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Is That All She Thinks About...Herself? W/O: Get to Know Me with 16 QuestionsMay 04 '03 (Updated Jul 17 '03) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Is she just getting her feet wet or is she "all wet"? I love community but I'm shy. Like Bob's shrink said, "Baby steps."
I came across this Write Off that Prelude99 has started and am about to write my second Epinions contribution. If you want to participate in this W/O you can see the blank questions suitable for cut and paste here: http://www.epinions.com/content_3267076228 I do know how to write about things other than myself, although you would not guess it from the work I have exhibited here so far. I am just getting my feet wet, so to speak. At least I know my subject. 1. How long have you been a member of Epinions? I have been a member of Epinions for just over a year but I have been silent until just recently when I participated in Corpgent's W/O 20 Things About Me. Over the last year I have just observed and read and occasionally rated reviews. I was writing book and movie reviews on Amazon for about a year before I heard of Epinions. I wanted to be a Top 500 reviewer there and now I am, so I've decided to abandon their repressive editing and rules and try my hand at this. I am still somewhat scarred by the penchant for drive-by ratings that the anonymous feel free to do on Amazon. I can take criticism but when it's anonymous it can make you punchy. 2. What do you do for a living? I have an awesome job that is somewhat embarrassing to admit. I am what is known on application pull-down menus as a "home-maker". That's right, I don't earn a pay check. I cook and garden and clean and shop and budget and generally administrate our household. I used to be a human resources specialist...I really HATE the term "human resources." I loved that job because I was able to help so many people. I was probably not the corporate dream of an HR person because even though I was supposed to be working for the "client" I was more often than not working for the "employee." I loved giving people chances. It was a very satisfying job. I got fired because I used the company phone to call President Clinton and my Senators and about two dozen immigration lawyers to try to save one of my employees from being deported to Laos for a crime he did not commit. Since people don't GET deported to Laos these days, he would have languished in a cell in Chicago for years on end like so many others. Well...with the help of Senator Kohl I succeeded in preventing the deportation of my friend and employee but I got fired because my boss said, "I'm not running #@%! Social Services here! These people aren't your goddammed friends!" I felt bad about working for a boss after that and I decided I would only work for my family. They can't fire me. My husband and I are at a very low income level but we like simplicity and we still manage to do most of what we want to do. 3. Favorite food? I have mentioned my addiction to pizza from generic national chains elsewhere on Epinions but I do have other favorite foods. Currently, they include Baingan Bharta with Basmati rice and Nan. This is a dish from India that is made with eggplant. Nan is a wonderful fried bread. I also love Starbuck's various coffee ice creams. Of course I love chocolate and someday I will write about this little place in the basement of a house on a quiet residential street in Oshkosh that makes the BEST chocolates in the whole world. You will want to take a plane, train, bus, car or horse and get there as fast as you can. I also love Kung-Pao Tofu. I love every kind of bread, but I especially like Native American fry bread with beans and chilies and home made bagels with sesame seeds. Asparagus rules the school. Bernaise sauce is a direct mainline to the Goddess. If I had to live on one kind of food (with various spices and condiments, butter and cheeses, of course!) it would be the humble potato. 4. Most embarrassing moment? When I was 16 I was swimming in a backyard pool with four teen-age boys, two of whom I thought were very cute, (boy craziness). I was a visiting guest and I didn't know them that well. I felt very self-conscious, especially being the only girl there. Three of them started really picking on the fourth one, who was very overweight and kinda dorky. They were dunking him and he was sputtering and thrashing around and telling them to stop, but they wouldn't. I was a very shy person at that time in my life, but I swam over and tried to protect the victim. I started yelling and pushing at the others and trying to stop them. I was really beside myself with dismay for this poor kid. And then...they ALL started laughing, including the overweight kid...it had all been a giant shuck. I was mortified. I left the pool without a word. It might not sound that embarrassing but it still makes me feel stupid. 5. What are your favorite topics to write about on Epinions? Like I said, so far it seems to be me, myself and I, but actually The Writers Corner and books are probably where you will see me most often in the future, and possibly travel, gardening, foods and restaurants, music, and movies. 6. Name a few things that you can’t stand whatsoever: Here's a list within a list. People who proselytize, misogynists, racists, people who have the gall to judge others based on their sexual preference. People who are cruel to other beings of any species. Hate crimes against anyone from human beings to the turtle that gets run over on the road just for fun. When people confuse economic philosophy, religion, political affiliation or viewpoint with patriotism or the lack thereof. Of course, there are many, many things that happen in the world of human beings that I can't stand, some big, some small, but I don't dwell on them. I just try to never be the kind of person I can't stand. 7. Hobbies?Gardening, reading, cooking, baking, collecting antique glassware and children's books. Also, to the degree that I can afford it, traveling. I also love history, mythology, Tarot, astrology, poetry and movies. My life is one big hobby. 8. What kind of car do you drive? What color is it? I drive a Chevy Beretta, a white one with blue interior and a smashed in front end. I think it's a 1990 or a 1989...I don't know for sure. Basically, it is a set of wheels that runs. It was my youngest son's car. It was totalled in an accident that my son had and the insurance company let him keep it. He was just going to scrap it for $30 so I took it and my husband made it road-worthy again and now it is our free piece of junk car that is totally embarrassing to drive. When you open the door on the passenger side it makes this huge groaning sound and people turn around and stare. We also have some kind of mini-van that is brown and I do not know what kind it is or how old because I am in total denial. It has rust holes you could throw a cat through. (I do not condone the throwing of cats...) It has a bad exhaust system that my husband is always putzing with and lousy brakes that he will soon be putzing with and it accelerates very slowly. I try to hold my head up when I am driving these cars but it is very hard. The last car I had that I loved was a shiny black Mercury Sable with leather interior and personalized plates that said "Red Pill" from The Matrix, but I gave it to my son so he could go to Texas and pursue his dreams as a drummer. It died there in Texas delivering pizzas. 9. Worst time you got into trouble when you were a kid?I got in trouble a lot as a kid but there was never a "worst time" because authority has never impressed me enough to make me feel bad, except when I got fired. I shop-lifted and did drugs and had sex with lots of people and ran around with people my parents didn't approve of, and hitch-hiked to the beach when I should have been in school, and then I ran away from home and was gone for two months. When I came home again I had to be interrogated by the police and strip-searched and that was embarrassing and unpleasant but oh well...it didn't last for ever...I got over it. This may sound odd, but I was a really good kid. I just had to check things out...I found life to be so interesting. My parents were always grounding me and I was once grounded for the entire summer. In California when you are in the only family on the block with no pool it really sucks to be grounded. That year, two weeks after school started back up and the summer-long grounding was over, I got in trouble for ditching school and rather than face ANOTHER grounding I just stuck out my thumb and hit the highway. I was 15. 10. Have you ever been on TV? If so, what for? I was once in the studio audience of a local TV program for children called Captain Penny in Cleveland, Ohio and they showed me on TV. Wow! What a star! I have been interviewed on the local news a couple of times, most recently during a peace vigil. 11. What kind of music do you like to listen to? I love lots of kinds of music. My favorite is rhythm and blues. I love bluegrass and country. I love rock 'n roll. I love the blues. I love some jazz. I love Broadway show tunes. I love folk. These are my favorite artists, not in order: Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, the Miracles, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Wilco, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Blues Traveler, Jayhawks, Freddy Fender, older Emmylou Harris, Graham Parsons, Jesse Winchester, Alison Krauss, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Queen Latifah, Joan Baez, Otis Redding, Dolly Parton, the Drifters, the Beatles, older Rolling Stones, Etta James, Ben Harper, Woody Guthrie, the Dixie Chicks...this is rather pointless...I can't name all my favorites. 12. What CD would your friends be surprised that you own? I doubt my friends would be surprised by anything that I own. I suppose Shakira's new one would have them rolling their eyes a bit, but I don't care. This is excellent dish-doing music. Maybe Tenacious D would cause them to raise an eyebrow...but probably not. I cannot take a road trip without the D. 13. Shoes or sandals? I am a Pisces and Pisces rules the feet. How can I choose between shoes and sandals? I love shoes and sandals of all kinds from spikey, strappy heels to cowboy boots to Dr. Scholl's wooden sandals. Only thing better than shoes is NO shoes, bare-footin' or bare-footin' with toe and ankle jewelry. 14. Where do you buy most of your clothes? At the Mall, no preference on stores, also at vintage clothing shops and import shops. If you have flair you can find cool things to wear just about anyplace. 15. Have you ever met any famous people? If so, who? Back in my more main stream political days I met various politicians like Jimmy Carter, Mo Udall, Walter Mondale, Ralph Nader, and Bobby Kennedy's son Michael. Actually, Michael Kennedy borrowed ten bucks from me during the Carter campaign. I met Dick Clark and Bobby Vee. I met Ginger Baker from Cream. I knew Danny Bonaduce's brother. I met all the people in the Bottle Rockets, a great band from Missouri...maybe they're not that famous, but they should be. I met Stephen Stills but I did not know he was famous at the time. I thought Buffalo Springfield was a local band. I met June Carter. I sold Marie Osmond some Ninja Turtle action figures when I worked at Kay-Bee Toys. At first I thought she was some freak with a Marie Osmond fetish, but then she spoke and it was actually her. My mom met Dr. Seuss. I think that's cooler than any of mine. 16. What are your favorite TV shows? Oh God, you would trap me into this confession. I love Survivor. I like Everyone Loves Raymond. I loved The Waltons when it was a current series. I loved all the incarnations of Star Trek. I have liked Win Ben Stein's Money, Beat the Geeks, Jeopardy, The Weakest Link, and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire because I have a vast sea of useless trivia swirling around in my head. When I was a kid I loved American Bandstand and Shindig...and The Rifleman with that cute Johnny Crawford. I also liked watching the Flintstones when it first came out during prime time as a family show on Friday nights. My mom would make us popcorn for that big TV viewing event, or sometimes we got ice cream. I used to like Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and Marcus Welby, MD. I liked Good Times and I wished Florida was my mom. I liked Lassie when Jon Provost was on it. It was because of my fascination with Johnny Crawford and Jon Provost that I got the reputation within my family of being "boy crazy." I loved The Mickey Mouse Club with Spin & Marty (boy craziness rearing its ugly head again.) I watched As the World Turns, Santa Barbara, and The Guiding Light for two years in the 1970s before a twelve step program helped me with my addiction. Just kidding. I kicked, cold turkey. My favorite show of all time is Captain Kangaroo. I wish I had old tapes of it. I would watch it every day. I guess that about wraps it up. I hope lots of people write for this W/O because I like reading these personal things. It's fun.  |
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