Holiday Survey

Everyone else is doing it, so why not I?
Current mood: indescribable
Category: Quiz/Survey

Hey! LOOKIT ME! I finished a chapter!

So, to reward myself and torture you, I'm doing the survey started (in my circle of brilliant bloggers, anyway) by Jo & Honey and completed very nicely by The DirtDiva and uhhhh... .
My brain has been swimming in creative fiction for the last week (for once), so I'm going to chill out with some honest nonfiction. Maybe. If it gets boring I'll try to spruce it up a bit for you.


1. What was your favorite Christmas/seasonal gift this year?

Okay, honestly? I'm not a huge fan of getting Christmas/seasonal gifts. Unless it's brandy balls or peppermint schnapps with a bow. (Sorry Mummy, I really do think the salt and pepper shakers and snack plate and knife are cute. Really. I do appreciate them. I do). I have SO FREAKING MANY Christmas decorations, it's scary. They're stuffed into a giant-size Rubbermaid tub stuffed full of holiday thingamabobs that is stored in the attic of the garage. And that's just the stuff that will fit in it. There's also 3 fake trees of various sizes and a box containing a holiday village. And the kicker is: I've actually purchased or chosen almost none of them. This stuff is taking up serious space in storage, to be taken out and displayed for about three weeks a year. There's a part of me that doesn't get that. Appreciates it, sure, but doesn't get it.
I was quite nostalgic this year, remembering my small apartment and the SHOE BOX that happily and compactly held all of my decor in the back of my closet. Especially as the hubby and I lugged the giant tub from the house across the frozen yard to the garage, where he risked life and limb with it on his shoulder on a ladder to put it away.
So, the short answer is: I love the Snowman and Tree salt and pepper shakers and snack plate my mom gave me.

2. What gift were you the most excited to give and to whom was it given?

(Sylow should skip this answer, I think. CJ too, probably.)
Duh: Santa!
Say what you will, there is nothing like seeing the tangible joyous expression, the awe of magic, the giggly wonder in my child's face every year when she sees the plate now containing cookie and carrot crumbs, the lumpy stockings, the modest pile of gifts where just last night there were none. She's a good kid, and only asked Santa for four things. Thanks to the DirtDiva, Santa was able to provide them exactly as requested. (Except for another rabbit. She got a stuffed one and a note instead). And, Thanks to my personal fairy Kris , Daphne was able to provide a special surprise in a beautiful handmade bracelet for Grace to always remember the magic of fairies.
Her joy made all of the stress, angst, searching, begging and sneaking worth it. Big thanks to the Mimi for sacrificing the pegasus so Santa wouldn't come off short.

3. What is your biggest personal wish for the New Year?

To be done with this book. Done with it. Whether or not it gets published, I just want it out of my head and the story told so it will leave me the hell alone.

4. What did you do New Year's Eve?

Went to "First Night" in downtown Salt Lake City. A rousing gathering of sober people, with tents set up to contain various artsy type people and foodstuffs. Grace ice skated for the first time, which was absolutely a hoot, and was promptly hypothermic when we finally peeled her off the ice. Little budger was so cold we had to go home early.
I must say, waking up New Year's Day without wanting to vomit was a nice change. I didn't know that could even happen.

5. You are on Death Row and being executed at midnight. What do you order for your last meal on earth? (We're going to assume you actually have an appetite.)

Maine lobster.
But more to the point: Why am I on Death Row? Certainly any murder I would commit would be justifiable, right?

6. The Power in Charge of Life and Death is granting you eight hours to spend with a loved one who has passed on. Who, among your loved ones, do you choose and what will you do? (This will take place on Earth, not in some far-flung nebula.)

This is tough. I know I should say my grandfather, because his life was so hard and interesting and he deserved to have a little joy, or my grandmother because I would like to talk to her about me not having to channel all her genetic psychotic energy anymore, please, but...I don't know. I loved them while they were here. And had lots of time with them. They both had good long lives with people who loved them.
So, inexplicably, I'm going to go with a baby that I only saw twice in his short life, and one of those times was when he was already in his teeny coffin. I would like Britain to come back, healthy and whole and happy, and have a few hours of a normal happy babyhood.

7. It has been deemed that you will live a life of abject poverty, but you get to choose where to spend that life - the Amazon Rainforest or Siberia. Which do you choose and why?

I am sick to death of the cold right now. SICK OF IT. So, botflies be damned, I'm going with the Amazon. That's where I was "supposed" to spend my life as a biologist, back in the days of idealistic young optimism. I would like to sit under the canopy and just goggle at the incredibly cacophony of life there, life that is slipping away, being lost and destroyed, and wonder at the miracle of it. And be warm.

8. If you could have one talent at which you excelled, what would it be? (and if you already have a talent at which you excel, unlike many of us, pick another one.)

I'm going to go with writing. Or playing the flute. I'm okay at both of those things, but would like to have one thing that I'm really really good at. I'm tired of being mediocre.

9. You are being forced to share a bed with someone, and you are given a choice between a snorer or a farter. Which do you choose and why?

I already sleep with the world champion of farters. I'm a fairly sound sleeper, I can sleep through snoring. The green clouds though, well, my nose doesn't sleep as soundly as my ears, and I'm tired of it.

10. You just won the gazillion dollar lottery. After all the excitement has died down, what is the first thing you do?

Who says the excitement will ever die down? Travel! Lots! See everything! Go everywhere! Go! Go! Go!
Then probably self-publish. Gotta get it out there somehow.
And then open a Best Friends-type animal sanctuary.

Okey dokey, enough self-gratification for today. I'm off to run errands, fold laundry, vacuum...it's nice to be back to the routine.

Cheers!