Category: Memes

Today seems like a great day for a meme! I picked this one up from Stupid Evil Bastard:

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names):
Ellen Walter

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad):
Robert Fredolf

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name):
Licele

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal):
Green Platypus

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live):
Alissa Mission

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning):
Red Guinness

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name):
Cell

8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):
Cinnameg Snickerdoodle

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name):
Trillian Dearborn

10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on):
Boo Boo Foreman

XO from Hip Suburban White Guy posted a meme earlier this week called The Times, They Are a Changin'.

The idea is to post photos that show how your personal appearance has evolved. I decided to do the meme in the context of my bands, so here are examples of how I looked in three distinctly different eras.

Here I am in the late 1980s. I was in a hard rock cover band (hey, just like today!) called White Hot, and apparently I felt there was no need for me to smile in photos.

On to the mid-1990s. This was an original alternative band called Radio Sunday. My hair was still rather large, but it was more or less my natural color and permed. As you can see, grunge fashion had taken its toll.

And here I am today (well, last spring anyway). 

This was fun! If you decided to pick up this meme, let me know in the comments.

This is only the second post after my little break and I'm already cheating! Tsk, tsk.

I picked this one up from Zandria. She'd cut some questions out from the original source, but I thought her edits were good so I'm leaving the list at nineteen, even though some of my answers are a little dull.

Have you ever…

1. gone on a blind date?
No.

2. skipped school?
I skipped school one time when I was in high school. My boyfriend lived about six blocks from my school (although, oddly, he went to a different school). We hatched a plan wherein I took the bus to school and then walked to his house. I'm pretty sure his mother was in collusion with us. Because I had such a reputation for being a goody two-shoes, I didn't even get in trouble for it. When the office called me in to ask about my absence, I just said, "Didn't my mom call you?" and they let slide.

3. watched someone die?
No, unless you count being there when various cats of mine were euthanized.

4. been on the opposite side of your country?
I live right smack in the middle, but I've been to both coasts.

5. swam in the ocean?
Yes, I've swum in the ocean in Florida, South Carolina and Jamaica.

6. had your booze taken away by the cops?
No, but when I was a teenager, I remember groups of us getting rousted from our local park by the park police for being "too noisy." I don't think we were doing much drinking then, just hanging out and playing our car stereos.

7. lettered in high school sport?
I am one of the least athletic people you will ever meet, but when I was in junior high school I struggled through two years on the track team. The first year, they put me on speed events such as sprints and relays, but I was too slow. Then they moved me to distance events, but I had no endurance. Shotput and other weight events were out of the question because I wasn't strong enough. On the third year, I stepped back and became a team manager, for which I received a letter.

8. played cops and robbers?
Not specifically. My sister and I were more into playing with Barbies or Fisher-Price people.

9. sung karaoke?
Yes, I'll sing karaoke on occasion. However, I generally try to stay away from it, not only because most karaoke singers are horrible, but because it takes money away from live bands like mine.

10. paid for a meal with coins only?
Definitely! I've paid for gas that way, too, but not since I was in college.

11. made prank phone calls?
I've never done the "Prince Albert in a can" type of prank calls, but my sister and I used to take turns getting on the phone with my boyfriend. Our voices are very similar and he couldn't tell who was who.

12. laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose?
Oh yes!

13. written a letter to Santa Claus?
I'm sure I did write a letter to Santa Claus at one point, considering that I have evidence of my correspondence with the Tooth Fairy.

14. watched the sunrise with someone you care about?
No, I don't recall ever staying up specifically to watch the sun rise.

15. been kissed under the mistletoe?
Yes, particularly because I tend to forget to take it down after Christmas. That hasn't happened lately, though, because I didn't decorate at all last year.

16. ever been arrested?
No, but I've bailed people out of jail.

17. gone ice skating?
I used to take ice skating lessons as a child, but they all wore off by the time I needed them. When I was in college, I went on a first date with a guy and he took me ice skating. Within the first few minutes of being on the ice, my feet slipped out from under me and I fell backward, hitting my head on the ice *hard*. All that money for skate rental and admission wasted…

18. been skinny dipping outdoors?
No. Nor indoors.

19. been on TV?
Yes, I was on the news once as part of a story about a science fiction convention I was attending. I was also interviewed for a basic cable show about cars when I was at an event with the local Porsche Club. Oh, and I was in a TV commercial for a car dealer around the time I was in junior high.

Well, that was an interesting trip down memory lane. It's interesting that many of those things happened a really long time ago. If you decide to pick up this meme, leave a comment so I can read what you said.

Yeah I know, two memes in two days is a first-degree blogging violation. Take it up with the manager and maybe she’ll give you a refund.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini (I prefer vodka martinis)
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

So basically, I’m willing to try any kind of cheese, my "no bottom feeders and nothing with an exoskeleton" rule still holds, but I’m not opposed to trying other weird kinds of meat.

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Nancy from Marie Millard.

The rules are to post my answers to a quiz. There are no wrong answers
because it’s all about me. Unless I lie to look cooler or smarter than
I am.

A. Attached or single? Married
B. Best friend? My husband
C. Cake or pie? Cherry pie
D. Day of choice? Any day that gives me time to take a nap
E. Essential item? BlackBerry (I know, I know)
F. Favorite color? Green
G. Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bears
H. Hometown? Kansas City, MO
I. Indulgence? Deep-tissue massages
J. January or July? July
K. Kids? No
L. Life isn’t complete without? Books and cats
M. Marriage date? December 9, 1994
N. Number of brothers & sisters? One sister
O. Oranges or apples? Oranges
P. Phobias? I’m rather leery of heights
Q. Quotes? Only when necessary.
R. Reasons to smile? My niece and nephew
S. Season of choice? Fall
T. Tag seven peeps! Eh, tag yourself if you want to play along.
U. Unknown fact about me? Could I possibly still have secrets from you guys at this point?
V. Vegetable? Carrots
W. Worst habits? My acid reflux makes me burpy and I sometimes forget not to belch in public.
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Some of each.
Y. Your favorite food? Egg rolls and Vietnamese spring rolls
Z. Zodiac sign? Cancer (’cause I’m so crabby)

I decided to give the Citizen of the Month Great Interview Experiment another shot. The last time around, I never received any interview questions and the ones I provided to my interviewee were only up on her blog for a day or so before they vanished.

These are the questions I received from Mandy of The Gratton Grapevine:

1. When did you know that music was a way you had to express yourself?
I’ve been singing in bands since I was a teenager, but I think I really started understanding the self-expression aspect of music when I started writing lyrics. I found that lyric writing brought out parts of my personality that I’d generally kept to myself until then.

2. What has been the best musical experience (either performance or audience) you’ve had?
No particular experience stands out for me as a performer. I’ve seen so many great concerts that it’s hard to choose one, but I think the last time I saw Yes was particularly memorable. They played a lot of their classic material that was probably completely unfamiliar to a good percentage of the concert-goers, but was a rare treat for me.

3. You have three cats. What, in your mind, are the fundamental differences between cat people and dog people?
Cat people like their freedom. When you have a dog, there’s always some sort of interaction going on and there’s no way you can go somewhere after work or leave for a vacation without making dog plans. With a cat, you can leave for a few days and as long as you’ve left big bowls of food and water (and the toilet lid up for good measure), the cat will hardly notice you’re gone. Yes, cats can be needy and want attention, but they’re not as insistent about it as dogs.

4. Obviously, you love to cook. If you had only one day left, describe your last three meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and/or libations that would accompany them.
Assuming I’m cooking these meals for myself, here’s what I’d make:

• Breakfast – Bacon, scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and multi-grain toast with butter. Drinks: Coffee (if I’m going to croak, never mind the acid reflux!) and pineapple-orange juice.
• Lunch – Minestrone soup, homemade Italian bread with butter, salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and cheesecake with cherries for dessert. Drink: Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel
• Dinner – Grilled steak, green beans with Greek dressing, baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheese, onion and bacon bits. Drink: Guinness Stout

5. Aside from adding to your ugly 70s decor collection, what other bargains do you love to shop for?
My online shopping addiction consists almost entirely of t-shirts and books. The $10 sales at Threadless are nearly irresistible for me and I sometimes get a little embarrassed by the frequency with which Amazon packages appear on my doorstep.

6. What would be the perfect outing with your niece and nephew?
We’d go out to lunch somewhere mutually agreeable (Red Robin, perhaps) and then head to the zoo to see as many animals as possible before we all got tired. We’d take the zoo train back to the front gate rather than walk, and on the way home we’d stop for frozen custard. If it weren’t so hot and humid out right now, I’d make that happen this weekend!

7. What question do you wish I’d asked?
"So what are you going to do with the $1 million prize that accompanies this interview?"

I’ll be interviewing Mama Ginger Tree from Adventures in the Candycane Forest after I’ve had a chance to become more familiar with her blog. So far, I know that she was at BlogHer, yet I didn’t meet her there. By weird coincidence, I just ran across her on Twitter today in the course of my social media monitoring at work. That’s the small world of the blogosphere for you.

ByJane has given me the coveted Arte y Pico award, "a token of one’s style and substance as a blogger." Judging by the look of the award, that makes my style overwrought and my substance resin and iridescent paint. I kid! I kid!

According to the rules of the award:

1) You must choose 5 blogs that you
consider deserve this award for creativity, design, interesting
material, and contribution to the blogging community, regardless of
language.

2) You must publish the name of each award-winning author as well as a link to his or her blog.

3) Each award-winner must post a picture of the award and link back to the blog that has given the award.

4) Both the giver and the recipient of the award must link to the “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) You must post these rules.

Here’s my list, keeping in mind that I’ve done quite a few blogger awards lately, so I’m making a point of honoring blogs I haven’t mentioned before:

Always Curious

Kennon’s Art Blog

Sarcastic Mom

Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

I Am Bossy

Happy nominating, you guys!

I haven’t picked up a meme in a while, so I think it’s time. This one’s from Mom to the Screaming Masses.

A is for age. I’m 41 and two days.
B is for Burger of Choice. Fuddrucker’s makes a delicious burger.
C is for Car. A silver Honda Insight Hybrid.
D is for daughters. I have three cat daughters. They sass me and won’t clean up their rooms.
E is for essential item you use every day. My iMac. It may be the best computer I’ve ever had.
F is for favorite tv show. I am a big "Lost" fan. My summer shows are "30 Days," "My Life on the ‘D’ List" and "Burn Notice."
G is for groceries. I don’t cook at home very much, but I buy a lot of berries and Fage yogurt for breakfasts.
H is for how often you embarrass yourself. It takes a heck of a lot to embarrass me these days. When I was younger, it seemed that I was in a constant state of red-faced humiliation, but I don’t remember feeling that way in years.
I is for ice cream. Don’t get me started. I love ice cream far more than is healthy.
J is for juice. I like cranberry juice cocktail. Also, pineapple juice, but not too much at once.
K is for kids. Just my niece and nephew.
L is for Lipstick. Because I’m lazy, I get the two-stage stuff that stays on all day.
M is for Mexican food. Ever had tacos al pastor? Man, those are delicious!
N is for number of piercings. I used to have pierced ears, but they’ve long since closed up.
O is for Optometry. I wear contacts every day, but I have some cute glasses, too.
P is for People You Were With Today. Co-workers, friends and family members.
Q is for Quiet Time. I spent too much quiet time online, but I’m a big reader, too. (And napper. I love to take naps.)
R is for Biggest Regret. I still kick myself for not buying a condo I once rented. I could have sold it at a nice profit later on, but I was young, broke and too chicken to purchase real estate. I ended up buying my house less than a year later.
S is for sports you play. Sports and I aren’t on the save wavelength. I can never grasp game play and rules and movements. However, I care a great deal for yoga.
T is for tattoo. None. I’ve thought about it, but so far I haven’t found the perfect design.
U is for what is unique about you. How many other women in the world sing in rock bands, love baking, can crochet a dishcloth and embroider a pillowcase, like to drive really fast, and enjoy science fiction and action movies? If that’s not unique, I’d guess it’s at least rare.
V is for Vegetables you Love. Sweet corn, cauliflower and cabbage.
W is for Worst Habit. Procrastination. One of these days I’m going to get around to conquering that.
X is for number of x rays. Lots.
Y is for Yummy Food you ate today. Basil fried rice with chicken. 
Z is for Zodiac. My sign is Cancer, which would be bad enough just because of the name, but then a crab figures in. Seems rather unkind, I’d say.

Leave a comment if you decide to pick up this meme from me!

Hey, how about a meme? I lifted this one from Donna.

The ABCs of Me

Accent: My mother put in a lot of time making sure I didn’t pick up a Missouri accent from my peers. Thus, I sound like the rest of the South Dakotans in the family.

Breakfast or no breakfast: Breakfast, without fail!

Chore I don’t care for: Cat box cleaning, which is why I just bought one of these. I’ll provide a full report once the cats have gotten used to it.

Dog or Cat: Cat (see above)

Essential Electronics: My iMac and BlackBerry (yes, I’m hooked)

Favorite Cologne: Marc Jacobs Essence

Gold or Silver: Let’s say white gold

Handbag I carry most often: I’m currently carrying a Coach bag that my sister gave me. My favorite thing about it is that she took off and threw away the Coach tag.

Insomnia: I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but sometimes I wake up earlier than I’d like and can’t go back to sleep.

Job Title: Social Media Strategist

Kids: None

Living Arrangements: My husband and our three cats in a house built in the 1950s

Most Admirable Trait: Reliability

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Back-talking

Overnight hospital stays: Kidney stone, appendectomy

Phobias: Heights make my knees feel kind of woogy

Quote:"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." – Andy Warhol

Reason to smile: My husband’s daily IMs (complete with "XOXO" at the end)

Siblings: One sister

Time I wake up: Between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m.

Unusual Talent or Skill: Remembering trivia

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: I’ll try any vegetable at least once

Worst Habit: Procrastination

X-rays: All the routine stuff: teeth, neck, chest

Yummy Stuff: Ice cream, pizza, fried rice, barbecue

Zoo Animal I Like Most: The giraffe

The concept:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

I stole this from Schmutzie. It’s fun! I recommend that you play along.