYE COLOUR? Dark Brown.
89. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES? Only when I'm not wearing contacts. Or it's bright out and I'm wearing sunglasses.
90. SIBLINGS? Yes!
91. FAVOURITE MONTH(s)? March.
92. DO YOU LIKE SUSHI? Not since I became a vegetarian.
93. LAST THING YOU WATCHED? The Neil Gaiman episode of Dr. Who.
94. FAVOURITE DAY OF THE YEAR? The First Day of Spring.
95. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? Hell yes.
96. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer. Unless it's Winter in Hawaii.
97. KISSES OR HUGS? Depends on the person, but probably hugs.
98. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE-NIGHT STANDS? They both have their place.
99. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE CELEBRITY? Betty White or Ryan Reynolds.
100. WHO IS THE LEAST LIKELY TO ASK YOU ON A DATE? The person I most want to.
101. BOOKS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE TURNED INTO A FILM? The Authority.

There! Are you happy now, internets?

FridayFifty

I had a nice long rant written, but decided to scrap it. I just don't need the aggravation.

This left me with nothing to write about tonight, so I went to FridayFive for a meme. Since this felt like kind of a cop-out, I decided to do all ten weeks that were displayed on their home page, which actually makes this a FridayFifty. I'm a total glutton for punishment like that...

Friday 5 for July 29: Public Options

1. When did you last use a public restroom? That would be at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport two weeks ago on July 17th.
2. When did you last ride public transportation? That would be MARTA on July 12th in Atlanta.
3. How far away from your home is the nearest public housing? To my knowledge, there's only one public housing development in our small city... it's about 1-1/2 to 2 miles away.
4. Which of your public utilities is the least reliable? I couldn't say, as our public utilities are all pretty darn reliable.
5. What did you last view on public television or listen to on public radio? Hmmm... it would probably have been an episode of NOVA on PBS, but I have no idea how long ago. At least six months.

Friday 5 for July 22: Similes, Part 2

1. What’s your best advice for someone who’s as drunk as a skunk? If they're doing okay and not bothering anybody, I'd say "Have fun! If they're sloppy drunk or causing trouble, I'd say "You need to take a time out."
2. What’s your best advice for someone who’s as busy as a bee? Don't forget to smell the roses.
3. What’s your best advice for someone who’s as nutty as a fruitcake? Don't use your wacky nature as an excuse to be stupid.
4. What’s your best advice for someone who’s as sick as a dog? See a doctor.
5. What’s your best advice for someone who’s as ugly as sin? Be as beautiful as you can on the inside where it counts.

Friday 5 for July 15: Long Journeys

1. What is the longest distance you’ve traveled (in one trip) by foot? I honestly don't know. I love walkable large cities like London and Venice, and have undoubtedly racked up several miles exploring them.
2. What is the longest trip you’ve taken by car? I've taken several long road trips with family and friends... but the longest I've taken on my own would probably be a 1500-mile Hard Rock Cafe run from Memphis to Nashville to Gatlinburg to Myrtle Beach to Atlanta to Memphis I took in 2000.
3. What is the longest trip you’ve taken by plane? I'm guessing Seattle to Hong Kong, which is 12 hours.
4. What is the longest trip you’ve taken on some kind of water craft? Undoubtedly one of the cruises I've been on. Probably the Eastern Mediterranean one I took back in 2007.
5. What is the longest trip you’ve taken aboard a bus or train? I don't ride the bus very often, but I've taken some long trips by train in Europe and Japan. The longest I can think of is a round-trip from Amsterdam to Berlin to Copenhagen to Amsterdam, which is about 1200 miles.

Friday 5 for July 8: Rock Star Treatment

1. What instructions do you have for your chauffeur this weekend? We'll be driving to Portland. Be sure you use the restroom before we go.
2. What instructions do you have for your personal chef this weekend? Call Alfredo's Alla Scrofa in Rome for their recipe and cook me their Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner.
3. What instructions do you have for your errand-boy (or errand-girl) this weekend? Go to David's Pizza in Spokane and get me a large Da Vinci pizza for dessert after my fettuccine.
4. What instructions do you have for your maid this weekend? Be sure you have plenty of Lysol on hand to clean up all the vomit that's sure to occur after I eat my weight in fettuccine and pizza.
5. You don’t have a personal handyman, so I’m lending you mine. What three tasks would you like him to tackle this weekend? Hopefully he has carpentry skills. Build me a new entertainment center. Then book shelves. Then re-surface my dining room table.

Friday 5 for July 1: Five for 5′s Fifth

1. Of the five weekdays, which is the easiest to get through? Wednesday.
2. Which of the five little piggies is the most bizarrely characterized? The first one who went to market. Kids probably think that he's going to go shopping... but he's a pig. Which means he's going to market to be sold and slaughtered. That's more messed up than the piggy eating roast beef, hands-down.
3. Of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood, from which do you draw your power? Metal.
4. Haribo Gummy Bears come in five flavors: pineapple (white), strawberry (green), raspberry (red), lemon (yellow) and orange (orange). Which is your favorite? Orange.
5. Which of the five basic tastes (sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and savoriness) best describes your personality? Savory, baby, savory all the way.

Friday 5 for June 24: Summer Blockbusters

1. What transformation do you undergo on summer Fridays at midnight? Now-a-days? I transform into bed. Even though I won't sleep much.
2. What super power do the kids in your neighborhood seem to have? Black Canary's sonic screaming power.
3. Who (or what!) is your nemesis in these warm summer days? The heat.
4. What is your trustiest weapon against the evil heat monster? Air conditioning... though my new Chilly Pad is a terrific ally too.
5. What seems to be invading your life lately, and how will you fend it off? Incompetence. If anybody knows how to fend off THAT (legally), let me know.

Friday 5 for June 17: Around the House

1. Of the products you use just to keep yourself clean and presentable, what seems to be the most overpriced? The most expensive is Philosophy's "Hope in a Jar" which runs $40 for 2 ounces... but it's not overpriced. It's worth every damn cent, so I guess I'd say my shampoo.
2. Where in your house is a reliable place to get a few quarters? My bedroom desk.
3. A rare yes-or-no question on Friday 5: Have you ever dropped your cell phone onto your face? Uh... no.
4. What did you last take out of your freezer? A frozen veggie corn dog for dinner tonight.
5. How many rolls of wrapping paper do you have in your house? There's probably a few knocking around somewhere.

Friday 5 for June 10: What Goes In

1. What goes into your coffee or tea? I don't drink coffee. As for tea? Sometimes honey or lemon. Sometimes milk. Mostly plain with a bit of sugar.
2. What goes into a good omelet? Cheese.
3. What goes into your ears on a good morning? Matt & Kim on my car stereo to get me pumped for the day.
4. What goes into a healthy but yummy lunch? Screw healthy... PIZZA AND CHOCOLATE PUDDING go into a yummy lunch.
5. What goes into a productive evening? My laptop, because I can't be productive without it in my line of work.

Friday 5 for June 3: Summer!

1. What was your best summer vacation like? Probably when I was in school it was just goofing off and doing nothing.
2. What was your worst summer vacation like? I don't get summers off any more, so working.
3. What food or drink reminds you of a particular summer? A good beer reminds me of many good summer days.
4. What summer-only activity do you now look most forward to every year? I rarely get activities outside of work in summer, so none, I guess.
5. What summer movie or summer reading are you most looking forward to this year? I haven't seen Captain America or Cowboys & Aliens yet, and I want to see both quite badly.

Friday 5 for May 27: In the Mood

1. What puts you in a creative mood? Music I love.
2. What puts you in a silly mood? Alcohol.
3. What puts you in a contemplative mood? Death.
4. What puts you in a competitive mood? Work.
5. If you’d call yourself a talkative person, what puts you in a quiet mood? If you’d call yourself a quiet person, what puts you in a talkative mood? I'm usually quiet, but alcohol and friends will get me talking.

Elevens

Last night as my cold was ending and my sinuses were draining out, I was aching too much to sleep. Instead I wrote today's blog post. This morning I went to read it and couldn't understand what in the heck I was talking about. At first I was going to try and edit it into something cohesive, but decided to delete it instead.

Luckily Kim came along with a meme to blog about this fine Saturday (which Marty also did). It's ELEVEN RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOU!

1. I don't drink coffee. I've tried it maybe two or three times and really, really don't like it.
2. Even though I don't have any kids, I am very protective of them. Any time I spot a kid in trouble it's pretty much guaranteed I'll do whatever I can to help. This is the sole motivating factor in my loathing of Rick "Piece of Shit" Santorum as a presidential candidate. His hate-filled rhetoric about homosexuals creates an environment where gay kids are ruthlessly persecuted for something they can't do anything about. The fact that this sometimes leads to them getting killed or causes them to commit suicide has me convinced that Santorum (and people like him) are an accessory to murder.
   UPDATE: Today there's another tragic victim of the society that monsters like Rick "Piece of Shit" Santorum are building. This is what their perverted vision of God wants for His people?
3. When I was a kid, I had to take allergy shots three times a week. I was allergic to all kinds of odd things including dirt, wet cement, and my own body. Luckily, I outgrew my allergies... unluckily they were replaced with something much worse.
4. I am a fan of watching Magic: The Gathering tournaments. Not only did I attend local tournaments from time to time, but I used to watch the televised championships on ESPN back in the day. As if that weren't enough, I still watch Magic tournament videos on YouTube every once in a while. The odd part? I have never played a single game myself. Back when it was popular, I couldn't afford the good cards. Now-a-days, nobody I know plays it.
5. Because of my Magic: The Gathering addiction, I'm a fan of Jon Finkel, who is one of the greatest players of the game ever and a World Champion. Back on August 29th of last year, a woman went on a date with the guy and wrote an article ridiculing him once she found who he is. I didn't read the story until a friend told me about it three days later on September 1st. It upset me so badly that this woman could be such a heartless bitch to somebody I admire that it put me in very bad mood. Indeed, it kind of explains the tone of my blog entry the next day.
6. I can't stand the Harry Potter books or movies. Because so many of my friends like them, I have attempted to read/watch them many times without success. Sorry, but they just suck. This has not, I might add, deterred me from wanting to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida... nor has it deterred me from playing the LEGO Harry Potter video games (which I love).
7. I still own a VHS videotape player. There's a few shows I own on videocassette that I can't find on any modern format... I may want to watch them one day.
8. I dislike talking on the telephone so much that I'll often go to great lengths to avoid it. On more than one occasion I've driven for hours to see somebody in person rather than to have to talk to them on the phone.
9. I used to love cooking and regularly made much of the stuff I eat from scratch. Sometime over the last ten years that all changed and now I can't stand the idea of cooking anything. Yeah, I'll fry up a veggie burger or make a sandwich, but anything more ambitious than that only happens once or twice a month. I really need to start eating healthier, so hopefully this will change.
10. I own nearly a hundred travel books, many of which were bought after I visited the place they were written for. I find travel books to be a great souvenir for revisiting where you've been... especially the DK Eyewitness Guides with all those nifty photos.
11. I am growing increasingly obsessed with the idea of visiting Antarctica. Along with India, it's one of those places I mean to see before I die. Every time I read a new story of how the ice covering on the continent is breaking apart, I worry that it will be destroyed before I can make it there.

And now I'm answering Kim's Eleven questions...

1. What is your dream job? Travel reviewer.
2. What is the farthest (furthest?) you have traveled from home? I'm guessing that would be Uluru, Australia.
3. Do you think you can you have more than one best friend? Sure.
4. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian
5. Who is the first person you want to share news with? Depends on what kind of news it is?
6. What are people likely to ask you to help them with? To design something, probably.
7. What are you likely to ask someone to help you with? Ironing.
8. Why do you read blogs? To keep up with interesting people and make new friends.
9. Who knows you the best? My sister.
10. Do you believe in karma? Yes. Yes I do.
11. What's something you are really interested in, that most people don't know about? (that you are interested in it, not the thing itself) Woodworking.

I think I'm supposed to ask eleven questions of my own now, but I'm wiped out. Kim has good questions... answer hers!