survey time at last

Since I have no ambition and can’t seem to write an entry, how about a survey? This one is direct from Lazargirl, and I have been trying since Friday night to muster up the energy to do it. Speaking of which, I have none. Not that I every have all that much of it, but this is getting old. Other than that, though, I am feeling fine. Worked full days all last week. Apparently I just have to feel this way until I get over it. Oh, well. It certainly could be worse.

1.) Have you ever had a haircut so bad you cried?

No, never one THAT bad. I do remember plenty of occasions as a teenager when my entire day would be basically ruined because of something my hair was/was not doing, though. My hair is still often very uncooperative, but now I just think "stupid hair!!!" and then forget about it and go on with my life. Yay for being a grownup!

2.) When you open the drawer after having poured yourself a bowl of cereal, do you reach for a small or a large spoon?

Small. I don’t like eating with large spoons. No idea why.

3.) Have you ever quit a bad job emphatically, ripped off a uniform or apron, thrown the balled-up cloth at a superior, then stomped off?

Oh, I’d love to be the kind of person who can quit a job like that!!! No, I have not. I’ve only had maybe three jobs I can think of (out of approximately 58,240) that I didn’t work a notice. Two were restaurant jobs. One was at a Chinese restaurant when I was in college – China Gourmet. Nearly everyone I knew worked there at one time or another, usually for a few weeks at best. The owner (whose name, amusingly, was Wellington) was cranky and unpleasant, and business was usually very slow so I didn’t make any money and it was very boring. The restaurant was in an old stone house, which was kind of cool. I only worked there a couple of weeks. One night I got home and couldn’t face the thought of going back again. I was friends with the dishwasher and he took my apron back for me and told Wellington I quit. (The dishwasher was a whole other issue– we’d kind of dated but weren’t anymore and it was VERY awkward.) Wellington owed me a little money, but much to my surprise he sent it to me via the dishwasher. Wellington always paid us under the table. That was my first waitress job. 

The other restaurant job was cooking at Mom and Pops, a country-style restaurant that was a little like Cracker Barrel. It used to be a big chain in NC. It was THE worst job I EVER had. I think I was there two weeks. You had to ask permission to go to the bathroom, they didn’t give anyone a break ever (yes, it was illegal; no, I don’t know how they got away with it), it was grueling work, and when you worked till closing you had to stand around waiting until EVERYONE was done, which could be another hour, and they did not pay you for it. Kim worked there too (we were roommates at the time). After two weeks a friend of mine came to town (okay, my ex-husband who I was still friends with, but this story is already WAY too long) and I was working double shifts every single day for the whole week, so I called in sick in order to get to see him. Which is not something I’d ordinarily have done, even back then, but  I was seriously ready to slit my wrists at the thought of another day at Mom and Pops so it didn’t take much to convince me to call in. Kim was working that night, and when I called in sick they called her into the office and interrogated her about why I’d called in. What was wrong with me? Had I been sick all day? Was I REALLY sick????? When she came home after work and told me that, I marched to the phone, called the manager, and told her she had absolutely NO right to interrogate my roommate about why I called in, that it was none of their damned business but actually no, I was NOT sick, I’d just had quite enough of working for Mom and Pops, and I couldn’t believe how badly they treated their employees and they could just take me right the hell off their abusive schedule. It was VERY unlike me. And very liberating. 

As a side note, on one of my hellish days there, the manager came in to tell us that  Mom was coming to visit and everything had to be spotless. I had assumed that "Mom and Pop" were fictional characters, like, oh, the Burger King, so I was quite surprised to find they were real people, capable of dropping by. 

"Mom’s visiting us???" I said. "What about Pop?"

The manager said, "Pop’s dead." 

And I…. laughed. And everyone STARED at me. Appalled. And I giggled madly to myself the rest of the night. 
 
4.) How much cash do you like to carry?

I like to carry very little cash. I use my debit card for everything. Oddly I’ve had way more cash than usual lately, and I have no idea why. I had something like $80 in my wallet a few weeks ago. I don’t know how I ended up with so much cash. Generally I have maybe $10 tops. 

5.) One large winter coat or layers?

Here? In the WINTER?? Both. 

6.) If you cross paths with someone walking a dog, do you talk first to the person or the dog?

I usually don’t speak to either one, but I will smile at the dog. 

7.) Can you accurately size up the square footage in a room?

Absolutely not. I can’t even come within ten thousand feet. I’m terrible at estimating, oh, anything. 

8.) Are you quick with your wit, or do comebacks tend always to arrive hours later?

I usually am pretty quick, although I don’t always say what I’m thinking. I still have sad lost-quip memories of a design meeting I was attending years ago when I worked a company that made home furnishings. The product development department was showing drawings of new stuff in the works, and one of their plans was for a big trunk, kind of like a steamer trunk – very pretty and ornate. It was called Bohemian Rhapsody. I was SO on the verge of saying, "OH, so you open it and Freddie Mercury pops out!" But, sadly, I said nothing. I was afraid nobody would get it and they’d all stare at me and I’d be embarrassed. I’ve always regretted the loss of that great joke. 

9.) Do you keep your photos in albums or shoeboxes?

I keep my photos EVERYWHERE. Well, for the past seven or eight or whatever years since I’ve gone digital, I hardly ever print photos out and those are all on my harddrive, as well as being backed up on a Passport and on Flickr. I do have a couple of albums of England pictures that I printed to show people like my MIL and my dad who don’t have a computer and don’t want to sit through a 3500 picture online slideshow, but that’s about it. However, I’ve been taking photos since I was 13 so I have millions and millions and millions of prints from pre-digital days. Some are in albums. A whole lot are in boxes, waiting to be put in albums. Thirty years later. 

10.) Have you gravitated, traditionally, toward the top or thebottom bunk?

Top. I’ve never had bunks myself, but my brother did when we were kids. I loved the top bunk. 

11.) Do you own any pieces of monogrammed attire?

Nary a one. I’ve never been big into monograms. 

12.) When a friend begins telling a story he’s already told you, do you let him go, or let him know?

Usually I’ll let them tell me again, because it’s very embarrassing to realize you’re repeating yourself. As I well know. Oddly, though, I just had this happen, and I did admit I’d already heard the story. Because it was a very big story and would have been hard to act like I hadn’t heard it. 

13.) When making a shooting-yourself gesture, do you do the gun barrel with two fingers or one? Do you insert the finger-gun into your mouth or press it to your temple?

What an odd question. One finger, to the temple. 

14.) When driving by cows, do you give in to the urge to moo?

I’ve honestly never HAD the urge to moo at cows. ???!!?? Maybe it’s because I grew up with them. I do have the urge to say hi when walking by them, and I do act on that urge. I’ll also pet them if they’ll let me. 

15.) Are you accurate at guessing people’s weights and ages? Do you take into consideration their feelings when guessing?

See #7. I am very very bad at estimating anything. I would also never ever guess someone’s age or weight out loud. If I did guess their age, I’d guess way lower than I really thought, but I’d probably still be high. 

16.) Look at your fingernails: did you just stretch out all five fingers, palm out, or did you fold your fingers down over your inward facing palm?

Stretched them out. Interesting.

17.) Do you have a system when it comes to pockets, or do you blindly dump in coins, lighter, i-pod, phone, smokes, etc., then fish around each time?

I put my pedometer in my left front pants pocket, but anything else just goes in randomly and I have to dig when I want it. 

18.) When eating bananas, do you peel them nude at the outset or peel as you eat?

As I eat. What strange questions. 

19.) What famous landmarks have you found especially disappointing?

One that Lazergirl mentioned and I forgot to say when I noted her that I found it very disappointing too -Meteor Crater in Arizona. I remember it being…. a big hole. And not an interesting big hole.  

20.) Which do you (or would you) find more embarrassing: crying in public by yourself on a bench or laughing out loud in public by yourself on a bench?

Crying. I hate hate hate to cry in public. It would be embarrassing to laugh by myself too, but at least I could pretend I was listening to my iPod. And I’ve actually found myself laughing out loud a number of times when walking and listening to The News Quiz podcasts on my iPod. It’s a British show featuring Sandi Toksvig, who I loved from the very early British Whose Lines – she’s the host of this hysterical news quiz show. And it can be LOL-worthy funny.

21.) Do you measure distance in miles or minutes?

Minutes, usually. I’d never really thought about it, but if I’m asked how far it is from here to Asheville I say "About an hour and a half". Or here to Charleston, "A little under five hours." 

22.) Do you imagine sleep as a kind of rising (you are a basket being pulled gently up in a hot air balloon) or as a kind of sinking (you are a flat stone no longer skipping, disappearing through layers of lake)?

Interesting question. I am not sure I imagine it as either, although I guess it would be more sinking than rising. I really think of it more as a sideways kind of thing. Going through a door, or window. 

23.) How many different bathrooms would you say you use on a given day? Are there bathrooms, (not your own) that you consider a pleasure to use, even look forward to using?

Well, that’s another odd question. One at work… there is another one on our floor but it’s in a weird place and not convenient. One at home, of course. That’s usually it. Since I drink a LOT of water I do know where the good bathrooms are. I especially like the one in the lobby of the Mills House Hotel in Charleston. It’s very elegant and despite it being an extremely pricey hotel in the middle of the historic district, you can just stroll right in off the street and nobody bats an eye. It’s also nearly always empty and is very conveniently located. There’s another nice clean handy one in the lobby of Charleston Place, which is a fancy hotel with shops on the first floor that we always cut through on our way to the King Street Starbucks, but it tends to have lines. 

24.) What’s the strangest non-food item you swallowed as a kid?

I think that would be the teeny little ants that were in my plastic toy flute I  left outside on the front porch as a child. For some reason I inhaled instead of exhaling and ended up with a mouthful of ants. They were hot and it was horrifying.

25.) How do you show love to what is yours, by wearing it in or attempting to keep it pristine?
 
I try to take very good care of things I love but especially in the case of clothing or shoes I usually wear it to death. I don’t think I’ve ever kept anything pristine that I actually use. 
 
OH, that’s it!