Sunday, November 11, 2007

Eight is enough

Yikes! I've been tagged. Silently tagged. Didn't feel a thing. (Note to self-- be more observant.) Nunhead mum of one, who writes cool (in the Californian sense of the word, not in the way that a meteorologist or Nancy Mitford would use it) little vignettes of life in her neighborhood on Nunhead Ramblings, challenged me to write a series of 8 things.



Seems to me that the best way to tackle lists of these sort is to go at them without stopping to think, to write the first thing that comes to mind. Otherwise you start writing with a view to your audience, trying to impress them. I figure you'd see through that, so you're getting the stream of consciousness version here.


8 things I'm passionate about:

1. Cruelty toward children or animals or anyone innocent or defenseless. (Hmmmn. 'Passionate' here means in the sense of passionately against. Suppose I should probably write a list of things I'm passionately in favor of.)
2. Surrounding myself with a beautiful garden, all green and growing things (hard to do in wintertime).
3. Coming home on a dark and rainy night, lighting a fire to drive back the darkness, filling the house with candles and incense and putting some magnificent music on the stereo.
4. Showing something new to a child, presenting them with a game they've never tried to play, an idea they've never thought about before, and watching their eyes grow wide with wonder (especially fun at Christmas).
5. Stopping each day to think of three things that I should be grateful for.
6. Getting out of the house to walk, or run, or bicycle, anything that will get me out of myself and looking at the world. (Looking at life should be like looking at a window, not a mirror.)
7. My family (oh, I bet everyone says this one).
8. My friends (but that's because it's true).

8 things to do before I die:

1. Become thin-and-fit.
2. Buy a house.
3. Write something that isn't a technical manual.
4. Cycle a century.
5. Run a 5k.
6. Learn to sew without cussing.
7. Become able to speak in public without turning bright red (not a good color on me).
8. Become an organized, confident person.


8 things I say often:

1. Dagnabbit
2. Sheesh
3. Oi vey Maria!
4. Yikes
5. Actually, I like to think
6. that I don't
7. repeat myself
8. all that often


8 books I've read recently:

1. House hunting for dummies
2. House buying for single women
3. An exhaltation of larks
4. Making money
5. Cary Grant: a biography
6. Buying a home when you're single
7. Introduction to Darwin Information Typing Architecture
8. Beginning Runner's Handbook

8 songs I could listen to over and over:

1. Fantasie Impromptu, Op. 51, by Chopin
2. Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, by Rachmaninov
3. Suite for solo cello No. 1, by Bach
Oh wait. Does 'songs' mean something to sing along with? I can't sing! Oh here goes:
4. Hang on little tomato, Pink Martini
5. Days like this, Van Morrison
6. Fall on me, REM
7. Javano, Javanke, by the Baksheesh Boys
8. Don't be shy, by Cat Stevens



8 qualities I look for in a best friend:

1. Honesty
2. More honesty
3. Humor
4. Loyalty
5. An open mind
6. Intelligence
7. Patience
8. Ability to finish lists. The 8th one is always the hardest, for some reason.

8 comments:

Keziah Fenton said...

Rachmaninov's Theme on Paganini is my absolute favourite piece of classical music. No wonder we're friends. Well that and my ability to finish lists.

Heather said...

I like those a lot!

Crabby McSlacker said...

Awesome list!

Though I think honesty in friendships is overrated. I prefer my buds to say only nice things to me even if they have to lie through their teeth to do it.

(This coming from a former therapist. Nice, huh?).

soapbox girl said...

Great list. And the fire place sounds so appealing. (I'd swelter to death with one in this 77 degree weather we're having!)

The Merry said...

77 degree weather? It was 34 degrees when I went out this morning. Hmmmn... maybe it's time I took a road trip...

And it's unusual for me to disagree with the Crab, but I have to say this is one time when I do disagree. Friends are the only people I can count on to be honest. If I want someone to tell me sweet lies, heck, that's what dates are for! ;)

The Merry said...

Heather, I meant to say I liked your list. I still have to work on the 7 Things Nobody Knows list... that one takes some thinking, which is not my speciality.

Keziah? Go finish your book first. That's important. Lists can wait :)

GatorPerson said...

#6 before you die? I've sewn for years (maybe you heard about the sequin dress from ....) and I absolutely positively can't sew without cussing. Unless my mouth is full of pins.

The Merry said...

GP, I want to see a picture of your green sequin dress! I'm bummed that there weren't any photos for the blog :(