6. I love snakes and spiders, have no fear of sharks, and tend to giggle hysterically when I'm on a plane and it hits a patch of turbulence that makes it feel like we're going to fall out of the sky. I am, however, morbidly terrified of pudding. This translates into a fear of any type of slug that isn't so ludicrously colored as to seem like a special effect.
5. I will not go into brackish water, because of the potential for leeches. Even if I am assured that there are no leeches in the entire country, I will not go into brackish water, because of the potential for leeches. Leeches are just not okay. Thank you, Stand By Me. In an attempt to conquer my fear, I kept a jar of leeches in my kitchen for a whole year. Those leeches were okay, because they were behind glass.
4. My collection of My Little Ponies is epic and vast, and contains almost all of the larger buildings from the original 1980s run of the toy line. Yes, including the Paradise Estate, which is roughly the size of a large card table. In that misty, far-off future where I actually have an office of my very own, it's going to wind up evenly divided between research material and plastic horses. Because that's just how I roll.
3. I grew up really, really, really poor, and I read really, really, really fast. These things combined mean that I grew up a dedicated re-reader, and will read books that I enjoy five, ten, or even twenty times. My count on The Stand is somewhere in the mid-fifties. The weirdest thing about my current bounty of available reading material is the lack of re-reading. I haven't read any of my favorites in over a year, and it's making me twitchy.
2. I have these long, elaborate, lucid dreams that seem entirely real when they're going on, even down to my needing to eat and use the bathroom in my sleep. They always end when someone tells me that I'm dreaming, and while they tend to be very realistic and grounded, they also tend to involve elements of "in a perfect world," like, you know, being published. Part of me spends every day afraid someone's going to tell me I'm dreaming.
1. My childhood idols were Vincent Price, Marilyn Munster, and Doctor Who. Considering that, and considering the way my life has turned out, I don't think I'm doing so bad. And I think they'd be proud of me.
February 23 2011, 16:28:07 UTC 6 years ago
February 23 2011, 16:31:42 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 16:28:25 UTC 6 years ago
February 23 2011, 16:31:52 UTC 6 years ago
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Re #6
February 23 2011, 16:32:00 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 16:33:14 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 16:32:28 UTC 6 years ago
#2 You are NOT dreaming. You really are a rockstar (I mean author)!
February 23 2011, 16:33:33 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 16:36:49 UTC 6 years ago
I will go into brackish water, but only running brackish water, as if that would somehow keep the leeches off me.
I understand your #3 really, really well. We also didn't have much money, and I didn't get a library card until middle school, so I was stuck with what I could scrounge together (I would shovel sidewalks, rake leaves, do errands and buy books or G.I. Joes with the money) or the elementary school library. As I was an very fast reader (adult novel in 30 minutes kind of fast), and reading at college level in 3rd grade, this was not enough.
I still reread because I can't afford my reading habit.
February 23 2011, 17:21:16 UTC 6 years ago
February 23 2011, 16:42:19 UTC 6 years ago
We got all of three TV channels when I was growing up, and luckily one of them was Public Television. Watching Doctor Who on Friday nights was one of the great joys of my childhood, and I've never grown out of it.
February 23 2011, 17:21:22 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 17:23:57 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 17:28:25 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 17:59:05 UTC 6 years ago
I read that to my wife, who replies: "You may be dreaming, but I *refuse* to give back the books!"
February 23 2011, 20:27:49 UTC 6 years ago
February 23 2011, 18:54:22 UTC 6 years ago
Don't worry, Seanan. I will protect you from the puddings. And slugs.
February 23 2011, 20:27:59 UTC 6 years ago
February 23 2011, 20:00:09 UTC 6 years ago
I've always sort of wanted pet leeches so I could see if they actually work on bruises like they're supposed to. This probably counteracts any normality of my previous statement.
February 23 2011, 20:28:31 UTC 6 years ago
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February 23 2011, 20:28:46 UTC 6 years ago
And you should totally buy him a Spike.
ponies
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February 23 2011, 20:32:04 UTC 6 years ago
#5 I hate leeches. Sadly, avoiding water isn't enough, because if it's rained remotely recently they'll also be out and about in the bush, waiting to pounce on you when you're bushwalking (or whatever the American term for it is). I like to think I'm a brave girl, but when leeches get on me I start to freak out.
#3 I not so much feel antsy because I don't have time for rereading, instead I'll just get in a mood for a month or two when I'm absolutely uninspired to read anything new and just read old favourites. Did a lot of that before christmas, although I'm back in a "new books" mood atm.
February 24 2011, 05:52:53 UTC 6 years ago
Shrubbery suddenly got more threatening. *suspicious looks all around*
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February 23 2011, 21:41:04 UTC 6 years ago
February 24 2011, 15:49:03 UTC 6 years ago
February 23 2011, 22:04:14 UTC 6 years ago
You know, one of those "good guys must always have a big battle of misunderstanding before joining forces to defeat the REAL enemy" battles. :D
February 24 2011, 15:49:18 UTC 6 years ago
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February 24 2011, 00:38:03 UTC 6 years ago
And My Little Ponies are awesome! I always much preferred playing with them and Trolls as opposed to Barbies (when I wasn't reading; I was kind of an odd child, I suppose).
February 24 2011, 15:49:46 UTC 6 years ago
February 24 2011, 00:56:14 UTC 6 years ago
After about 20 minutes I was ready to hike back up and I went to get my shoes, looked down, and discovered it. There. Attached to my big toe. Hanging out all cool as you please.
A leech.
I nearly had a panic attack. I know you were not supposed to pull - their teethy things might get stuck in my toe! But I was a mile of rough farmland from any sort of civilization. I couldn't get anything with which to burn the sucker off (and was more than a little afraid of scorching my toe even if I could have)! I couldn't walk home barefoot and leeched!
I still don't know how or why, but after another 20 minutes of flailing the thing just let go. Maybe it had drunk its fill of my blood. Maybe it got tired of my swinging my foot through the water like a madman.
All I know is that I have never waded in the creek since.
February 24 2011, 15:50:02 UTC 6 years ago
Ngh.
That is all.
February 24 2011, 02:05:26 UTC 6 years ago
Then I saw this flat brown leaf-like thing swimming in the water that was wiggling along in a wave-type motion, and I asked my dad what it was.
"Oh, just a leech."
I levitated back to shore, lest it jump out of the water to get me.
I can't swim in water where I can't see the bottom, and that's one of the reasons. The other is that there might be snapping turtles. They scare me half to death.
As for this being a dream or not, well, you'd have to be dreaming me, too, which . . .
Actually, I'm kind of okay with that.
February 24 2011, 15:50:26 UTC 6 years ago
February 24 2011, 07:50:57 UTC 6 years ago
Growing up, school libraries, the Bookmobile (traveling branch of county library), and the local rummage sale with books for $0.50 each kept me in most of my reading material. This is how I ended up as a library aid in both Jr. high and High school.
February 24 2011, 15:50:42 UTC 6 years ago
February 24 2011, 08:30:08 UTC 6 years ago
The sign said, "Now renting Paradise Estates!"
My first thought was: "But now where will the Ponies live!" Followed by mad giggling to where I almost couldn't stop.
February 24 2011, 15:50:51 UTC 6 years ago
February 24 2011, 09:17:54 UTC 6 years ago
February 24 2011, 15:51:10 UTC 6 years ago
I wonder how Wil Wheaton feels about 'em.
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February 24 2011, 13:56:12 UTC 6 years ago
While I like guns as well as the next guy, the site where I work is under a force protection practice today. It is unsettling to walk into the restroom and see someone with a helmet on and a rifle propped next to the urinal. We are in central Florida. I really think the chance of attack is minimal. But we will be ready when Mars invades.
February 24 2011, 15:52:17 UTC 6 years ago