I Write Like...

And while I'm killing time in the hotel room, waiting for the rain to stop...

I write like
Ray Bradbury

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

"Better Be Home Soon" - Still Another Damn Music Meme

Yes, dear readers, it's time for another damn music meme. There are a million reasons why, but I'll just a list a few:

• Because a teaching overload is most truly felt at the end of the term
• Because there is an administrative need to make the term feel extra-productive by cramming in extra meetings into the final days
• Because the weather is working its foul magic on me, making me sleepy and sniffly and easily distracted

And so, here are the rules:

Put your iTunes or MP3 player on shuffle

1. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
2. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
3. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the game as well as the person you got the note from.

So, as per the usual, I'm not tagging anyone, and though this is a nonsense meme, when it works, it really works. I"ll let you be the judges though.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
"Begin the Begin" - R.E.M.

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"Graveyard" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
"That Old Black Magic" - Keely Smith & Louis Prima

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
"Roadrunner" - Joan Jett

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"What Would Wolves Do? " Les Savvy Fav

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Smokestack Lightning" - Howlin' Wolf

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"My Poor Bran" - the Foo Fighters

WHAT IS 2+2?
"Not About Love" - Fiona Apple

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"Science Fiction Double Feature" - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Sweet Jane" - Cowboy Junkies

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"God Damn Job" - the Replacements

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"About a Girl" - Nirvana

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Second to None" - Phoenix

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold" - Robert Earl Keen Jr.

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"Land of 1,000 Dances" - Wilson Pickett

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Televisor" - Morningwood

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Love Removal Machine" - The Cult

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Oceans" - Pearl Jam

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Horse to Water" - R.E.M.

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
"Darts of Pleasure" - Franz Ferdinand

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"Porchlight" - Neko Case

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"Sex Mad Roar" - The Clash

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"Crazy Love" - Van Morrison and Ray Charles

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
"Only the Good Die Young" - Billy Joel

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"Wichita Skyline" - Shawn Colvin

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"Straight, No Chaser" - Miles Davis

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Sky Blue Sky" - Wilco

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"Better Be Home Soon" - Crowded House

End of the Year Meme

Still getting back into the swing of blogging again, and with a departure for parts homeward happening in the wee small hours of tomorrow (no one on the road but me and the drunks), this might be it for awhile. I saw this over at Maggie's awhile back and it seemed like as good a way of catching up (with where I'm at, with blogging, with whatever) as anything, so...

1. Will you be looking for a new job?

Still. Ugh. I think I've got 11 applications still out there; no word from the two places I did some sort of interview with. And again, I'm thinking about jumping the academic ship (or shark - pick your metaphor) if something good doesn't turn up.

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?

This question makes my head hurt. Honestly, should a meme make me feel like I'm on the phone with my parents?

3. New house?

Probably. I've moved ever year for the last decade, so why break the trend? And if I get a new job, it'll be a certainty.

4. What will you do different in 08?

This sounds like a sneaky way of asking about a New Year's Resolution (see the next question), but generally, I'll be a bit more healthy than the last half of '07. And I'll try to be a bit better about protecting my time and energy from the job.

5. New Years resolution?

I don't really do resolutions since it seems to me that if you want to do something, there's no need to tie it to the change of the year. Seems like making an event out of them - putting them up for display - just adds pressure to them.

6. What will you not be doing in 08?

Not letting the degree dictate so much of the rest of my life.

7. Any trips planned?

Flying home tomorrow for a few days; hopefully to see some friends in various drivable locations throughout the term.

8. Wedding plans?

I barely plan my meals. Let's be serious. Though if I attend one, I plan to object, just because I want to be at a wedding where someone objects.

9. Major thing on your calendar?

The book submission.

10. What can’t you wait for?

Summertime. Also the return of "Battlestar Galactica."

11. What would you like to see happen differently?

Driving in this city, politics in this country, peace in this world, meaning in this universe.

Also I'd like to be able to find my favorite beers wherever I live.

12. What about yourself will you be changing?

I'd like to have a lifestyle again, as opposed to having a sort of "sleep mode" between teaching assignments.

13. What happened in 07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?

Paris! Also having to get a roommate as Ph.D. to pay the bills.

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?

I hope so, which isn't to say I'm not nice to them. But who wouldn't want to be nicer?

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07?

Two words: latex kilts.

Okay. Seriously, no, probably no differently than before.

16. Will you start or quit drinking?

I long for the days of bourbon smoothies in the office with my fellow grad students, but really, I'll probably just keep the same habits here, thanks.

17. Will you better your relationship with your family?

I will if they will.

18. Will you do charity work?

I could argue that teaching this much for this little while having no life is pretty much charity work, but that's not what the question means I'm guessing. So probably a little but not as much as I should.

19. Will you go to bars?

I'm sure sometimes. But probably not much.

20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know?

As with being nice to the people I care about, I hope I'll be nice to people I don't know. I'll start by voting against wars and such.

21. Do you expect 08 to be a good year for you?

I do indeed.

22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?

I'm edging closer to financially stable (albeit at a fairly glacial pace), I've got a good sense of how much I'm willing to take, and I'm starting to get a pretty good sense of what I'm willing to give.

23. Do you plan on having a child?

And miss the only time I'd ever use a hockey metaphor in my life? Hell no. Besides, that's not how my family does it.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?

I'd like to keep the old ones and add some new ones, please.

25. Major lifestyle changes?

This question made me think of the line, "Looks like a picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."

But really, I don't feel like I've got much of a lifestyle so any change feels like it would be major. I hope they're good ones.

26. Will you be moving?

Oh, I do so hope to move!

27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 08 that happened in 07?

I don't think I've quite that much control over the universe. But I intend to allow more time and resources so that I can do things I want rather than just the things I have to do.

28. What are your New Years Eve plans?

Packing to go home, possibly talking to a few drunk friends around the country.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?

Does a lick on the face from my dog count?

30. One wish for 08?

Three more wishes. And if you're sticklers that say you can't do that, then I'd wish for a satisfying, comfortably paid job in a place that offers me all the sorts of things I like to do with a slice of cheesecake.

And with that, a Happy New Year (and a piece of cheesecake) to you all!

The 7 meme

Belle tagged me with the 7 meme, and since I've nothing good to do today (not to be confused with nothing to do today), I'm definitely up for it though the last time I participated in a meme didn't go so well. I actually don't know that I have enough readers to tag seven who haven't already been tagged. We'll see...

Anyway, here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Check.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself. Brace yourselves.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. On it.

Here's my seven:

• Roughly once a year, I am convinced that eating Taco Bell is a good idea. It never is. Today was that day.
• I cannot actually snap my fingers. But I can fake it.
• At 5:17 a.m., I had the first "I'm not going to get a new job" dream of the season.
  
• I like food that makes me cry. Italian food has proved utterly incapable of this and is, thus, highly over-rated in my book. You cannot convince me otherwise.
• I once had a job opening payment envelopes for an insurance company. Actually a machine opened the envelopes. My job was to push the button to make the machine open them and to stick my finger inside if the machine got jammed.
• I once invented a fake girlfriend and got her pregnant as a way to convince my family to stop asking me when I would get married and/or give them grandchildren. I did this on Mother's Day. Her name was Ilsa, and I have no regrets.
• When I was in kindergarten, I cut my finger with a scalpel. I felt no pain until I was given a shot to numb my hand in the Emergency Room. The pain was not from the needle but from being tricked and can best be explained by what my older sister heard me scream from her vantage point outside: "This isn't ice cream!"

As for my seven, I'll choose kermitthefrog, Dance, Maggie, Adjunct Whore, Dr. Medusa (I know you peek over here now and then), Chaser, and Poptart (though I recognize your blog is no more and that the last time I gave you a meme it brought you all manner of hell - consider this a Christmas wish for your return to the Internets, sort of the geek version of "One for my homies.").