Nance very kindly gave me some blog fodder for today. Why am I bothering with the blog while on vacation, you might ask? Because I’m sitting here waiting for my daughter to wake up so we can go to the beach and have a swim. Speaking of which, I have bought the most ridiculous swim combo ever. Next would be bloomers like women wore in the early 1900s. I am very sensitive to the sun, due to medication that I take, and the sun in the tropics FEELS like our sun, but is more brutal. So I put on reef safe sunscreen, and then I put on a bathing suit, then swim shorts, then a swim shirt (sometimes called a ‘rasher’ for some reason). I wish I had a two piece bathing suit, so I didn’t have to take EVERYTHING off in order to use the bathroom, but I didn’t find one I liked. Lesson learned. One might think I could just pee in the ocean, like the whales and fish and turtles and every other person on the beach does, but alas, my body says no. Oh well. Anyway, here’s a little meme to pass the time while I await the awakening.
1. Favorite Color?
I go back and forth on this one, green or blue. I love the lush green of the trees, and the blue of the ocean and the sky. Those are my motivations for favorite colors.
2. Reading?
Hazards of Time Travel, by Joyce Carol Oates. I really thought I would do more reading on this trip, but generally on my down time I look at my device, just like at home. Play my game, read the newspaper, play my game, look at Facebook. It’s dreary and I should probably put it away and read my book. After I finish this blog post, of course.
3. Streaming/Watching?
Ted and Maya are watching this really weird Korean TV show, Squid Game. I don’t really pay attention, but it’s pretty much like The Hunger Games with adults. Disturbing.
4. Wine?
Yes, of course. Though I did have a Mai Tai at dinner the other night, and it was good, but I think I would have preferred a glass of wine. Mostly I am into Chardonnays in the winter and Sauvignon Blanc in the summer, though sometimes I branch out and have a glass of Cabernet. I love red wine, I just find that I am more prone to headaches when I drink it, as opposed to whites.
5. Latest Food Obsession?
Hmmm. Not sure I have any. I love a good fish taco, but have not been able to make one at home. In summer, I adore using fresh tomatoes in many ways, but those days are likely behind us for this year.
6. What will you miss about summer?
Tomatoes, grapes, etc from the Farmer’s Market. I will NOT miss the stupid heat or fires.
7. Which childhood dream of yours did you fulfill?
Toughie. I’m not sure. I didn’t become a race horse jockey or a veterinarian, so my career sucks. I have a good marriage, which was important to me, being raised in a single parent household. But I wouldn’t call that a childhood dream. I guess I would say meeting and getting to know my dad and my sisters is something I thought about a lot.
8. What historical figure do you wish you could go back in time and meet?
Harriet Tubman
9. What three words can describe you well?
Clumsy, kind, quiet
10. Did you play a sport in school?
HA!
11. What’s the last thing you bought for yourself?
The stupid bathing suit mentioned above, or maybe the boat tour we are taking tomorrow to see dolphins in the wild. Not a ‘swim with the dolphins’ type thing, just a boat out to where they usually frolic. I did see a spinner dolphin, spinning in the air, while Ted and Maya snorkeled the other day, that was cool.
12. Are there places you do or don’t shop/patronize because of your political beliefs?
Absolutely. Mostly Hobby Lobby and Chick Fil A, though neither of these are sacrifices, as they were known to be problematic before they opened here. Also WalMart, which is also not the least bit tempting to me.
13. Do you like your name? If not, what do you wish your name was?
I like my name fine, but for some reason when I was a kid, people always told me I looked like an Elizabeth.
14. What popular phrase or saying really gets on your nerves?
‘No problem’. I don’t know why, but it just rubs me the wrong way. Maya works from home sometimes, and she answers the phone and sometimes says, ‘no problem’, and I hate it. I do not say a word, though, because it’s none of my business.
15. You find a hundred dollar bill in your mailbox. What will you do with it?
Obsess about how the hell it got there, and buy a fancy bottle of wine.
2 Comments
nance
J–I’ve always loved the name Elizabeth and all of its diminutives–Beth, Betsy, Liz–and often named dolls that name. I took it for my confirmation name, too. ANOTHER name I’d rather have than my own. Sigh.
I totally agree with the “no problem” peeve. I hate that saying, and I don’t know why, either. Is it because it sounds so offhand and dismissive? So ultra-casual and Millennial Chill? Because it rides the line of being Not Really Polite? Kind of like this:
“Thank you for your help.”
“Oh, you weren’t the problem I thought you were going to be.”
It sort of intimates that “I’m just doing my job, so it wasn’t a problem to help you, nor my pleasure.”
I guess it sounds sort of flip and almost an eye roll to me. But then, I am old and I know it. And as a Word Person, I often read quite a bit into The Language.
Oh, do enjoy Maui some more! It makes me happy to think of you there, taking a break from it all.
J
Nance, that’s it exactly. It feels like an eye roll every time I hear Maya say it to a client on the phone, or a waiter when we’re at a restaurant, etc. I am also old, and so I just live with it. Not much else I can do, really.
Thank you, we are really enjoying Maui. Skipping some of the big once in a lifetime sort of excursions, in favor of laying around on the beach and decompressing. It’s been lovely.