Thursday 13 v. 32

Thirteen (or so) Questions Answered by CarmenIn an earlier post, I asked my astute readers what they wanted to know about me. Here are the answers to 13 of them. Plus a few bonus ones I received late. :)

1. Mama Duck asked me what my morning routine was. ****My alarm goes off around 6:30 a.m., and if I'm going into the office (I work from home 3 days a week), I "take care of business" while the cat lies on my feet. Then I put my hair up, as I'm too lazy to style it to go to a mostly empty office. I'll brush my teeth, put on my lotions and makeup - all the while the cat is yelling at me. I'll then go and select an outfit - based more on comfort than style. Then the cat gets to eat, I eat a bowl of cereal after taking a bunch of horse pills and watch the weather and traffic on the NBC affiliate. If I'm working from home, I roll out of bed, put on some sweats and turn on the computer.
2. Janet wants me to tell her if I invest in any stocks that she should know about. :) ****Well Janet, I am not much of an investor. I do know that my AOL stock options, when I worked there, were never above water. I did manage to sell some stock options from my time at Nextel, which gave me enough money to buy an iPod. Big time stuff here. I don't even know where my retirement plan is investing it. I think YOU should probably be giving ME investing advice. Ha!
3. Wystful would like to know what's my favorite thing about travelling. Meeting new people? The sights? Etc. ****The part I like most about travel is that I get to be myself. I don't have to be work Carmen and gym Carmen and angry traffic Carmen. I just get to be Carmen. Even though my vacations are always packed full, I'm probably the most relaxed when I'm travelling. I love the researching the trip before-hand and learning about other cultures (The world does not revolve around the US). I also really enjoy seeing things in person that until now I've only seen in books or on TV. And probably the best part (for me anyway) is taking photos when I'm there, because then when I get home, I can look at a picture and it can bring back a memory of something fantastic.
4. Dorothy wants to know "What is the average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" ****Well Dorothy, The velocity of an object is simply its speed in a particular direction. Since velocity is defined as a vector, both speed and direction are required to define it. (Thanks Wikipedia! I, personally, hate math and try to avoid it like the plague.)
5. Goofy Girl wants to know what I do when I'm feeling silly. **** I dance like nobody's watching. And nobody IS watching - except for the cat, who is highly entertained. I also like to sing along with my iPod, which annoys the cat to no end. Occasionally, I'll burst into a spontaneous cheer from my cheerleading days, which scares the cat.
6. Kukka asked me my opinion as to whether the toilet paper goes under or over, and do I change it at other people's houses, or is her agent the only one who does this? **** I am of the opinion that the toilet paper should pull over the top of the roll. If someone else puts it on incorrectly in my own house, I'll change it. So far, my friends have not gone insane and put the roll on with the sheets pulling from underneath, so I haven't had to change it up for them. But I would, because I think those of us that are RIGHT should impart our wisdom to others. :)
7. Buddy and Finnegan want to know what my favorite Thanksgiving memory is. ****I don't know if I have a favorite memory, as any time spent with my family is nice (mostly, ha). But most of the memories involves smells of roasted turkey and dressing (which is my favorite Thanksgiving food). And any year where UVA beats Va. Tech in football (played Thanksgiving weekend) is a good memory. :)
8. Pam wants me to tell you about my best date ever, and why it was the best. **** Here's the thing, I haven't been on many "official" dates, where the guy asks, and then we go to dinner or something. It's either "hanging out" or something like that. I guess the best time I had was when I met my ex in New Orleans, and we explored the city together, had our tarot cards read, etc. Since he's now my ex, it hurts the memory. But I do remember this other guy who was part of a group I was out with shortly after my ex and I "broke up". He held my hand, told me my ex was nuts, that I was sexy and reached up to brush a tear off my face, and it was one of my sweetest moments ever.
9. Jenn wants to know what's my favorite thing that Pooh Bear does. ****Hands down, I love it when he purrs. He talks to me, which is sometimes cute and sometimes tedious. Ha. He gives me kissies with his nose (when it suits him or if he's begging for a treat), and he likes to burrow into clothing piles. I like to sit with him in the sunbeams and pet his warm fur! Pooh's favorite thing is Kukka (see Kukka, he declared it publicly!)
10. Melli asks how and when did I meet my best friend Irish, and how long 'til we knew we were best buds? ****I met Irish when she pledged my sorority our second year at UVA. She was assigned to me as my "little sister" and since they didn't know during pledge week who their big sis was, I did everything I could to throw her off track. To find out it was me, she had to follow a long string that I had draped around our sorority house. And it was a LONG string that wove in and out of other strings. We were friends right away, but during our third year we were roommates in our sorority house - in the best room (we had a balcony). If you can live with someone and not want to kill 'em, then you know you've got a friend for life!
11. Kay, who lives in the Phillipines (I have a good friend of two years is from the Phillipines!) wants to know how I'd pitch her a trip to the US, since she's not been outside of her country yet. ****Well Kay, I'd start by telling you to just get up and go ANYWHERE, not just the U.S., because it's so much fun to experience new things. But there is so much to see here! I'd start with saying that Washington DC is full of wonderful monuments and museums - you could spend a month here! Then I'd say head up to New York and experience the hustle and bustle - and a Broadway play with dinner beforehand. You'd have to plan a stop over in Las Vegas, because there's no place like it in the world!
12. Anthony wants to know where my dream retirement spot would be, similar to Chi wanting to know my favorite and least favorite place I've been ****Retirement? I don't see that I'll ever get the chance to retire, but if I was, I wouldn't settle in one place. I'd go EVERYWHERE. But if I had to choose one spot, one place to put down roots, it would either be Sydney, Australia or Paris, France, as so far, those are my two favorite places I've been. Though Rome and Venice were really up there, too. But I might find more choices as I expand geographically! My least favorite place, while it was nice, but I don't want to go back, was Jamaica. Not much outside of the resort to see.
13. Irish Church Lady wants to know if, when I meet Mr. Right, I want kids. **** Well, ICL, the chances are pretty good that I wouldn't be able to have kids, even if I wanted to. I've never really felt any kind of maternal stirrings, though folks tell me that changes when Mr. Right sweeps in. I would consider adoption, cuz there are lots of kids in this world that need love.
14. Bonus question! Karen wants to know my best Halloween costume. ****Since Halloween is on a Tuesday, there'll be no Halloweeny fun for me. I've been invited to a party for the Friday night before, and if I go, I'll probably do a repeat costume. I have some angel wings I'll slap on. But my best costume ever was as a magic 8 ball, which I'll be posting a picture of on Halloween, when I enter Kailani's costume contest!
15. Bonus Question!: Kailani wanted to know what Gone to Plaid means. ****Everyone needs to immediately run out and rent "Spaceballs: The Movie". It's a parady on Star Wars. You know in Star Wars, where the spaceships can jump to light speed? Well, in Spaceballs, they jump to ludacris speed. If you go faster than ludacris speed, you've gone to plaid. :)
16. Bonus Question!: Bone asked what my favorite song right now was. And also, his fish Pablo wanted to know if my cat would try and eat him. Bone, my favorite song is the same through time. "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. However, my favorites to listen to at the moment are "Lose Control" by Missy Elliott (at the gym), and my new ringtone is Rob Thomas's "This is How a Heart Breaks". And Pablo, my house would probably be safe for you, because you don't move much. If you swam around, Pooh would want to "play" more than "eat". He's more interested in birds and celephane.

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