Kendall from Splice Here “tagged” us at red Ravine to share eight random things about ourselves. “Tagging” (aka a meme) is kind of like those chain letters you get via email — send this note to a dozen other people and you will get showered with joy — except without the prognostications of happiness, good fortune, or money if you follow through. It’s also a great way to learn about blogs/bloggers you didn’t know much about before.
The rules for this particular tag are: 1) Post eight random facts/habits about yourself; 2) Tag eight people who are to write their own blog entry about their eight things and post these rules; 3) Leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged.
So, in no particular order, here are eight personal factoids about QuoinMonkey and me:
QuionMonkey
- I was in the glee club in grade school. I’m completely tone deaf.
- I was part of a Tri-Hi-Y in high school named the Zodiacs.
- In my early thirties, I went on a month long canoe trip in the Arctic on the Nahanni River in Canada. It was the first time I had ever canoed. We flew all our gear and the canoes in a small plane and landed on a sandbar in the middle of nowhere. There were five of us and I didn’t know what I was doing and felt like an outcast half the time. On the other hand, it’s one of the greatest things I ever did for my self-esteem and what an opportunity to see the rugged beauty of that part of Canada.
- I swore I’d learn to ride a motorcycle by the time I was 50. When I turned 49, I picked up the book, studied for my permit, and bought a purple Honda Rebel. The rest is history.
- I once owned a turquoise Ford Econoline van with shag carpeting. But my favorite car was my first, a ’63 red Austin-Healey Sprite convertible with a black roll bar. My step-dad helped me get the engine running (it had been stored in my uncle’s barn). My mom helped me fix up the inside. I wish I still had that car. It had a wooden dashboard with flip switches and a muffler that kept falling off in freeway traffic. I’d have to stop and wire it up with a coat hanger. It was all worth it. If I had photos, I’d post them.
- In high school, I was voted athlete of the year my senior year. I think Title 9 was still in the works sometime around then and Billie Jean King was on the Virginia Slims tour. We’ve come a long way, baby. But not far enough.
- I lived in Montana during most of my twenties. I loved it there. And have been saying I’m going to move back ever since. I never have. Turns out, I love Minnesota, too. And somehow, this place has held me.
- I knew I wanted to write in 8th grade. That’s when I had Mrs. Juarez, my 8th grade English teacher. I never forgot her and the literature she taught me, especially Dickens. A few weeks ago, after almost 40 years, I decided to look her up. I found her living only a few miles from where my mother lives. We met for two hours and I got to tell her how much she meant to me, and how key she was in shaping me to become a writer. She told me she never forgot me either. In fact, she said, “Did you honestly think I’d forget you?” We were kind of teary when we left each other. For a writer and a teacher, does it get any better than that?
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ybonesy
- I married a man I first met at age 16 (even though we didn’t date until I was 27).
- I gave birth to both our daughters at home, with my husband and midwife attending. Em had the cord wrapped around her neck and was purple, but the midwife fixed that with no hitch.
- I have a tracheotomy scar from when I almost died of pneumonia at the age of 18 months. A female doctor from Mexico saved my life.
- My dad calls me “ma-di-nes.” It’s a word he made up.
- When I lived in Santa Fe, the land of second homes and the super rich, I joined a dart league called The Dancing Pigs just so I could meet regular folk. The only team we cared about beating was the one from Los Alamos, who all wore matching shirts with a mushroom cloud as their logo. We never beat them.
- My favorite job was working at Japanese bath house Ten Thousand Waves in Santa Fe. The owner and I dated after I quit.
- I’m afraid of heights, but to overcome my fear of heights I rode something called The Skycoaster at the NM State Fair. I still dislike heights.
- My mom played poker for 30 years with a bunch of viejitas who smoked cigarettes by the pack, drank 7-UP, and knew games like “Spit in the Ocean” and “Chicago.” I have three letters that Dad wrote 30-40 years ago pleading that she stop playing, threatening divorce, even. She wouldn’t stop, and now that Texas Hold ‘Em is so popular, Mom regularly beats the pants off anyone who invites her to a game.
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OK, the bloggers we tag are:
Fluent
Starting Over
mimbresman (mm, you haven’t updated your blog for about a month…)
jaggedeye (OK, Ron, this means you have to do a new post on your blog!)
mariacristina
Ritergal (Congratulations on the book!)
Anuevue Studio
Taosbound
Thank you for your comments & for sharing:
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Thanks ladies for the blogging challenge. I’ll be working on it! Anita
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I´ve been moving…gave up my Internet, too busy to go to a Cybercafe (as they are called here). I am at my school right now snagging some free Internet but need to go back to the condo and start working again. Too many rabbits in the oven! (a new Venezuelan expression my wife told me) English translation “If you have too many rabbits in the oven, one will get burned.”
I fly to the USA on July 12. I’ll update my blog then.
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mm, I guess that’s like too many irons in the fire? Have a good trip to the U.S. Looking forward to your return.
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Don’t think I won’t get even for this. I haven’t figured out how, just yet, but one of these days, it’ll happen! 😉
God, rabbit sounds good right now…
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Thanks! I’m on it.
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Don’t worry, Sam, you can pay us eventually with a nice homemade concoction at Eski’s (sp?), or even a lovely piece of artwork at Park Gallery. The car is packed and I’m about to head out for a 2+-hour drive up north, so I’ll think of other ways you can repay us ;).
Hey, mm, see you in person in a couple of weeks. You can blog from here.
I’ll check in on the factoids when I get to Ghost Ranch, assuming I can find internet anywhere. If I fall off the planet for more than a week, send the rescue workers to the Green Pool, or the Yellow Pool, or whatever it was called. The one with water snakes and koi and ghosts right around the corner.
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This is a great game. Thanks for including me.
I’m behind in my blogging because I’m at a dreamwork conference, but I’ll catch up soon.
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Ok, here we go:
http://fluent.typepad.com/fluent/2007/07/8-things-about-.html
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Heck, I’m not even sure if this is where I respond but here goes…
1. The youngest of three girls, I am 49 years young with 11 years between the oldest and me, 6 between the middle and me. I was an only child by 9. My Father was an out of doors type…hunting, fishing, that sort of thing so… without a son, I was taught how to make bullets, gut a fish and the proper handling of both a chainsaw and a shotgun…and I used to have this strange taste for Beef Jerky 🙂
2. I have the same 3 friends I’ve had since Junior High. I can’t seem to get rid of them. I think it’s the Starbuck’s cards I always carry. One is a sculpture / painter who just finished writing a children’s book, one is a caricature artist who also paints children’s murals and was trained by Disneyland in the lost art of paper silloette’s. The 3rd became a mother at 40 and can design an entire kid’s party out of a paper plate and a stick of gum. We apparently stood in a lot of lines together as kids and became friends because we all had last names close together (J, K and M). They all seem to love me even though my favorite movie is still Harold and Maude.
3. All 4 friends will be 50 soon (I gleefully start the ball rolling being the Sagitarius in the group) and will take a trip together to celebrate (or cry…). My bid is New Mexico because as I told them…a cruise for me is like being taken hostage by Alkida (which I can neither spell nor pronounce).
4. I have 5 cats. No, I’m not one of “those” people. They seem to find me…those limping, cross-eyed, wild or frequently insane feline. Years back I built a beautiful glass atrium room…with palms and a chaise lounge to read on…. just like in the movies. I had a fantastic classical mural painted on one wall by a friend and envisioned laying there in tranquility after a hard day at work. That room now houses 4 miserably lazy cats with water bowls, hairballs, scratchers and other cat paraphernalia. I do believe they enjoy the mural though the palms died long ago after being chewed to death. The 5th one sleeps on my bed and hates me. I lost the feeling in a finger for 3 months after a “love” bite…but naturally the cat adores my husband…
5. I don’t have any children due to a long line of Schizophrenia and other charming brain diseases. I felt that the world was already populated with enough crazy people…no need for me to improve it. I have plenty of Nieces and Nephews to borrow money so I’m good there. Just kidding. They are all beautiful blessings. Heck, where else would I get my Starbuck’s gift cards! ( I apparently have a coffee addiction).
6. I am a Halloween nut. No, I don’t Satan worship or belong to any Freak Halloween Clubs but I really do enjoy it. I was a very shy girl growing up but Halloween allowed me to be anyone in the world. I made all my own costumes and trick-or-treated until I was almost 19. Now, I start designing and building sets quite early in the year. I make a drawing of what’s in my brain and then my Husband and Brother-in law begin building (or shouting). Last year the kids got to walk through a 23 foot scarey clown head to enter the “Haunted Circus”. That clown head now belongs to some heavy metal band from Georgia. I draw around 2000 kids and adults and am always looking for that one shy kid that will be inspired to carry on after I finally fall off a ladder. I am blessed to be able to do this for the kids and have been dubbed “The Queen of Halloween”. It’s the only time of year I socialize…always in a disguise.
7. I am a Printer by trade. I schedule for a 25 million dollar plant behind the Orange Curtain (In Orange County) and every once in a while i wonder what the heck the owners are thinking… letting a child have this much power. Of course I’m paid a child’s salary so it makes sense. My real job titled should be rumor control, social direction, hostage negotiations and of course, self effacing blame monger. I have worked at my present company for 20 years only because I can’t get my Jeep to go in any other direction…
8. I am the most undomestic person in the world. In school I actually sewed the Simplicity guide sheet to the back of my dress and had to make center pieces for the rest of the year. I learned to clean my entire house with Windex…long before it was glamorized in “Greek Wedding”. (Who knew i was such a trend setter )…oh and my oven still has the owner’s manual inside.
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Great list, Heather. I think the 5 cats and the same 3 friends since junior high beat the odds!
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Heather – youngest children are perpetually young, aren’t they? I love beef jerkey, too.
The Halloween tradition sounds like a blast! I wish you lived nearby so I could visit the haunted house, or giant head, or whatever it is you end up creating this year. So, instead of being the Kool Aid House, yours is the candy corn house??
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Well, let’s put it this way…I’m known by the Fire Department for my candy 🙂 They pull their truck up to get the leftovers. My Husband says if I would just give up Halloween, we could add a second story to our small house.
It would be very hard to give up the early parade of youngsters running up and down the street in their costumes, all excited and getting ready. Plus the nose impressions on my living room window… they all know they can get an early look at the 7 foot skeletons dressed for the current theme sitting on couches and chairs :).
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1. We had a family dog named Benny Boy. He was a 3 1/2 legged beagle. Best dog ever! He lost his leg after being hit by a car after a morning of chasing rabbits. He rabbit chasing days were over after that.
2. My dad was a car collector. We still have many of his cars. I got information yesterday that the best of the cars (were left in a storage barn on my dad’s property) were stolen. The local Deming police caught one guy who ratted out the others. One car was intercepted on its way to Switzerland! The others were in Las Cruces and El Paso, and one was still in Deming being used as a prop on the new Indiana Jones movie.
3. My mom still has her Arkansas accent after living in NM for more than 40 years.
4. I was a pioneer in the mtn bike clothing industry. One of my products was inspired by ybonesy when we were standing around a campfire (probably in Durango).
5. My favorite pet was my parrot (aratinga pertinax) I had here in Venezuela for four years. His name was Tio and had a nasty disposition. He loved me, but hated my wife and everyone else. He died when I left a Teflon coated pot on the stove. The fluorine vapors from the Teflon killed him. I still feel bad about this. Parrots are extremely sensitive to Teflon.
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Heather, Halloween is a fun time. Liz dressed up last year in something that even scared me. We made a fire in the front fire pit and even some of the older kids were reluctant to get a closer look at that mask. I think this year we might go a little less scary. There’s an excitement in the air on All Hallow’s Eve, no matter who you are.
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mm, so sad about Tio and the Teflon. I had no idea. I can’t believe #2 about the stolen cars. Wow. You could make a movie out of that item alone. Glad they recovered most of them.
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Hey mm, glad to see you back around. I didn’t know about the Teflon fumes and Tio. Pobrecito!
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[…] 2007 at 4:02 pm · Filed under friendship, motherhood, stories, life Thanks to ybonsey from Red Ravine, who tagged me to write eight facts about my life. So, here goes my […]
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