I Myself Am a Minor Celebrity

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost Meme

From Sunday Stealing

1. Put your music player of choice on shuffle and list the first song.

A. I listen to the radio or to CDs. I have an iPod but don't use it, and I have some things on the Amazon cloud player. Anyway, I turned on the radio and the song playing was Drift Away by Dobie Gray. "Give me the beat boy and free my soul, I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away." That's some real music there.

2. If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Would you take anyone with you?

A. I would like to go to England to see my friend Inga, and visit Scotland and Ireland while I was in the area. I think I would need a month, not a week, but there you go. I would take my husband with me.

3.What is your preferred writing implement? (eg. Blue pen, pencil, green pen)

A. I will only write with a black Pilot G-2 0.5mm retractable gel ink rolling ball pen. People actually buy me packs of these for Christmas.

4. When did you go on your first trip alone (without your parents)?

A. In 1979, I went with a few students from my class and others from my area on a week-long adventure to Spain and France. We flew out of Roanoke, landed in New York, flew from there to London, switched planes again, and flew to Madrid. We stayed in Madrid for three nights. We went to museums and other things, but there was some civil unrest of some kind going on at the time and we did not get about as well as our tour guides wanted. We took a train to France. We were actually supposed to take buses but there was some kind of bus strike going on so we ended up on a train. In Paris, we saw the Louvre and Eiffel Tower and all of the usual tourist things.

5.Do you have connections to any celebrities (even minor)? List them.

A. I have met a lot of politicians, unfortunately, through my work with local newspapers. Some familiar to Virginians and perhaps others: former governor Bob McDonnell (who is actually very charming and personable in person), former governor Doug Wilder, Senator Mark Warner, former governor George Allen, and probably others I'm not thinking of right now. I have met most of the local TV media folks at one time or another, know most of the writers at the local newspapers, and not long ago someone told me that I myself am a minor celebrity because my work appears in print and I have local name recognition. I don't know if that is true or not.

6. Name 3 items you could pick up from where you are.

A. My glass of water, my telephone (not my cell phone, it is in the car where it belongs), and a stapler.

7. How would you describe your sense of humor?

A. Dry, sarcastic, and educated. Not everybody gets my humor.

8. Do you ever play board games or other non-computer games? Got any favorites?

A. I like to play Scrabble and gin rummy.

9. A musical artist you love that isn’t well known.

A. I don't think I have one of these. Well, I really like Howard Shore's work. He does the music for the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He's probably not too well known outside of movie circles.

10. A musical artist you love that is well known.

A. Sheryl Crow and Melissa Etheridge; they both tie for my affections.

11. What is your desktop background currently?

A. Solid blue, old school Windows. I am boring that way. I can't stand the clutter of pictures on the desktop.

12. Last person you talked to, and through what you talked to them.

A. My husband, he stood beside me and I talked to him through my mouth to his ears, sound carrying through the air. Is that what you are asking? Has conversation become so passé that people don't even speak to one another now?

13. What do you carry your money in?

A. I have a pocketbook. At the moment it is brown.

14. What timekeeping devices are in the room you are currently in?

A. I have three clocks on the wall, my watch on my wrist, and the clock on the computer.

15. What kind of headphones do you use?

A. I generally don't. This is my house and if I want to blast music out the eaves then I do so. I don't need earphones.

16. What musical artists have you seen perform live?

A. Linda Rondstadt, Journey, Foreigner, Neil Diamond, Loretta Lynn, Elton John, The commodores, Bonnie Raitt, and others.

17. How often do you clear your browser history?

A. Occasionally.

18. What’s the best job you’ve ever had?

A. Being a freelance writer with steady and reliable clients. It's not such a great job when the clients aren't steady or reliable.

19. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

A. I went to work for a bank once and lasted about two weeks. I thought I would die of boredom before I could get out of there.

20. What magazines do you read, if any?

A. Writer's Digest, Reader's Digest, Redbook, Woman's Day, Poet & Writer, Woman's World, O! the Oprah magazine. I read a lot.