Random Dozen Week #12

The fact that we have had a dozen random dozen meme posts has tickled Lid's fancy. And mine. It's kind of like the golden birthday for the Random Dozen Meme. I'd never heard of the golden birthday until a few years ago. It's when a person turns the age of their birth day (i.e., turning 25 on the 25th day of the month). Also known as the "Grand Birthday", "Lucky Birthday", "Champagne Birthday" or "Star Birthday". So since this is the twelfth edition of the Random Dozen... Oh never mind. (It made more sense in my head before I started writing it down.)

1. If you could master one sport, what would it be? Ballroom dancing. Hey, it's a sport! Or it should be. They work up a sweat on the dance floor! It requires some serious training too. 

2. When you make a major purchase, do you go with your gut instinct, or do you do research to make an informed decision? Research, research, research. And then a little more research. To the point we seldom make major purchases because WE ARE STILL RESEARCHING IT. For us, a major purchase is anything over $250. We have been researching couches for 15 months and still do not have one. By the time we come close to a decision, the money we've saved has gone for something else. Like car repairs or a new sink for the house in Sta. Rosa. So the saving starts all over again, as well as re-thinking our choice -- so more research. But this time, oh yes, this time we WILL be getting a couch before year's end.

3. There is an old kids' game that says you can find out what your movie star name would be by using your middle name as your first name and the name of the street you grew up on as your last. What is your movie star name? Faith Hawthorne (lived there until I was 9). Or Faith Bolam (through age 14). Or Faith...no clue about this last one because during high school I lived on various dirt roads up different hollers in southeastern Kentucky. [Grace, are you reading this? Do you know? Facebook me the answers please!]

4. Would you rather give up your favorite music or your favorite food? No contest, I'd give up the music in a heartbeat. Man can live with silence but not without sustenance. While I like and enjoy music, I am PASSIONATE about food.

5. There are two types of banana preferences. One is pristine yellow, almost to the point of being green; the other is spotty and more ripe. Which is your preference? Pristine, no spots please. Unless I'm making banana bread and sometimes I buy bananas for this purpose and wait for them to get all brown.

6. Your favorite tree is? Weeping Willow. So romantic with it's sweeping curves and drooping branches, it's stout and steadfast trunk that's perfect for the carved initials of lovestruck couples.

7. On a scale of 1-10, how tech savvy are you? Maybe a 3? I find this a hard one to answer with confidence. I'm a complete ignoramous when it comes to hardware or understanding HOW anything works. However... I'm getting better and better at navigating through the internet, learning how to use what's out there to do what I want. Whether that's communicating via facebook, e-mail or skype. Or doing more fun stuff with my blog. I'd really love to learn how to make my own backgrounds one of these days. But all this learning takes time which I'm in short supply of these days, what with sharing the computer and just living life. Not being from the "plugged in generation" I have to really work at all the technology stuff.

8. Has H1N1 touched your family? No, praise the Lord! Have heard it's pretty nasty. I'm praying especially for my kids. The son travels A LOT with his business and is with people all the time who could potentially share the swine love. My daughter-in-law works in a pharmacy where she's in constant contact with the sickies of this world waiting to get their prescriptions filled. And my daughter is super busy and overwhelmed between work, school, finishing up a video project and getting ready TO COME AND VISIT HER MAMA. You know when you're tired and overworked, you're more susceptible to the germs floating around.

9. Are you an analytical person, or do you just accept things the way they are without questioning or scrutinizing? I put the anal in analytical.

10. Is your personality more like that of a dog, cat, or Koala? Cat. Stand-offish at first, not quick to make friends and definitely NOT the cuddly type.

11. Do you keep in touch with friends you made years ago? Some. Facebook has helped with that and I'm re-connecting with people from high school and even before. BUT. Why is it that people who didn't like you then suddenly want to be your friend now? Upon the advice of my offspring, I am careful who I "friend" on facebook. 

[What's up with changing all these nouns into verbs in computer-speak? Yesterday I read that "unfriend" is WOTY (Word Of The Year) according to the New Oxford American Dictionary. The whole facebook experience transports me back to second grade recess on the playground.]

12. You are checking out at a grocery store. In the express lane, there are more people than the regular lanes, but of course, their load is less than those in the regular lanes. Which lane do you choose (assuming you qualify for the express lane) and why? Express lane because I am the eternal optimist when it comes to choosing a checkout lane. No matter that whatever lane I choose will come to a grinding halt with the person in front of me who ends up requiring multiple prices checks, can't get her credit card to work or who spends five minutes digging through her purse for correct change -- the purse that hasn't been cleaned out in years and would require a team from an archeological dig to excavate it properly. This same person suddenly decides she needs one more item and smiling sweetly at all around, says she'll be "Just a minute!" and takes off into the cavernous building never to be seen again. So I get in a different checkout lane, only to have something similar happen. I spend way more time waiting in check-outs than actually shopping.

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Rejoicing at the rain! It started sprinkling about 8:30 p.m. yesterday, causing our English conversation group to move inside (it was so HOT at Centro Esperanza we had hauled the chairs outside) and around 11 p.m. it turned into a nice steady rain that kept up most of the night. Hallelujah! It's still overcast today so we're hoping for more of the same.