End of August meme

22. What is one thing you don't mind spending a lot of money on?

I routinely spend a lot of money on (e)books. It is hoarding-levels almost, but thank god, they take up no physical space. They make me feel very rich, able to carry around an entire gigantic library.

23. What animal is the scariest in your opinion?


Microbie is right that it is humans, no question. If I had to exclude humans, well, I am pretty scared by poisonous insects, like the brown recluse spider.

24. What makes you laugh?


Hm. Friends with good senses of humor and an eye for pop culture make me laugh a lot. Hopefully ditto.

25. What are you craving right now?


I don't feel any cravings at the moment. I drank tea already, so I'm good. That's my addiction, really. Tea with half-and-half.

26. Do you have a sweet tooth?


I guess I have a sweet tooth -- for carb type sweets and for tangy-sweet fruit juices. Both of which are terrible for me as a diabetic. I do not care about chocolate, though, and people who rave about it are mysterious to me. I have a number of friends who are like that. I don't DISLIKE chocolate, you understand. Chocolate pudding is very nice, or chocolate mousse. Fudge, yuck.

27. Is your closet organized or disorganized?


Er, both? It started out organized, but as a small room which I can shut, it has become less so as I dump things in there that I don't have a place for -- a small plastic file box; bulk supplies, my Xmas box of tree stand and decorations, etc. Also, I never wear a single piece of the clothing that is hanging on the rail in there. So it's kind of a mis-used mess which I should do something about.

28. What is the first word you'd use to describe yourself?


Ughh. What a terrible question. That's worse that all the questions that demand you deliver your FAVORITE this or that.

29. What modes of transportation do you use?


Essentially my car and my feet (for very short distances and not for standing on very long) and my travelscoot. I haven't been on a plane for a few years now, or public transport. Certainly not a bicycle or what did you say, Microbie? Roller skates!

30. What was the last great book you read?


Um, great book? I am kind of allergic to that description of my reading. The last bunch of books I have been reading are these silly but enjoyable kind of 1930s through 1950s chick lit stories from Britain, by a Scots author, D. E. Stevenson. Jesus casual racism is horrifying. She really likes "women who follow the drum" e.g. are married to career military officers and embedded in regiments which she then places in various British colonies -- Malaya, Kenya, Egypt, India -- so some of her books are a tour of future sites of revolutionary independence movements.

31. What improvement would be the most beneficial to your life right now?

Job security would be a fine thing. Not that I could LOSE my job very easily -- it would be extremely hard for my school district to fire me... but the district has the right to involuntarily transfer teachers basically every two years if they want a better fit for "FTE" (full-time-employment hours -- each teacher is a 1.0 FTE job, and if there are not enough students for whatever reason at a site -- people moving away from the Bay Area because it is expensive, for instance -- then the teachers at the low end of the seniority list can be moved at will. It happened to me two years ago, and it worries me this year. Two years ago it was very LATE -- I only got notified in late September or early October... right before my cancer diagnosis! Can you see the vast potential for PTSD around this shit? Right now I have the fewest students rostered to me at DICE, where I work, for the first time in-person. And all the teachers at DICE have years and years of seniority. Ugh. I am depressing myself more, writing about this.

PS -- my user icon is Eleanor Marx. Eleanor Marx was a school teacher for a hot minute, in Brighton. If only she'd stayed that, instead of getting with that Utter Asshole, Edward Aveling.

Were these so bad I subconsciously skipped them?

"This set of questions is pretty bad." -- quoth Microbie. Correct as she usually is!

12. Have you ever taken a photograph with a celebrity?

I don't think so. But I was VERY impressed with Villagecharm's photo with BILLY BRAGG!

13. What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?

Sleep and or read. Though today (9/2) I ended up on an unplanned Zoom meet-up with two of my best friends from grad school and we babbled and also played with Ancestry.com for about two hours -- one friend had just joined it.

14. Where in your house do you spend the most time in?

"The living room." Me, too. Although it's kind of open plan, so it's living room/dining area and the kitchen is visible over a little raised counter.

15. What is the last meal you cooked?

Cooked, cooked? As opposed to microwaved or pulled together out of the fridge? It's not a frequent occurrence any more. Oh! I made clam linguine (just canned clams, not that fancy) with a friend a couple of weeks ago. It was good. We ordered wine to put in the sauce and to drink while I cooked, and it was fun. I almost never drink wine, but we got silly BEFORE hand, reading all the "notes" of each pretty cheap white variety. I think we got... some brand called Cupcake? A sauvignon, I think. Delicious.

16. What's the fanciest food you've ever ordered at a restaurant?

Huh. Fanciest? I guess fanciest -- not a one off, but an often-at-Christmas when my father and stepmother visit -- is German food at Speisekammer's restaurant in Alameda. Delicious classics like sauerbraten and spaetzle. Duck. REALLY GOOD BEER.

17. Do you enjoy camping?

No. I didn't mind it when I was a kid, though "camping" might be a bit of a misnomer. More than once it was my folks in a pup tent and my sister and I stretched out on the car seats.

18. What kind of popcorn is your favorite?

I swear I remember these questions and maybe even answering these questions, but I don't see it when I look at my DW. I like plain popcorn, or I like serious caramel and peanuts corn, like Cracker Jack but not burnt tasting and with bigger more generous kernels.

19. What is your preferred way to learn a new skill?

Being directly taught, if it is something like guitar (which I somewhat aspire to). Trying things out on my own if it is some other kind of skill.

20. What’s your favorite horror movie?

I don't like horror over all, but sometimes there are horror movies that I think are very good -- Get Out, Nope, some Korean ones. Let the Right One In (Swedish version only).

21. What is the last new thing you discovered that was really good?

Hmmm. I mean, there's "new" and there's "new to me" which might not be at all NEW. Okay, this Australian comedy parody murder mystery series, Deadloch, which was BRILLIANT. I cannot wait for Season 2. Hilarious, but still a mystery, with zigs and zags and gender up the wazoo. I am embarrassed that I was not entirely sure that Tasmania (where the show is set) was part of Australia. I thought it might be independent or even part of New Zealand. Nope. I mean, it's an island, and I knew THAT. But still.