I've been meme tagged!

Playing tag on skates is one of those fun things you never forget. Unfortunately, when you get middle aged and frumpy, you play blog tag. Author Martha O'Connor of Bitch Posse fame has seen fit to tag me. I guess I need to tag some people. I'm tagging Author Natalie R. Collins, my favorite graphic designer and queer activist David Shelton, and Axel of Evil author Alina Adams.


1- If you won a million dollars, how much of it would you give to charity?

I'd probably give 10% to start... then as the years go on, I'd keep giving 10% of whatever profits the investment of the money generated.

What would I do?

I'd endow a room at the Catholic HS I attended and ask them to name it in honor of one of my favorite teachers who died the year after I graduated. I'd probably donate some to the Catholic Elementary school where my kids go. I'd give a chunk to Catholics for Faithful Citizenship, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Mother Jones Investigative Journalism Fund. At some point, I'd also set up a technology journalism scholarship at Carnegie Mellon University, my alma mater. I would probably also give to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Boy, that's a lot of ways to slice that pie!

2- Describe what you looked like in the 5th grade.

I was just short of 5' tall and maybe 105lbs. I had long brown hair, a bit frizzled from being braided at night. I had a pointy chin that stuck out because I had a bad underbite that had yet to be fixed. I had a very engaging smile... but not much to smile about that year.

3-Do you think you have a good singing voice?

I have an excellent singing voice. I sing Mezzo Soprano/Alto. I can even sing high tenor. As long as my allergies are not acting up. I can sing when sick, but not when I'm having an allergic reaction.

4- Which would be harder to give up, TV or chocolate?

Chocolate.

5- If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

I did. Dejah.

6- A cat darts into the road and you hear a thud under your tire, do you stop?

Yes.

7- A friend has chronic bad breath, do you say something? If so, what?

Probably not.

8- If you had to move to another country for a year, which one would you choose and why?

I'd love to go to Russia... but really, I'm not sure I could stay in one place. Once I got to Europe, I'd buy a Eurail pass and see everything I possibly could and go everywhere. I'd spend time in Peter and in Moscow and ride the Trans-Siberian. I'd visit my friend Aleksei in Kiev (or Kyiv, as he spells it). I'd take lessons at the famed Yeblenii Skating School. I'd immerse myself in Russian language and culture.

9- If you had only 15 minutes left to live, what would you do?

I'd spend my final moments wanting to go somewhere lovely with my family, but instead screamingat them to get ready because I was dying and needed to leave. And then, when I was taking my last breaths, my husband who had done nothing to that point would stomp in fussing that he's ready and why am I just sitting there, while Joyah can't find her socks and Akey is wearing a green shirt, pink panti-hose, her Harley Davidson boots and no pants and GG is screeching for her sisters to get ready.

Then, I'd die, probably of frustration and embarrassment.

10- If you could remain one age for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I don't think I'd like it. I enjoyed being 20, and part of me wants to be young and free like that again, but I was kind of inconsiderate and self-absorbed at 20. Would I want to be that way again? At 25, I was married, had a child, and I was still thin, but I had not settled into being a mother, or a wife. There were so many conflicts... and I still looked 15. I had no career to speak of and I felt like a huge failure. I didn't have the perspective and the peace that 30 brought. Would I like to be 30 forever? Thirty brought me a career (and then a career change), a difficult child, a nervous breakdown, financial troubles and increasing health problems... and perspective. I can't explain what exactly perspective is or why it is so valuable... but a friend who was in her 40's said "30 is freeing." I didn't understand what she meant until I turned 30. Would I want to be 30 again?

Now, I'm 35. Whatever claim I might once have had to physical beauty is gone. My youth is a dream that lives inside me, but no one sees. I've rebuilt a writing career that tanked with the IT sector when I was 31. I have worsening health problems (both the cause and effect of being heavy, and other things)... and yet, I have declared unilateral victory over money as a measure of success. I am more successful in my career than ever before. I have peace of mind, a pretty nice family and a husband that I love and am content to grow old with. Yes, I have gray hairs. Yes, there have been hard years.

I don't ever want to stay one age. I wouldn't trade who I am today for who I was 5 years ago or who I will be 5 years from now. The challenges are many. But there are rewards too. I'll keep aging, thanks. I paid for these gray hairs.

11- What kind of food is your best friend?

sushi

12- What is your worst habit?

Oh GOD, do I HAVE to answer this? Probably picking my nose when I hope no one is looking. No, I do NOT eat boogers. That's my 6-year-old.

13- Name the best bad movie you ever loved.

Tie:

Somewhere in Time with Christophe Reeve

Champions: A Love Story—yes, it's a figure skating flick.

14- Do you make friends easily?

I make acquaintances easily. I very, very, very seldom make friends. But when I do, I value them.

15- When is the last time you cried?

I don't recall.

16- What will the last line of your obituary say?

Loving Wife, Blameless Mother, Published Author.

SCHAH! GOTCHA!

17- What was your first job, how much did it pay?

My first "job" was running a u-pick blueberry business when I was 6. My brother and I split the summer's take... i think it was about $40.

18- Which Brady would you date if you had to?

Probably Peter... but not til he was 40 or so.

19- Name the movie you would star in if you could be the lead in any film ever made.

I'm not really a movie watcher. I can't think of one that I liked enough to go through the bother of being in a movie. Maybe they could just PAY me to be in a movie but they could like have a double do all the work.

20- If you had to give up one of the 5 senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste), which one would it be?

I'd keep seeing the sights, hearing the sound of children's laughter, feeling rose petals, smelling fresh baked bread and tasting all the delights the culinary world has to offer. I can't imagine voluntarily giving up one of my senses. I suppose you could take them all when you pry them from my cold dead hands.

21- What is the most valuable lesson you have ever learned?

The success cannot always be measured by who has the most money.

22-What is the worst thing a friend has ever done to you?

She refused to forgive me.

23- If you could give your parents any one gift in the world, what would it be?

I gave my father forgiveness and love before he died.

I would want my mom to finally believe in herself, believe she is as smart, as deserving, and as capable as I know she is. She thinks I look down on her because she was only a mom. She does not seem to understand that all my life, I was looking up.

I still am.

24- What is the last good deed someone has done for you?

My husband brought me Godiva chocolates the other day for no reason at all.

25- What is your least favorite fashion trend?

I'm with Martha on this one... women being too skinny is the most awful fashion trend ever.

26- If you had triplet daughters today, what would you name them?

Who thinks up this shit? I have three daughters and I gave them all the names I ever had to give girls I had.

27- Tell about a time when you laughed inappropriately.

It had to be recently when Joyah did something hysterically funny and then got VERY angry with me for laughing at her. I can't remember what she did... she does this sort of thing regularly.

28- What makes you happy?

Truly? Natural progesterone is really what makes me happy... because without it, I can't even function and I drift through the days from funk to funk being miserable and not having a reason.

29- Ever think you might have ESP?

Yes. I dream.

30- Name the one super power you would like to have.

Super power? I have one. I am Tax Aide, see me help the elderly and low and middle income traverse the chaotic landscape of income tax filing. Watch me write off thousands of dollars of income in a single bound, saving a little old lady who lives hand to mouth from the clutches of the IRS. It's Our Hope! Now we'll save! It's Tax Aide!

I volunteer with the AARP Tax Aide program that serves low and middle income and the elderly 2 days a week, January though April 15th. Today, I saved a woman $900 by itemizing. And I got a 50 year old man who never had an ounce of savings started on the path to having an IRA. Maybe that's not much, but it's good work.

31- Name the one household chore you wish you never had to do again.

Laundry!

32- If you could name only one song as the best song of all times, which would it be?

I'm Moving On by Rascal Flatts.

33- How old do you wish you were right now?

The age I am at this moment.

34-Name three things you wouldn't do for money.

WouldN'T?

Only three? I can think of a lot of terrible things... but I'll choose things that I might some day be offered money for or that I might get money if I did.

1. Sacrifice my artistic principles.


2. Violate my idea of journalistic integrity.


3. Cheat my brother out of his share of our inheritance.

35- Is 35 questions too many???

Fuck, yeah.