Category Archives: Meme Mood

Memeology


(stolen from the lovely VelocibadgerGirl, see, I swear I still read even if I never comment anymore)

MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. It changes frequently, but right this moment Wendys

Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A. PF Chang’s

Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A. 20%

Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
A. Cheese Potatos

Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A. Plain, or Peperoni, or Green peppers & Onions

Q. What do you like to put on your toast?
A. Butter

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A. A picture of Hubbin and I on a ferryboat in Switzerland, looking fabulously happy

Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A. 12? Just kidding… but probably close, in the room I’m in right now there are 2. We just got a new fancy fancy one for the living room last week.

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A. Right

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A. Not a one

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
A. I boosted a few adult men up in bed tonight at clinical, they were awfully heavy.

Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. No

BULLSHITOLOGY

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A. Definately NOT

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
A. Probably to Sarah. People frequently tell me I look like a Sarah. Just last week in clinical one of the other students needed someone to bring something to her patient’s room and called “Hey Sarah, will you bring some blue pads in”… I not only turned in response to Sarah but then proceeded to bring what she asked for.

Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
A. Most. Orange and I don’t get along so well.

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A. Not by mistake, but I did swallow a penny as a young punk preschooler with a friend. Our mothers made us sit on the toilet (together – so not kidding) until we produced said pennies.

Q. Have you ever saved some one’s life?
A. Yes, and blogged about it to boot. Additionally, last week a just for the heck of it did a urine dip on someone who’s urine didn’t need dipped and caught a 430 blood sugar on a chemo patient who was previously unaware she is now a diabetic… I was proud of that find, she was admitted rather than being discharged with lozenges for her thrush.

Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. No… but I told my friend in youthgroup in highschool he did because he killed a wasp with his BAREHAND (I kid you not! I’m totally phobic of all bee-varieties) on our outreach trip so I could go in the bathroom and pee without getting stung, I called him “Hero” for years.

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A. As long as she didn’t have a raging cold sore 😉

Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A. That is a lot of money…. but I don’t think so

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A. Writing in a journal just isn’t as fun…

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
A. Can I be airbrushed? If yes, then I’d strongly consider it… Nah… if a good airbrushing is involved I’d do it.

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000

A: No. I don’t go well with spicy

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A. No, living with myself would be punishment enough


DUMBOLOGY

Q: What is in your left pocket?
A: My PDA, a mini tube of lotion, and three alcohol wipes. (Just got home from clinical, is that obvious?)

Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A: I’m not sure I even laughed?

Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A: I’ve done both.

Q: Could you live with roommates?
A: I have… I could do it again

Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
A: 8? 12? I definitely own more flip flops than real shoes. What sense does that make?

Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A: I got pulled over for speeding in the fall of 2006. I

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I’d like to be happy. Career wise? If only I knew and had the time, money, and strength to accomplish it. I’ve decided to apply to PA school this spring.


LASTOLOGY

Q: Last friend you talked to?
A: Hubbin

Q: Last person who called you?
A: Hubbin

Q: Last person you saw?
A: Hubbin

FAVORITOLOGY

Q: Number?
A: 6 and 8

Q: Season?
A: Summer

CURRENTOLOGY

Q: Missing someone?
A: No

Q: Mood?
A: Quiet and tired

Q: Listening to?
A: Mozart… I just couldn’t handle anything with words tonight.

Q: Watching?

A. My computer screen?

Q: Worrying about?

A. Damn near everything under the sun.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning?
A: Bathroom, always.

Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: Graduate and be D-O-N-E with nursing school

Q: What’s the last movie you saw?
A: In the Movies: I am Legend (Awesome) At Home: The Last Legion (Sucked)

Q: Do you smile often?
A: When I’m just going about my business? No. Rarely. I’m frequently told by complete strangers to smile. Which frankly, I think is rude, what if I just had a major tragedy? Just a few weeks ago I was on the hospital elevator and some random guy was like “Come on, smile”… How do you know I’m not at the hospital cause someone’s dying? I’m also often told by people that when they first met me they thought I hated them. I can’t help it!

Q: Are you a friendly person?
A. Lol, probably not, see the above answer. I guess I can be friendly when I try. But I’m a NICE person! I think, anyway… you apparently just have to get past the gruff exterior.

The Eight Things

I was tagged by DisappearingJohn

Here are the rules: Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. Write a post about your own random things. Post these rules. At the end of your blog, tag 8 people and post their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged.

Oh gosh… I hardly know where to begin! I feel like there’s so many, but not that many that you all don’t already know!

  1. I’ve read Ebola by William T. Close 8 times. No, that’s not a misprint. One day maybe even as long ago as junior high? I picked up at a bookstore. I really liked it, I was fascinated. From there I went on a whole string of books about public health and disease, but that was the first. I ended up majoring in Biology in college but I applied to be a microbiology major at one university as well. Micro is still one of my favorite subjects. I think it’s such an important subject, it always seems to be coming in handy.
  2. (Since I was just talking about this with my husband this morning) I’m a spatial relations all-star. That wasn’t a joke? You know it IQ tests and aptitude tests when they ask you which shape comes next? Or if you folded something how it would look? Or “arrange these to match the pattern?” Yeah those… The first time that came in handy was we had a picture making contest in 6th grade with tangrams. I beat everyone, every time, hands down, sometimes with minutes to spare. In junior high I had to take an IQ test and they had me arrange red and white blocks to match the pattern on the card… The test giver told me she had never seen anyone able to do them so fast. Anytime something like that’s on a test I score in the 99th percentile…. I so should have been an engineer
  3. I have an EXTREME addiction to the everything bagels in our hospital gift shop. I haven’t had one in almost two weeks and this is HUGE. I’m working very hard to break my addiction. Every time I walk in there to get coffee I have to tear myself away from the everything bagels… I’ve tried them at other places, but none are this good. Oh goodness, I’m starting to drool just thinking about them…
  4. I have no vegetarian leanings but I will not eat seafood, and by seafood I mean anything that comes out of the water. (Except canned Tuna, I know, that’s the worst one right?) My parents claim I used to like it, I don’t recall having any traumatic fish experiences but the thought of eating seafood just totally grosses me out.
  5. I don’t like talking on the phone. I’m not very good with the whole phone thing. I regularly call my parents and husband, but almost never anyone else. I’m extremely good at staying in touch, but only with those people who are willing to use email, facebook, or myspace to keep in touch.
  6. I’ve always wanted to see a tornado. From a respectful (read: safe) distance of course.
  7. I look into my shoes before I put them on. This stems from a story I may have told involving my foot sharing my tennis shoe with a nauseatingly large furry spider.
  8. I had a goiter when I was in 4th grade. My mom is hypothyroid and noticed my goiter, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis then (So not a big deal, don’t worry… And the goiter’s gone, thanks) I’ve been taking medicine now for more than 10 years. Since then nearly every female in my family has been diagnosed as hypothyroid… I’m quite the trail blazer, go get your thyroid tested, it’s the trendy thing to do ;)… Just last week when I was complaining of being cold Hubbin accused me of having a metabolic disorder, and I thought it was quite amusing to be able to respond “In fact, I do, now turn the heat up”

Ok! Sweet! Now for the tagging part. I hope I can come up with 8!….. I’m tagging:
J
The Owens Family
Brook
Bibliophile
Learning to Catch Babies
Velocibadgergirl
Ashley
Shoot, I don’t think I have anymore! I clearly need to quit lurking so much!

Because I’m not feeling creative…

1. Do you still talk to the person you lost your virginity to? Occasionally
2. Is it harder to be rejected or to reject someone? Be rejected (Maybe I’m heartless?)
3. What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? I wasn’t too into music then, so probably oldies because that’s what my parents listened to.
4. What is the best thing about your current job? My coworkers.
5. Do you wish cell phone etiquette was a required class? It should be.
6. What’s the last thing you drank? Coffee with carnation instant breakfast
7. Have you been on a date in the past week? Not just us, we saw Spiderman on Saturday with one of his friends… but I’ve requested one Saturday.
8. Where are you going on your next vacation? Hopefully somewhere! We’ve discussed both Las Vegas and NYC, unfortunately I only get about 4 days off of school this summer.
9. Have you ever thrown up from working out? That would be pretty hardcore wouldn’t it? I guess I know when to quit… lol
10. Are most of the friends in your life new or old? I guess a mix. Mostly old, but I’m certainly seeing WAY more of my new nursing school friends… at least I’d like to consider them friends. We haven’t quite advanced to hanging out outside of school yet though.
11. Have you ever gotten so wasted you didn’t know what was going on? Yes, I went to an extremely rural college.
12. Do you like pulp-y orange juice? Sometimes.
13. Are you touchyfeely? More than I thought possible.
14. Did you cry at your high school graduation? No. Nor at college graduation.
15. Do you prefer the tanning bed or the sun? I am an EXTREMELY white individual. I wear sunscreen because I will always be white. That said, I think laying out in the sun is very relaxing every once in a while. I’ve never stuck myself in one of those microwaves.
(Where’s 16?)
17. What could you tolerate…someone who snores or a sleep walker? I don’t know? I’m kind of an anal-retentive sleeper. I like peace and quiet.
18. Do you consider yourself bi-polar? no? But sometimes I think I have problems with anxiety.
19. Do you have a tatoo? No, I listened to too many lectures from my mother about Hepatitis C
20. What’s your worst personality flaw? I like to be lazy a bit too much.
22. Would you ever parachute off of a plane? No. Never. Absolutely Not.
23. Have you ever ridden an elephant? No
24. Are you Irish in any way? Yes, and I have a family tree to prove it. I assiciate myself with a few countries, but all and all I’m an American mutt. Both my mother and father have family that arrived before the US became the US, so there’s been plenty of time to be watered down.
25. Have you ever ridden in a U-Haul? I don’t think so
26. Do you like to play Scrabble? No, I always lose
27. Have you ever been to a nude beach? Yikes! No!
28. Have you ever drank Jack Daniels? Yep
29. Have you ever had sex on the beach? Nope, never had the opportunity
30. What are you saving your money up for right now? Life! …No, seriously…
31. What was the last gift you received? Gosh… I don’t know… I guess the shoes my Husband bought and I forgot to pay him back for.
33. Does the number of people a person’s slept with affect your opinion of him or her? Yes, but not a whoooole lot.
34. Have you ever gone to a party where you were the only straight person? Not that I was aware of! When I went to visit my gay-best-friend a few years ago he threatened to take me to a gay bar… I told him I wasn’t sure I was ready for that, lol.
35. What do you do when you spy a bug in your house? Immediately begin to plot ways to kill it.
36. What is your favorite Disney movie? Mulan & Peter Pan
37. Where were you 1 hour ago? At my desk, at work. Still.
38. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My mama

Interview Meme

I’m a shade slow on the uptake, Velocibadgergirl sent my my interview questions a few days ago.

1. Why did you start blogging and what do you like best about it?
I started blogging out of sheer and total boredom. After college, before I had a job, I moved back home with my parents. Not too many of my close friends from highschool moved back to the area. It was a good area for me to be in given I was interested in scientific research and there’s a whole lotta research going on around here. Unfortunately, I also graduated in 2003 which was the worst year in a long time to be job hunting. It took me 6 months to find a job. I was deathly bored and depressed during that time and I spent a lot of time putzing around on the computer. So my first offical blog post was made to Live Journal in December 2003. I will say though that it is no accident and waaaaaay back in the mid 90s when the internet was still somewhat new, remember those geocities pages you could make? I had one of those and was just totally in love with the idea of having my own website since then. After I had a job I kept posting because my boss was soooooo nasty, that I needed some sort of ranting outlet. I made the switch to blogger because my livejournal site was read only by people I knew, and I wanted an unknown audience, so that I would have the option of talking about people I knew. I wanted something more anonymous.

I like best that I can tell stories and talk about things people may not have any desire to listen to in person. I also like that I can change the way it looks (somewhat) But mostly I like reading other peoples blogs. I guess I’m a somewhat nosey person and I really enjoy being able to read about other people’s lives and occasionally offer my two cents.

2. Didn’t you once say that your middle name is really unique? If that was you, can you talk about it? If that wasn’t you, or if it’s a secret, skip to question 2B: If you could only listen to five albums for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
It WAS me and since I could never pick 5 albums to listen to for the rest of my life, I’m a shade trapped. Life without my ipod and the ability to flip around would be a very sad dark place. I will instead turn this around a bit. I will tell you a smidge about it and give you a few clues. I’ve made a new email address, just for us, ssfbfresh at gmail dot com, if you guess right, I’ll tell you.

It’s a family name, meaning I share it with my father (middle name) and my great-grandfather (first name). I’ve met one person who has it as a last name, never anyone that has this as a first name. Honestly, I wouldn’t even consider it a name. It is in the dictionary, I would say it’s more of a concept. It has religious connotations. Beginning with the letter C.

3. Name one book you think everyone should read and explain your choice.
Gosh this was another hard question. I don’t read very much now (aside from my pharmacology book). I’ve been listening to audiobooks that my husband downloads, since I can do that while I’m driving to & from work. I’ve never been very into reading “intelligent books” but I’ve always loved to read. Michael Crichton was always my favorite author but I swear he’s gone downhill. The books I have enjoyed the most recently are the series by Kathy Reichs. She writes suspenseful murder/anthropology books.

Ok but after thinking for a few moments I’ve got the answer… The book I have recommended the most to people above and beyond all others is He’s Just Not That Into You. It’s hysterical, written by writers for Sex and the City, the only book I ever recall laughing out loud while reading. And really I think it applies to SO much more than just women going through break ups. To correct a common misconception, it is NOT a depressing book to read, I thought so too when my friend first recommended it. It’s really a funny and empowering book, even though I feel ridiculous for saying that. I’ve lent it to people, recommended it, even to my gay best friend when he was going through a break up, I’ve even given it away now. I’m not kidding, I’ve even tried to make my husband read it (I had to settle for reading him some of my favorite parts though).

4. If money and time off work were not a problem, what vacation would you take?
How about money, time, and bodily harm? If bodily harm were not a concern I would want to go to Africa. A safari, camp out under the stars, and see lots of animals. Alas, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little afraid of the political stability (or lack there of) and all the exotic diseases I could bring home. Instead I would pick Australia I think… I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland too, but that’s less of a time issue than going to a place like Australia. Orrrr, what about all those minimally inhabited islands I’ve seen on the travel channel? I would looooove to travel to one of those really exotic islands where celebrities go with all the luxury and private beaches. *sigh*

5. If you could see one band or singer in concert–living, dead, broken up, or still together–who would it be?
Hmmmm, would it be completely lame of me to pick a concert I’ve already seen but would like to see again? The last time they did a big tour I got to see Simon & Garfunkel with my dad for my birthday. It was THE BEST concert I have EVER seen. Everything about it was just WONDERFUL. I would love to see it all again.

To participate:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions of my choice (you can send me your email addy at the previously arranged email I set up just for us 😉 ssfbfresh at gmail dot com)

3. Then, you should update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You have to include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you get to ask them five questions.

A Meme! A Meme! An Interview Meme!

I found this Meme today after reading Velocibadgergirl’s blog and finding BrownEyedGirl’s blog.

  1. What would be your dream career if you could pick anything to do without worrying about making enough money? I would love to be a stay at home mom some day, or even a part-time working mom. I think the only thing standing in the way of that dream career (aside from not yet having children) is finances. The other dream job would be an editor of programs for something like the discovery channel or national geographic channel, I would love to be able to sit around all day and watch science documentaries 😉 And actually (haha, I didn’t expect this answer to be so long) the other thing I’ve thought “hey I think that would be a REALLY cool job” would be designing video games. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a book or something and thought “this would make a MUCH better video game than movie” The first one I would work on: The Descent by Jeff Long. That would be a stellar video game.
  2. Complete this sentence: Happiness is….

 If you are willing to keep in mind that by the time I get home tonight I will have already “worked” 40 hours this week between work and school: I spend a lot of time fantasizing about sleeping in on weekends, finishing school and being able to go straight home after work to do things I actually enjoy. Being able to spend more quality time with the Hubbin. I also spend an awful lot of time fantasizing about our future, like kids, careers etc. I look forward to those days.
  3. What is the greatest age difference that you’ve ever experienced in a relationship? Did it make a difference? 6 Years (7 I guess depending on how you count). I will turn 26 this year and he will turn 33. It made a huge difference (We got married). I should preface that by saying I’ve only really had one other serious relationship and he was about 3 months older than me but about 6 years more immature than me. I think it made a big difference because Hubbin’s had time to do all that boy stuff that boys do when they’re learning who they are. All the problems I had with my exboyfriend my husband had time to sort out of his system before we even met. Things like prioritizing a relationship and family over friends and partying.
  4. What is your earliest memory? I have two, I don’t know which came first. I remember my teenage babysitter and her mom (neighbors) taking me to see Snow White in the movie theater and me swinging up over the curb while holding their hands. And I remember getting this coloring book that came with paints and I was SO excited to use it right away but my mom wanted me to clean my room first. We got in a big fight (for someone who was probably 5 at the time fighting their mom) and my mom threw the whole thing away, I remember being just completely devastated.
  5. What is the one thing you cannot live without? I’ll assume this means aside from my family… Water. And I don’t really mean that in the life-sustaining sense. I mean our trip to Germany was downright torturous for me at times because they are determined to give you sparkling water or coke or beer to drink. I didn’t have enough German skills (or any really) to order plain tap water unless my husband was sitting right there. 98% of the time that is ALL I want to drink. We were even in restaurants that refused to serve plain tap water!
  6. What place outside of the U.S. would you most like to visit? Why?

 Ireland, Costa Rica, Austrailia, somewhere in Africa… No particular reason other than I these all fall into the category of locations I believe (via National Geographic and television) to be attractive places, with cool things to see.
  7. Who has had the most influence on your life?

 The Hubbin. I think I could probably write a whole separate blog entry about things I think are different about myself now that we’ve met.

A Brief Biography

I was inspired this week by Velocibadger girl and decided that since I’m still slacking on writing my list of 100 things about myself now would be a good time to do a brief biography (totally copying topic for topic).

SSFB is not my real name (duh) and in fact it’s a brandi-new concocted internet name specifically for this blog. As previously discussed, I’m a promiscuous internet user so I have quite a few online names but when I started “Starting Fresh” I wanted a clean slate with a little more anonymity. SSFB are not my initials, it is an abbreviation/combination of several nicknames my husband has for me. My real-life first name is a common name, but not for my generation, I’ve run into relatively few people my age with the same name. I always enjoy playing “guess my middle name” with people. I have an extremely common middle initial but my middle name is a completely obscure family name that’s actually a boy’s name. (Grandma was pissed when they used that as my middle name). My father and I have the same middle name, and until I got married had the same initials. When I got married I kept my middle name and ditched my last name. This decision surprised me, I grew up completely hating my middle name and refusing to tell people what it was, but when it came time that I could legally ditch it, I decided I would miss it more than my last name.

I got married last summer; we had an outdoor wedding at a bed and breakfast. I loved every minute of my wedding day but enjoyed exactly 0% of the planning process. Weddings are just NOT my thing. I had never fantasized about my wedding. I thought dress shopping was a complete nightmare, sales people aren’t used to dealing with girls that don’t have a precise idea what they’re looking for. My husband is 6 years older than I am and we met online. Hey, free shipping 😉 … kidding. We met on Match.com. That’s not a joke, and yes I regularly lie to people about how we met. I totally meant to write an entry all about internet dating for our anniversary, but never got around to it. I completely thought all those commercials for Match.com with people that got married were actors, I never thought people ACTUALLY found people online. I deeply regret not regularly posting blog entries on my old blog about internet dating while I was actually doing it, because the whole process was absolutely hysterical. The Hubbin and I met in February ’05 and I’m still addicted. I think we’re a pretty good match, and I find it scary sometimes how much he and my father have in common. We’re both only children and that works out much better than I ever thought it could. I always swore I would never marry an only child because then our kids would never have any cousins. Hubbin wants to have an only child because he loved being an only child; I want two because I hated being an only child.

I graduated college in 4 years from “Super Small Southern School”. I got a BS in biology and I minored in psychology. I love science; I had a great internship (at my current place of employment, different boss) during college and decided I wanted to go into research. I intended to get my masters and PhD after I graduated college and be a scientist. I got my first job out of college in a neurology lab. I hated every moment of it. My boss was the spawn of Satan. I graduated college in 2003 when it was impossible to find a job; I took the first job I was offered after 6 months of looking. 8 months after that I was offered my current job out of the blue and two days after I accepted I got another job offer from a lab I had interviewed with prior to my neurology job. I’ve decided in the past 3 years at this job, that I just don’t have the right mentality to get a PhD and do research. It’s not for me. I like my current boss, I like my coworkers, and it’s nothing personal but I’m just tired of working here. That’s why I’m going back to school for nursing.

I grew up in the United Methodist Church. My parents took me to Sunday school and randomly to church as well. By the time I got to High school I was more attached to church and religion than my parents. I forced my father to go to Sunday school every week with me. We never went to church because as a highschooler it all seemed completely irrelevant to my life. I also attended youth group every Sunday night. Up until 3 months before our wedding I also made the hour drive back to my home church to help out as an adult for youth group, I really enjoyed it, but I had a falling out with the minister when he backed out of performing our wedding ceremony. He was changing jobs and my wedding was right on the cusp and I was very offended with A. the way he handled the situation and B. that he backed out of our wedding leaving me to scramble to find someone else. I had been under the impression we were good enough friends that he should have made a little bit more effort to either forewarn me, or stay an extra (1, singular) day to do the ceremony. I haven’t been back since. Hubbin is not religious, period. I think I had been starting to lean in that directly for a while before this happened anyway. I feel as though I’m entering a new phase in my spirituality and I don’t have a clear idea of where it’s headed right now.

We have reptiles, a slew of them at this point. Big ones. I like cats. I think dogs smell, but I would be open to getting a dog. We have a yard that almost makes it a crime to not have a dog. Unfortunately between me and bubble-boy-hubbin we’re allergic to everything with fur. The reptiles currently live in our guest room. My mother in law is the only houseguest we’ve found willing to share a room with them. I’m lobbying hard to move them to the basement. They’re in the room I intend to use in a few years for a baby room.

When I was growing up I made fun of my grandma for being a worrywart, she always had to have something to worry about. I’ve noticed within the last year I’m going to be just like her. From my other grandma I inherited an unbelievable ability to squirrel away money. We have separate bank accounts and Hubbin pays all the bills. My account is for any overflow and for weekly living items. I give him a weekly allowance. When I control the money flow it just seems to build up a lot better for treats.

I’m going to Europe for the first time in my life at the end of this month. We are getting a free vacation to Germany with the high school German trip. Hubbin was such a good recruiter that my ticket will be paid for too. My parents are coming with us 🙂 He’s assured us we will have no real chaperoning responsibilities. He’s also told me he tapes the students into their rooms at night. I thought it was kidding. But literally with tape, so he can see if any of them left their rooms at night. I thought that was pretty clever.

I’ve pretty much run out of topics at this point. I’ll open up the floor for questions…. Fire away.