Time to get back in the groove of posting!
First things first-- I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Ours was very pleasant. Visited with family (except for those living overseas, of course), ate lots of good food, gave and received gifts, and had some laughs. Now that Christmas is over, I'm looking forward to a fresh start for the next year, but I have quite a bit of cleaning and organizing to do-- starting with taking down the Christmas tree. Maybe I'll start over the weekend. Or I might put it off until Monday. ;o)
Here are this week's questions from Friday's Feast:
Appetizer
Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.
I'd like to get into healthier habits-- less junk food, more (consistent) exercise-- and as an added benefit, shed a few unnecessary pounds. (Not very original, I know. (g)) I'm also planning to focus more on treating the polymer clay "thing" as a real business-- at least make more of an effort at it and see what happens. I have at least a couple more things, but since you only asked for two. . . ;o)
Soup
With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?
Hm. Nothing comes immediately to mind. Maybe I share Donald Duck's bad temper? I don't think I'm quite as volatile as he is, but I do let things get under my skin more than I ought, sometimes. Oh, and sometimes I feel like I'm the Goofy character in one of those old narrated Disney cartoons in which every possible thing that can go wrong does (not exactly a personality trait, maybe. . .). But fortunately I don't feel that way not too often. ;o)
Salad
What time of day (or night) were you born?
I think it was about 9:45 p.m. On a Wednesday night, if you're interested. (g)
Main Course
Tell us something special about your hometown.
My hometown is small and fairly rural. (Though it was more so thirty years ago than it is now. These days, it even has several fast food places. Pretty impressive, huh? (g)) Technically, I never lived in the town-- not in city limits-- but our address included this town and it's where I went to middle and high school, so I'm claiming it as my hometown. Ok? ;o)
So, something special. . . I don't know how special it is, but it's kind of interesting to me. This town in (or maybe I ought to say "this area of") southernmost Alabama was originally settled (in large part) by people from Chicago. I think two of the streets in my town are named "Illinois" and "Chicago", probably due to this fact. (Of course, I think there might be streets named after Michigan and some other places, too, so. . .)
What? Not "special" enough for you? ;o)
Dessert
If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?
Anyone from any time period? And it'd be translated so I could read and understand it? I think a letter from Jesus would be pretty interesting. But maybe that's a dull answer-- kind of like choosing the Bible as the book you'd most want on a desert island. ;o) In that case, if the whole "any time period" thing still holds true. . . Maybe a letter from a favorite author, such as Charlotte Bronte. A letter from a great-great-grandmother (or someone of that sort) could be interesting. I'd also love a letter that would definitively explain some old mystery-- something explaining what happened to the Roanoke settlers, maybe.
A letter from the future (post time machine, of course (g)) could be fascinating, but I don't think I'd really want it. I'd be afraid to read it, somehow. . . I don't think I want to know what's going to happen in the next ten, twenty, or thirty years. On one hand, maybe knowing that you have twenty good years with no great tragedies would "free you up" to enjoy yourself fully for those twenty years. On the other hand, could you enjoy yourself, or would you be constantly dwelling on the inevitable, even though it was still twenty, fifteen, ten years down the road? (I'm the type of worrywart who probably couldn't keep the future troubles out of my mind.) Anyway, I don't think we're meant to know our futures. If it were even possible, that is. (g)
If it has to be from someone presently living, then I think I'd just as soon receive a letter from Donald as from anyone, right now. I can't think of a specific person still living and not already in my life that I desperately want a letter from.
. . .
Cue abrupt subject change. ;o)
I think it might be time to put some L.M. Montgomery on my bedside table. I could use a little escape into the past. . .
The last book I read (solo) was Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced. It was the third Christie I've read-- all within just the past few months. I can't decide what I think of her. I guess I like it well enough, since I keep reading until the end. It's interesting in its way, but a little bit empty. I don't really come to care much about the characters. I guess that might be a typical side effect of the murder mystery format, though. Most of the characters are suspects-- kept somewhat mysterious and distant-- so you aren't very likely to form an attachment to a character.
Anyway, of the three I've read so far-- And Then There Were None, Elephants Can Remember, and A Murder is Announced-- I think I enjoyed the latter the most. The first was too depressing. Yeah, yeah, I know: Who reads a murder mystery for laughs? But still, it didn't have to be that dark. The second was. . . too much of the same old stuff being told and retold. And the whole "event" had happened so long ago (in the book, I mean) that it was just hard to care one way or the other.
I have a couple more that I'll read, since I already have them (all were bought very cheaply at a library book sale), but so far, I think this is the type of book I'll read once but not particularly care to read again. Though with my memory, I'm sure I could read them in a year or two and still be surprised by the ending!! ;o) I'll have lots of "now this seems familiar" and "oh yeah, I remember her" moments, of course, but honestly, I've already forgotten the particulars of the other two mysteries. I hope that's not an ultra early symptom of something awful. Reading is supposed to be good for your memory, right? (g)
