8 Random Facts About Me

Have you ever met a barefoot kilt-wearing Viking? I have. His name is Brett and he blogs at 6 weeks. Brett tagged me to come up with eight random facts about myself, a challenge he’s already tackled. This one’s making the rounds! Read all the way to the bottom and see if I tagged YOU.

1. I Have Poetry Disorder

Something happens to me when I’m reading and writing a lot of poetry. I start thinking in rhymes, and various poetic devices like alliteration and meter start making random appearances in the pieces I write, from blog posts to notes scrawled in my journal. I actually feel that my love affair with poetry makes me a better writer.

2. We are Gemini

I have the same birthday as musical genius and gyrating 80s superstar Prince. I, however, am not a musical genius although I do love music. In fact, I’m a music whore. I’d love to share some of my musical tastes with you but we’d be here all day. Let’s just say I can pretty much guarantee there’s something in my music collection that you love. And something you’ve never heard. And probably a song you’re tired of hearing, and one they were playing while you were dancing on the bar…

3. Get off the Bar. It’s My Turn.

I have been known to dance on a bar. I’ve also danced on stage, on tables (including a pool table), in a window in front of hundreds of people, and you can frequently find me dancing around my house for no particular reason. I’ve even been paid to dance. No, I am not and have never been a stripper (I was a go go dancer and I wore a t-shirt and jeans, thank you very much!). Actually, I am quite modest and pretty shy in person, particularly with people I don’t know well but there’s this other woman that lives inside me and she’s a total ham on the dance floor.

4. That Girl Who Doesn’t Talk

I have been called shy, aloof, and slow to warm. When I’m in the company of strangers I become very withdrawn and observant. In fact, I was known at one of my former jobs for being the girl who didn’t talk for a whole year (I really don’t think it was that long but that’s what they tell me). Of course, they told me this after I’d settled in and starting hamming it up with everyone around the water cooler. Once I get to know you, the shy girl will disappear and that’s when I will ask you if you’d like to go out and dance on some bars with me.

5. I Believe You Believe

I love to study and learn about different religions. I have no idea where this fascination with belief systems originated but about once a year or so, I get the bug to research some religion or other. I have discovered that most people enjoy talking about what they believe especially when they know exactly what it is that they believe. There are others who seem uncertain about their beliefs and these are always the ones that prefer to talk about something (anything) else. Don’t worry, I have good manners. It’s not like I go around interviewing people to find out which god they worship but if the subject comes up, I’m always down for a discussion. It’s also a great way to learn about and connect with people from different cultures.

6. There’s This Thing I Love About America

I’m not a patriotic freak by any means but there’s definitely one thing I absolutely love about living in the United States (o.k. there are a few things but this one is the most important). It’s a melting pot. I don’t know how melted other countries’ pots are, but I have had the pleasure of working, living, and becoming friends with people from all over the world. I am ever grateful that I’ve gotten to know all these people because it’s helped me build a positive and more realistic world view. What I’ve learned is that people are all basically the same in their hearts.

7. I Love Animals

I try to be mellow about it, but I’m one of those animal lovers who spends loads of dough on her pets and rallies for animal welfare whenever I get a chance. My special passion is the No Kill movement, which seeks to end killing in animal shelters. Forget what you’ve heard, this type of killing is completely unnecessary (even though shelters and many animal rights organizations want you to believe it’s somehow YOUR fault). Wanna talk about it? Email me. Better yet, read Nathan Winograd’s groundbreaking book Redemption.

8. I’m a Geek but I’m a Cool Geek

I like nerdy things like computers, RPGs, and Star Wars. On the other hand, I have been known to dance on a bar. In short, I am a paradox. One minute I’m hip and savvy and the next minute I’m geeking out on you so hard you’re wondering where I’ve misplaced my taped coke bottle glasses and pocket protector. Life as a contrary girl can be challenging. The cool kids appreciate your ability to consume large amounts of ale but they can’t understand what this has to do with content management systems. The geeks, on the other hand, love that you can quote obscure lines from NBC’s Heroes but they hate the fact that you’ve also memorized the story lines from every episode of Sex and City.

And Now, Back to You

Now I’m supposed to tag eight people but most of the bloggers I know have already been hit with this one. And, well, the whole tagging meme thing makes me kind of squirm around in my chair. I play along like a good sport but I’m going to be a snot and change the rules and tag everyone who is still reading this silly, self-indulgent post.

The Watson-Guptill Fickle Writer

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These days, writers use computers for writing. But most will admit there’s still something about good old-fashioned pen and paper that just gets creativity flowing. It’s difficult to brainstorm on a computer, or jot down notes and random thoughts, and it’s almost impossible to doodle in the margins.

Over the years, I’ve collected hordes of journals and notebooks. Some of them are pretty and whimsical. Others are simple and functional. I always go through lots of spiral notebooks for business but when it comes to creative writing, I have learned (the hard way) that I have pretty basic but specific needs that my journal must fulfill.

It has to be hardbound so it can withstand lots of use. It can’t be too big or too small. Something in the 5×8 inch range is just right. The paper must be archival quality because there’s less yellowing and tearing with higher quality paper.

Most importantly, the pages have to be unlined. I like to doodle and draw when the mood strikes. Occasionally, I write sideways, upside down, or even in circles (a technique for breaking through writer’s block). Sure, I can brainstorm and mind-map right over a line-ruled page, but why should I? Those lines are inhibiting and I need creative freedom. So there is only one journal for me: the Watson-Guptill Sketchbook. And the more I use these sketchbooks for my journaling, the more I love them.

The best thing about the Watson-Guptill is that if you are an artist and a writer, or someone who likes to paste photos or clippings into your journals, these are perfect because the pages thick and unlined.

The Watson-Guptill Sketchbooks come in several different colors including red, black, green, and purple. I’ve got one in every color! They are 5.5 by 8.5 inches and contain archival-quality paper. You can also get a larger size (about 8×10 inch) and landscape-oriented editions.

I know that writers love to rave about Moleskines. My confession for today is that I’ve never owned one. I’m not even sure I’ve seen one in a store. One of these days, I’ll get one and do a little comparative analysis but for now, I’m sticking with Watson-Guptill because I’m just a fickle writer like that.

What’s your favorite journal or notebook?

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Do you ever feel like strapping on a couple of samurai swords and diving headfirst into a parallel universe where pizza delivery is a life or death occupation? Interested in leaping onto a skateboard that can scale bushes and latch onto speeding cars? Have you ever wanted to go head-to-head with a nuclear missile-toting ogre who has more strength in his pinky than the entire Justice League combined?

Get a copy of Snow Crash and your dreams will soon be realized.

This book was recommended to me several years ago by a co-worker who also happened to be a fellow fan of science fiction. I finally got around to buying a copy a couple of months back. I read the first chapter after a very long, hard day and it totally fried my brain. I put it down and didn’t give it a second chance for almost a month.

I only continued reading because it had come so highly recommended. And boy, am I glad! At first, there’s a lot of new vocabulary to absorb. As with most science fiction, the story is set in a pretty unfamiliar world, but what a world it is! Stephenson’s imaginings are not only insanely clever, some of them are spot-on predictions of the future when read in retrospect.

Originally published in 1992, just before the big Internet boom, Stephenson obviously wrote this book long before the full potential of the Web had been realized, so it’s uncanny how he describes the Metaverse. It’s very much like today’s Internet except its version of Second Life is called the Street and has clean, perfect funtionality. Throughout the course of my reading, I was amazed at Stephenson’s foresight (trust me, you will be amazed too). I desperately want to get my hands on his futuristic badass computer equipment.

Hiro Protagonist is the enigmatic lead character. His nature reveals slowly over the course of the story and you’ll have to read to the end to really decide whether he’s a bad guy or a good guy. Hiro is one of the last freelance hackers and most talented swordsman in the world. YT is the charismatic fly-in-your face sidekick with more attitude than a band of Harley riding Hells Angels. You’ll love her instantly but at the same time, she’ll kind of insult you and leave you questioning your coolness factor. And there’s more, tons of colorful characters that are simultaneously over-the-top crazy and so real that you think you might bump into one of them on the street tomorrow, or perhaps next week.

This cyberpunk novel is well-spiced with black humor and subtle commentaries about politics, culture, and social structure. Meanwhile it makes screaming observations about capitalism and corporate America. From the Wikipedia entry on Snow Crash: “Like many of Stephenson’s other novels it contains references to history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, and philosophy.”

Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.

Hiro used to feel that way, too, but then he ran into Raven.

-Excerpt from Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash

So what, exactly, is a snow crash? You’ll have to read the book to find out. When you do, come back here and let’s talk about it!

Hello World

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