2000:  A Life in Declarative Sentences
2001:  Chewing the Air
2002:  Look at Me, I'm Flyyyying
2003:  Over the Rainbow
2004:  The Princess in my Motel Room 

FUNNY THE BLOG

"Making History"

TWENTY QUESTIONS

8 September 2005

I was invited to join a group called writingwomyn, which I consider a big honor.  There don't seem to be a lot of rules, other than that you have to be invited, and there is one collab entry a month.  This month's collab is 20 questions, so here are my answers:

where ya from, sweet thing?

Born and raised (till age 18) in San Francisco, which I still call "home," even though I've lived away from the city longer than I lived in it.   I love San Francisco, but it's not the city I grew up in any more.  I love to go to high places and look at the vista.  I wouldn't want to live there again (even if I could afford it!).

who lives there with you? (human or otherwise)

1 husband, 2 dogs, and a fluctuating number of foster dogs, puppies, guests, etc.

who was your childhood heroine, and why?

Judy Garland.  I don't know that she was a heroine exactly, but I sure had a big crush on her.  I once asked my mother to put me in an orphanage so Judy could adopt me.  I suppose if you go with heroines, it would be St. Teresa of Lisieux.  Like a good Catholic girl, I read all those saint biographies and had the bizarre notion that I wanted to be a cloistered nun just like St. Teresa.  Bwahahaha.  Fortunately, I got over that.

name three people who influenced your outlook on life.

1) My mother.  If I could have her optimism, her excitement about life, her openness,  and 1/10th of her cleanliness gene, I would be a much better person.
2) Ann, a boss of mine, who told me I could learn medical transcription.  Little did I know that she was setting me up for the rest of my work life!
3)  Peggy, who got me started in digital photography, taught me to use PhotoShop, and who told me that I should never suffer in silence.

recommend two books everyone should read, two albums everyone should listen to, and two movies everyone should see, and tell us why they’re so awesome.

BOOKS
1)  The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson.  It's one of my very favorite books.  Who knew that etymology could be so much fun?
2)  East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  Actually just about anything by John Steinbeck.  He not only weaves a mean tale, but you can get a whole writing lesson by studying how he crafts his novels.

ALBUMS
1)  The Last Session (original cast recording).  Hardly anybody has heard of this show, but its message is powerful--and it's got a lot of darn good songs too (and, of course, it doesn't hurt that it was written by my friend).
2)  Wicked (original cast recording), which is my current favorite album.  Some of the songs are just blah, but it has two outstanding numbers that are very special to me:  "Defying Gravity" and "For Good."

MOVIES
1)  Hotel Rwanda, because it's a very good movie, and because it will open your eyes to a situation which we rarely hear anything about in this country.
2)  An Affair to Remember, a great movie to watch when you need to have a catharsis.  Have a big box of Kleenex handy.

how did you get started keeping a journal online?

That one is easy.  I met Steve Schalchlin, who was the 5th person to ever start writing a journal on the Internet.  After reading his journal for awhile, I decided I could do that.   And the rest is history

your journal – is the name meaningful? why’d you call it what you did?

It's the title of a song that our kids' band (Lawsuit) used to play, one of my favorite Lawsuit songs.

what’s your motto/mantra/philosophy?

"You can only make a difference when you care."  (Which, coincidentally is from a song in Steve's first show).  Seems to me I've been caring for kids or foreigners or dogs most of my life.

what do you do when you’re not writing? (job / family / hobbies / etc.)

I do medical transcription at home, and am a part-time theatre critic.   I love photography and am still trying to perfect PhotoShop.  I used to do scrapbooking until I discovered digital photography.  Now I do slide shows.

where do you see yourself in five years?

Still sitting here in this office -- older, fatter, greyer.

if you could give your teenage self one piece of advice, what would it be, and why?

Eat better, exercise more, brush & floss regularly, stay in college.

how about them dodgers?

Excuse me?  Don't you mean how about them Giants?

what are your hot button issues? human rights? animal cruelty? kids? what makes you get up and get vocal?

Anybody who reads my journal regularly knows that my hottest button is gay rights and especially equality for everyone, but at the moment, my hot button is the inefficiency of federal government in responding to Hurricane Katrina.

two trains are headed toward each other. one is traveling from chicago and the other leaves los angeles at the same time. if they are both traveling at 75 miles an hour, at what time would you care if they crashed or not?

Never.  I am no longer in grammar school and I no longer have to do %$#@ story problems.

name five random tidbits about yourself that we haven’t already covered.

1) I'm left-handed
2) I'm blind as a bat without my glasses
3) I speak a smattering of Portuguese and a smattering of French
4) I cry at Hallmark commercials
5) I was the romantic lead in my high school Senior play.

give us a quote, a song lyric, a stanza of poetry or something similar that speaks to you.

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.

some fluff: what’s your favorite television show and if you don’t watch it, what’s your favorite book?

Well, so many of my favorites have now gone off the air, or are changing significantly, like Queer as Folks, Six Feet Under (in the going off the air category) and West Wing and E.R. (in the changing significantly category).  But the shows I watch most regularly are Whose Line Is It Anyway? (in reruns), Jeopardy and The Daily Show..and I can't wait for Lost to start up again.

how far would you go for a loved one? meaning: if it came down to you or them, would you sacrifice yourself for them?

I'd like to say that I'd sacrifice myself for them, but I don't think any of us knows how we'd react in any situation until we are actually faced with that choice.   I think that the anguish of survivors of atrocities shows that (think Sophie's Choice).

tell us one happy memory. (unless it’s something we’d have to plead the fifth about later because it involves a missing s.o. and a deep lake.)

It was at U.C. Davis's Whole Earth festival.  Lawsuit was performing, and assigned to one of the "lesser" stages, hidden away behind a building.   When we got there to set up, the band preceding them was playing.  There was a sparce crowd and a couple of people dancing.  That band finished and Lawsuit began to set up.  I stood on the path opposite the stage so I could take photos.  As I stood there, people began to pour into the area.  It was so packed there were people lining three all balconies of the building, standing 4 deep behind me, and sitting in trees.  The plaza was filled with people dancing and cheering.  When Lawsuit finished and the next band was getting ready to set up, the crowd completely disappeared and there was only a handful of people waiting for the next band.  I was so very, very proud of the kids that day!  (They were never put on a "lesser" stage again, but became one of the headline bands.)

what is your passion?

There have been two consistent passions throughout my life:  writing and photography.  I'm not terrific at either of them, but no matter where I am or who I'm with or what I'm doing, I'll either be taking photographs or composing something to write when I get back home again.

P.S.  I love it that you refer to "journals" instead of "blogs."

Here's another bone-chilling link to an article about Hurricane Katrina that Marn sent me.

And then there's this lovely commentary by the only member of the Bush family I thought I almost liked.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Another squirrel picture

 
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