Oh my, a meme.

1. What is your occupation right now? Receptionist
2. What color are your socks right now? Bare feetses.

3. What are you listening to right now? Simon washing dishes. AHH THE SWEET SOUND OF MY HUSBAND DOING WHAT I WANT HIM TO.

4. What was the last thing you ate? Honey glazed chicken & roasted veggies.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes. Well? No.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Simon, yelling at him for something.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? No one sent it to me, but I stole it off Psam's blog, so duh.

8. How old are you today? 26
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Oregon Duck Football

10. What is your favorite drink? Pepsi Max

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Several times.

12. Favorite food? Turkish food.

13. What is the last movie you watched? On DVD... Choke. It was good! In the theatre? Um... District 9. It was also good. Very, very good.
14. Favorite day of the year? Christmas!

15. How do you vent anger? I yell at people. I through a tantrum a couple of days ago complete with screaming at the top of my lungs and stomping my feet. All because I was going to be late for work because I couldn't find a hairbrush and I couldn't believe how stupid that was.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? My record player.
17. What is your favorite season? Spring.

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries.
19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? What? No.
20. Who is the most likely to respond? Hey...I'm predictable. Sadface Tandy. No one will.

21. Who is least likely to respond? Everyone.
22. Living arrangement? I sleep with a naked man. How awesome is that?

23. When was the last time you cried? TODAY. Over a commercial that wasn't remotely sad, touching or in any way emotional. Hormones for the win.
24. What is on the floor of your closet?My duvet. It's too hot to use it...

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? NO ONE IS GOING TO DO THIS EXCEPT ME.

26. What did you do last night? Played video games until I passed out.

27. What are you most afraid of? Zombies. Shut up, no I'm not joking.

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Veggie, thanks. Plain. Maybe a little barbecue sauce.

29. What is your favorite kind of dog? Jes's dog.

30. What is your favorite day of the week? Friday.

31. How many states have you lived in? Two. Oregon and Montana. The ACT is a territory.
32. Diamonds or pearls? Garnets.

33. What is your favorite flower? Don't know that I have one. Hibiscus?

34. What are your favorite two movies of all time? Pretty Woman and Love Actually.

My car's pain

So I bought a new car approximately 3 weeks ago. Today I was at the store getting cleansers to clean the house (since if we're moving, we want it as clean as possible) and a bottle of bathroom cleanser with a loose top leaked HALF of its contents all over the fabric on my hatchback floor. After freaking the Hell out and trying to clean it up with paper towels, thinking that there was bleach in it and almost crying over the soiling of my brand new car - Simon pointed out that the part that got cleanser on it actually comes out of the car and could be hosed off (good thing, too because it took 10 minutes with a high powered water stream to get all of the soap out.) - I felt a little sheepish for having thought that I'd ruined my car so easily.

Talk Thursday: Appreciate, Validate, Communicate

I've mentioned before that I'm a science minded person. I have no faith in anything BUT science. Not even in people most of the time. It's probably because of this lack of faith that I am so afraid of death. Without religious faith (or spiritual hoodooeywhathaveyou), there is no belief in an afterlife.

If it seems like I'm totally off topic, I'm getting to it.

Without a belief in an afterlife, I feel pretty confident that when I die, I'm just dead - and some years later, it's as if I never was - no one remembers. Dust In The Wind as Kansas put it. Pointless and insignificant. I have much the same view for everyone.

But -with- that fear of death comes the realization that everything I am and everything I have could end at ANY moment. It's this fear of end and death that made me braver.

I used to not say things. I used to not profess affection, tell people things that might cause conflict (even though I thought they really needed to be said) and never bothered to try things because "there's always tomorrow" but there ISN'T tomorrow. There's ONLY today. Unless I live like that every day of my life, I might miss something.

Now, I'm about to swerve off topic in order to get to my next point - and I'm going to say something that I was pretty sure I'd never say and if any of you ask me later, I'll probably deny I ever said it - shut up, you don't have proof!

I appreciate my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

There. I said it.

With housing costs shooting up due to empty houses being a rarity (and people needing them being many), Simon and I were struck with the realization that while we were comfortable financially - we were still living paycheck to paycheck with NO savings and at the rate that prices were going up, we were NEVER going to be able to buy a house unless we won the lottery. Houses in the area used to be in the mid $200,000s and now they're edging toward $500,000 for a decent house. Read: Not terribly tiny. We're not too picky. 2-3 bedrooms, a yard to have SOME sort of garden and please god, enough counter space so that we can turn around in the kitchen without rubbing asses. It was looking hopeless.

I started looking at houses outside the city - an HOUR outside the city, actually. COMMUTE. And lo and behold...houses out there were around $200,000 - $300,000. If only we could afford a deposit, we could afford the mortgage payments.

So we talked to my mother-in-law. She's giving us - GIVING - $50,000 ($30,000 of it straight away so that we can put down a deposit). My sister-in-law apparently had a chunk of money lying around that she wants to invest and is probably investing $100,000 in whatever house we buy.

Were it not for them, we would probably never be able to do this. We've found a house, too. It's 3 bedrooms plus study, large kitchen with tons of storage space, fireplace, solid hardwood floors, sunroom, and large garden. It's 16,600 square feet (the property, not the house), fenced, established gardens and it's in an amazing small town that is actually -alive-. In this town of 550 people, 80 are grade school children. It's growing and thriving.

So I'm communicating. I'm telling them how grateful I am. I'm reconnecting ties with them and I'm treating today like it might be the last chance I have to do so.

Meme

1. What do you add to your coffee? Skim milk and Splenda
   
2. What are you reading now? Um... well...a collaborative horror short story book with Dean Koontz, HP Lovecraft, Clive Barker and various other writers in it. I'm reading an HP Lovecraft story at the moment - also working on my Weight Watchers magazine.
   
3. Do you own a gun? No. Probably never will.
   
4. Are you registered to vote? Yes. Independant. I vote for the person, not the party so registering as one or the other seemed pointless.
   
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not really.
   
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I like soy dogs better than hot dogs because they're yummy and healthy - and I find anything encased in intestine disgusting.
   
7. Favorite Christmas Song? Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Coffee. Two cups of it, then water or Diet Coke - probably caffeine free Diet Coke or I'll be up all night.
   
9. Can you do push ups? Yes, but they make my elbows crack and it hurts.
   
10. What was the name of your first boyfriend/girlfriend? That's an interesting question. Are we talking about like....1st grade boyfriends or actual real boyfriends? Because if it's 1st grade, Brenden McKenna because he asked me to be his girlfriend in the 1st grade and we were best friends until he moved away in the 6th grade and he used to talk about us getting married, and he was my first kiss. Yes, it was freaking adorable. If it's actual real boyfriends, it's Cody Cooper (yes Cody, you. Even though you will probably deny that we ever dated, just because you refuse to call it a relationship doesn't mean it magically wasn't one). Between the two, I mostly couldn't be bothered by boys. I didn't take them seriously.
    
11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelery? The necklace Simon gave me with the citrine, garnet and mother of pearl. I need to get a new chain for it.
    
12. Favorite hobby? Does playing video games count?
    
13. Do you work with people who idolize you? YES. They all think I'm a genius, which is kind of sad. "You're so SMART!"
    
14. Do you have ADD? Probably. Is that a problem?
    
15. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself? I can get really mean if people make me angry.
    
16. What’s your Middle name? Tiffany Alexis
    
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. Damnit, now I want to play video games. Crap! CRAP! Is it time to go to work? Am I going to be late? Oh, no. I don't have to get ready for a while (this happens every 30 seconds). I wonder what I'm going to wear today.
    
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday. A turkey sandwich. Eggplant. Plain yoghurt.
    
19. Name 3 beverages you regularly drink. Water, Pepsi Max, coffee.
    
20. Current worry right now? What if I don't get pregnant this month?
    
21. What side do you dress to? Wait, what?
    
22. Favorite place to be? In my new car, driving anywhere.
    
23. How did you bring in the New Year? Um...oh! We were at Angler's Reach playing card games.
    
24. Where would you like to go? Anywhere I can roadtrip.
    
25. Name three people who will complete this. Probably no one.
    
26. Whose answers do you want to read the most? Meh.
27. What color shirt are you wearing? I'm wearing that ugly-ass pink/gray striped shirt. I'm in my jammies, it doesn't count. No bra. Free-titting it.
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No. I have this blanket that's like...that soft, fluffy, almost towel-like material. I like sleeping wrapped up in that.
    
29. Can you whistle? In a very high pitch, but not very loud. It upsets my cats.
    
30. Favorite colors(s)? Pink and bright blue.
    
31. Could you be a pirate? I'm too lazy to be a pirate.
    
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Baby It's Cold Outside, If I Could Have You Back Again, anything by Tegan and Sara or The Ditty Bops
    
33. Favorite girls name? Lily
    
34. Favorite boy’s name? Xander
    
35. What’s in your pocket right now? My pockets are empty.
    
36. Last thing that made you laugh? Something on Scrubs.
    
37. Best bed sheets as a child? Most of the time I slept on a bare mattress on the floor.
38. Worst injury you’ve ever had? I've broken bones, but I'll say my sprained ankle because it took way longer to heal (still healing).
    
39. Do you love where you live? My house? Could be better. Canberra? Yes. Absolutely.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? Just the one.
41. Who is your loudest friend? Probably Jes.
    
42. How many dogs do you have? None. 3 cats. Mishka, Isis and River. 3 rats. Moony (white with ruby eyes), Sirius (fawn hooded with ruby eyes) and Prongs (white with ruby eyes) and 11 fish (Samuel L. Jacksonfish (a MASSIVE and aggressive black moor), Serafinafish (a shubunkin goldfish with beautiful and flowing fins), Fatty (a ryukin goldfish), Niska (a very solid looking shubunkin goldfish and the largest in the tank at about 6 inches long) Fanty & Mingo (Fanty's prettier) (Fanty is a blue, orange, white and black spotted shubunkin goldfish and Mingo is an orange, white and black spotted shubunkin goldfish), Heckyl (a bristle nosed catfish who is actually female, named because she's a flitty little black sucker catfish and had a counterpart named Jekyl who died at one point) and The Food (a school of 4 one-spot barbs that I bought to feed the others, which grew into monsters far too large to be eaten).
    
43. Does anyone have a crush on you? Yes. Several people.
44. What are the most fun things you ever did? Hiking the cascades trail. It was horrible and I swore I'd die before I got up there, but it was beautiful. Seeing Avenue Q. Rock climbing.
    
45. What are your favorite books? Don't really have a favourite.
    
46. What is your favorite candy? Weight Watchers Blackberry Fruities. They're sugar free and nomilicious.
    
47. Favorite Team? U of O Ducks.
48. What songs do you want played at your funeral? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x71jgMx0Mxc Allegri's Miserere. And no, not because it'd be horribly offensive to play an extremely Catholic song at an atheist's funeral. ...but hey, bonus. No, because it's the most beautiful, peaceful song I can imagine.
    
49. What were you doing at 12 AM? Sleeping. Probably had been for around 3 hours. I get up at 5:30 for work.
    
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I have to PEE! I need coffee! ...crap, I'm naked and the curtains are open. STEALTH DRESSING. (it was like 90 degrees last night, shut up)
    

Ant-mimicking spiders and Magpie Larks

You know when you know something - I mean really know it. Really really know it - and someone tells you that you're wrong? Does that make you wish it was legal to punch stupid people in the face? It makes ME wish it.

EEEEEEXAMPLES

M: Me
T: Them

T: "Oh look at that ant!"
M: "Oh hey! That's not an ant, that's an ant-mimicking spider. Wow, that's cool.."
T: "Uh...no. That's an -ant-."
M: "Look, it has eight legs. And the way it carries them is all wrong."
T: "Ant. Those are antenna. Duh."
M: "...it has -fangs-."
T: "It's clearly an ant."
M: "That's how it tricks its prey."
T: "Except that it's an ant."
M: "Sure. Fine. Whatever."

T: "I wonder where that bird's parents are..." *looking at a Magpie Lark*
M: "...probably making more babies. That's an adult."
T: "Oh no, that's a baby magpie."
M: "Oh, it kind of looks like one, yeah. But it's a Magpie Lark. Totally different species.
T: "Uh. No. That's a baby magpie."
M: "I'll bring you in my Australian birds book tomorrow and show you."
T: "-I- have a book too and it says that they're baby magpies."
M: "....kay."