Thursday, December 13, 2007

lists of 8 things and an award

Golly, doesn't that title just have you drooling already, as if the teacher has said "filmstrip" and already you are sleeping with your head on your desk?

anyhow...

I was tagged for this meme by wayfarer scientista - who posts the most amazing pictures of Alaska on her blog. And is a good read, to boot. Check her out.

When she tagged me she referred to my blog as:
"Painted Maypole and the adventures of a thespian mom."

Which just tickled me, and I may have to find a way to incorporate that into my header, should I ever figure out how to make one.

On with the lists...

8 passions in my life
- God
- theatre
- The May Queen
- The Big Guy
- Children
- Equal rights and treatment for Gays and Lesbians
- Water (rivers, lakes, oceans, waterfalls...)
- Sharks

8 things to do before I die
- Scuba dive/swim with sharks
- Be part of a TRUE repertory theatre company
- Perform on Broadway (oh... if only....)
- Stand on an ancient Greek stage and speak the (translated) words of Aeschylus or Sophocles
- Ballroom dance. Well.
- Live on a rocket ship with my bestest friend (this is our plan for after our husbands die, our reasoning being that there is no gravity and hence our parts won't sag. We'll return to earth to do the occasional play together, such as playing the 2 crazy old aunts in The Cripple of Inishmann)
- Spoil my grandchildren. And my Great Grandchildren.
- Travel! Africa, Australia, Italy... there are so many places I want to see!


8 things I often say
-"Hurry Up" (to the May Queen. Admittedly, because I am the one who is running late. Shortly followed by...)
-"And we're off like a herd of turtles." (like my mother and her father before her)
-"Home again, home again, lickety split" (again, like my mother)
- "Good Gravy" (we were watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special on TV the other day, and when Charlie Brown said "Good Grief" MQ laughed and said "he should have said "Good Gravy!")
- "Baby, baby, baby!" (to the May Queen)
- "How do you ask nicely?" (I am such a mother)
- "I can't, I have rehearsal"
- "I need you to ________" (such as "I need you to get your pajamas on" or "I need you to pick up your toys" or "I need you to be quiet for a few minutes so I can think"

8 Books I read recently
the actual last 8 books I've read(I think, I lose track), starting with the most recently finished
- Last Known Victim, by E.rica Spi.ndler (who is a friend of ours, and I would prefer she doesn't find my blog... hence the extra punctuation)
- A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
- Camille, by Alexander Dumas (this is the book that the opera I did was based on. So I read it. For research. Because I am a geek like that.)
- Love is a many trousered thing, by Louise Rennison (there is an Italian Lurve God in this book that happens to share a name with the director of my opera. this makes me laugh)
- The Treasures of a Transformed Life, by John Ed Mathison
- Fabulous Friendship Festival, by SARK
- Barrel Fever, by David Sedaris (funny, excellent light reading for traveling)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, by J.K. Rowling (it's Harry. I loved it. I finished it at appx 5am the day I left for England. Hubby was not pleased with my lack of sleep. Grumpy? Perhaps. Satisfied. Yes.)
(currently on my nightstand? - In Cold Blood)


8 songs that mean something to me (this is really hard for me, because there are so many and yet they aren't jumping out at me - these sort of songs just creep up on me, if you know what i mean)
-Old Apartment, BareNaked Ladies (reminds me so much of one of my apartments in college. Perhaps because my roomies at the time played BNL incessantly. This song didn't come out until later, but as they sing about all the things about the apartment, I picture MY old apartment. "This is where we used to live.")
-Beautiful Savior (the church that my father was a pastor of when I was little was named Beautiful Savior. Every time I sing this old hymn I think of our last Sunday there, when I was 8 years old, my mother singing this hymn with tears streaming down her face.)
- When I was a Boy, by Dar Williams. (Ladies, you must listen to this song. Men, you too. Go here. I love to sing this song, and often, 10 years after the first time I heard it, still get choked up at the end.)
- Ode to Joy - my husband's favorite hymn, sung at our wedding
- Gett Off - My favorite Prince song. Not appropriate for small children. Alas.
- Perhaps Love, John Denver and Placido Domingo. This reminds me of growing up. And it's lovely.
-Closer to Fine, Indigo Girls. My college roomie and I used to sing this, in harmony, all the time. Also one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar that wasn't a campfire song.
- Brahm;s Lullaby

8 Qualities I look for in a friend
1. Kindness
2. Good humor
3. Creativity
4. A passion for SOMETHING
5. Good conversationalist
6. Empathy
7. Ability to disagree without it being an issue
8. Bakes me cookies (just kidding!)



I'm not going to tag today, because I am lazy.




Also, a while back Oh, the Joys gave me (and half her bloglist, but I shan't let that hinder my joy in receiving it) the following award:





I would like to pass this on to the fabulously kooky Lithuanian Rima Rama, who I often save to be the last blog I read in a session of blog reading... trusting that I will end with a smile. Her blogging definitely hits the mark!

And one more random thing, because this post isn't long enough already (zzzzzzz.... wake up!). Yesterday Julie's hump day hmmm... was about pet peeves, and this morning I realized what one of mine is... deflated holiday inflatables laying in a crumpled heap on the lawn all day. They are not LIGHTS (even if they have lights in them) they are DECORATIONS that can be enjoyed just as much during the daylight hours. Leave them up! Deflated decorations are... well, deflating to my holiday mood.

35 comments:

thailandchani said...

Very interesting lists! :)

Amy said...

You read John Ed Mathison's Treasures of the Transformed Life? Oh my dear! Excellent! I shall need to send you a private e-mail on that one.

And you have a John Denver song in your list! I heart John Denver and this makes me feel close to you, because what are the chances of you having him in your list?

And a passion for sharks? Again, I "heart" you! My little Shark Boy has taught me to love sharks. They are fascinating indeed.

Amy said...

OK, I can't e-mail you. I don't see a link.

If you can, e-mail me and tell me what you thought of that book and in what context you read it. I'll reveal why I care if you shoot me a message!
amy2boys@gmail.com

the dragonfly said...

You want to swim with sharks? You?! Really???!

I am shocked.

*snicker*

I read Harry Potter really fast, too. Faster than I expected, what with having a six week old baby at the time and a husband gone too. I loved it too. :)

Maddy said...

Love the meme, always gives great insight and congratulations on your award.
Cheers

This is my calling card or link"Whittereronautism"until blogger comments get themselves sorted out.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations. A well-deserved award.

And an interesting meme. (although I don't think everyone needs to apologize beforehand. we all must like memes, right?)

Bayou Belle said...

Those deflated holiday lawn decorations look like used condoms. Sorry for the bad reference, but don't they?

Jen said...

Okay, my BFF and I will join you guys. No sagging parts? I'm in. Plus, we'll bake you guys cookies.

SusieJ said...

What is WITH all of those deflated holiday inflatbles? At first, I thought they were all broken -- then they appear, magically at night repaired. Awful.

Congratulations -- Also, pondering your list of things you want to do yet....SusieJ

Julie Pippert said...

LOL at your peeve...I agree. In fact, you see them BETTER during the day.

Excellent song list, interesting rest of the list and I just added "and we're off like a herd of turtles" to my repertoire.

Congrats on your award!

Julie
Using My Words

amanda said...

Congratulations!


oh yeah- i too have the guilty pleasure of Get off.... Love the other songs. I recommend you try the rondine al nido sung by pavorotti....

Mad said...

In Cold Blood. Oooooo. I'm still haunted by it.

BTW, my husband was going to do Cripple of Inishmann with his upper year class this January but opted for Stoppard's Travesties instead. I'm still kinda sulking even though I adore Stoppard with every inch of my being. But Cripple? How funny and perverse is that?

niobe said...

I've never seen any deflated inflatable decorations. I can't believe that people actually inflate and deflate them every single day. Don't they have anything better to do? Uh, apparently not.

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Interesting list PM. And you are so right on about Rima. She ROCKS.

Rima said...

Dear PM,

I am so honored to be the proud recipient of the "Splat" award! It is definitely right up my alley.

P.S. I would love to harmonize "Closer to Fine" with you if ever we should meet. You could sing alto and I, of course, would do the soprano line. Or, how about "Sounds of Silence"? We could bill ourselves as Maypole and Rimfunkel!

Girlplustwo said...

i would love to hear how your spirituality and views on homosexuality have converged - seeing as they are two great passions of yours...it might be too personal, and if so, i'll understand, but it made me want to sit (after i baked you some cookies of course) and talk about it.

Run ANC said...

OK, now I'm going to have to look up Cripple of Inishman. How do I not know this one.

Family Adventure said...

Love the 8 things...think I might have to steal -"And we're off like a herd of turtles."

Rocketship, eh? Hadn't quite considered the benefits of that, but now I will!

Heidi :)

Christine said...

great award!

and i have a long list of memes to catch up on and i am failing miserably!

one thing I always say: "it's like herding cats." mostly in reference to my kids.

Running on empty

Zellmer said...

Hear hear on three counts...
Loved Nick Hornby's "A long way down."
Love Prince's "Get off" and every other song, as well.
Hate seeing those holiday inflatables deflated. They look dead. What's wrong with people?

girlymom said...

I agree with you about the inflatable decorations, that would be why we don't have one, despite all the begging and pleading.
We saw a Frosty that was doing a back bend last night, poor guy. The wind has been very strong, surprised he wasn't airborne.

Lawyer Mama said...

I keep seeing deflated decorations everywhere too and had no idea why they were like that!

Magpie said...

I figured they were deflated because they'd either sprung a leak or someone popped 'em with a BB gun.

Casdok said...

Yes congratulations! And love your lists!

Alex Elliot said...

So what is it about sharks that you like so much? I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love learning about them and find them fascinating. I would never ever want to do one of those underwater observations though.

Jennifer said...

I love, love, love, love, love (did I mention the LOVE) When I Was A Boy. I love most of Dar Williams' stuff, but that song in particular. Love. In an completely different vein, I also love Gett Off. ;)

The rocketship plan is fantastic. Perhaps my best friend and I will get one too and we can all wave at each other from outer space.

Kat said...

That was a really fun meme. Interesting that one of your "must do"s is to swim with sharks. AH! I think if I did that I would poop my pants, pass out, and die. In that order. AHHH!!!
Thanks for the link to your post on Christmas. That is a very smart approach to take.
At lastly, congrats on your well deserved award!

we_be_toys said...

Good lists! I Love reading the Wayfarer Scientista's blog- she is so out of the ordinary, and the pictures are fantastic!
Ditto on the inflatables - so very NOT festive - so very TACKY, actually. I'm with Magpie - I think someone shot the deflated ones with a bb gun - so sorry I didn't think of doing that! (Does that make me a Scrooge? Bah Humbug!)

we_be_toys said...

Oh! And David Sedaris! I love him! He is so funny, at the same time he can just break your heart. I reccomend ALL of his books - especially Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim,and Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Amy Y said...

I love Meme's! still awake here...

Perhaps Love IS lovely ~ it's on my top 8 too! :)

Lauren said...

I loved your lists! As it turns out, we thought of some of the same things for those topics. :P You are a wonderful writer!

Emily said...

We are avid turtle herders in my neck of the woods, as well.

And here here on the deflated inflatables. Sheesh!

carrie said...

I am so glad I'm not the only person annoyed by deflated yard ornaments, my fellow Indigo Girls loving friend!

Kyla said...

Fun!

Josh is peeved by the inflatables altogether, likely because they are so often deflated.

Ms. Skywalker said...

SARK and Old Apartment.

Woman, I love thee.