Hello hello, and welcome to this little corner of the web where I'll be.....well, I don't know what I'll be doing up in here, exactly, but I'm going to give myself some space and time to figure it out.
I'm going to start with a little Q&A because it's too hard to figure out what tell y'all about myself without it. I cherry picked some questions from the appropriately-titled Forbes article 55 Best Questions To Ask To Break The Ice And Really Get To Know Someone. So here goes - me answering 5 questions for you.
1) What was the worst job you've ever had?
In high school, someone thought it would be a great idea for me to take over from another girl who was cleaning house for a rather frail elderly woman who lived in our neighborhood. I wanted extra cash, and I did not love babysitting, so I was willing to give it a try. The woman was very sweet. However, she had a colostomy bag. (If you don't know what that is, Google with great trepidation. I have never Googled it, so I don't know for sure exactly the deal, but I believe that a fair description would be a bag outside your body that captures poo from inside your body because your colon's not working properly. Yipes.) One day, while I was cleaning her bathroom, I heard her tiny, sweet voice from the kitchen saying, "Uh-oh." I went in to see what had happened. You may have already guessed - and you're right. Her colostomy bag had broken all over the kitchen floor. I did clean it up like a trooper. But I could never go back there again. And sadly, I still vividly remember the truly paralyzing smell. Not good.
2) What’s the first career you dreamed of having as a kid?
I remember having absolutely no idea what I wanted to do when I was a kid - but then getting an assignment in like third grade to write about what I wanted to do. How I arrived at the idea of writing about a career as a dental hygienist is absolutely beyond me. I did not know any dental hygienists. At all. I think I was supposed to do research about it, and maybe talk to a dental hygienist as part of the assignment? I can't really remember, but suffice it to say, that assignment was both the beginning and the end of my entertaining a career involving looking at the insides of people's mouths. (Although later in high school, strangely, I did end up working in a periodontist's office - again, don't Google it unless you want to see some truly distressing pictures of the effects of gum disease - doing dictation. Occasionally I'd have to look at charts to reference something. One day I opened a chart and an old dead tooth fell out. Ew.)
3) What's your favorite 90’s show?
Tough call, but the one that immediately springs to mind is Northern Exposure. (Mad About You and Twin Peaks are up there.) It had what is still my favorite mix of things in any show: goofy, absurdist humor, wicked smart dialogue, flawed, human characters and then - every once in a while - whips around on you to deliver a moment that's so beautiful and full of meaning, you're not quite sure what hit you. Northern Exposure was on during my high school years, and I had a whole ritual for watching it. I'd get all ready for bed, turn out the lights and get under the covers. (Yes, my parents let me have a tv in my room. #lucky) I'd watch the entire show, muting all the commercials so they didn't sully the experience. Then, at the very second the last credit rolled and the end-credit song ended, I'd quickly shut off the tv, turn over and try to go to sleep as fast as possible to keep the feeling of the show with me as long as possible. #notweird
4) What are you reading currently?
I'm always reading a bunch of different things. At the moment, what's in the teetering tower on my nightstand...huh a lot of stuff. I'll just pick the three at the top of the heap:
Sick in the Head - Judd Apatow's collection of interviews with comedians. Loving it.
Mindfulness Survival Kit by Thich Nhat Hanh - learning more about meditation and contemplative practices. Good stuff.
The Sound of Music Story by Tom Santopietro. My son found this on the shelf at the library, and, since we've all been mildly obsessed with how good The Sound of Music (the movie) is since we re-watched it on Christmas Day (seriously it is so freaking good), Henry and I thought we'd give it a go. I'm reading it out loud to him. It is an extremely strange book so far, but not boring, so we'll keep going for a while.
5) What’s your hidden talent?
I can whistle and hum at the same time, in harmony. Is that a thing other people can do? I just realized I have no idea. Try it and let me know. Thinking about it, you know, I try to keep my talents on display, for the most part; I'm not sure what good hiding them does? Although the humming and whistling thing...maybe that's best left hidden, just because honestly it doesn't really sound that great.
Okay, we made it through this Q&A, and my first post here! That was pretty fun, if a bit one-sided. I'd love to hear from you - maybe with answers to these five questions - or answers to other questions of your choosing, or feel free to ask me other questions of your choosing, etc. etc. Comment away below!
Until next time!
-JP