Chapter 1591: Wherein Dee gets all self-obsessed

The oriental poppies are in full bloom at the moment. I really love poppies of all sorts, but these are sentimental favourites because the seed came from my grandmother's yard. I usually take too many photos of them, but I restrained myself this year. No worries about the blog becoming All Poppies All the Time, then.

No promises about the irises, though.

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Man, was I long-winded yesterday. I didn't realise just how much until I read it back today. Ah well, it is Pointless Blather Blog, after all. Emphasis on the blather part now and then.

To keep to the apparently wordy theme of the weekend, I guess it's time for another 50 Things list. I used to do these semi-regularly on the old blog, but only recently resurrected them here. The idea is to pick a topic and list fifty things about it. I generally try to keep it positive because I need the practice, but that's not a hard and fast rule. It's my house, after all. I can change the rules whenever I want to. And with that... today's topic?

50 Things About Me
(in absolutely no order, because I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to type)

1. I'm very strongly left-handed, and I truly believe that I'm wired differently than most of the right-handed world. It sure seems that way, at least.
2. I'm an oldest (well, technically older. There's only two of us) child and an only daughter.
3. I like cheese.
4. I played oboe and tuned percussion in the school band. Tuned percussion because I was trying desperately to escape the oboe. I like the oboe, but there's nothing quite as lonely as playing oboe in a small-town band.
5. I have a very serious interest in historical fashion.
6. I hate it when movies get history wrong.
7. I studied Classics with my available option space when I was doing my Zoology degree. It was a nice break from the labs. My academic advisor thought I was nuts.
8. I don't currently own an MP3 player. When I go walking I like to hear what's going on around me.
9. I almost always have a song in my head. When I don't, I get worried because it's a bad sign.
10. I write two blogs and maintain a third, but I don't own a computer.
11. I'm a lyric mezzo-soprano.
12. I love Louis Armstrong. To the point where I (somewhat pedantically, yes) don't call him Louie because he never referred to himself that way.
13. I'm a comparative anatomy junkie and I frankly found my dissection labs in school fascinating.
14. I no longer cut up dead animals. The live ones are more interesting these days.
15. My cell phone is five years old because I'm having trouble deciding whether I want to change providers so I haven't renewed my contract. Is it worth the bother to switch, do you think?
16. My mother died unexpectedly in 1999 from complications from what was supposed to be routine surgery. The last time I saw her, I thought it would be the last time I saw her. This would freak me out more if I didn't realise that the memory of feeling that way wouldn't be nearly so strong if things had turned out fine.
17. As you can see from #16, I'm skeptical of premonitions and things like that. Skeptical, but not adamant in disbelief. I leave a window open in case proof ever actually decides to come in.
18. I like cats.
19. I'm allergic to cats. The universe laughs.
20. I dislike yellow in almost anything but flowers. I'm not sure why they get an exception.
21. I read far more non-fiction than fiction. I like to learn things.
22. If I get gift cards I go out of my way to buy something that I wouldn't normally buy. That way it's more gifty.
23. On a related note, my brother and sister-in-law have been supporting my art habit for years. Yay new toys.
24. I own the complete Monty Python TV series, including the German episodes.
25. Ditto A Bit of Fry & Laurie. Well, except for the German episodes since there weren't any.
26. I like sharing my books. With only a couple of exceptions, I'm not even overly concerned if they don't come back. Fly, book. Fly...
27. If you asked me what I'd save from my apartment in case of a fire, I'd be stumped. My ID? Honestly, my things are becoming less and less important to me as I grow older.
28. I got the English award at my high school. I know, kind of hard to believe.
29. I can write in fluent dry academic, but life's too short to be that boring.
30. I like playing with words, and think of language as organic. Proscriptive, rule-bound grammarians need to look at language as it actually exists as opposed to how they think it should be, as far as I'm concerned. In other words, go stuff yourselves.
31. My favourite curse word is bugger. It's extremely versatile.
32. I could have easily studied library science. Or linguistics. Language evolution is a very cool thing.
33. I hate dusting. It seems so pointless.
34. I (and my coworker) once used a keyhole saw to cut the breasts off of a mannequin. I should probably tell that story here sometime.
35. I've been walking the same trails in the Sanctuary for over twenty years now, but under the right circumstances going for a simple walk can still make me ridiculously happy.
36. When I was doing youth theatre with the choir I sang in, the lack of boys meant that I always ended up playing male roles. This despite the fact that I'm 5'2" and... erm, round. Apparently no one was supposed to notice?
37. My favourite colour is purple, but I look better in red.
38. I haven't had my hair cut in two years. Sheer laziness. When I do get it cut, it'll be short(ish). Then I'll let it grow again, probably.
39. I tend to have serial hobbies. I'll do one thing for a while and then move onto something else. Then, a few years later I'll go back and do it all again.
40. I once threw a full file folder across the room at my office mate (known here as Wheat. Long story). Missed. They're not very aerodynamic, file folders.
41. I have some pretty weird scars. Or, more accurately, scars gained in pretty weird ways.
42. I once gave myself a minor concussion by running into a tree during a pond study program. Long story. Again.
43. I didn't learn to knit until I was thirty. Now, I knit mostly toques. Too short an attention span for anything else.
44. I used to be pretty good at needlepoint and embroidery. Probably still am. It's not exactly something you forget.
45. I think that being nearsighted changes every single facet of my life. I'm always going to be more comfortable with the details than the big picture. Literally and figuratively.
46. I don't share many of my beliefs on the blog. I have beliefs; they're none of the internet's business.
47. I'm nearly terrified (think beyond scared, but not quite to the point of full-on phobia) of being burned and have been since I was a kid even though I've never been seriously burned in my life. It made it really hard to learn to cook as a teen because I didn't want to get anywhere near the stove. It's the one thing that might make me believe in reincarnation, really. Maybe I was a witch in another life. Hmm. Wonder if I weigh the same as a duck?
48. I'm allergic to the cold. No, I'm serious.
49. I like changing the words in songs. I think we can blame that one on my father, who used to stick nose into every song when we were children. As for me, I have a few favourite inserts. Just about every song about money is better with monkey, if you asked me.
50. I'm very pattern and shape oriented. Any weird photo cropping you see on the blog? Not accidental. I generally aim for things that appeal to my brain, even if they miss the point for everyone else.

And... 50. That was... very random.

But it equals another post, so good on me.





Blogging over the week might be pretty wordless since we're coming to our school year end, so  I might suggest that if this seems too blathery today you should wrap some of it up and save it for later.

Or find something else to read, I suppose. That works.

Done typing now.