I've Been TAGGED!

It's summer... who is up for a game of tag?? Dayna already let me have it. So jump in!

Here are the rules:

A. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.
B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

8 Fun Facts to Know and Tell About Moi:

1. I talk to dogs, dead people, and myself.
2. My eyes are a freaky shade of green and have a bright yellow ring around the pupil that frequently causes arguments. I have actually invited people to touch my eyeball to prove there was no contact lens on it. When I was little my mother told me it was "the devil coming out of me." (Working that out in therapy.)
3. I wrote a book with another person that was a collection of emails exchanged on "life in general" in the 90s. It still has a perfect score on Amazon.com. (You can even still buy it... Here). It was long before blogs, when the internet was something "new and exciting."
4. I used to be the "Movie Muffin," voice of Reel Reviews. I did a weekly radio show on movies with reviews and light commentary.
6. I own over 700 cameos, some rare antiques... some just goofy, like the nail clipper with a cameo on it.
7. I've lost over 125 pounds in 3 years but it happened so slowly and I'm still so chubby I have had to save my old license to prove it. People see the two headshots side by side and freak... very often they are people who see me every day and barely noticed.
8. Ahmed and his family almost never call me by my given name. They all call me "Badjia," or "Ahmed's Badjia," or "the Badjia." Badjia is a very old word used in parts of Kurdistan. There is no direct translation; it means something beautiful because it is rare. I blush whenever anyone asks me about it, but I secretly treasure this little endearment.

K... off to tag the following peeps:

Diana,
RG,
Tawny,
Amanda,
Cassidy,
Ciar,
Loribelle, and
Wendy.

My Favorite Books from Childhood

Recently a favorite forum of mine included a discussion of favorite childhood books. Many responded with titles I loved: The Hobbit, Black Beauty, and the Walter Farley Stallion series. Laura Ingalls Wilder's wonderful books, Little Women, and more topped the lists.


A few of my own favorites were older and harder to come by, but if you ever get a chance, check them out:

Fly By Night was a wonderful British novel about a young girl who wants a pony SO badly she will do anything to get one. She does, in fact, find a stubborn little creature she calls FlybyNight ("Fly," for short), who proves more work than she ever imagined. But the rainy bike-rides delivering papers and sacrifice make her stronger. And though training and affording Fly is often painful and difficult, her love for him becomes stronger because of the struggle. Probably the most realistic book about horsey girls I read. I had a horse myself and lost her for economic reasons. This book was very close to my heart.

I discovered this book by way of my Nana, who loved it when she was little. A gift one Christmas, it came to me with a shamrock-green cover and quickly won my heart. The adventures of the Pepper children and their hard-working mom during difficult times was a harsher, slightly more Dickensian than the more-widely known Prairie books by Ingalls Wilder.

A little closer to my own peers' lists, Island of the Blue Dolphin was one of the first books I read as a child with American Indians as central characters without "white" intervention and cultural stamping. A rich, unique, and simply gorgeous bildingsroman. Plus kids like yours truly, obsessed with critters, will totally love the wolves!

This is really an endorsement of the entire Harper Hall Trilogy by Anne McCaffery, but Dragonsinger is a great stand-alone. It was the first contemporarily written (then) fantasy novel I'd ever read, and it had me from the first line. Dealing with everything from free speech to domestic abuse, it is surprisingly light and rich reading considering... and just delightfully packed with little dragons!

Separated at Birth?

I'm not saying I have evidence beyond what's in front of me... but my mom is hooked on FoxNews and lately there has been a disturbing pattern of coincidence emerging. No, not Geraldo... he's just disturbing.

I might be crazy, but I think... err... it seems... umm...

STAR TREK IS TAKING OVER THE NETWORK!!!



Now, granted, he's had a lot of work done... but that guy's a CARDASSIAN!

It's not just Fox, either. I'm pretty sure Dennis Kucinich is a Ferengi.

Lightbulb Changing Fun with the Zodiac

I
have no idea where this came from, but a friend sent it to me and it cracked me up. What's your sign? And how do YOU change a lightbulb?

How many Aries does it take to change a light bulb?
Only one, but it takes a hell of a lot of light bulbs.
OR
ONE dammit! ONE! And they don't need any help from YOU!

How many Taureans?
What, me move?
OR
One, but just try to convince them that the burned-out bulb is useless and should be thrown away.

How many Geminis?
Two, but the job never gets done - they just keep discussing who is supposed to do it and how it's supposed to be done!
OR
One, but he or she has seven personalities and it may not be the "worker" today!

How many Cancerians?
Only one, but he has to bring his mother.
OR
Just one. But it takes a therapist three years to help them through the grieving process.

How many Leos?
A dozen. One to change the bulb, and eleven to applaud.
OR
Leos don't change light bulbs, although sometimes their agent will get a Virgo in to do the job for them while they're out.

How many Virgos?
One to clean out the socket, one to dust the bulb, one to install, and two engineers to check the work.
OR
Approximately 1.000000 with an error of +/- one millionth.

How many Libras?
Libras can't decide if the bulb needs to be changed.
OR
Er, two. Or maybe one. No, on second thought, make that two. Is that okay with you?

How many Scorpios does it take to change a light bulb?
None, they'd rather sit in the dark and plot murder.
OR
That information is strictly secret and shared only with the Enlightened Ones in the Star Chamber of the Ancient Hierarchical Order.

How many Sagittarians?
One to install the bulb, and a Virgo to pick up the pieces.
OR
The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned-out light bulb?

How many Capricorns?
The light's fine as it is.
OR
I don't waste my time with these childish jokes.

How many Aquarians?
Have you asked the bulb if it WANTS to be changed?
OR
Well, you have to remember that everything is energy, so...

How many Pisceans?
Light bulb? What light bulb?

and...

How many astrologers does it take to change a light bulb?
"Don't ask me now, Mercury's retrograde!"
OR
None... it changes itself on the Equinox.