Friday Fluff ...

Once again, because in my corner of the world it is STILL Friday, I'm providing y'all with answers to the need-to-know quizopolis.com quiz o' the week, as lovingly selected by Lisa at Seeking Elevation. This week's quiz is brought to us by whii93 and is in its more-or-less unedited for your horrified pleasure. Or -- you know -- excruciating pain. I'd tell you I'm sorry but I'm not. I'm just tired. Really, really tired. Without further ado ... the burning questions of the week:

What's your sexual orientation?
I totally wanted you to ask what my gender is because I wanted to use my new term I just learned. It is so rad. So, like I am no longer boring woman born with boring woman bits. Officially? I am cisgendered. Finally I am special, weird, and not the "normal" sex I was always accused of being. I just feel ... so ... relieved.

And just for the record, the above? Is not snide or flippant. I was seriously excited when I read that I have a term. Sweet!

Do you share your bedroom with someone? If yes, with who??
 Sigh. You really hit a sore spot here. You just had to do that, didn't you.

For some reason my husband and I sleep in the children's play room. I think I prefer to be surrounded with Lego, although the underside of my feet are not convinced. Hey, did I ever tell you about that Shanghai pedicure I had at the Mandarin Oriental ... Whoops! Wrong topic.

I just wish I could have a cool bed made of Lego. Man, that would be a shitload of Lego, even if it were Duplo.

Do you resemble a famous celebrity?
I used to have people telling me all the time that I was a dead ringer for Marie Osmond. Back in the day, when my face had some fat on it. We're both pretty toothy. But now? I get nothing.

What brand is your mobile?
I used to have a Nokia I loved, it was more of a camera (and an amazing one) than a telephone. Something fried it and I've been without a phone ever since. The whole industry is giving me the creeps, I mean, the iPhone sweatshops. What does it mean to be willing to buy something that wreaks such havoc in other parts of the world -- both where the precious metals must be mined and where the fuckers are manufactured. Talk about a butterfly fluttering its proverbial wings. I don't want to play in that park anymore. Though it is an admittedly tough stand to take.

What keychains do you have with your house keys?
My keys are attached to my teeny weeny wallet. It helps me to not lose my keys. Of course, when I lose my wallet, life really sucks.

Do you drive? If yes, what cars do you own?
I do drive, though I sold my car last spring. I have three different kinds of bicycles, one of which I would marry if I were a(nother) bike. All my bikes are rad, but that one is a beauty.  As for my car, well. In Vancouver it is possible to be a part owner of a fleet of 300+ cars. Tomorrow I am taking the Prius out for the day. My husband is mad, because he wanted me to take the Nissan Leaf, but I wanted the Prius. Seriously, if you don't have a car co-op in the land in which you live, you must get one. They are rad.

Do you read the newspaper?
Only when desperate. They are all so firmly entombed in the pockets of their advertisers, and I haven't found one -- nope, not a one -- that hasn't lost their journalistic morals at one point or another. Okay, I do read the New York Times online, but I read it for the editing. Good solid edits are quite hard to find these days. (like, here, for example. sigh.)

Is the TV on right now?
Um ... we don't have TV hooked up either I mean, we have TVs, several, but ... nope. I don't miss the news, the chipper story/tragedy/chipper cycle was making me want to stab myself so I thought, If it is me or the TV it best be the TV, right?

What song are you hearing right now?
The house is silent. The kids are asleep. My husband is in a deserted resort in Huntington Beach, pissed because it is so boring. So I guess it is just you and me, whii93 (wink)

Any favorite books you wanna mention here?
Today I want to mention The  Missionaries: God Against the Indians, by Norman Lewis, and Stolen Life, The Journey of a Cree Woman by Yvonne Johnson and Rudy Wiebe. (But if you read Stolen Life, then of course you must also read the victim impact statements made regularly by the common-law widow of the man who Ms. Johnson is serving time for killing. Because I am not one to take one side over another when I wasn't there, eh.

The first book is long out of print, I bought mine at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, where whatever book you need in your life will find you if you give it a chance.

Oh! and if you want a really crazy read? See if you can get your hands on a copy of The Last India Overland by Craig Grant. Now that is one wild ride.

One more, of course, already out in at least one e-reader form is I'll Do It Myself, written by my friend Glenda Watson Hyatt. Not only because I make a brief appearance, but also because it offers a very unique view of a life being lived amazingly well. I've known Glenda since she was 7 and I was 6, and both of us were in Brownies. Glenda sustained a birth injury that left her affected with cerebral palsy. She is an advocate for accessibility for all, and probably the hardest worker I have ever met. We are perfect for each other because I am probably the least hardest worker I have ever met. I like to think we balance each other out.

Are you up-to-date with the latest news on celebrities?
Today I am because I haven't been reaping much email of late (not necessarily a bad thing) but I haven't had nearly as much to read. Which means I read the entertainment section of the online newspaper that shows up in my aged iPod, the last Apple product I will ever own unless those fuckers clean up their act and fly straight. Fuckers.


Have you ever lied to a best friend?
Define a lie. I am not very good at lying but I have been known to withhold truths from people, especially if I am hurt or angry with them. I blame it on my childhood. Because anything else would require hard work. Um!? Halp!


Do you consider yourself intelligent?
Sure. I think most people do, for the most part. Oh, sure, many walk the line of inferiority complexes, but in my experience those who do also have this weird other issue, the superiority complex. I don't think you can authentically have one of those without the other, in fact.

Are you a morning person or a night person?
I am a two-cycle person ideally. I used to have a job from 5 to 10 in the morning as a barista, back in the day *cough* 1987 *cough* when baristas were just counter ladies and gents. But I could whip up a foam better than anyone else I knew. Ahem. Now. Where were we? Oh right. Morning or night. So I had another job, from 5 to 10 each night in a tiny Lebanese restaurant. That's where I learned how to make tabbouleh salad. For which I am eternally grateful.

Those were awesome gigs, I tell you, if only because I was staying briefly with my grandparents, and I would sleep for maybe four hours at night, and get up at 4 am to go to work, I'd get off work at 10 am, mess around a bit, then go have a lovely snooze at Kits Beach. I don't love Kits Beach, it's where the beautiful set hang, so it was a great place for the not so perfectly beautiful (me) to sleep. And I'd go to my night job and then go for a drink with a friend, and then go home to do it all over again. I have never felt more rested then that in my life. And so I am now a napper, when I can sneak them in, but it is not the same. I would do so much better in my life, accomplish so much, if only I could keep that schedule again! Damned kids.

Oh, right. Morning or night. The answer is both. It is the midday I could live without.

Do you enjoy doing stuff on your own? - Hey! My dentist and I were speaking of this just this morning. How did you know to ask THAT?!

Okay, she was talking, I was grunting and meeping through that sexy blue dental dam. (Would it weird you out if I actually like that experience. Uh, of course I don't. I was just wondering ... )

Hell ya. Doing stuff on my own is the cat's meow. Sigh.