Thursday, August 21, 2008

The One With All the Sevens...

Well, I was tagged. By my daughter, of all people.

She says these are the rules (just so you know I didn't make them up!)


YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED!!

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog; some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


Here we go:


FACT #1. In my younger days, about 30 years ago, I was the Governess (fancy name for babysitter) for the children of a Big Hollywood Celebrity. I stuck it out for 18 months, and to this day, hold the record as the longest-employed -and- the only one who wasn't fired. Ever watched "Super Nanny" on ABC? The Children of Big Hollywood Celebrity were the molds from which all demon spawn ever created were cast. Of all the jobs I have ever had - ever - this is the one I would never do again. :::shudder:::


FACT #2. I can't resist chocolate-covered malted milk balls. (think Whoppers or Brachs, only the real thing) They are my secret shame. I don't even keep them in the house, because I can't stay out of them. If I buy them from the candy counter, I buy a handful at a time.


FACT #3. I don't have a "favorite color" - I truly do like them all. Well, almost all. Puce is an exception. Puce should not be allowed. Puce looks like someone said "Oh! Here! We have all these other colors left over! Dump 'em over here, and we'll call it puke Puce!"

FACT #4. I named my cell phone. It's an HP 6925 IPaq, and I call it the Paq Rat, because it carries all my stuff around for me! I can't live without it. Totally hooked. Worse than a crackberry, because it runs Windows Mobile, and between the touch screen and the QWERTY keyboard, I can pretty much do everything (including create blog posts) with the damn thing.


FACT #5. I am The Queen of the Geeks. I first played around on a Heathkit H8 waaaaaay back in 1978, and have been hooked ever since. I learned Fortran and Cobol when I was in college, and started cutting my teeth on DOS when 8" floppy disks were the norm. I remember how cool it was to have a 16 color monitor, and a 300 bps external modem to dial into the local BBS. To this day I prefer the command line over Windows anything, and I could happily spend an afternoon taking apart computers & laptops to repair them.


FACT #6. One of my greatest pet peeves is people who are rude, in the name of honesty. You can be (and should be) honest, without inflicting unnecessary emotional damage on others. Let's say your friend shows up for an event in a shirt that is just... weird. I'm talking about a shirt so strange and hideous that people are pointing and staring. But your friend seems to be *proud* of the shirt, and somehow immune to the giggles and whispers of others. Then, the moment you dread - the question you know is coming: "Do you like it? Do you like my new shirt?" This moment, Gentle Reader, is what separates the wheat from the chaff, this is where the cream will rise to the top. DO NOT reply "What the *&^% where you thinking?" DO NOT reply "Sure, if you like looking like a circus freak!" DO NOT reply "Uh, No!" with your finger and thumb in the shape of an "L" on your forehead. WHAT YOU CAN SAY is "Wow! It's a really interesting choice for tonight!" or "I can't imagine where you found that shirt!" or even "I wouldn't have dared to wear something like that". But you don't have to be rude to be honest. Ever.


FACT #7. I am terribly, horribly, claustrophobic. But I haven't always been; it wasn't until I had to have an MRI in the old tube-style (in head first, nose to the ceiling) that I got that way. Now it hits me at the strangest times. Elevators are usually OK, but the little "capsules" that you ride in on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis? Thought I was going to DIE. Right there, going up. I was fine until the little door slammed shut. Coming down, by the way - I was fine. Walk-in closets are fine, but storage units with roll-down metal doors (even with the door up) I can't cope with. Seems to be an "escape" thing - as long as I can SEE a way out, and KNOW that I can get out no matter what - I'm fine.


There you have it. Seven weird/strange/random things about me. You get to decide which is which.


It turns out that (almost) everyone I know (personally) has already been tagged by someone. I won't tell you how many blogs I back-tracked through, trying to make sure I didn't re-tag someone accidentally... But, I found three suckers victims friends that I think haven't been hit by this meme yet - so I'm tagging them, and then leaving it open. If you read this, haven't been tagged, wanna play... consider yourself "tagged". Come back and let me know in the comments, and I'll come and read your entry. Promise.


PS: If I didn't tag you , and you are in my blogroll, it's because I believed that either [a] you had already been hit by this one, or [b] you don't do memes. Here's your chance to prove me wrong!


2. Stu
4. (your name here)
5. (your name here)
6. (your name here)
7. (your name here)


What are *your* seven facts?

8 comments:

Pam said...

hi-i came by way of your daughter's blog who i found via suldog. it's always fun to learn things about ppl especially when they're new (to me anyways LOL). i was tagged by your daughter for this one, too, but it'll be a cpl days before i get to it as i did one similar the other day. i like how you say 'gentle reader' isn't that like dear abby? :) i wish i could understand computers like you do. *sigh*

Suldog said...

Number 6 is such a given for me, I can't comprehend the mindset of someone who isn't polite and honest. It makes for such a pleasant world. Why would anyone hurt anyone else's feelings for no good reason?

I, too, will eat as many malted milk balls as are put in front of me.

Michelle H. said...

Hello, Thimbelle! Well, I heard about you through Suldog - such a nice person - and wanted to stop by. Thank you kindly for mentioning me on your blogroll.

Fortran and Cobol... now that takes me back. I learned those when taking tech classes back in highschool. I also took Supercalculus and Wordstar. Does this also make me a queen of geeks?

As for Fact#6, it is so true. Why hurt when you can hug instead?

Anonymous said...

Ciara - I emailed you in the wee, tiny hours of the morning... :)

Sully - I think you and I must be related somehow. Perfect afternoon: A Stooges-fest on the telly and a big old tub of malted milk balls. Makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it!

Miss M - Thanks for coming over! :) Yes, you too are a Queen of the Geeks, and we shall rule (benevolently, of course!) all the poor little geek-boys of the world. ;)

Anonymous said...

Re: #6, a more honest answer would be a simple straightforward "No, I don't!" but said with such obvious love and acceptance that your friend can't help but take it in the spirit you meant. It's a rare friendship that can handle such naked honesty, but those are the friendships worth keeping.

Anonymous said...

NAB - you are right. Rare *is* the friendship that can tolerate that type of honesty. And, to be honest, most can't.

At the end of this and every day... I have to be able to look in the mirror and know that I lived my life with integrity. I also have to know that I treated every person I encountered with as much dignity and respect as I would like to be treated with.

So, I'll always opt for polite. It may take a bit more "work" to get the message across, but in the end, I think it's the closest to a "win-win" you can get.

Thanks for your comment; even though I might not take the same approach, I always appreciate hearing a new point of view! :)

Ericka said...

darn you! i come by to say hi and that i'm back online, and you've sucked me into one of these meme things. curses! i'll start early and say that one of my 7 facts is that i'm pretty much incapable of passing one of these things up - i've undoubtedly done thousands of the absurd things by now. pfft.

Ericka said...

it's been awhile - i hope all's okay. you still out there?