for only five questions, she sure do go on...

thanks, Linda.
i feel like i'm on a press junket. i have no idea for what movie/book/whatever i should be being interviewed for. but if you'd like to play...
1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. 5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. Tell me about high school, love it? hate it? Why? And do you go to reunions? Why or why not?
i liked high school. i hated-hated-HATED junior high. was tormented beyond belief then...and i went to a Christian private school.
i guess they weren't all very Christian, were they?
high school was something else different. it was the first time i had gone to a new school since kindergarten, so it was cool to reinvent myself. not that i could, but at least i could dream.
it was neat to be a new kid for once. my only terror was getting lost on my way to classes, but everyone was great. they showed me around.
i didn't go to any of the reunions for lots o' reasons...mostly because during my senior year - Crazy Auntie Kay (that i lived with) suddenly decided she couldn't afford to send me there any longer. nor did she mention to my mom about any financial difficulties, for if she had, i could've stayed there.
but she didn't. soooooo - rather than letting me take my GED, the family had a pow-wow and decided that i "needed the fun of a senior year."
so i had "fun." i started a high school in January where i knew no one. not a soul. at least when i started high school, i knew people from my junior high.

after the fun, and graduation, i couldn't see going to a reunion at the original high school: "so what happened to you?" what am i supposed to say? go into all the reasons why my auntie was suffering from serious mental problems? not worth it. and going to a high school i went to for two semesters? naaah.


2. If money wasn't in the picture, what is your dream job?
only one dream job? i got a million of them. unfortunately, there's also classes involved for a bunch of them. chef/catering. photography. party planning. and of course, if money were no object, then i would just go down to the baby store and buy me a couple. the Husband would get used to it, believe me.

but - if i really had one dream job, it would be the one i've had most all my life: writing. most specifically, the Great American Novel. not that i would necessarily be the American version of JK Rowling, but still.
then i could go on a real press junket. and y'all could go as my entourage (and you know who you are!)

3. Tell us how you met Brenden.
ah, Brendan. my sweetie.
Brendan & i were introduced through a friend of mine (hi Kristie!) and her mom, another Val. i had worked with Val when i was in college, so she knew me. Kris & i kinda knew each other from work (where i am now), but got to be better friends before and after she got married.

Brendan on the other hand, worked with Val via phone from a mail house down in San Diego. he was kvetching one day to Val about his love life (a friend of his put it this way: Brendan's motto is "Give me your psychos, your wackos and your drama queens. i'll date 'em, if i haven't already."
don't ask me what he's doing with me.
anywhooooooo - one day, Val told him she had a nice girl for him, but she was "kinda loud."
hmmmm.
luckily for me, it didn't scare him. he called me one night and we talked for 2 1/2 hours.
that went well. we made plans to meet that weekend at Disneyland; he had free tickets and i had an annual pass.
we had our first kiss that night, by a bonfire in Frontierland. that was in 1994.
he proposed New Year's eve 1996 at midnight. while we were watching Dick Clark.
(not the most romantic, i know, but here's the thing: we have a tradition that we, on New Year's Eve, go out to a teppan restaurant (like Benehana's), and his idea was to propose there. but, as is tradition at those restaurants, unless you have a large group, you sit with strangers.
one of the chicks at our table was loud. really loud. like what could be heard in the next county loud. he was afraid everyone else would hear the proposal before i would.

so he made me stay up late (which, of course made me WAY cranky), saying he wanted to ring in the new year. so Miss CrankyPants played solitaire on his computer, bitching to myself the whole time. i snapped out of my funk long enough to kiss him at midnight when he said, "yes, it's a new year. a new beginning. time to start a new life."

huh?

and down he went on one knee and proposed. my response?
"are you serious?"
he laughed...well, let's see - i'm on one knee, i have a ring...you do the math, honey.

sometimes i'm not the quickest car on the track.

4. What's the best memory of your wedding day? only one? hmmmm. well, the bagpiper Kristie hired was cool...making my stepfather laugh when i leaned over during a prayer and told him i just flicked an aphid off my *ahem* bosom and realized that the videographer was taping the.whole.thing. and in our video, you can actually see the bug being sent to his kamakazi death.

but by far, the best memory was Brendan & i making our grand entrance to our reception to James Brown's "I Feel Good."

good times.

5. What is your greatest strength?

i'm not sure i have one. i think my sense of humor or optimism has truly carried me through some really dark places...and is still doing it to this day.

hey - it got you through this missive, didn't it?