Thursday Thirteen

1. I'm most creative when I have done the research and I have the thing in front of me to write, or when the picture presents itself and cannot be ignored.

2. If I were a color, I'd be blue leaning toward purple. Blue is the color of the sky and the sea, purple means a little passion has been tossed in.

3. I often imagine myself as the heroine of a fantasy, fighting dragons with magic. I would love to be able to toss a lightning bolt at somebody, just every now and then.

4. I really wish I knew how to cook well. I can cook enough to feed us, but I would like to be able to cook like Julia Childs except in a healthy way. I don't want to give anybody diabetes.

5. I've love to spend a lazy Sunday visiting cemeteries in Scotland, with a big ol' castle looming nearby. Fog from moors and all that.

6. My secret talent is being able to answer many of the more obscure questions about authors and books on Jeopardy. I don't always get the popular culture ones, but ask a question about John Donne and I'm there.

7. When I am angry, I try to get over it quickly but sometimes it lingers. I am also slow to anger, but once I'm there, look out! You might as well get out of the way.

8. My college graduation is coming in May. It looks like it will happen - the thesis first draft was handed back to me with some red marks but nothing serious. A little rewriting and it will be done, I think. I am looking forward to the graduation, but I am also a little sad about it. I really enjoy school and learning.

9. My main goal in life has been, for quite some time, to be content and unfrazzled. I am thinking I need to aim for something else in my later years, though content and unfrazzled is nice.

10. I am pretty tired of people trying to foist their beliefs and values upon me and others. How did limited government also come to mean dictating who you marry, what you do with your own body, who you sleep with, and in what position you do the deed? Those just don't go together.

11. My husband has all of the love that I am capable of giving; I haven't looked at anyone else in the last 28 years and don't plan to look at anyone else ever again. Love is a strong, abiding emotion, love with friendshipo can withstand pretty much anything, I think.

12. Every morning I wake up, put on my robe, enter my office, switch on the computer, put my tea kettle on to boil, return to my office, check my email and Facebook, and then drink my tea. It's not a bad routine but I sometimes think I need to change it.

13. This Thursday Thirteen is the result of a combination of questions I saw asked of contributors to the February Oprah magazine and The Rainbow Meme, which does not exactly ask any of the last six things I wrote down but from which I took inspiration. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 227th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.