Memes

Hrafn from Think Artificial tagged me a few days ago with a meme to write 7 things about myself. So, without further ado:

1. My love affair with RPGs began quite early. When I was 9 or 10, I discovered a copy of Dragon Warrior for NES at a yard sale and bought it for $5. Many late nights weren’t spent boop-boop-booping around that fantasy land of skeletons and green and red slimes. RPGs are still one of my favorite game genres, 15 years later.
2. When I was a teenager, I avoided haircuts if at all possible; my hair was often down below my shoulders. My bangs could cover my whole face, hanging down to the front of my neck. My hair has migrated now, however; I prefer a shaved head, but I also sport a goatee at all times.
3. I’ve never tried any illegal drugs, not even the relatively minor league marijuana. No desire to, either.
4. My thumbs are double jointed, and I delight in twisting them backwards and popping them out of their sockets to make people squirm. I don’t have any other double jointed fingers or limbs, alas.
5. I have the awful habit of biting my nails.
6. I have a birthmark on my right eye which is more or less like a small cataract that doesn’t get worse (ophthalmologist’s explanation, not mine). My eye appears fine, but my right eye vision is substantially blurrier than my left.
7. When eating, I really dislike for my different foods to get mixed on the plate; I don’t want corn bumping into my mashed potatoes, or my biscuit sitting upon a serving of green beans.

The rules of the meme said I needed to tag 7 people, but I must say - I’m not sure I can. Between Hrafn and Edrei, they’ve very nearly pointed to all of the folks I’d tag. There are a few left, however - Liz at LearningNerd, Gordon from One Man Blogs, and Tom. Of course, you three aren’t obligated to do this - but I’d certainly like it if you did.

Liz at Learning Nerd has tagged me for a meme, and it’s a good thing, too. I know things have been rather quiet round here lately. I’m not going to apologize per se, because I’m not really sorry - it is, ahem, after all, my blog, so I’ll update it when I want! - but I will explain. Or try to anyway. In short: I’ve just not had much to say. I haven’t finished any books recently, so I’ve had no book thoughts to share, and nothing outstandingly amazing has happened in my life as of late, either - so I’ve been running low on stuff to blog about. Fall semester starts up Monday, at which point I’m sure the blogging juices will start flowing again. And now, on to the 8 random things:

1. I have a slight fear of having birds close to me, due to their fast and sporadic movement. If one was wanting to take a poke at me, I doubt I could dodge it.
2. I’m incapable of singing along with a song without copying the singer’s accent. If I sing along with Blind Guardian, I have the German accent; if I sing along with the Cranberries, the Irish.
3. As a kid, I actively developed this “skill” - I’d listen to a song repeatedly, singing along with it until I could match the singer’s intonation exactly. I’ve no idea why I did this.
4. I used to really hate summer, because I sweat so profusely. This summer, I realized that sweating is okay, and is quite natural. Since that rather simple realization, I’ve enjoyed the summer much more. (I am not, however, very fond of the weather we’ve had recently - hot is okay, but a heat index of 110F? Ow.)
5. I love cargo pants. I wear them almost exclusively.
6. As a child, I apparently despised taking naps. When my mom was able to get me to take one, it was a hard fought battle. However, I stopped taking regular naps at 3 or 4 (I think the former, but I’m not sure). My dislike of naps continues to this day. I’d rather be drowsy than take a nap.
7. I can’t blow bubbles with bubblegum. I’ve never been able to. When I was younger, I was quite distressed about it - it seemed everyone could blow bubbles with their gum except me. I have since reconsidered my position and have decided that if there were one skill in the world that I couldn’t learn throughout my entire life, it’d be blowing bubbles.
8. I decided a few years ago that when I started losing my hair - and I knew I would, because my dad was bald from 20 or so on - that instead of letting myself have the Homer-look, I’d shave my head. I’ve not started losing much hair yet, but I’ve been shaving my head for a while now, and I like it anyway - so I know when the time comes to keep it that way all the time, I won’t have a problem with it.

I’m supposed to tag 8 bloggers who I want to do this, but I’m not one to tag, so consider this an invitation: if you want to do this meme, feel free, and act as if I tagged you.

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?

-300.

Soup
If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?

Oh, wow. Great question. Definitely Lord of the Rings (along with all of the appendices).

Salad
What is your favorite breakfast food?

A Tim Horton’s toasted plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese. Healthy? Not particularly. Marvellously delicious? Yes.

Main Course
Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.

Read a book from the library.

Dessert
How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?

Well, once I actually decide to go to sleep, 5 minutes or so - but I usually read an hour or so before I go to sleep, regardless of what time I physically went to bed. Last night I was up until 1:30AM reading some more of The Last Kingdom. (It’s a great book, by the way - historical fiction set during the Norse invasion of England, late 9th century.)

Yes, indeed. Another Friday, another Feast. And for those who think I skipped out last week - nope. The chef was away. Anyway, on with this week’s feast:

Appetizer
What is your favorite fruit?

Tough one. Am I allowed to say fruit salad, with strawberries, pineapple, and white grapes? No? Okay, fine. I’ll begrudgingly go with pineapple. But fruit salad is still better.

Soup
Who is someone you consider as a great role model?

Thich Nhat Hahn. No idea who that is? Here you go.

Salad
If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?

I honestly can’t think of anywhere specific that I’m just dying to stay at for a night. I suppose I’d be alright with hanging out in one of the many forests around here for a night. Or maybe the university library, heh.
Main Course
Name something you do too often.

If a kitten was killed everytime I checked my email, cats would be extinct. I really do check my email way too much.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.

I really like Buddhism because it’s a spiritual path I can follow without being forced to believe in something, solely on faith.

Garnet of Glittering Muse tagged me for a meme, “What’s Your Learning Edge?” Here’s the original description of what we’re supposed to be doing:

Write a post about your “learning edge” and what you’re into these days. Feel free to mention any books you’re reading, classes you’re taking, people you’re learning from or collaborating with, etc. Tell us about the gems you’re picking up, the fun you’re having, etc., especially if they’re shifting the way you look at what you do.

Well, let’s see.

Languages

I’m still studying languages a lot. Currently, I’m actively studying, every day, German and Russian. For German, I’m mostly trying to enlarge my vocabulary, so the primary books I’m using are dictionaries. I’m most often using Langenscheidt’s Größwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache. In the Russian department, I’m using the New Penguin Russian Course, along with Kenneth Katzner’s English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary. I’m thoroughly enjoying Russian; the beginning stages are much less painful than my first steps with German were. Not because Russian is easier than German (quite the contrary, actually), but because I have a clue as to what I’m doing. Not much of a clue, but more of a clue than I had when I started learning German.

Whenever I talk about studying languages, the question generally comes up, “Oh, that’s interesting, why are you learning [German, Russian]?” In response: the same reason some people knit, or collect stamps. Languages just interest me in general. I’m not studying them for any particular reason (school, money, etc.)

History

As always, there’s a bit of history on my radar. I’m not reading any history books right now, but I have a few awaiting my attention. I’m probably going to start reading A History of Russia when I’m done with my current library loans (The Mote in God’s Eye and the first Harry Potter Book). The Celts by Gerhard Herm is also calling to me.

Spirituality

I’m hesitant to label it as spirituality, but I’m not sure of what else to call it… Anyway:

I’ve been listening to some new (to me) podcasts about Buddhism. The podcast is called Zencast. It’s done mostly by Gil Fronsdal, who teaches at the Insight Meditation Center in California. I’m not sure how much overlap there is, but there’s also this page full of talks by Gil. I’ve previously listened to the 21st Century Buddhism podcast, but I’ve given it up after finding Zencast. Zencast is far better. Ethan of 21st Centry Buddhism gives his best, but Gil clearly knows more about Buddhism; considering he has a PhD in Buddhist Studies, that’s to be expected. Gil also stays on topic a lot better.

In particular, I’m really enjoying Gil’s Introduction to Meditation episodes. They’re quite helpful for a beginner. He talks about many of the problems beginner meditators face: what do I do with thoughts? What do I do if I have an itch? Should I change positions if my legs fall asleep, or stay still? I have been very slack about my meditation practice, but I’m going to make it a habit to sit everyday.

I’m also reading a book on Zen, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. It’s a short book, but I’ve been reading it off and on for a while now. Being about Zen, it’s - well, to be blunt, a bit confusing. It’s one of those books where you can spend hours thinking about a chapter, paragraph, or sentence. Brain food, I suppose.

Other Stuff

Ah, yes. The “other stuff.” I might as well fess up: I’m a learnaholic. I thrive on learning new things, and devote a large portion of my day to doing so. Here’s some other learning I’ve been doing:

• English words. A few days ago I signed up for a couple “word of the day” emails, to expand my English vocabulary. (For those interested, I’m signed up at wordsmith.org and Merriam Webster.com. If you know of some other good ones, let me know.)
• Knots! I’m learning a variety of knots that I need to know for boating. Being out on a big lake, with lots of wakes tossing the boat about, is not the ideal time or place to discover you have no idea how to tie off the yard. It is also not an ideal place to discover you’re not sure how to uncoil the sheet / brace lines for the sail.
• Organization. I’m extremely disorganized, and I’m trying to learn how to be better organized. Streamlining my life - what I do, how I do it, where I store all my junk - would make things much easier. I’ve had a go at this particular task previously and didn’t have much success with it. Maybe I just need to throw all of my stuff away…
• Cooking. I’m trying to learn how to cook, so if the women of my life suddenly leave, I won’t starve or have to live on Ramen noodles. Not burning stuff up is also a bonus.

Tag, You’re It

Just kidding. I don’t tag. However, if you’re interested in doing this meme, feel free.